Sick to death of grocery costs (1k/ month)

[Icannotbudget]

Our grocery bill has slowly increased and is now around 1k per month. This is for two adults, two very active teenage boys, and two dogs. This includes everything you would get from a supermarket eg personal care and laundry/ cleaning stuff.
Both kids are neurodivergent one in particular is very fussy and would rather go hungry than eat ‘cheap’ food. The older one just seems to need constant protein.
I am vege and pretty unfussy but don’t like freezer food. No alcohol and i shop at Aldi as much as poss but do use other supermarkets too.
DH works long hours and Ive just gone back full time and really struggling its impossible to cook from scratch every night.
Not sure if I want sympathy or strategies to be honest, its crippling me and im feeling really down.

I can't believe what some people are spending on food. Must be buying Tesco Finest or the equivalent! There's only 2 of us and a dog and we spend about 50 a week. We buy yellow sticker most weeks and freeze it. We NEVER pay full price for pork steak, chicken breasts or thighs. Last lot were a quarter of the price in Sainsbury's, Friday around 6pm. Same for ready meals. When they have them, say down from £3.25 to 49p, get them in the freezer. Sausages,bacon, the same. Big pizzas,, a fiver down to 30p. Stock up. We go twice a week. Would go every day but don't have freezer room.

It's not so much that he knows it's cheap, just that it tastes "wrong" I should imagine.

I get what you mean tbh I find it depends on the supermarket. Lidls knock off cereals are definitely nasty in my opinion. But I can't recommend Morrisons enough 75p for Morrisons cornflakes that cost £3 for kellogs.
If they have Morrisons where you live (using euros so I assume not in UK) you should deffo check them out.
I also got a packet of Strawberries reduced from £2 to 20p the other day. If you at about 8pm there's always good reduced bargains

You can’t be spending that much. What are you spending on cleaning products? Don’t get sucked into the Mrs hinch school of cleaning you don’t need a million cleaning products. Same with Smellies deodorants aside cheap shower gels or buy soap that last longer. I spend £100 per week family of three, 1 dog and two cats.

If the welfare bill was so unaffordable how come we have money to fund various wars? I would rather ensure that disabled people are cared for than kill innocent children of any side.

We'd like our now adult DSs gone so basically we buy a minimal amount of meat for them. Regularly eat chilli etc and it's easy to separate and divide sauce prior to putting in browned mince/soya mince (for the latter sweet potato enriches the texture).
I don't do top up shops, I leave it up to them to do (and DH for beer/crisps).
Mostly let the supplies run out so there is less choice over the course of the week
Most old fashioned recipes feed 6/4 mains and 2 lunches.
Veg soup for lunch
Bake a cake/tray bake which again stretches.
Random fact - I have started buying Lurpak (butter not spread), 1p more than Tesco own brand.

Ah right. My cousin's daughter has similar issues and she uses flavourings like sauces, so her daughter can't tell the difference between one kind and the other.

Blimey, that is a lot. We spend a lot but we include alcohol and meat, which you aren't spending. I'm a big batch cooker though and have 15 drawers of freezer space.

What are you meals? I have a list of about 40 regulars and I still get bored senseless and can't bare to eat another chilli.

Food grind happens to most of us.

Just been to Costco OP.

If you’re able to get a card you could save a fortune buying pricey items like meat/ cheese in bulk.

I wonder if you’re eligible? If you know someone with a card you can also go in as their guest.

This is how to save folks. OH just back from M&S but we rarely go there. Fresh chicken breasts, about 4 in a packet, £5.20 to 25p. Today's date. He got 4 packs. In the freezer. We must save thousands in a year. What we don't have in the freezer we wait to eat until we see it reduced on yellow sticker.

If you’re buying pet food, and cleaning stuff, I can see how it mounts up. Shopping costs are awful at the moment.☹️

Although the teens are wanting protein, at a guess, yoghurts and snacks for the hollow legged are probably costing more than chilli con carne.

It's also easier to batch cook chilli and add pulses and vegetables to keep the cost per portion manageable.

Plain yoghurt with frozen berries & honey as suggested upthread, could help, as would making traybakes if you have time. I remember a constant stream of flapjacks was a requirement when DS was a teen.

Peanut butter sandwiches were a good standby too.

ive really had to change the way I shop, so there is much less ‘treat’ food in the house. We also have a huge baked potato once a week, soup and cheese on toast one night.. then a proper tea the other nights. I plan everything, lunches and dinners. I hardly throw anything away anymore (who can afford to), but when I think of how I would overbuy and waste food in the past.

My kids understand how expensive it is now, they are teens and can see it for themselves.

£130 per week for us.
2 adults, 2 teenage boys.
We don’t buy branded (only cereals)
we go to Tesco as I don’t like the quality of most Aldi food and they certainly aren’t as cheap anymore.

I agree... but apparently that's 'entitled'.

@MsFaversham

Sainsbury’s made £701 million in profit in 2022-23.

They have 16 million weekly customers, so that works out at £0.79 of profit per customer, per week.

Are you seriously complaining that they're making too much money?

Why is it accepted that teenage boys are fridge hoovers? I grew up with two and they ate at meal times like the rest of us. DM was one of 6 , 4 of them brothers and there is no way my DGM would’ve accepted them eating her out of house and home. They don’t get a free pass. Teach them not to be greedy.

This.

Pandering. If it tastes nice and is healthy is all that matters.

I have severe allergies in the family. We have to watch ingredients or it would be deadly. When you have to think of death from food daily, all the petty I won’t let something touch something else just seems pandering, how does allowing this help these dc in the long run?

I feed a family of 5 on £600-700 and my dh and 3 teens inc sons eat steak and chicken. Hardly anything branded though, unless it is a may contain allergy issue where some brands are better. I just eat soups, porridge and eggs and salads, fruit and veg mainly. I do not have money problems at all, in theory I could spend any high amount pm but would struggle to spend more actually, it costs what it costs.

No child will starve to death.

They will eat when they are hungry. They may protest but they will eat to survive.

Do you have any recipes for the pressure cooker? I’ve been thinking to buy an instapot, they look great but I keep thinking all u will get are casseroles and stews and I’m not sure the family wants that, as we’ve never had stews before really so it would be a big change. What other things can you do? A coq au vin sort of thing maybe, like a whole chicken? That is consider or chicken cacciatore. I’m still not sure what the benefits of a pressure cooker are though people seem to love them. Any help gracefully received 🙏

@FeetupTvon , actually if they have ARFiD, they would rather starve than eat.
you need to actually meet a person with this and see just how hard the wrong food is.

but the OP is spending about the average amount on food, and we have heard from those who spend less and those who spend more.

Just to add my 2p to the Lurpak debate, I think the Sainsbury's version is much better and has a more butter like texture.

If you're planning to do a sneaky swap, I'd try that one. I doubt anybody could tell the difference.

Batch cooking doesn't always mean doing it at the weekend. This week we will probably have 2 freezer meals - from meals last week that I double cooked, e.g. we had taco mince on chips last night, the rest of the mince will be a pasta bake this week. This week again will I double cook a few meals to freeze. I also bought Chinese containers and freeze single portions so we have those too - or my mam robs them I don't mind😂

My aunt spends about €250 per week as well, she had 3 kids. I is coeliac and 1 is dairy intolerant it's not easy.

Do what you have to. Buy the favourite brands when offers are on.

Also agree with delivery I spend way less

We have one and it's great. I love being able to fry everything in the pot and then start the pressure cooker and I can walk away. It keeps the food warm for serving. I find it invaluable when working from home on the days my wife is working outside the house.

I try not to add any water when cooking things like bolognaise. I fry the mince and veg to begin with. The veg will give out enough water/steam to get things up to pressure. I then pressure cook for 15 minutes to get the meat tender. I then add a jar of sauce, a jar or water and 300g of pasta and pressure cook for 8 minutes and wait another 7 before releasing the pressure and serving.

There are some great recipes here.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com

This. There seems to be an accepted level of greed and self indulgence in any thread relating to teenage boys and food (I am not speaking in the context of ND here).

If they want to spend their days snacking on expensive crisps/yoghurts/sweets etc then they can get a part time job and pay for their own snacks.

And I would love to be able to go to the supermarket without a list and without having to think about every item in my trolley. I would love to only buy the expensive brands. I would love to eat steak a couple of times a week. I would love to buy lamb whenever I want it. But guess what? Life is hard and that's not how it works. And children and teenagers need to be taught that very valuable lesson.