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

£50 a week here. Just me and 11 yo DS who eats like a horse. I spend a tenner at the weekend on wine and once a month need to spend a bit extra on cleaning products and washing power etc.

I do some batch cooking which helps so for example a large portion of mince then bulked out with veg and sometimes lentils will give you the base for spag bol or chilli and I can make at least six reasonable portions from that. I buy a whole chicken every week (I realise that Aldi chickens are cheap and probably not the best quality) but we get a Sunday roast plus a chicken pie and a curry out of it. Just a few ideas. I don't buy branded aside from baked beans. I really do think you can cut a considerable chunk off your bill.

My weekly shop for 2 adults and 2 kids is c £80 a week. Used to be £55- 60. It includes all food for breakfast, lunch (adults only as kids eat at school) dinner and snacks. Also includes toiletries and cleaning products but no booze. I batch cook so try to buy stuff on offer to make multiple portions and keep a chest freezer stocked.
I try to plan my purchases so every week buy fresh fruit, veg, salad and bread/milk. Then week 1 also buy any meat on offer to fill freezer. Week 2 stock up store cupboard and freezer (tins of beans, oven chips, any veg on offer to be prepped and frozen, dried lentils etc) week 3 toiletries & cleaning products, week 4 any odds and ends running low. Means average cost across weeks is fairly similar.
We have on average 2 meat free meals a week often more. One of those meals will be super cheap savoury rice, beans on toast, something with eggs etc.
I bake a lot with kids so make our own snacks. Buy from a meal plan/list every week so have no food waste. We're lucky that we're happy to keep extra portion for next days lunch etc.

Meal plan and make a list for what you need and that's it. You can make snacks for a lot cheaper too, e.g flapjacks etc.

We are a family of 5 (some days 6) 2 adults, 3 teens (2 very sporty so starving!) and 1 child and a dog. And we can do a food shop inc all toiletries, alcohol etc for £500-£600 a month and that includes weekly top ups for fresh stuff.

We cook 90% from scratch, we cook extra and freeze so some days we have stuff ready so we don't eat rubbish; or order food. I make alot of snacks/bake things as well.

This is probably to the extreme end to what you are used to, but we haven't always done it, and it's not been easy but it has been very good for us as family both health wise and budget wise!

We use Costco (bulk buying certain things saves alot!), Aldi, sains/Asda/Morrisons for anything branded we like, a local farm style shop.