weekly food shop cost saving to offset higher mortgage

[concernedalot]

I've just had a new quote for my mortgage which has gone up by £190 per month - so i'm looking at cutting back on food costs. I currently mainly shop at Morrisons and do an occasional top up at Tesco. on average I am paying about 670 for monthly food and wine, which based on a 4 week month is costing me about 167.50 per week. I'm a single parent with 1 hungry teenager. I need to get these costs down to around 120 per week so am planning on generally being more frugal, cooking from scratch, and probably shopping mainly at Aldi. Is this doable do you think?

What do you spend on average per week for a 2 person household and do you have any tips on how I could get the cost down please? I know a lot of us are in a difficult position right now, but was hoping for some inspiration that i'm not facing a disaster with my increased mortgage and of course, the dreaded fuel bills. Thankyou

I'd heard Morrisons is getting more expensive, but also thought that all the other shops had gone up too. I only go there because I know the store like the back of my hand and it's handier for me.

I used to drink wine a couple of nights a week. Now I treat myself to one or two mini bottles of the good stuff on a Saturday night. Feel healthier and saved a packed. I managed it by keeping a list of how much I saved not drinking! Also wrote down the calories saved and had the odd hot chocolate to keep cravings low.

Meal planning is essential. I online shop and click and collect. Even though I pay for the service it saves a packet because its easier to plan online rather than doing it using a list and a trolley.

maybe try tinned cat food which can be kept in the fridge?

Single parent with 2 teens (3 when eldest come home from Uni) probably average £80 a week including food for 5 cats - one of which only eats wet food - carefully shop buying offers and own brand - also lots of frozen staples to avoid waste

Apparently cat pates can be frozen (absolutely check packaging for thet) so that can help store rest of the packaging better for example. But yeah, it's tough later on. We used to dilute pouches bit more with water for our elderly cat because it made it easier to go down for him.

So it's you you need to save😁 can you post some example reciepts?

Jesus Christ, is the cat getting a salmon fillet and a few glasses of champers at every meal? That's a crazy amount to be spending on 2 humans and a cat!!

I live with my teen son and do all meals for under £100. That includes steak once a week too.

Cost your meals out and work out if you can make them cheaper. For example one pack of frozen prawns is cheaper than fresh and you get more by weight sort of thing. My weekend meals generally cost more and/or are more time consuming than weekday recipes.

If you want to be even more frugal shop at 2 supermarkets. There are lots of apps where you can compare prices.

If your son is as snacky as mine tell him to make a list before you shop and don't buy top up snacks. Mine would happily eat snacks rather than meals as if he were a toddler.

Does your teen like brands? My ds uses Aldi dupes for lynx shower gel which is the sort of thing that helps. He was using ketchup the other day and has just noticed after many years that our ketchup is Aldi Bramwells rather than Heinz. There are some copies that he doesn't rate eg Aldi Doritos but he only gets them if they are on offer at another supermarket.

We spend about £80 a week on food and that includes wine. This is from Lidl's. If you use the app you can get £2 off and various vouchers for % off items.
Can you throw bread at your teenager, like you do to ducks? Just a thought 🤷🏼‍♀️

Now there's an idea!! 😂

£60 per week for four (kids 5 and 9). That includes toiletries and cleaning though we may spend another tenner on top up bits or in home bargains

Fortunately he's not too fussy. Sounds like you manage your money well, grateful for all the tips thankyou!

Haha no, that's just me. I'm aware it's too much, which is why i'm having to pull my belt in. I don't have a social life, rarely buy clothes, don't go on holidays so figured that as long as I was within my budget I can buy what I want from a supermarket. Obviously now this is no longer the case sadly.

If you have Facebook there's a group called Feed your family for about£20 a week, loads of good articles, recipes and tips

We feed 4 for around £70 per week with 1 bottle of wine and some ice cream and sweets. Dog food too. Meal planning is your friend!

Very easily done. I'm on disability benefits and have 3 dc one with a medical diet and 2 with AFRID. I have to stick to £40-45 a week which also includes toiletries, cleaning etc.
I meal plan every meal, shop on line because I can stick to my budget, I bulk buy when on offer, batch cook, use lots of frozen vegetables as less waste. Buy regular used products before I run out so I can buy the cheapest brand and won't have lots of essentials to buy in one go. I have lots of boxes to freeze meals in (some are one portion size others family size). Buy fruit/vegetables that's on offer. Have set recipes that we repeat about fortnightly. Have one/two main meals that are super cheap eg beans/egg on toast.

How much do you spend on wine? I’d imagine you could cut that in half and make a huge dent.

I spend about £120 a week for 4 or 5 people
takeaways are an expense we need to cut back on

That's something I was considering, doing an online shop so I can see it adding up as I go along. Okay so it's a fiver for delivery (not sure about click and collect) but i'd probably save more by seeing what i'm buying on the screen rather than getting a nasty suprise at the end. I'll try and cut back on the wine too!

Things that help:

• Do a big joint on Sundays and then plan at least one or two meals around the leftovers. I know the mumsnet rubber chicken is a running joke but it really is worth buying a larger bit of meat just to use the leftovers. In general the smaller the bit of meat the higher the price by weight.
• If you do this don't fuck around and convince yourself you'll sort the leftovers later in the week. This is a lie; you will either eat the cold meat as snacks or you'll chuck it out five days later. You need to force yourself to move when you really don't want to and sort them Sunday evening. Cottage/shepherds pie mix cooks down beautifully in the slow cooker, and if you do extra mash that's sorted and in the fridge for a dinner midweek. We had a massive chicken yesterday and there is now chicken pasta, coronation chicken and chicken soup being stored for later meals. You will absolutely hate yourself on Sunday evenings and the kitchen will look like a bomb hit it but it is so worth it.
• Get a milkman. Yes the cost of milk is higher but you will save on all the impulse purchases you make when you just nip in for milk. They also do eggs and bread which likewise.
• We've got a local fruit and veg shop which does weekend boxes. Unlike the fancy ones they're priced between £10-£20, don't require a subscription and they're massive. On Friday I take a good look at the fridge and freezer and unless we need a big shop get one instead. I pass on the bits we don't use to family and it works out much less than a big shop.
• Don't buy long-dated things as you need them. I do a run every couple of months to B&M or Home Bargains for All The Toothpaste and another to Aldi for fabric conditioner and washing liquid. Neither has everything I need but for those bits its worth it.
• Cut waste. Of everything. Bread puddings, rice puddings, egg custard, banana bread, fruit crumbles/cobblers/clafoutis all use up leftover stuff that's about to go off but can also be bunged at the bottom of an oven which is on anyway and mostly take about five minutes to pull together. Make them yourself amd they can be pretty low sugar. Work as snacks, dessert and in some cases breakfast. If the big oven is on it should, as much as possible, be full. Don't waste gas on a half empty oven.

Thankyou, i'll take a look!

jacket potatoes and omelettes make good, filling cheap evening meals to swap in for a pricier one you may make at the moment. Don’t make the mistake of trying to jazz them up loads with bacon or cheese or chilli as it defeats the point: lots of butter and salt and pepper is delicious and mushrooms and onions works for omelettes.

frozen peas, spinach and green beans reduce waste for us. Cabbages, broccoli and courgettes last quite a long time in the salad drawer.

You know what makes omlettes amazing? A tiny bit of jarred garlic.

Jesus christ.. thats alot of money. I am a 2 person household, me and dd - still in primary school.

I swapped to aldi about 3 years ago. I save a fortune.sometimes I buy bits & pieces out of morrisions but not often.

I spend anywhere between £40 & £70 a week depending on what I have ran out of and how much toiletrie/Cleaning products I need.

I like to cook double portions so I am then freezing 2 portions.

Things like wraps/pittas/rolls/pancakes/tattie scones/bread - I freeze them all because otherwise they go out of date and go to waste. I cut up Baking paper and layer the items up in a tub/freezer bag so I just pick 2 of something out my freezer as I need it. Same with chicken breasts/chicken burgers etc - I use 2, freeze 2.
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My tip would be go and do a big shop stocking your cupboards/freezer/fridge/cleaning & toiletries then from the following week keep a grocery list in your phone and as you are running out of things add it to your list.

And freeze as much as you can, including portions of soup,spag bol,mince,stew,curry etc.

Family of 4, kids are 5 and 7 though not teens. We do have a cat but she’s not a big or fussy eater thankfully.

We spend approximately £80 a week at lidl and then often a top up of £20 ish usually at Morrison’s on a weekend of bits I can’t get at lidl and extra treats such as a steak, or ready meals or deli treats. We could definitely cut that part out though if we needed to!

We do buy alcohol but we aren’t big drinkers. maybe share a bottle of wine on a weekend or DH will have a couple of beers and me a couple of g&ts. DH and I eat vast majority of lunches and dinners at home. probably once or twice a month we get takeaway or go out for dinner. Kids get school dinners.

Morrisons is the supermarket nearest to me but since I've been trying to cut down I drive past it to Aldi and it has saved me a lot. I must admit I don't buy any alcohol and I don't really know how much I spend per week but it's a lot less than you and much less than it used to be. Since recently cutting down I'll make sure I have at least one cheap meal per week as a PP suggested so tomorrow's meal is Aldi beans on toast.

I tend to cook from scratch but nothing too difficult. A whole Aldi chicken or lean mince (spaghetti Bol, cottage pie, lasagne) are really good value. I've cut down a lot on snacks as I think I was spending as much on them as "proper" food. It's early days for me but I'm trying really hard and won't be going back to my old ways. Best of luck OP.

We spend that for 6 of us so definitely doable. Also work checking out food apps like Olio and To Good to Ho, good for your pocket and the environment 😁

There's 5 of us and a dog we spend about £120 a week (was £80 before the cost of living crisis) mixture of tesco and iceland