WTF have I done?

[Supermercado]

Posting in AIBU for traffic

How much has your supermarket shop cost including top ups, how big is your family and what do you make with it? I've just spent a small fortune on food for one person, which included fresh vegetables, yogurt, cheese, sphagetti, tinned beans and tomatos, and frozen fruit but it amounted to a bit over £60. Shopping in asda. Not including dog food, wine, or toiletries. NO lobster or anything of the sort. A multi pack of tuna. Besides a box of lollies and tea, no treats. It didnt even include the top up milk that I'll have to get and I've forgotten ingredients still. I cant afford to do this every week but is it the price you pay to have a good diet or is it possible for less?

I spend £60-80 a week for two adults and three cats - that includes toiletries and cleaning products. I buy the dogs' food separately, and the cats litter and dry food are also bought elsewhere in bulk. On average it's probably £100 a week total.

If we lived elsewhere could do it for less but the only supermarket within 30 miles is a Tesco. By the time we drive to the nearest Aldi, park, shop and drive home, it will have cost us more in fuel and parking than we'd save on the food bill.

As a family of 6, we spend probably at least £200 a week. I've not checked for a while actually, probably nearer 250. We really CANNOT afford this really.

YABU to use AIBU for traffic.

I spend £150-£200 depending if it's a top up shop each week in Sainsbury's for 5. Food will be even more expensive soon.

Family of 4. One small pupper.

About £140 big supermarket shop
£30 veg box delivery
£9 milk delivered to the door

Sometimes I do a top up shop which is around £40 other weeks I don't need to.

This includes booze, some toiletries.

I cook from scratch every day, bake cakes regularly but buy snacks and things kids like.

Cant find the reciept!! Its stuffed in the car somewhere. Hopefully you all can wait until tomorrow lol

i spend £100-140 a week for 2 toddlers and 2 adults, no luxeries just basic toiletries

Family of 2 adults 1 9 year old i spend on average of £65 a week
Breakfasts cereal, porridge, toast, pancakes,

Lunches spag meatballs or curries for ds
Panninis, jackets, soups for adults,

Teas sausage dinner, vegetable pasta bake, chicken curry, chicken pasta bake, pizzas, chicken burgers, fish cakes, fish pieces, stews broth, casseroles ect I make i larger portion and freeze for another day, we then have apples, bananas, strawberries crisps, crackers cheese ect as snacks

I spent £75 on last week's Aldi food shop. That's for 2 of us, including a £6 bottle of wine. It also covers all lunches.

Our meals have included:

• thick Greek yoghurt and honey for several breakfasts
• a couple of breakfast smoothies using the Greek yoghurt and frozen fruit
• 3 lunches of tuna nicoise salad for me (large salad bag and bag of green beans split 3 ways, tuna, egg, olives, cherry tomatoes)
• 1 lunch of sourdough toast and hummus for me
• 5 lunches for DH of a noodle pot and a tin of Mackrell in tomato sauce (I know, how weird!)
• fishfinger sandwiches for weekend lunches
• 1 night of homemade kebabs (shredded raw cabbage, onion, tomatoes, falafel, green chilli's, garlic mayo and sriracha in homemade wraps
• 1 night of mushroom stroganoff on brown rice
• 1 night of avocado and halloumi on sourdough toast
• 1 night of homemade fajitas (homemade wraps, peppers and onions, iceberg lettuce, guacamole, soured cream, cheddar cheese, jalapenos - with a steak included for DH)
• 1 night of a whole roast chicken with Mediterranean veg, served on quinoa (and then the chicken will do another meal and the stock will become leek and potato soup for a few lunches next week).

...we don't snack and we use every morsel and eat very well with a tonne of veg.

I don't understand how you've spent that much on a week's worth of food of that type, which is mostly quite cheap, for one person, especially from Asda.

Either some of the things are multipacks that will last (eg the tuna, good to buy a pack on offer because the price per can is much less than buying individually but you won't have to buy it for ages now), you've missed out something expensive that you could have got a cheaper version of (eg sprouting broccoli is about five times the price per kilo of standard broccoli) or you'll end up wasting a lot.

But I don't think its helpful to anyone to perpetuate the myth that 'healthy eating is too expensive so I can't do it' because it's really not, there's endless very cheap things that you can buy that are healthy. Plus you save buy not buying unhealthy drinks, snacks etc, which add to the bill but aren't good for you.

I was reading this week that dog and cat food is going up faster than human food at present. No idea if it's true. We have a dog and will need more food next week.

I think that's quite a lot for a week (I spend about £100 for a monthly 'big' shop for two adults (women - so maybe smaller portions) ) but I top up through the month on fruit and veg and milk.
But I think what you have bought will last you more than a week - you won't eat a whole pack of spaghetti in a week unless you have it every day. The quorn mince will last more than a week too - is it frozen mince? if not freeze what you don;t use and save fro another time.) You have a multi pack of tuna - that's several meals/lunches/ sandwiches. You've got tinned toms and veg - you could make a veggie curry or soup and it would last two nights or you can freeze what you don't use.
I'm on a tight budget too. I make batches and freeze, I save any eft overs and freeze (eg bolognese sauce) even if it's not enough for two because you can bulk it up with some lentils or veg, or wait until you;ve got another half portion to make a full meal.
I ten to plan my meals before I shop and I don't buy witht he thought of 'I'll think what to do with it when I get home' I buy what I need. If I want treats I make my own fairy cakes or rock cakes or something like that (again batch cook and freeze.)
Your frozen fruit will probably last more than a week too and you can use it for breakfast smoothies or with yogurt or for puddings.

I alos don;t always do all my shopping in one shop. You can get cereals, bread, frozen fruits and veg cheaper in places like Iceland. And you can often get offers in different shops - I pop into other stores to see if they have any specials on offer.

I don;t thin your shop sounds crazy expensive, but if you want to reduce i I think with a bit of planning, etc you can easily get it down. I think batch cooking soups/ curries etc is especially good when you are single or just two - because it can be hard to buy small quantities of veg, and if you say buy a whole butternut squash you might not be able to eat it all before it goes off, so use it up and freeze. Its also nice to have some frozen homemade stuff for nights when you don't feel like cooking.

I think I understand your shock. Perhaps you had a vague idea that shopping for one would be around a quarter of shopping for four(and ddog). I am guessing your thought about £35 or less(no ddog food for example).
It is more expensive to buy for one. The price per kilo etc for a single portion is often pricier than bulk buying.

So you spend less per person than the OP

Only two of us now, early 60's, but we like our food. Don't buy any rubbish. Had an Asda home delivery today. Nothing missing - first time ever. Well done Asda! £46. Last week we spent only £38. OH going away for a week so just me eating at home. Plenty in, just need milk.

I popped in Morrison's earlier - didn't even fill a standard sized 10p bag (now more like, e a quid!) and apart from a £5 bag of dish washer tablets and a £6 hair dye it was all very standard things like toothpaste, branston pickle & jam - £48.

Even Aldi seems to be creeping up.

We spend around 100-120 a week on an Ocado delivery midweek & usually top up with 30-50 in Aldi & Waitrose at the weekend. It's a lot for a family of three and I swore I'd bring it down after covid but how things are at the moment I'm not sure I can.

I live alone well it’s me and the dog I reckon £75 -80 ish a week (not including dog food) but I do eat well all meat from local butcher low food miles/sustainable/organic if possible, lots of fresh veg/fruit local seasonal and organic where possible, local artisan cheese/eggs etc again organic where available..No alcohol I only drink water (no tea/coffee) no milk, no crap; so no biscuits/cakes crisps, no ready meals/processed food. I eat meat 2-3 meals a week, oily fish that’s sustainably caught e.g smoked salmon 2 meals a week and veggie/vegan the rest of the time. I take my own lunch to work as due to a a significant underlying health problem I have boring dietary restrictions. I’m lucky I’m in a position to be able to afford this my biggest weekly expense is petrol. God knows how most manage.

It is more expensive to buy for one. The price per kilo etc for a single portion is often pricier than bulk buying.

But you can still bulk-buy, especially you’re buying things that store/freeze well (the latter requiring a freezer, obviously).

I want to thank everyone for their contributions. They have been really helpful

Want to ask, is it true about frozen veg being cheaper? I didnt think that it was. They're usually close to £2 a bag for cauliflower say, the weight of which is mostly water, but I can get a whole cauliflower for something like 90p in asda.
We have a lidls and an ASDA but cant go to both because they're too far apart. DP goes to lidls and we occasionally go to ASDA.

I just want to add that I did actually meal plan, no point posting when I cant follow it anymore. I actually bought less than expected and cant see enough lasting the whole week to make meals out of. One tiny 25p bag of carrots for example! Wish I'd bought another bag. I'm going to have to really re-adjust and hope for the best. I've just made soup that could last me under a week of lunches at a stretch. Almost all my celery is gone, as well as a Chunk of one of my three aubergines. I shouldn't have to eat the same thing everyday with what I've spent. People are quoting low spends, if posting a recipet is too intrusive I'd love to here what you make with what ingredients.

Off the top of my head I bought

Tinned tomatos
Tinned beans
Passata
Tomato puree
Sriracha sauce
Lasagna sheets
Peanut butter
Croissants
Cheese
Actimel yogurts
Milk
Chicken fajita mix - didnt buy chicken, I'm a vegetarian
Vanilla extract
Soured cream
Creme fraiche
Yogurt
Tender heart cabbage
Cauliflower
Aubergine
Carrots
Celery
Avocado
Spring onion
Sweet potato
Mixed peppers
Jubblys
Quorn mince
Frozen mango
Frozen mixed berries
Mushrooms
Cherry tomatos
Spaghetti
Red Onions

Not sure I've missed anything. I cant afford to spend this every week

What meals have you bought?
It's easy to spend a lot without buying any dinners.

My weekly spend is usually between £80 and £90 for 2 adults, 2 toddlers and 2 cats. A couple of meals will be convenience foods, then I'll make a big batch of something to last a couple of meals plus some for the freezer. I had a big crackdown on waste a couple of years ago and that seemed to reduce our spending by a noticeable amount. I now buy exactly what I need where possible, and plan the next week's meals around what I'll have left over. We never really throw anything away. As a previous poster said, frozen veg is a game changer. Massively reduces prep time as well!

But I also have things like garlic and pasta and oil and spices at home

The website that I've used to make soup has lied! I've just made the soup and portioning it out and besides the portion that I ate theres 4 portions. It's meant to make 8.

OP may I ask, which tinned tomatoes and beans do you buy? The best rated two are Cirio and Napolina but they can be more expensive. Cheaper ones seem to have a very weak juice. Napolina 60p now in Asda so not bad. Same with beans. I only buy Branston, miles better than Heinz.

Tinned tomatos
Tinned beans
Passata
Tomato puree
Sriracha sauce
Lasagna sheets
Peanut butter
Croissants
Cheese
Actimel yogurts
Milk
Chicken fajita mix - didnt buy chicken, I'm a vegetarian
Vanilla extract
Soured cream
Creme fraiche
Yogurt
Tender heart cabbage
Cauliflower
Aubergine
Carrots
Celery
Avocado
Spring onion
Sweet potato
Mixed peppers
Jubblys
Quorn mince
Frozen mango
Frozen mixed berries
Mushrooms
Cherry tomatos
Spaghetti
Red Onions

Very hard to judge without quantities and prices, but my first thought is that could be a lot of pricey veg - I get a veg box and we have only eight different items each week - three of which are carrots, potatoes and onions most weeks. So five interesting veg in our family box - you have about ten.