AIBU to ask for help to get groceries down?!

[Chihuahuacat]

I keep reading on here how people spend about £300 a month on groceries for a family of four.

There’s just 2 of us and 2 cats and this month we’ve spent £460!! I don’t know where I’m going wrong...

meals have been (these are split between me and DH):

Today -
Bottle of red wine
Chicken and roasted veg / potatoes
Avocado and egg on ryvita
Baby bell
Snack a Jack
1 Aldi moser Roth chocolate (I’ve had one of these each day to save me listing it out).

Saturday:
Fish finger brioche sandwich (Aldi brioche, fish fingers from the freezer so no spend in the £460)
Half a pizza express margarita pizza
Bistro bagged salad
Sun dried tomatoes
Parmesan (from the fridge)
Bottle of Prosecco (Aldi £7).

Friday:
Turkey burgers (homemade) in the Aldi brioche buns, Sweet potatoe wedges
Lunch was leftovers from Thursday night.

Thursday:
Lunch: homemade chicken pie and veg (leftover)
Dinner: chicken breast with quinoa, broccoli (Nando’s flavour bag).

Weds:
Lunch: leftovers (the salmon as below).
Dinner: chicken pie as above.

Tuesday:
Lunch: leftovers (sausage and mash)
Dinner: tinned salmon, lettuce, eggs, green beans.

Monday:
Lunch: cream cheese bagel
Dinner: sausage and mash

I don’t really eat breakfast (maybe have a baby bel), husband has cereal. We bulk buy cat food / litter and buy about 8 bottles of wine a month (from Aldi, probably under £50). No alcohol in the week. Share a bottle sat / sun.

Laundry detergent etc is bulk bought so it’s not that. No real waste as we always have leftovers for lunch the next day.

We do buy nice instant coffee from not being in the office, but that’s about £3.

Will buy things like Diet Coke, mini eggs but not much at all, maybe once a week. A packet of snack a jacks.

Am I going horribly wrong or is this just what it costs? We obviously try and eat fairly healthy but nothing excessive I don’t think?

Any tips? We can afford it but I’d love to get it down, it feels like such a waste. We probably get takeaway a couple of times a month on top of this as well!!

I’ve attached a pic of my spending!

Yeah but DeCecco is so much better than most store brand pasta. Definitely better than Aldi or Lidl

Not true. There was an EWFL when a load of students insisted on 'Lady Pasta' so they did a secret swap/taste test and they couldn't tell it apart from Lidl pasta at less than a third of the price.

Plus De Cecco is often on offer for £1, so there's no reason to pay full price for it, which is still twice as much as supermarket brand, but a lot less than full price.

It doesn't go off, so just buy a few packs when you see it on offer. Same goes for other non perishables that are always on offer somewhere. Buy enough to keep in stock and you never have to pay full price. Saves a fortune.

But to answer the OPs question, people spending £300 a month for a family of 4 won't be buying lots of alcohol, flowers, branded stuff etc.

On the wine cost - you say you buy 8 bottles of wine a month, that 'probably cost under £50' but you mention £7 bottles of wine and there are sometimes 5 weekends in a month, so the average is probably more like £60 a month on wine, over time. Every little helps.

The things that jump to mind for me are:
Why are you buying things from Sainsbury’s that you could get from Aldi for less?
Why are you buying such expensive versions of staples ie branded spaghetti and microwave rice?
You’re also consuming a lot more alcohol and meat than we do. You don’t need to eat chicken twice in one day. Instead of having leftovers for lunch, you could have them for dinner and have something cheaper for lunch like soup and then you wouldn’t need to buy so much dinner stuff.

I went yesterday and for meat/fish for five days worth of meals for 4 of us plus bread,bagels,chilli sauce and beans,pack up meat and salad veg plus fruit and was just over £50.
All the meat is fresh and good quality not bottom of the range.

Oh that also included a large bag of rice and mince for my dogs meals.

We have a budget of £450 a month for 2 adults and 2 growing up dc that eat adult sized portions.

We mostly stick to it however on the months we end up popping to Sainsbury's for a top up it comes to over £20 a time and there's not much in there at all for that.
We try to go once a week on the weekend to cover the weeks meals pack ups breakfasts dogs and cleaning stuff etc

I tried online but what turns up never seems as good fresh veg and fruit wise as if I go myself.
I also find a lot Is substituted so I still have to shop.

We also tried going once every two weeks but it's too long as we eat a lot of fresh fruit veg and meat and it doesn't last

@Chihuahuacat

I’ve found receipts (from the bin....). Please be brutal!

The shorter one is the Aldi shop, the other Sainsbury’s.

(Ignore the Asda shop on the photo, that was plant holders for the garden, but even taking that out the overall spend is about average...)

Well your Aldi one is basically booze and shite snack food.

I'm the same with out shopping. I cry everytime I do the weekly shop, I can't get a week's worth for less than 100

We are a family off 5 with allergies and a dog, I shop at Lidl mainly I spend around £60 a week sometimes goes up to £80 hours if I get wine and treats , I meal plan mainly so know what we are having for tea, the kids enjoy chicken nuggets and wedges or something a couple of times a week.I buy frozen veg as it's easier except broccoli which isn't as nice from frozen, we eat reallly well . I limit going shopping to once a week unless I have ran out off milk or something and then nip to the coop but that's when I spend lots I don't need if I allow the kids into the shop with me ! Went in for milk the other day kids had a magazine each and sweets and I got a bottle off wine and it cost me !35!!

Thanks everyone! I think I’ve fallen into bad habits over lockdown - I’ve never been good at budgeting but because there’s nothing else to do the line between treats and food has become blurred.

DH actually does most of the shopping and has been going alone due to lockdown - I wouldn’t normally buy branded spaghetti for example.

So taking your comments on board I’m going to:

Make a meal plan at lunchtime and go to Aldi today. This will last Monday - Friday lunch.

Go to Aldi Friday for ‘weekend food’. I know twice a week is still a bit much but baby steps.

I’m going to add in some veggie days - any recipes people would recommend?

I notice a lot of people recommend freezing meat. This is going to sound silly but I’ve never done it - how long does it take to defrost? Does it then taste ok? I assume this is best to do when something is going on offer?

Finally, to address some points:

We are all the sausages! 3 each for lunch / dinner (is that loads?!)
The flowers DH surprised me, will point out were trying to cut down.
The Aldi eggs are unreasonable, but they’re so good (and fall into that blurred ‘treat’ category).
Same with alcohol, we bought quite a bit in Aldi but we try and stick to 2 bottles a week. Normally we’d spent less on groceries as would be going out - but lockdown.

I’ll report back on my Aldi shop for anyone interested.

@BarbaraofSeville
Not true. There was an EWFL when a load of students insisted on 'Lady Pasta' so they did a secret swap/taste test and they couldn't tell it apart from Lidl pasta at less than a third of the price.

Some people can’t taste the difference in quality. Other people can. So it goes.

Rice and vegetables in many different flavours -
Italian (risotto)
Chinese (stir fry)
Thai (curry)
Indian (curry)
Indonesian (nasi goreng)
Mexican (beans etc)

Stock up on rice - arborio, brown, jasmine...
Keep jars of garlic and ginger
Keep stock cubes
Cans - tomatoes, black beans, cannellini beans, chick peas
Have your frozen vegetables - green beans, peas

Then you will always have a meal. You can add chicken to any of these, beef to most, minced beef to Mexican

You will be eating inexpensive and nutritious meals that are easy to prepare - and taste great!
There will be no waste.

Lunch can be leftovers
Breakfast should be nutritious and inexpensive -oats and fruit

Guarantee you'll be able to shop once a week for supplies and you'll come in under £65

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burnt-aubergine-veggie-chilli

Best vegetarian chilli recipe by a mile. Makes a massive pot so you can freeze it.

Also chilli but totally different and delicious.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-chilli/

A few things that jumped out at me.

1. you eat very expensive choices for every meal (meat/fish every meal, avocado, bagged salad, sundried tomato etc.). I like to eat like this too but have a bank of cheap meals that we pick a few of each week. Examples are jackets beans and cheese, vegetable pasta, soup.

2. You shop way too much. Every shop you're going to impulse buy and pick up what you fancy alongside what you need. Stick to one big shop per week and you'll cut down on this.

3. Your alcohol consumption is expensive. Two expensive bottles per week adds up, you're easily spending £60-80 per month on that. Could you stick to one bottle at the weekend, or have cheaper alternatives?

You need to meal plan. Simple.
That way when you are shopping you know exactly quantities and then can spot deals at the same time.

I would say that as above, all meals are ‘fancy’ and expensive ingredients. We also eat similar, but like today, dinner is going to be a Greek meze type thing (meat/ feta/vine leaves all pricier) so lunch is a simple homemade soup ( batch cooked so from freezer quick and bread)

I notice a lot of people recommend freezing meat. This is going to sound silly but I’ve never done it - how long does it take to defrost? Does it then taste ok? I assume this is best to do when something is going on offer?

You take it out the day before to defrost. Defrosting takes about 24 hrs in the fridge or 10-12 hours ambiently. Alternatively microwaves usually have a defrost function.

It tastes absolutely the same as when you cook it from fresh, and yes it means you can buy “3 for £10” or whatever offers and you can keep a stock of ingredients in.

Re the alcohol, why are you buying a bottle or two at a time? Sainsbury's and tescos both regularly have a buy 6, get 25% off on wine. If you buy 6 together, more than 1 bottle is free.

I actually think that's fine! I spend £130 per week on a family of 4 and a dog. We like good quality food and eat meat & fish. I pack nice lunches for the children & husband. Eldest daughter took sushi for lunch today and the other had cooked chicken drumsticks. I did go through a phase of making my shop as cheap as possible. It can be done. Cheapest home made meals are pizza, pasta, lasagna (bulk), meat pie, fish pie, chilli (without the meat) and a whole chicken on sunday, carcass to be used for soup on mondays. Everyone had sandwiches for lunch. All known brands were dropped. Everyone became bored of their food and no longer wanted a treat e.g pop/crisps/chocolate bar because it wasnt as nice as branded ones. Which is true, even I knew it. Children asked if we could buy less nicer chocolate and crisps to share rather than lots of cheap ones. I agreed. We don't drink alcohol, smoke or get take aways. We decided to go back to buying foods that we all enjoy.

Maybe swap the wine for gin and tonic or Bacardi and coke, perhaps this would be cheaper. I find cleaning and personal care items take up a big part of my budget as does my pet. Definitely go shopping less but I do think everything has gone up.

You can save a lot on cleaning products and toiletries by buying them from Home Bargains, Wilkinsons, Aldi or Lidl, or branded items on offer in a supermarket and also not being that person who buys multiple bottles of bleach, toilet cleaner etc each month. Some of the usage levels talked about on here are insanely high.

To be honest covid has helped as we only now go shopping once a week. Also if we run out of bread then we just go without for a couple of days rather than rush to the shops to get a new one.

I would also add you can probably feed an extra person on what you already buy. We spend about £80 a week for two of us (plus two cats) but I know we could easily feed another person by looking at portions or bulking it out.

If you look at stretching portions then you can freeze it for another week.

I plan meals and shop once a week. It usually comes to about £200 a week (6 people and 2 cats). We could cut down more - I could buy less soft fruit, wine, smoothies, and fruit juice - but I'm happy with what we buy and I don't waste anything. Most of it comes from Aldi/Lidl, and I top up at Sainsbury's for the things I can't buy elsewhere. I buy occasional pre-prepared food, but there's a balance to be struck when I'm working long hours - I don't want to spend all my spare time cooking.

With just the two of you a small chicken should give you 5 or 6 meals, both lunch and dinner

@VeganVeal

With just the two of you a small chicken should give you 5 or 6 meals, both lunch and dinner

Here we go. Magic chicken time.

I just think it depends what you're counting as groceries!

Some of this stuff it just extras you've picked up while you happened to be in the supermarket, like the flowers and chocolate eggs. I wouldn't count stuff like that onto your weekly shop list.

In your OP, I think some of the things you're having (assuming you're having them regularly) are bound to bump up the cost of your list a bit...obviously the wine, but also things like sundried tomatoes and parmesan. They are always a bit pricey.

Also I find our bill goes up when we buy lots of 'snack' things, like babybels and snackajacks - my DP is a nightmare for that! When I look down our Lidl receipts it's usually only meat, alcohol and snacks that are over £1 per item.