To not be able to food shop for cheaper?

[cheesetriangles]

I’ve tried all the supermarkets possible but can’t manage to get our weekly food shop for less than £100.

(£100 is inclusive of all food, toiletries, cleaning products, detergent, vitamins, kitchen/loo roll, tin foil etc)

It’s only two adults eating but we do have to buy some free from products in that. We don’t buy alcohol. I’ve been to all the supermarkets and just can’t do it for cheaper at any. We eat very little meat, maybe the weekly shop includes two meat products that’s it. I wish I could save on this but maybe that’s just not practical with the cost of living? AIBU?

Fruit & veg are vile from the Aldi closest to us, doesn’t last long and I always used to pick it up from the back of the shelf as it had a bit more life than what was at the front 🤣

We’re two people and 200g of mince normally makes 5 portions of spag bol (and we love our spag bol so have no self-control when it comes to portions…). Always bulk it up with onion, carrots and celery, but often add a whole packet of mushrooms and courgette as well, as they only make it tastier.

My husband can go shopping and spend between £25-30 for a week 🤣
im useless I spend £80-100 most weeks

They say 2 can live as cheaply as one. Another old saying, which is broadly true as buying smaller packs, costs more.

I expect the more there is of you, you can save more by buying bulk items that can last a lot longer, so the price works out less.

I'm widowed, youngsters grown with families of their own. I do have my grandchildren on a Saturday. More in the holidays.

I also have friends around weekly as I love to cook and bake. At least one person a week around for food and chats.

I don't skimp anymore. If I want a piece of steak, I will have it. However I don't eat much red meat anymore. I mainly eat fish and chicken.

Nor do I buy expensive stuff for the sake of it. I buy frozen veg to save on waste, use a slow cooker, etc.

My food bill is about £60 per week averaging out including household, and the rest of the food including fruit and so on

Two can't live as cheaply as one. My food bill would be less than half of what it is if it was just me. No need for smaller packs, I already cook for 4 or 6, it would just then last me longer. Or divide and freeze.

Jack Munroe recipes are generally very cheap to make and you can find lots of her recipes free online. I bought my DD one of her books for uni and she found it very useful and still uses it.

They are also usually nutritionally deficient

The recipes are a bit studenty.

And crap

A book if hers was recommended to me by someone who couldn't cook.
I wouldn't recommend her recipes.

As if the NHS isn’t skint enough.

I can’t imagine you need to buy those non-food items every week? If you do, that’s what you need to start looking at. We’re a family of 4 and I would say we buy toiletries/loo roll/cleaning products maybe once a month? Kitchen roll not even as often as that. Tin foil even less. What do you need so much kitchen roll and tin foil for? Loo roll we buy a large pack whenever we see it on a good offer - we might not need it at that point but it’s not like it goes off! Cleaning products - you may not need as much as you think. I can clean almost anything just using warm water & white vinegar and/or baking soda, or a big cheap bottle of bleach where disinfectant is needed - you don’t need a load of fancy stuff. White vinegar you can buy in bulk online. Same for laundry detergent and fabric softener - I buy in bulk online rather than from the supermarket. Usually works out quite a lot cheaper

i dont think jack munroe's recipes nutritionally deficient, i have made her kidney bean burgers, and her gigantis plakis , very tasty

Not authentic, and you'd need to buy the wine. Might taste ok though

I agree. Somebody bought me one of her books, it actually had some interesting cheap recipes in it and didn't seem "nutritionally deficient", just cheap meals made with easily bought ingredients.
Her recipes would certainly make a change from beans on toast which is what some people struggling to buy food have to eat regularly.

I spend about £50/wk for 1 adult and 2 children. I also spend about £30-40 a month at home bargains on cleaning stuff/toiletries. Have a good look in your cupboards. Are you using it all? Are you buying things you already have at home? Are you buying things like cereal bars/chocolate/bags of crisps for lunch boxes? I'd say they are luxury items and you could start there if you wanted to scrap some things from your list.

That said, if you can afford a few little luxuries, treat yourself. Don't cut out all the joy from your life for the sake of saving a few quid on snacks or the odd bottle of wine. £100/week seems like a lot to me, but it is much less than some people spend who might then spend more on meal deals at lunchtime or takeaways that they don't consider it to be a part of their weekly food shop.

£70 for everything for two adults. I rewear clothes more and launder half as much as I used to because my clothes last longer and my bills are smaller. Everything from scratch, but I don't make my own pasta. Lots of Thai curries, vegetarian, though we maybe eat meat once every 10 days apart from bacon which we buy a pack a week. There's lots of protein in rice, eggs and cheese.

£100 a month ! Wow !

Sorry, I meant week 🤭

🤣still pretty good though , well fine !

• done !!

Phew, I was wondering how you were doing it!