Not enough money for groceries ?

[Cupcakejamlover]

Since having a baby i’m a stay at home mum so we are only relying on my husbands income which is getting a bit tough. (I dont even receive maternity pay). Because of our situation, Dh has set a monthly budget of £300 for groceries. This includes all food, drinks, desert, cleaning equipment, sanitary items, baby wipes etc. To give a little back story: its just me, my husband and 6 month old baby at home who is breastfed so only needs nappies and the odd item from the grocery store and minimal food as we are introducing solids now.
We have implemented this budget a few months ago however i fail to stick to it every single month… i always end up going £30-£40 above, and thats TRYING not to.. now i’m wondering is this an unreasonable amount for a couple with baby? Or am i just not planning/ budgeting correctly? Does anyone have any tips as to how to budget? We live near a large sainsburys so tend to do all our shopping there except meat/chicken.
How much do you spend if you are in similar circumstances?

Shop somewhere else; Sainsburys is over priced. Meal plan and batch cook and you should be able to stay within budget.

Our grocery budget is £400 for two adults and a toddler who admittedly eats meals now not just milk, but not £100 worth. I’m sure I could reduce it a bit but I’d struggle to get to £300 with nappies and cleaning stuff too. Is there any wiggle room to cut back on something else or do you really need to find the savings from groceries?

We shop in Sainsburys. There's myself, DP, DD2 and a formula fed baby. We probably spend around £300 a month, or just under, including treats, occasionally alcohol and everything baby needs (although we get nappies from aldi).

It should be easily doable, and if that's the limits of what you can afford as a family you need to make it work.

We are 2 adults, a 19 month old and a 5 month old and we couldn’t be comfortable on £300 per month. Regardless here is my advice.

• Work out your monthly cost of nappies/wipes and deduct that from your weekly budget. Otherwise it’s a constant ‘I just don’t understand where the moneys gone this week’ no point thinking you have £75 per week if you only actually have £60.
• meal plan!
• Bulk up on cheaper foods like vegetables and carbs.
• Buy cheaper meats, often birds eye chicken on offer is much cheaper than fresh.
• Avoid any branded snack foods and go for essential range sweet biscuits/chocolate in place of ‘dessert’.
• Sainsbury’s isn’t the cheapest consider traveling to an Aldi or Lidl if possible.

Realistically weaning isn’t super cheap as you go through fresh berries/fruits/vegetables and pouches are crazy pricey.

(We don’t have an aldi or Lidl anywhere nearby so I shop at Sainsbury’s or Tesco usually, which from other replies may make a difference).

Are you buying branded products? Could you downgrade to lower level for some. That is always a good instant saving. Try shopping when there are reduced items available. Particularly for meat and fish which can be in the freezer.

Lidl and Aldi nappies are great, and a lot cheaper than branded ones, that would be a good saving.

Our budget is £300 a month and we shop at Sainsburys. We find it quite doable but we don’t drink alcohol and DD is 8 so no nappies required.

Still, we buy enough for packed lunches, nice meals, cat food and treats

It's absolutely doable, in fact it's more than many people have to spend on food.
But it's all choices isn't it? Personally, I'd prefer to get a bar job one evening a week, leave the baby with their dad, and spend more on food.

Meal planning will help. I write down 7 meals every week then check the cupboard for what we have already before ordering.
We spend between 60/70 a week on 2a 2c this includes fresh fish and lots of fruit and veg. We don't have to buy nappies though so that helps

We are 2 Adults, a 5 year old and a 16 months old and average 60-70 a week. That includes everything you cover and we don't go without at all. That's with usually wandering aimless around Aldi and then the butchers once a month for meat, Home Bargains for branded Mayo, cleaning bits etc.

Show us an example of a receipt or shop and I’m sure we can find switches for you.

For one, Sainsburys is quite expensive compared to Aldi or Lidl. Cleaning products can be cheap - £1 for sprays, under 50p for bleach, etc.

The main culprits are usually alcohol and meat. Can you cut back on your meat consumption?

We spend £500 on a family of six... So it definitely can be done!

I’d say it’s doable. We spend £400 a month for two adults and three toddlers.
We shop on Tesco, I’m very careful and budget very well as I like to get the most for my money after a few tight years.
I always check the reduced section for things to freeze (picked up a whole chicken for 0.98p the other day!)
I usually buy the supermarket own versions for 90% of things, we use a lot of fruit and veg, we make use of coupons and I always check the price per KG etc.
We use Tesco nappies as these we the best for us, pampers leaked after my DD turned 6m so we tried most of the alternatives.
I plan meals in advance, pick up the supermarket brand cleaning stuff and often make my own bleach sprays and white vinegar sprays. We never go without on £400 so I’ve never felt the need to increase it!

Do you have an Aldi/Lidl nearby? These are definitely cheaper.

If you buy branded products try switching down to own brand - some things are just as good or even better!

Think about things you use every month and buy in bulk at the beginning of the month - things like pasta, rice, lentils and meat are often cheaper in bigger packs.

If you have an Iceland that will deliver they do free delivery over £40 and I find them great for bulk buying.

Frozen fruit and veg is good value and is nutritionally just as good as fresh plus less waste!

What cleaning products do you buy? Admittedly my cleaning standards aren't amazing but I buy a large bottle of Fairy for £2, smol laundry tabs £4.20, 2x bleach £1 and a bottle of multi-purpose anti-bac £1 which gets diluted in a spray bottle. This seems to do all our jobs fine enough and lasts the month. Cloths and mops are reusable and we use tea towels/rags instead of kitchen roll.

Try using own brand nappies, we used reusable nappies and wipes (cut up muslins) mostly but found Aldi nappies fine for during the day and Pampers for over night as mine seemed to pee a lot through the night!

all food, drinks, desert, cleaning equipment, sanitary items, baby wipes etc.
Doable but tight, what drinks do you need that aren’t covered by water from the tap plus teabags, coffee and occasional booze? Is pudding a necessity? How much cleaning stuff are you getting through? Might take a review of what you’re actually buying – eg a pp said weaning is expensive because pouches are, but pouches aren’t remotely necessary for weaning.

Wipes: damp flannels kept in a Tupperware work better and are cheaper overall even if initial outlay slightly pricier than a deal on wipes.

Can costs be cut elsewhere rather than solely from groceries?

I also massively recommend meal planning. For example I’ll cook a big curry and rice for about £6 on a Monday for dinner and that will then be our lunch for Tuesday and Wednesday as well so it’s effectively £2 a meal. I also religiously plan around what we already have in so we don’t waste fresh food either.

Also Aldi are brilliant for non branded items. Penguins for packed lunches used to cost me around £1.20-1.50 but the Aldi ones are only 70p. It doesn’t sound like much but when you’re saving that on most of your items. DP used to be a bit of a brand snob but whenever he comes to Aldi with me he says “I can’t believe we got all that food for X”

Lidl nappies are brilliant. I resisted but really preferred them to Pampers. They're often even cheaper than chips on baby weekends.

Do you actually need to stick to that budget or is it an arbitrary amount that you, or by the sounds of it your DH, chose?

I don't think that's tight though you can't go mad in the supermarket. If it feels tighter for you than you want, have you considered reusable nappies? Are you using branded cleaning products and food? Eating meat most days? We spend £400 a month on 2 adults and 2 teens (who eat like adults). We eat well - salmon 2/3 times a month, often a roast chicken, spag bol, occasional lamb roast - not just beans and lentils.

Have you applied for child benefit? Or is that included in the £300 budget? My grocery shopping for 2 adults ranges between £300-£450 or so a month but I’m not trying to keep it to a strict budget and also shop at Sainsbury’s because it’s convenient rather than cheap.

Definitely try Aldi/Lidl or Asda online shopping is good too and at least you can keep track of what you're ordering. Aldi nappies are brilliant, we buy their standard ones for day time and the premium for nighttimes.

I think it could be enough but depends on what desserts, drinks (alcohol?), branded items etc required and also how much you snack and how much meat you eat. Things I find can break the budget is pepperamis for lunches, wine, individual drinks or other individual packaged items, branded yoghurts, a lot of meat (eg bacon for weekend bacon sandwiches), expensive soft fruits like blueberries and strawberries, posh ham rather than basic sliced, ready meals or expensive pizzas.

Can you hold back a "top up shop" amount - say £10-20 per week for extra bread, milk and things if they run out?

As folks have said it's all about choices. We have a £60 budget for 2 adults and a nine year old. We mostly use Aldi but go to other shops for the odd thing ie. Sainsburys nectar card offers and every six weeks nip to farmfoods for 4 for 3 toilet rolls and get money off by signing up to their email. We'll get fancy rice but only sainsburys own brand for the ones we can't get in Aldi.

Having reread the OP, I don’t think £30-40 above a monthly groceries budget is wild and can very likely be accounted for by stuff like one week, grabbing a multipack of bodysuits because the baby’s growing, another week a couple of extra bottles of wine, etc. It’s only an issue if that £30-40 was budgeted elsewhere or is coming out of savings (rather than preventing money going into savings, which is fine I think when one of you isn’t earning).

Are you having to dip into savings, OP? Would you feel better if you and your DH set a £350 budget then every month you’d come in £10-20 under it – if that’s doable then the issue isn’t the budget, it’s the arbitrary rule-setting by DH. It really depends “how tight is tight” and do you have wiggle room for things going wrong, eg boiler breaking or a fuel price hike. It’s not unusual for money to be tight on maternity, though.

Cleaning wise, we buy a bottle of Aldi fabulosa fake zoflora liquid and dilute in a spray bottle to clean pretty much everything. One bottle is a quid and you only use a capful in a litre of water so it lasts 6 months at least. 39p bleach for the loo and washing up liquid takes care of the rest. Fancy expensive cleaning products are totally unnecessary. Also try to have 2 nights a week of really cheap meals - jacket spuds with beans and cheese or egg and chips. Helps level it all out.
Sainsbury’s is the most expensive supermarket although the own brand quality is good and if you save the nectar points, you can get your Christmas bits.

We spend around £80 a week for 2 adults, a FF baby and another child at Asda. I'd say yours is doable tbh. Cleaning stuff can be cheap and how much do you really need every week