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Original poster

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

189 replies

PeachesoutinGeorgia · 31/08/2023 18:32

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?

Excuse me but HOW is this a £28 shop???
OP posts:
KleineDracheKokosnuss · 01/09/2023 11:02

Sirzy · 31/08/2023 19:21

if you are wanting to spend less then like others have said stop with the premium brands and rethink how you do things.

instead of fry light you could get a cheap spray bottle and fill it with olive oil and that alone will work out a lot cheaper.

We do this - keep refilling the old spraylite bottle with olive oil from Aldi. Much cheaper and works just fine.

OP you need to use the discount supermarkets and switch to unbranded. The quality is fine.

my personal shocker was Branston Beans. I remember a few years back they were 45p a tin if you bought a 4-pack. I bought a 4-pack the other day and it was £3.20.

BarbaraofSeville · 01/09/2023 11:03

Beans, soup and ketchup is another good shout from M&S. All perfectly decent and a fraction of the price of Heinz products.

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 01/09/2023 11:04

Also if anyone has BenefitsHub through work- you can get reloadable gift cards for the main supermarkets. You load them up but at a discount (eg my M&S card gets 7% discount). You then do a shop, load the card at the till with the right amount (but paying less than the face value) and use the card to pay for the shopping.

ive literally saved hundreds of pounds.

Crikeyalmighty · 01/09/2023 11:04

@BoohooWoohoo thanks for that- I will check that out as I'm in town every day

FP1000 · 01/10/2023 17:59

PeachesoutinGeorgia · 31/08/2023 19:13

Maybe I mislabelled the title as not much food was actually included, apologies 😅 Even still.

I swear Childs farm was £3.25 this time last year? they’ve whacked a whole £1 (We have to get it because of sensitive skin) Most of the other stuff I bought had one of those red save stickers next to it so this is the “reduced” price. They must just pluck a number out of thin air at this point surely

Is the unbranded stuff worth the downgrade if anyone has done switches?

The Boots 'Baby' range is nice. Big bottles for about £1.40

Combusting · 01/10/2023 21:06

PeachesoutinGeorgia · 31/08/2023 18:32

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?

We clicked and collected a £68 food shop today that will last me DH and 2 kids aged 7 and 3 a week. It’s all been cooked and frozen/put in fridge -

  1. it included tonight’s DH and me Fakeaway steak night, with chips and peppercorn sauce.
  2. Chicken drums which made an air fryer roast while cookathon for week Happened
  3. Milk for week and cheese
  4. Grapes apples oranges
  5. Frozen veg of 4 kinds
  6. potatoes onions
  7. Chicken, eggs, turkey, frozen lamb and frozen salmon which produced 5 weeknight dinners ready in the fridge/freezer
  8. Flour sugar butter and eggs with which a chocolate cake was made during Sunday cookathon, said supplies also for during the week waffles and pancakes
  9. Eggs for DS7 1 boiled egg for school snack plus bog standard oats which is currently being made into flapjacks for the week.
  10. Night time pants for 3 year old
  11. Laundry liquid
  12. Dish brush

I can see how this shop would cost more easily if -

  1. I bought the cake
  2. i bought the waffles
  3. i bought the flapjacks
  4. I bought multipack crisps or snacks
  5. I bought non-JUSTESSENTIALS range
  6. I bought cereal rather than porridge
  7. I bought sauces or kits
  8. I bought alcohol
  9. I bought more red meat

Just these changes alone I reckon might push the £68 to £20-£30 quid higher.

Combusting · 01/10/2023 21:12

Meant to add that this was an ASDA in the south east.

XVGN · 03/10/2023 07:41

OhcantthInkofaname · 31/08/2023 21:25

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.

I'm just back from the US. I shopped and cooked during my stay. Wow - just wow. The prices are horrendous. Rice (triple), potatoes (quadruple), bread (double), - versus UK prices - etc. TBF, quality was much better. Use numbeo.com to compare prices between towns around the world.

Regarding the quality of Aldi rip-offs. Yes, they are substandard but you can train your palette if needs must. If needs don't then I'm not sure what people are complaining about.

You can very often get cheaper food by looking for food save schemes near you. These aren't food banks so you are not taking away benefits from the more needy, and you can typically make small donations to help cover their costs.

RubyTrees · 03/10/2023 15:12

Seashellies · 01/09/2023 07:50

Fry light ruins your pans so you'll be spending even more money soon replacing them!

I've been shopping at Sainsburys and been really happy to see some prices on basics beginning to come down. Popped in this morning and got:

12 x full size Heinz beans: £5
1.9kg of chicken breast: £9.59
6 x apples: 99p
Easy peelers: 89p
6 x bananas: 99p
10 x free range mixed size eggs: £1.62
2.5kg potatoes: 99p
Cucumber: 59p
500g lean turkey mince: £2.49

It's worth doing a meal plan and doing one big shop with top ups just for fresh stuff in my opinion- we spend about £80 a week (2 adults and 1 child) and always have fresh fruit (including berries), white meats, fresh veg etc.

@Seashellies did you mean you got 6 x full size Heinz beans for £5.25?
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/SearchResults/heinz%20beans

I'd love to know where you can get 12 cans of full size baked beans for £5!

Garlickmayo · 14/10/2023 13:48

Shop in Bodycare and even Lidl for toiletries.... I've found B and M ok but gone up loads recently!

Garlickmayo · 14/10/2023 13:50

We never buy branded any more, yeah the kids prefer Nutella but Nutoka is nearly as nice!!! (Lidl/Aldi version!)

Garlickmayo · 14/10/2023 13:51

We've also gone flexitarian to save money

SulaNoa · 14/10/2023 13:52

I mean a lot of that is branded stuff. Cushelle, Birdseye, Ella"s Kitchen, Child's Farm! Might be time to start using own brand or use Lidl and Aldi etc.

Scaredycats · 14/10/2023 13:57

I bulk buy Andrex on Amazon, it’s about £18 for 45 rolls.

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