Food is expensive

[goldenorbspider]

Went to aldi got few bits for the week and not a big shop for me and one infant. Spent £40 and it's not even a big shop. What do people do to save money on food? I can't imagine spending much less. I know it would cost waay more at other supermarkets.

I did a musclefood order the other day. I got:

24 chicken breasts
4 steaks
4 burgers
2 small packs of mince
40 meatballs
24 sausages
4 small pork loin steaks
2 packs of bacon medallions

I ordered this deal so was £52. www.musclefood.com/new-year-double-up-hampers-offer

I'm not sure it's cheaper than Aldi.

I used to buy from muscle food, with one of the main things being chicken breasts. Just bought from Morrisons and chicken breasts 2kg for £10. Plus they are British, not Polish! Sometimes the offers in the big 5 supermarket are cheaper than Aldi/Lidl.

I like musclefood meat, but like you oyster I'm not always convinced it's actually cheaper (especially as some hampers have stuff you probably wouldn't choose to buy seperately).

you have salmon and steak and ready made sauces
do you meal plan?
can you have veggie evenings?
cook more from scratch?

i spent less than £40 yesterday with only smoked haddock and no meat as the culprit.

buy fruit and veg in season or then buy frozen

We're on a really tight budget for the next month, were living from tinned food and dried rice and pasta 😳

Think Frey bentos pie, tinned peas and potatoes

Pasta with a cheese sauce and garlic bread.

Tinned fruit with carnation milk or cream for puddings.

Rice pudding.

I'm not stocking much fresh at the moment and then frozen things like fish fingers, chicken nuggets, oven chips.

My son is getting his fruit and veg just from tins and my weekly food bill is about £13-£15 😳

I'm genuinely skint though right now so it means there is food on the table and he's not hungry that's all that matters to me. And tinned peas are as nutritional as fresh ones 🤷🏻‍♀️

Food is cheap. Buying things like jars of sauce is ridiculous when you are on a budget and trying to economise.

Aldi and Lidl are great but I find that the reduced to clear at regular supermarkets is way better. We had a whole roasted chicken last night which was 82p. Not because it was slaughtered in someone's back garden, but because it was bought on the day it went out of date. Last week I had a haul in Waitrose which included venison meatballs (served 2) reduced from £6 to 79p.

Your problem is there is too much meat, and you haven't meal planned religiously. Tackle these two things, aim to have 2-3 veggie nights and you will see your food bill drop down. You need to plan your meals in advance before you shop and think about making a little extra sometimes to freeze.

But food is expensive now, every time I go shopping the price of this or that has risen AGAIN. When you're on a very low income like me it's a bit scary.

Feck, you wouldn’t get all that for £40 at other Supermarkets.

The Aldi by us is pretty good for reduced meat. They slash it to half price on the day it goes out of date. I'll sometimes go once the rugrats are in bed and get some cheap stuff for the freezer.

@onionface Totally agree. We spent much less on food as a % of income than our grandparents did and much less than virtually every other country in the world. It’s housing costs than mean people are looking to save elsewhere.

do you meal plan?

Vaguely I'm not religious about. Have lunches sorted with salad and quiche for a few days. Going to make jambalaya and lasagna with the spring at some point during the week

Food isn't too expensive, it's the cost of living generally that is so it makes it feel as if it is because we have less money to spend on food. If that makes sense.

Sounds very reasonable to me. Even in Aldi your salmon is giing to be £3/£4..so it's not an expensive shop per se.

Has anyone bought meat in bulk? From muscle food or anything similar?

No, because I don’t want to eat meat from animals that had a shit life and a worse death, just so that I could eat meat cheaply.

Look at how much of your list is made of ready made or prepared food. If you cooked from scratch you'd save money

I also make one home made cake and one loaf of bread a week by hand. On a Sunday evening after DS has gone to bed.

He goes to breakfast club which is free, his packed lunches are big standard 90's packed lunches is the best way to describe them hummous? I think not, try a jam or ham sandwich, a small yoghurt, a packet of teddy bear crisps and a biscuit like a custard cream. 🤣

Prices have definitely gone up everywhere. Aldi first opened in our area about 3 years ago and it was cheap. Used to get shopping for a family of 4 for around £25. No chance now. I think the quality has gone down and the price has gone up. Comparing it to other supermarkets some things work out cheaper elsewhere.

Yabu

try a jam or ham sandwich, a small yoghurt, a packet of teddy bear crisps and a biscuit like a custard cream. 🤣

Living dream!

I just cannot believe how little most people spend on groceries.It is the biggest outgoing in our house .We are a family of four adults with two grown up sons with big appetites .I cook every day and nearly all meals are eaten at home and always have been.We are not in th UK buy I am seriously agog at this thread!

@stripeypillowcase is spot on.

You need to meal plan as with that money you should have had enough for the week.

Instead you have out of season expensive fruit, jars of sauce that cost pennies to make from scratch and too much meat/fish.

You can totally love food and spend far less than this by meal planning and including at least one veggie meal and one egg based meal every week. And no jars of sauce/posh fruit/chicken breasts.

In aldi I spend £45-£55 for 4 of us for a week. I have 2 faffy eaters to deal with. We don’t need nappies.

The things that jump out at me that you could swap/scrap if you really need to budget vs just want to are:

• Turkey mince for 20% fat pork and beef mince
• chorizo
• chicken fillets for skin on, bone in chicken thighs
• salmon
• steak for a gammon joint
• quiche
• cherries/lychees/blueberries for apples
• almond milk
• carbonara sauce and white sauce for make your own versions

Aldi is much cheaper than other supermarkets. Tesco, and Sainsbury’s in particular, would have absolutely fleeced you for that lot in comparison.

If you like what you buy and don’t particularly need to cut your food budget then don’t. If you do then there are some simple swaps/cuts you could look at which could help if you want.

goldenorbspider" he is 🤣 The school because it's a low income area are just happy to see food in their lunch boxes so they don't police it thankfully.

He doesn't get crisps everyday but does get a sandwich, a yoghurt, and a "treat", sometimes I swap the crisps for some popcorn or if they are reduced some carrott battons or a sliced cucumber 🤷🏻‍♀️

He will survive,I grew up smashing E numbers down my throat and I'm still alive.

That's pretty good for what you bought.

When DH decided to join me in eating veggie food (I.e when we have food as a family at home, but he will eat meat if we're out at a restaurant) our food bill decreased a lot. We spend around £250 tops on our food shop per month and that's a spendy month. I try to cook from scratch and use as many fresh ingredients as possible.

I find that lots of budget meals are really handy for the slow cooker, which I love because it saves me time and energy too.

I agree that food shouldn't be incredibly cheap, it encourages a race to the bottom on quality.

Budget meals:
Lentil ragu and pasta
Pasta with hidden veg sauce and garlic bread
(Can you tell my DC love pasta?)
Risotto (throw in whatever veg is looking a bit ropey and shriveled.
Bean chilli and rice (usually with added extra veg)
Veg stews
Soups for lunches - leek and potato, spicy lentil etc all filling for a good lunch.

Etc