Excuse me but HOW is this a £28 shop???

[PeachesoutinGeorgia]

I bought like 8 items … in ASDA? And I spent £18 on fruit and eggs in M&S shortly before which will probably last about 3 days.

Granted it’s a nice establishment but fruit elsewhere is shockingly bad and you pay like 80% of the price anyway so you may as well get the nice stuff.

Regardless £46 for a couple of days and I didn’t even get anything for me. I probably just won’t eat to be honest, maybe have some leftover egg bites and nuggets.

Literally, how are you all doing out there?

Bought 24 Wheat Bisks in Asda last week . They're Asda own but made by Weetabix . Ingredients and nutrition the same apart from the odd gram. This is just one of thousands of products .

Wheat Bisks ~ £1
Weetabix ~ £3,.50

I'm not sure why you think it's a fair comparison when they have two more human beings to feed and shop for than you do?

It's worth remembering that a lot of brands like Bird's Eye and Heinz perform poorly for taste in blind tests.

I also read that BE fish fingers had less fish in than some supermarket fish fingers so its really not the case that brands are better especially considering the price. So it's not even 'trading down' to buy own brand.

@RudsyFarmer well it was very busy here yesterday. I really think this depends on what you buy- I did my shop there last week split with M&S and spent £86 - it was 2 of us plus 2 extra guests on Saturday and Sunday - I had 3 bags of shopping too - I don't buy snacks, cakes and didn't need loo roll or any toiletries this week - if I had kids still at home or loads of 'snackers' I probably couldn't shop there either to be honest- but I don't- so I do.

@BarbaraofSeville the best fish fingers bar none (and I love fish fingers) are M&S gluten free (freezer section) - much more fish, less crumb. Around £3 for 9

I don't have a full list of what you've bought, but here's some comparisons for you, to give you an idea:

Cushelle Quilted Tubeless Toilet Tissue 4 pack
£4.25
(Marketed as so big they are like 6 rolls)

ASDA Shades Quilted Double Roll Toilet Tissue 4 pack
£3.55
(Marketed as so big they are like 8 rolls)

There are cheaper options available than the Asda Shades above, but this is the most comparible product. That alone would be a 65p saving on one item. Is your bottom that sensitive? Can you really tell the difference?

Frylight 1 Cal Garlic Oil Cooking Spray
190ml (92.1p/100ml)
£1.75

ASDA Sunflower Oil Spray
200ml (80.0p/100ml)
£1.60

ASDA Sunflower Oil
1l (21.5p/100ml)
£2.15

Why the fuck does anyone buy spray oil? If you bought the same quantity of the spray oil as one bottle of normal oil you'd be spending £8. Can you image buying an £8 bottle of sunflower oil??!

Is that Birds Eye 44 Chicken Nuggets with Golden Wholegrain?
695g £5.50 (£7.91/kg)

Deli Cuisine Breaded Chicken Bites
1kg £4.95(£4.95/kg)

ASDA 38 Breaded Chicken Nuggets
670g £2.75(£4.10/kg)

You are paying HOW much more?

I don't buy brands. Its just not worth it. That doesn't mean I buy the cheapest available alternative. There are a variety of levels of product. So yeah, Asda's premium range might be more expensive than its economy one, but it'll still be masses cheaper than the branded alternative. And you can't tell the difference.

Think about this on every shop and every micro shop. The difference is enormous. I genuinely don't know how anyone affords some of the branded stuff.

There's only a few things, I won't switch. Most things there are very little difference for - or if you can notice a difference you very quickly get used to it.

And how many meals do you think that is?

I was going to say, I thought if you were shop savvie you could take about a tenner off that shop - and probably walk out with more stuff for that money too.

Even if you go mid range own brand, you'd still save.

Or Aldi alternatives:

Cushelle Quilted Tubeless Toilet Tissue 4 pack
£4.25
(Marketed as so big they are like 6 rolls)

Saxon Softer Luxury Toilet Tissue 9 Pack
£3.25

Solesta Sunflower Spray Light
190ml
£1.49

Roosters Chicken Nuggets
450g/30 Pack
£1.55 (£3.44 per kg)

I'm in the US, my household is me and my 15 year old, 5 pound cat! My food budget used to be $6 a day = $180 a month. I spent another $40-45 on paper goods, cat foods, cat litter, cleaning supplies, etc. What was $225 is now at least $125 more. I shop mainly at Walmart, Aldi, Sams Club. I have quite a few items on monthly subscription via Amazon. I buy many items in bulk that last me several months.

I didn't get any new clothing this Summer. I did buy two new coats in June for the coming Winter because they had a 90% discount.

I am much more selective in what I purchase now.

That's all branded stuff. Branded toilet roll too 😱.

I only go to asda maybe once or twice a year, it never seems cheap to me.

If two adults and two cats cost £100 then two toddlers are not going to cost another £140, more like £50.

I'd say more than the OP got.

M&S fresh veg is usually the cheapest round here, definitely cheaper than Aldi / Lidl / Iceland etc, and excellent quality so it lasts well and is a pleasure to eat.

Maybe buy more fresh food from M&S and cut out buying junk food from Asda?

More broadly though, yes, the amount we spend on food has rocketed and we are definitely in the “just about managing” category despite 2 full time professional wages coming in to the household).

I spend £150 a week and don’t buy any branded food items except bread. It’s all meat, fish, pulses, cheese, veg, fruit, grains, nuts, yogurt. A bit of ham and supermarket brand potato waffles for the kids as a treat, maybe a pizza and one packet of biscuits for them too.

Having asked around to see if this insane amount of spending is normal, I’ve gathered that it’s not - because other people live on cheap carbs. Cereal for breakfast, sandwich or beans on toast for lunch, pasta etc for dinner, a chocolate biscuit afterwards. Whereas I’m having poached eggs with watercress salad, or oats with walnuts and yogurt, salmon salad, roast chicken with broccoli, strawberries and blueberries, apples with almond butter, etc. All unbranded but not cheap.

I suppose I could massively reduce my shopping bill if I switched to an unhealthy diet based on cheap carbs, but if I can stretch to proper food then obviously I will. So I don’t think you can really compare your bill with someone else unless they eat the same sort of food as you.

There is a reason why Aldi is doing so well. They are massively cheaper and their food is fine, in fact many of their things are better. Buying brands is just daft, especially if you dont have much money. The only thing I buy brand name is DD's hair stuff as it is the only stuff that works on her hair, and branston beans. Oh and schweppes tonic as I cannot bear any other stuff but given that I buy a bottle of gin maybe once a year, hardly a huge outlay!

Yes everything is more expensive but when you could get LOADS more food with your thirty quid than what you have there with a bit of thought and common sense.

Re. buying cheaper brands - Check the labels! It’s often cheaper because it’s full of fillers instead of real food. I’ve noticed that cheap soup often contains more carbs because it’s bulked out with potato. Cheap sausages are bulked out with wheat so they have more carbs, less meat and less protein. Cheap chicken is often injected with water to make it heavier, so it releases a lot of water when cooked. Cheap fruit and veg often goes bad quickly. Of course there is some good stuff that’s affordable, but you really have to be picky.

You will notice this a lot more if you have food allergies. Because for example Heinz beans are wheat free but a cheaper brand isn’t, because they’ve bulked it out with wheat to save money.

Also, can someone explain branded loo roll to me?

My boss insists that she only buys Andrex but cant say why just that she will only buy that. The way I see it, you are wiping literal shit with it and then flushing it away, so what difference does it make?! I dont buy economy loo roll just because roll by roll it can actually cost slightly more as the rolls dont have as much on them as the standard own brand ones, but apart from that its cheap and cheerful all the way here!

Exactly this.
Don't want to invalidate you, OP, but I think the difference in price between non branded (including the bottom value range) is quite big.
I hardly ever buy branded though so wouldn't know exactly.

Child's Farm is expensive

@WearyDeary
We're averaging £240 a week at the supermarket for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 toddlers) and 2 cats
There is no need for that amount for your family. You shopping in waitrose? Over £30 per day? that could easily be cut.

60 rolls of loo roll in Tiktok shop for £20, good quality no need for exorbitant andrex etc

Fry lite is shite.

I had a weeks food shop delivered last Friday from Asda that included a whole chicken, mince, sausages, chicken breasts, fruit, veg, loo roll x 9 and also some crisps and biscuits as well as hummus and breadsticks and it was £82 so not quite sure how you managed this. Yes, food is expensive now but I am averaging £100 p/w for 2 adults and a teen who eats like one.

Cut out the processed stuff and buy actual fruit at Aldi.