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?

Two adults here. I can feed us both well for around £70 a week if necessary (I participated in a community competition to find ways of cutting costs). That includes protein and fresh fruit and veg.

Just to give you an idea, breakfast is porridge made with milk or water and some seasonal fruit — I like pear. Less than a £1 for two people and it makes plenty. Lunch: baked potato and cheese or beans with a homemade coleslaw. £3.50 max for two. Dinner might be dhal and rice with Indian spiced greens (batch cook and freeze the dhal and it works out at maybe £1.50 for two). You can make great soup with lentils and veg and if you make a large batch and freeze each bowl will come in at 50p. Serve with cheese on toast. Bacon (two rashers) of bacon and 2 eggs each with toast. Omelette with baked potato.

The BBC has a budget meal plan here:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/budget-family-meal-plan

Even if you spend £75 (more than £10 a day for two of you) that means you have £25 left for loo paper, deodorant, cleaning stuff, toothpaste, tinfoil. It's plenty. And probably by week 4 you can afford £25-quid's worth of treats.

There are a lot of products that happen to be free from stuff that can be bought. The actual free-from ranges tend to have a bit of a price mark up. But yes you could definitely eat for under £50 per person a week. Aldi or Lidl are the way forward for most things.

Really it depends on what you're buying. In our household we have 2 adults, a 9 yo and a 2yo, our weekly shop averages under £100 and and we eat quite a bit of meat etc as I make cooked food for lunches for myself and my husband. Really you might want to look at how you're eating. Do you buy alot of prepacked food rather than cooking from scratch or buy alot of snacks? Are there some items you could maybe buy in bulk?

We do four (two adults and two children) for around £100 a week. Yours seems a bit high, but free from costs a lot.

I will only buy frozen fish though the cost of fish is just a crime!

If you think the price you pay for fishermen risking their lives is too expensive, nobody's stopping you going out to sea yourself and catching your own fish for nothing.

Family of five here...£100 for two people is a LOT. I could do that for us, in Aldi, no difficulties. It's about £120 for the five of us in a week WITH treat 'extras", without, it would maybe be 80 or 90.

Just to say (we have both oat and soya milk) I believe Aldi is cheapest for both x

Genuine question but what do people use kitchen roll for? I have never bought it in my life and honestly don’t know what it does that a cloth doesn’t.

Switching to a few reusable items may have a higher initial outlay but saves loads in the long run.

I spend about £100 a week for 4 of us and 6 cats! I do an online shop (current delivery £58) - and then top up on things like eggs, bread and stuff

This includes shower gel but not hair stuff (we buy our own - older kids) and I only buy limited snacks (2 6 packs of crisps and some penguins etc) but it's doable - I buy own brand/on offer stuff usually - Morrisons savers laundry liquid, for example is less than £2 - lasts over a week. I have a lot of frozen veg rather than fresh and buy the cheapest of the basics (toilet roll etc). I'd recommend Branstons beans by the way - half the price of Heinz and much nicer.

Two adults and one kid. I am gluten free but typically just buy stuff that is naturally gluten free rather than free-from versions.

We spend £70-£100 a week, which includes dishwasher tablets, bin liners, etc. I don’t use foil, cling film or kitchen roll.

We buy 6kg bags of rice and pasta as its much much cheaper long term and are good basics for cheap filling meals.

Do you need the vitamins? (Have been diagnosed with a deficiency)
Do you need the free from? Could you buy things that are naturally free from.
Have you checked your brand's (bearing in mind some brands save you money over value)

A really easy way to cut down is cleaning products - most people own a shedload of different products and they really all do the same basic thing which you can use any unbranded multi-purpose cleaner for. Ditto clothes washing - I stopped using fabric conditioner years ago and don't notice the difference. Use half of the detergent that the manufacturers say - powder is cheaper and better for your machine.
Do you really need vitamins? Most people shouldn't if they're eating a reasonable diet with enough veg. Green veg is cheap and dark green has the most vit c in.
Try and avoid out of season produce, buy what's in season and on offer.
You've already said you have cheap meals regularly - jacket potatoes, beans on toast etc.
Alternatives to meat - bean chilli, home made hummous, lentils for soup and curries.
Do you buy snacks and pop? These add up and aren't essential.
I know you haven't posted a shopping receipt yet but keep them and analyse your spending categories.

I often wonder why people say their weekly shop includes "cleaning products, toiletries, detergent" - we are a family of five and I clean a good deal, yet I buy a bottle of bathroom or kitchen cleaner about once every few months for about £1. I buy big box powders and a £13 one will last 3-4 months; I never buy kitchen roll or wipes (use cleaning cloths, greener and cheaper (like, free); and a family generic bottle of head and shoulders seems to last a month as well. So in total that cannot be more than about a couple of quid a week, if that.

Anyway OP I agree that without knowing in detail what you buy, it's hard to really help. But I would look at:

• ready made meals esp if fresh (frozen a lot cheaper)
• snacks like things from the deli, fancy crisps
• anything branded (if I was able to buy unbranded washing powder it would be even cheaper)
• expensive cuts eg chicken thighs cheaper than chicken breasts and tastier
• check what is in the freezer - how about a weekly "eat-up tea" where you make something from the frozen options
• frozen veg and frozen fruit too if you buy a lot of things like berries. Broccoli when frozen means none is wasted

You can get a years supply of Vitamin B Complex off Amazon for £12.95 which is way cheaper than buying Seven Seas or whatever in the shops.
Do you need to buy cleaning products or toiletries every week? Have you actually checked your cupboards to see what you have? Don't buy anything new until your cupboards are empty - we now have space and have reduced the variety of cleaning products as many can be used all over the place - you don't need separate ones for kitchen and bathroom for example.
Dig out all your Christmas gift sets and use those. I love it when given these as presents - just now opened the last of my favourite moisturisers which will see me into the new year when hopefully I'll be using this years gifts which are usually far nicer than the shower gels I buy.

Are you in the position to buy in bulk and freeze? I am in a household of two and we spend about £50 on average each week. All of our toiletries and cleaning products get bought on a subscription service and delivered to our door (who gives a crap and Smol) we also buy our meat in bulk from online butchers.

Have you tried your local market for veg? A local butcher might also be cheaper. Cleaning stuff try Amazon

Are all of the toiletries necessary?

The household products? I use white vinegar and isopropyl alchohol for nearly all cleaning; a tiny bit of bleach in the bathroom and the kitchen sink. Fairly liquid to clean bathtub, etc. Bicarb of soda to scrub. Hot water is key for cleaning, more than the products.

We don't buy wipes, disposable dusters/floor sweepers or any of that. Use old rags until they squeal. In a pinch, salt and bicarb can sub in dishwasher.

Sugary drinks are an easy item to cut out, as are most packaged foods.

There is a ploy called "eat off your hump" meaning for a week or so, eat up everything in the freezer/cupboard, whether it makes for a weird meal or not. Don't shop, make do with what you have. It allows you to skip at least one expenditure and develop a little cushion. May not be to everyone's liking but for a week, they'll survive.

We do £100 a week, for 4 adults one child, 2 cats and a dog. That includes cleaning products and toiletries:) It can be done. Post a receipt here and I am sure people could help :)

Which would be so very "mic drop" if the fishermen were actually the ones receiving the money from the mark up on fish, rather than supermarkets, fish packing corporations etc. Pretty sure the poor bastards going out to sea aren't being paid much at all and I'm confident they don't get paid more if the fish is refrigerated rather than frozen by the packing company. 🙄

OP I don't think you can get your spend down by much if you're coeliac, the Free From stuff is a total bastard of a price. I am dairy free and have to use some FF food so ours is higher than I'd like, but if I had to buy all the bread, pasta etc from FF aisle I'd be bankrupt.

Why are you buying vitamins? No one needs those except Vit D which is dirt cheap and you won't buy them weekly.

The main point is- why is £400 a month beyond your budget?
What else is taking up your income?

Two adults, both working.

What is your expenditure for everything else?
Food's just part of it.

Fuel?
Rent/ mortgage?
Utilities?
Insurance?
Council tax?
Loans?
Subscriptions for media/ telly stuff?
Eating out?
Gym?

@NoGNoDNoClue If you need B12 it's on prescription or by injections from your GP.

It's not something you need to buy and self medicate with.

How does it help your diarrhea?

Another thing: Several years ago I invested 20 quid in a set of glass storage containers with fitted lids.

Since then I have not purchased tin foil or plastic bags. I use the glass containers (or even washed, empty jars from food purchases) to store leftovers or other items in the fridge. It's a bit more faff but where there is a will, there's a way, and it makes me feel good not to use up and throw away the planet's resources.

I do keep a roll of parchment paper on hand and use it very sparingly; mainly when the mess would use lots of water, such as when cooking a lot of bacon in the oven. Have lots of old beat-up tea towels so rarely use kitchen roll.

A jar of coconut oil can suffice for everything from face creme and hair conditioner to oil for squeaky doors to furniture polish. It doesn't go rancid so is a very good multi-purpose oil to have on hand, rather than buying an area of products from WD40 to makeup remover.

Cut out a lot of carbs like bagels, cakes, breads, biscuits, etc.; we have one loaf of whole-grain bread on hand and that has to do for sandwiches, accompaniment to spaghetti, a "roll" for a burger or whatnot. No more throwing away stale breads or finding them spoiled in the freezer.

Mushrooms make a "meaty" substitute or beef, pork and poultry. With a jacket potato and a salad, quite filling.

Same for olives; one of our favorite light meals is a sort of open cheese toastie made by heaping chopped or sliced green (stuffed) olives beneath the cheese before putting under the grill (sans a top piece of bread) until the cheese bubbles; it's a hearty meal with soup, salad or crudite.

that sounds really cheap to me, we are two adults in our 30s living in the midlands and spend £1000-£1200 a month on food, of which about £800 is the grocery shop (Ocado and we buy organic).

While we could make it cheaper, I don't think we could make it much below £100 a week.