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 tend to meal plan & then shop in aldi with a strict list.
I understand the want for wine on your list (hence the username!) But some of the cheaper ones in aldi are fab.

Or what I also do is keep an eye out for the deals. Tesco, asda & sainsburys quite regularly have an offer of 25% off if you buy six bottles. When I see the deal in my local tesco I'll stock up. It's especially good if you find a bottle that's already discounted, then you still get the 25% on top of that as well

I will check this out! Thank you!

I'm a single parent with a hollow-legged 14yo boy. I spend between £45 and £50 a week on food. I mostly cook from scratch. This week's shop was:

4pts milk
2 large loaves wholemeal
2 Chicken breasts
Large trout
1lb butcher's sausages
1lb pork & £2 chorizo for cassoulet
600g pack of squid
2 x frozen pizza, some sausage rolls, garlic bread
£10 assorted veg
£2.50 assorted tins
6 eggs
250g cheese, 250g butter, creme fraiche, pate,
a few other bits - flour, rice, peanut butter, herbs, oven chips

I don't buy alcohol and we don't have a cat, but I think you have plenty of margin to work with. 🙂

Lol now I feel bad about our 110 average for 2😂

I tried it when out of onions one day. Absolutely amazing and never going back.

You could definitely get that bill down by shopping at Aldi or Lidl, without compromising on what you buy.

We are two adults and a teenager. We always have at least a few bottles of wine and some beer (and the odd bottle of gin!) in the weekly shopping trolley, along with cleaning products, toiletries and treats. And the trolley always contains plenty of fresh fruit and veg, meat and fish.

Weekly average £120ish

Yes, you can definitely reduce your shopping bill by about half quite easily! Shopping at Aldi or Lidl will help, as will making a meal plan and shopping accordingly.
I paid £68 yesterday for a week's shop for 3 adults, that included 2 bottles of wine, and enough meat for at least for 4 days of meals ( would have been cheaper if we were veggie).

I have a 21 year old cat with kidney disease, I get her renal diet biscuits which she likes (always offer lots of water with dry food) I get it from Zooplus (online), there are a couple of brands that offer small bags. Much more economic, might be worth a try?

Also for meals I use cheap meat cuts and slow cook them (ox cheek, beef short rib, shoulder pork and lamb, beef brisket, chicken thigh and drumsticks). Often you get the short dated items in supermarkets if you have the time for regular shops - buy what's freezable and plan the following week around what you have bought. Wind is available at c. £5 a bottle, it's worth searching the offers first, and maybe go for 6 for the price of 5 every few weeks rather than paying for full price.

2 adults and a toddler who has a huge appetite, plus two cats here.

I spend £500 per month on food, cat food, cat litter and takeaways/lunch out. Typically a weekly shop is £40-50.

Thanks for this! Which aldi wines do you recommend please? I'm normally a dry white wine drinker Pinot or Sauvignon Blanc. I'm off to Aldi tomorrow with my strict list!

I am a single parent to a primary school child and I was spending about £800 a month! Have cut back to around £600-650 now

Thankyou all so much with your replies, it's a relief tbh, I just need to be more savvy with my food spend and i'm going to survive! phew! thanks for the tips too, i've read every one of them

Aldi has a few drinkable whites - they used to have an organic pinot Grigio for £5.49 but I haven’t seen it recently. They have plenty of Sauvignon as well.

Treat yourself to a tasting evening, they are not the cheap acidic headache inducing wines of yore!

yep i second Zooplus my cat has urinary stones and has a special diet and its so nice and easier to order every 6 weeks

im a Aldi convert for the main shop but shop in a few places but you need the time and will to do it

am i the only one that finds Tesco expensive i cant understand why they are so popular

We've switched from local Tesco to Aldi for the bulk of our shop. DH reckons its much cheaper. I've also noticed that large Asda ( which would be a longer trip) has loads of herbs and spices that are cheaper and look fresher than the tiny £2 glass bottles in our local supermarket. I've been meaning to look into this. They also had large bags of rice, which would be cheaper, but more expensive up front.

Has anyone tried out any of these eco refill products that are springing up? I'm thinking once you've got the glass bottles it might be cheaper to refill.. plus there's the plastic issue. Do they really work out cheaper.

I've had a couple of nice sauvignon blancs from there. Sorry I can't remember the name, I only know them by sight! But there's one with I think a silver criss cross pattern on the label that's nice. I tend to aim for the mid price, round about £5-6 a bottle. Lovely malbec as well

Our budget for 4 of us is £450 a month.

I'm on my own but come in under £35, some weeks less. However, I'm very boring as I don't drink or eat meat/fish. I generally shop at Tesco, used to go to Morrisons but its so expensive these days.

Two adults and I shop at Tesco. If we are eating well with treats its it's around £70 a week. If I'm being frugal and aiming low I can do it for £40.

Wow that's a hell of a lot!

We are four plus cat and it's 115/130 max.

Do you use ocado?
Or on line shopping?

Sometime it's actually not cheeper cooking from scratch

That's 50% more than my budget for a family of 6, 4 of whom eat adult portions!

I would ditch Morrisons for a start, it's extortionate. I find Sainsbury's the best balance of value to quality. They price match Aldi on so much, and a lot of Aldi stuff is not at all cheap anymore.

I would also suggest rigorously meal planning, to include lunches and make the best use of leftovers. Don't buy excessive alcohol, fizzy drinks etc: it's a waste of money.

Personally, I would find £50 per week a generous budget to feed 2. Yes that's at current prices. 10 years ago I could feed 4 of us on that though...

£80-100 max a week, mostly at Lidl. Even if I do the odd Sainsburys or Tesco for delivery I would struggle to get above £100. That’s 2 adults, 2 kids sometimes 3. No pets, not much alcohol apart from perhaps a few beers for DH sometimes. We do cook most things from scratch.

Btw I don't feel like we scrimp at all on food , often good flash sales in ocado.

In fact I was wondering where I could cut back!

£80 for a family of five here (three small children).

i bought five days worth of shopping yesterday for £53. This included (I'll be as accurate as I can):

• Mince
• Meatballs
• 4 chicken breasts
• four cans of baked beans
• jacket potatoes
• grapes
• apples
• potatoes
• 2x frube style yogurts
• Egg
• butter
• milk
• 5x packs of biscuits
• brioche
• rice
• spaghetti
• one pack of mini iced gems and those chocolate animal biscuits
• cheddar
• cheese strings
• 5 large packs of crisps/prawn crackers/popcorn

we already had some bits in - fresh and frozen veg and a few other things, plus I forgot noodles!