Desperately need tips to reduce almost £800 per mth food bill.

[Mumof3almost4]

I am stressing about mat leave pay and how low it is.
Just going through my income/outgoings and my main drain is on food. We are a family of 5, two adults, DC 18, 15, 13.
I am spending between £700-£800 a month on food. Is this ridiculous?!
I do cook mostly from scratch but will use a few pasta jars etc. I shop at local market for fruit and veg and the butchers for meat. We all like a big evening meal usually with meat or chicken and I always make sure there's salad or veg on the plate. I shop at home bargains and Asda for cupboard stuff, mainly use the freezer for left overs and don't like to waste anything.
I do try and plan meals but I think I've got in a habit of not doing this properly and then money gets frittered nipping to the shop. I then spend £30 easily feather than just getting what I need.

Reading this back I know I need to get much much better organised but really need your tips on how??
How do you plan meals without getting bored of it being repetitive?
We all eat well, no fussy eaters apart from a dislike of cheese and eggs.
Any advice for me to save a massive chunk of money please??

Also I hate Aldi. I'd never get a full shop in there

Just to add DS 18 does contribute to food x

You really need to understand what you are buying. Once you know this it will be relatively easy to reduce as you are spending a massive amount.
We are all foodies and I but well and at times I can spend that amount but I know what I am buying and can reduce and still eat really well.

How much does it cost to go to the local market compared to a supermarket? Likewise with the butchers.

How expensive is your butchers?

I have saved a lot of money by doing my shopping online. When it's gone, it's gone. I can vary the order right up until the night before and I really ask myself if I actually need everything and usually shave off quite a bit.

I think you should start by looking at exactly how that £800 is made up (sorry!)

Meal planning is the only way. I plan the week’s menu - write down the ingredients and that is all I buy. I stick religiously to the plan and when shopping make sure the dates on the food works for the menu.
We are two adults and two hungry teens and spend £65 a week including packed lunches.

I’d say that bill isn’t unusual for 2 plus 3?almost adults, especially if they are boys.

It’s not too much for a family of five where everyone eats like an adult - teenagers actually possibly more than a normal adult?

What do you think you should be spending?

That does seem a lot but you are feeding 5 adults. We spend £110 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids age 10&12.

I tend to add extra carbs to meals. A weeks meals for us would be something like;
Pulled pork on pitta bread, rolls ets
Spag Bol or meat balls with garlic bread, I batch cook spaghetti Bol and add lentils to make it go further
Chicken wraps with wedges
Jacket potatoes and beans, cheese and salad
Chicken and bacon salad with new potato’s
Soup and French stick
Fish and chips
Prawn stir fry with noodles
Roast chicken/beef and trimmings
I add veg to all meals
We all have packed lunches
I do a big online shop that I collect on a Saturday and try to make do the rest of the week with what we have otherwise I spend a fortune doing a mid week shop too!
I will sometimes but meat from butcher but trying just to do one shop once a week.

Look at planning in a couple of non-meat days each week? (as in veggie, not fish)

I have a monthly menu plan and order that once a month from Asda/equiv. You could do two weekly. Then I do not go in shop and get attracted to other food (biscuits) etc. I find this helps a lot but you do need space to store/freeze/chill. Then weekly nip to local shop/market for milk/fruit/veg.

I also don't think that's masses for five adults (most of the 13 yos I know eat like adults).

What I would say is that prices really seem to have gone up recently. I think you're going to have to switch supermarket.

I meal plan for weekdays and don't find it repetitive at all though! I keep a list on the freezer and use that to plan from. So I always buy mince and there's always mince in the freezer - so that obviously may become a bolognase or chillie, but then I'll go 'right, what else can be made from mince?' and then make burgers or moussaka or koftas or meatballs...

A veg box every couple of months usually means something new to use up too, then it's a case of getting the recipe books out.

I don't think that's too bad either. I probably spend about £600 on 2 adults plus a tween. Meal planning will help so will reducing the number of top up shops. I find I spend less when online shop but I don't always do that

I have no advice but following as have them same issue. Probably don't spend quite as much as you (2 adults and 2 children here and we spend around £150 a week). But yeah following, sorry. 😀

Meal planning and batch cooking.

Maybe work out a two week food menu to prevent repetition.

Buy mince in bulk, and cook up bolognese before freezing.

Do you have Costco nearby? Good for bulk buying.

Have you tried the ‘go down a level’ test? Ie. In all your food, buy the slightly cheaper version, and see whether you notice the difference. Ie. For Heinz buy Tesco own, for Tesco regular buy a Tesco value. I think in studies, people find they only keep a third of the original brands.

Thanks all. I suppose it's not too much considering how many there are in the house but I can't keep up paying this much.

The fruit and veg is actually very reasonable but the butchers is dear. I am going to start using one which is cheaper and delivers.

I will try a strict meal plan this week and stick to it. I might ask everyone for a meal suggestion each to make it less tedious for me. Then I might do an Asda shop online for everything I can't get from market and the cheaper butchers.

I'll start by emptying the freezer of all the random bits in there clogging it up! Few unusual teas coming up!!

I don't think that's terrible tbh, I am sure I spend something like £600 pm (including alcohol and loo roll etc it's true) on a similar family of five, inc three teens.

If you want to reduce it tho, one way is to make two meals a week meat-free - chick pea curry or veg pasta is a lot cheaper than five chicken breasts.

Meals are repetitive, that's fine. A bit more detail on your spending would help.

To put the same thing another way, you're only spending £5 per person per day... As I say, prices have really gone up and I think that's not a huge amount.

The Facebook group with a name along the lines of feed a family of 4 for £20 a week might be of help to you. Yes your family is bigger but it's full of ideas.

haha op I love freezer tea 😂

Online shopping is a double edged sword for me though - it does keep costs down on the one hand, but on the other hand you miss a lot of the bogof bargains which (if you have a freezer) can really help with costs.

It also depends on whether or not you drink alcohol.

My friend's DP was moaning about the cost of their monthly shopping bill until she pointed out to him that around £150 a month was paying for their booze...

Meal plan.

Vegetarian at least once a week if not more.

Meat is expensive for decent quality. I’d rather eat vegetarian than cheap meat.

Meal planning strictly for a few months almost halved my shopping bill. Mainly because I could see where I was going wrong and top up shops always cost an absolute fortune. We actually now get milk delivered because, even though it's more expensive per pint than the supermarket, it's much cheaper than a supermarket top up shopping trip.

tbh for 5 adult size stomachs 700£ isn't bad imo, that's about a fiver a day per person.

look for mainly vegetarian foods, frozen/canned veg, pulses&beans, eggs.