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?

What are you talking about many of those things are £1??
Laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, toilet roll, shampoo are all several times more than £1.

Our food shop is rarely less than £100 these days.

At the end of the day it depends if it's within your means or not.

If you're getting into debt over it then you need to look at how you can cut it further.

If you can afford it then it's just an annoying hike in the cost of living.

My budget is £60 a week for two adults including loo roll, cleaning products etc. I shop at Tesco. We eat meat normally 4 times a week, frozen fish twice and veggie/cheese/eggs once.

But I cook from scratch and I don't have to worry about Free From. Plenty of fresh fruit & veg.

Things like shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toothpaste are about a quid. Washing powder just under a fiver but lasts the two of us over six months, loo rolls about 50p each. It doesn't add up to much for us.

Honestly don’t know what people are buying to spend so much on so few people. There’s 7 of us and we spend around £140 a week in Aldi, that’s including most but not all toiletries. If I added the branded toiletries we get because we don’t rate Aldi’s version then it’s probably £160 max for 2 adults and 5 children. Unsure how some spend close to that on two people, I’m guessing it’s buying branded items or shopping anywhere other than aldi…

£140 a week is a very small amount to spend on 7 people.

Great that you can manage that, but you must be being quite careful with your budget.

Some people are less worried about budget or prioritise better quality. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Aldi, it's a great budget supermarket and some of their stuff is really good, but I wouldn't do my main shop there unless I was on a tight budget. They often don't have everything I want and some of their stuff is low quality.

I prioritise the convenience of getting everything from one place and there are other supermarkets which are just better quality on most things at the end of the day, so I shop there and pay the extra.

If I was struggling for money then I would be more careful.

I know what you mean. We’re just two adults and our bill is similar. I don’t believe the people on here who say they’re feeding a family of four for £50-60 a week. I suspect they’re missing out a lot of things such as cleaning products or living on baked beans.

Stop buying:
Vitamins - big old waste of you've got a varied diet.

Tin foil. What are you even using it for that can't be done with a tupperware tub / saucepan lid / baking tray etc ?

Kitchen roll and any cleaning product that isn't bleach/disinfectant/white vinegar/dilutable cleaner. And just use a spray bottle with some watered down version of those. For example, you can buy all purpose cleaner from Aldi for £1.05. Put maybe ½-¾ capful in a 500ml spray bottle and dilute with water. Then use cloths and muslins for cleaning, and chuck them in with the laundry.

Depends how you cook and if that is two adults and two young children or adult sized teens. Things like veggie curry and dahl are cheap. White vinegar is very cheap for cleaning.

It's not any lower quality than any other main supermarket.

Which supermarket do you shop at that's so much better?

What are you buying to be able to feed someone, keep them clean (as well as your house and clothes) for £20pp/PW?

Many things are higher quality than the comparably priced item at other supermarkets. Chocolate is excellent.

I don't spend more than £30 a year on cleaning products any more. I damp wipe dust. I buy a bottle of dettol for surfaces and zoflora and flash diluted down to spray the kitchen and loo. Clean the dishwasher with bleach and flash. Washing machine is a tablespoon of white wine vinegar after most washes.

Detergent and loo roll is bulk buyed for about £100 every two months in Costco.

@AvengedQuince @00100001 Yes I'm not denying they do have some good things, but I also find some things aren't and on balance, other supermarkets have what I want.

If you want specifics, their fruit and veg is hit and miss in my experience and there are a lot of lower quality alternatives to things you find in other supermarkets, for example I don't rate their condiments, yoghurts, soft drinks. Their main strengths IMO are snacks, alcohol and cleaning products.

Whenever I've been in I haven't been able to get everything I want so end up having to go to another supermarket anyway.

It's personal preference - I would rather pay the extra for the convenience and overall better quality of the other supermarkets I use.

Washing powder for £5 is under 40 washes.
Amazing you’re able to do only 1 wash a week, very occasionally 2, for a full family to stretch 40 washes out over a 6 month period.
Things like shampoo and conditioner aren’t £1, you’re being disingenuous.

They can be if you buy the cheapest one from the pound shop or buy a cheap brand in bulk from Amazon. But it will be the type that is mostly suitable for balding men as it will dry out your hair!

Alberto balsam shampoo and conditioners are £1 each, own brand ones are 75p each in Asda here. £1 for shampoo when on a budget is 100% realistic.

My budget is £75 a week for 2 adults and 2 children. Meal planning and batch cooking saves me money as there are no "top up" shops. Anything that can be frozen is put in the freezer to avoid waste (bread, wraps, chillis, chopped onions).
Soups can be made cheaply and are filling. I shop at either Asda or Sainsbury's.

You dont need to use the amount they say, I worked out I am using about 40%, so that's 100 washes. Shampoo and conditioner are about 85p.

Shampoo

It's not easy no.

I spend about 80 quid a week plus gousto so around 150 a week for two adults one child.

That's just Tesco.

If you have some money upfront you can save in the long term, eg we have reusable beeswax wrappers, stretchy covers for bowls of leftovers, a TON of Tupperware (ikea does a massive cheap set): haven’t used cling film or tin foil in years. Silicon baking mats instead of baking parchment. Never use kitchen towel. Solid shampoo bars last longer than liquid. Aside from nuclear Harpic tablets for the loo, one generic bottle of whatever cheap squirty cleaning spray is on offer does for anything that needs cleaning, no need for a Mrs Hinch-level supply, it’s all nonsense. Bicarbonate and half an old lemon (that you’ve already massacred for juice and zest in a recipe, don’t waste a new one) works wonders.

We also meal plan to within an inch of our lives and use everything: ends of Parmesan go in the freezer and can be chucked into soup, ditto leftover herbs, as soon as cherry tomatoes go a bit wrinkly they get roasted for a pasta sauce, vegetable tops and peelings in a Tupperware in the freezer can be used for soup, stew, stock, etc etc. We generally plan for 5 days then eke out a couple of meals a week from the leftovers, bits and bobs and freezer stuff that accumulates. This sounds a bit “Mumsnet chicken”! But basically try to do something with things before throwing them out; throwing them out is the last resort.

Toast and peanut butter, and bags of wonky apples, work out cheaper for snacks than nuts, crisps – even non-brand ones. Also arguably better for you.

They can be, if someone wants to spend less. Costco do their own brand laundry detergent even cheaper than their persil. 79p Shampoo from Aldi. You can get a panten dupe for £1.49. It's out there.

I find I save loads shopping online. It gives me chance to review what I’ve bought and either swap for a cheaper item, bin off completely or just check what I’ve already got in the cupboards. Occasionally I will do identical online baskets across Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Aldi to see which option is the cheapest that particular week. You do lose the opportunity for ‘yellow sticker’ items but I’ve found I can’t physically be in the shop at the best times for those nowadays anyway.

Two adults, primary child, one cat and we spend £70-100 per week including lunches. Cleaning/toiletries/vitamins aren’t needed every single week and I’m more likely to stock up at home bargins/savers on any branded stuff.

Very confident that's a mistake anf it's a week.