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?

To add I shop for food almost exclusively at Sainsbury's.

@Thighdentitycrisis

It’s totally doable, you couldn’t go mad on it though

Maybe my standards are low but I spend hardly anything on cleaning products a month

Elbow grease is free [big grin]

It's doable but not comfortable.

I have had months where I have had a similar limit. I couldn't do it indefinitely and I'd find it stressful / miserable after a while.

When I gave a '£60' per week or similar month I tend to get food from Aldi and generally eat Veggie.

It's do-able.

Firstly, is it a realistic budget or has your husband said that's the budget, tough and that's that? Did you have some say in it?

Sainsbury's is definitely not the place for a cheaper grocery shop. Are you near an Aldi or Lidl? The metro paper (trains/buses) does a £10 off when you spend £40 at Lidl every now and then.

Nappies and wipes - have you thought about cloth nappies? You can pick up a bundle of nappies relatively cheaply. Wipes - damp flannels in a tub - so much better than baby wipes! My husband prefers to use baby wipes when we go out and I loathe the things because I'm so used to cloth wipes at home...

Can you cut down on meat? When my husband went veggie (at home) to join me, our food bill had a big decrease.

My advice if in the UK would be to shop at Aldi or Lidl for the majority of items if you have those shops close enough. I also find some other stores cheaper for certain things... Iceland, B and M and Home Bargains. Also shopping at night sometimes means reduced meats and fish that you can freeze.
IF you do have some extra money it can also be worth buying some things in bulk. Loo roll and wash powder etc. So a long term save.

3 adults here and I struggle to get below £500.

There’s a Lidl app too. Spend £200 in a month and get a £10 voucher is a regular on it

I have no idea how you're only spending £300-330 per month. We are 2 adults, a teen and a baby and we spend in the region of £500-600 per month. 🙈 We shop at Aldi and Tesco, too. No idea where we're going wrong!

Our shop is usually about £70 a week including lunches for two adults and a toddler + one or two nights with an additional two adults (PiL).

We shop at Aldi mostly and we have nice meals although we try to have a few veggie dinners a week to be a bit better health and environment-wise.

When DD was a baby and had been weaned we batch cooked things that we could give her (pasta sauces etc.) but now we try to cook for us all most of the time.

A lot of things we make (curries etc.) will do two nights as leftovers too so we either have it the next night or freeze it for a night we can't be bothered cooking/one of us is out.

We meal plan for the shop too so we try to waste as little as possible (recipe has leeks, we'll find something else to make with the others from the packet cause you generally can't buy individual ones at Aldi)

She is in cloth nappies but we do buy disposables for nursery but they're really cheap in Aldi.

If it's all you have, you need to make it work. It's doable but hard and no room for treats.

However, as a comparison, I think the accepted 'rate' is £60pw for a couple (I think that's just food though).

How much does your DH earn? If he's NMW you need to make do and check you're getting everything you're entitled to regarding CB etc. If he's earning more, he may need to adjust his thoughts about what's reasonable. Maybe get him to do the shopping one month...

@Lulu2021

I have no idea how you're only spending £300-330 per month. We are 2 adults, a teen and a baby and we spend in the region of £500-600 per month. 🙈 We shop at Aldi and Tesco, too. No idea where we're going wrong!

I don’t understand how on Earth you can spend that much in Aldi - do you buy a lot of alcohol?

I was in Lidl this morning just buying a few bits and the woman in front of me had a very full trolley and it was under £50. I shop there alot but I was surprised at how much she had.

Sainsburys is a bit more expensive but their own brand nappies and wipes are great.

They've so pricematched a lot of items to Aldi and i recommend (and prefer) their own brand tinned goods and biscuits.

take a really good look at what you buy every week and ask

1. is it a staple or a luxury?
2. can it be substituted for a cheaper/own brand?
3. should you buy it elsewhere? (this may end up more expensive if additional travel involved)
4. can it be consolidated /bulked out and maybe cover 2 meals instead of one?
5. Are you buying preprepped veg/salad/packet rice etc that is cheaper to buy loose?

as others have asked is there wiggle room in the budget or do you have to stick to the £300?

Is this a reverse, or a total invention from a tight-fisted husband? Just wondering. All the advice seems to be falling into a black hole

Sainsbury's is quite expensive. I'd go to Lidl/Aldi if you have one near you

@takenforgrantednana they’ve not stopped nectar points as far as I’m aware. If you use the nectar app they send you weekly offers on things you usually buy - for example 200 bonus points for buying some milk.

I redeemed £150 worth at the end of September- I’ve already earned another £25 worth. I spend £120ish a week, plus petrol and small ebay purchases.

@Squiz81 oh yet another thing then treating unfairly just because you dont use apps