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.

@LynetteScavo I used to shop at aldi, but I actually find tesco cheaper now. Even without a club card, they match prices on lots of basics. Plus, club card points are great for things like free rails cards, money towards travel, days out etc.

The pressure cooker is great for using dried beans. And so much faster. We most often do lentil soup (dried lentils, onion, garlic, tomato puree, dried oregano), Lima bean soup (dried white beans soaked for 8+ hours, carrots, celery, onion), baked beans, and there are lots of mixed vegetables you can do too, like fresh or frozen green beans in a tomato sauce with some potato chunks. I have also done pork chops with a mushroom sauce. You basically just season and saute the chops in the pan and then add the rest of the ingredients and pressure cook for about 7 minutes depending on the thickness. You can do so many recipes in the cooker and fast. Keep in mind, it tastes better if you saute your base ingredients before putting on the lid. My cooker came with directions to guide the cooking times, but it's very easy to use.

Is peanut butter on toast a meal?!

Why would it not be?!?

If you're eating peanut butter in toast as a meal, how in earth are you spending £750 a month?

Last month we spent £840 including clothes and £75 for 2kg of wagyu sirloin steak.

Meal planning is the way to go. I just plan each evening meal (all three of us work during the day, and cereal or toast for breakfast). So I don’t buy more than what I need, and it works well. Also cuts down on food wastage. For example, tea today was shepherds pie - £3.59 for mince from Sainsbury’s. Bag of carrots for 69p. Bag of potatoes for £1.59. Already have gravy granules. Less than £6.00 for a meal for three of us. Manage to keep it similar price evening meals for other 6 days. Cleaning stuff aren’t something you generally buy every week, as a bottle of kitchen cleaner, laundry tablets etc last longer than a week.

I've noticed a distinct subset view on Mumsnet that wanting to regularly eat something other than boiled lentils is entitled....

There's plenty of people, like me, who until a couple of years ago could have pretty much what they wanted for the weekly shop and now they can't because prices have gone up so much and for many people wages haven't. I don't think it's unreasonable to feel hacked off about that .

Sometimes checking out the 'world food aisle' gives you comparable products at cheaper prices

Absolutely this. Sorry to say, but the elephant in the room is that you are facilitating this obsession with brands.

One adult and three teens here, one of whom is ND and very picky, plus two cats, and I am blown away by how you could spend £250 a week on food. Our spend is probably around £100. I do cook from scratch every night but it never takes more than half an hour. It’s totally doable. Proper meals every night.

If you truly are sick and tired of the cost, as you say in your OP, then there ARE ways you can get it down. You know this.

And ND or not, you don’t need to be pandering to your child’s fussiness.

I think there’s probably a middle ground between that and spending a grand a month.

Of course it bloody is.

Three course breakfasts are reserved only for hotel stays!

Have you not got the gist of any of this? OP is a vegetarian so can’t eat the same meals! Her kids are ND so quickly spot any fake alternatives to what they like! Dearie me.

Did you miss the post three above yours from the parent of a ND child saying the OP was pandering and there are alternative solutions?

Probably because if you cook from scratch and then start using Norpak or whatever it is, you can taste the difference. Cheap stuff is often lacking in flavour and an older teen may well make that distinction.

My apologies - the OP must be wrong then!

I have a ND son, no big food issues, but I have a couple of friends whose children see food in exactly the same way as the OP’s. Therefore the OP wins, sorry.

The greek yoghurt that cost a pound would last my son 1 day, I buy 2 litres a wek when he is home, he will also eat 2 bannas a day, half an avocado, 2-4 eggs and a chicken breast, as well as apples, bagels, rice

Me too! Just looked on Tesco website - cheapest apple bag is £1.49. Perhaps there is a regional difference?

@Seaside3 The children eat SO MUCH fruit - I'm loath to dissuade them, as it's good for them. We get lots of apples, bananas etc, but they ask for strawberries and grapes etc too, I guess for variety. I don't want to tell them no, because it's fruit... Strawberries are more than £2 for a tiny punnet.

As for dairy, the smallest one is lactose intolerant, so has to have Arla milk and vegan yogurts which are pricey. He's still not much older than a baby, so gets through a lot. I get Yeo Valley for the older one, as has less shit in than the Peppa Pig ones or whatever. True, could get litre cartons of plain yogurt, but toddler wouldn't eat it by itself, so then you're back to stewing fruit or whatever to put in it.

Cheddar too!! We get through a lot - felt like it had gone up loads. A quick Google says it went up 40% from 2022 to 2023!! Wild times we live in.

I’m in the SE and our local Tesco has a 99p bag of apples , has about 5/6 in it .

I faffed about for ages today making fruity oat bars - even got them to help bake! Both children hate them 😑. Sometimes I think it would just be easier to bulk buy chicken dippers and knock-off jaffa cakes and just let them get on with it. Would be much cheaper too once you factor in food waste 😒.

@UPALLNIGHTMNETTING try adding dried fruits to yogurt, if stewing is too much. Raisins, a few nuts, a drizzle of honey. Mine love dried apricots and prunes too.
Sorry, the apples were 99p as @Floralnomad found. Satsumas 89p. I don't buy things like strawberries, unless in season as they are expensive. We do buy dozens fruits occasionally.
I know it seems a ballache making kids food that they refuse, but it does pay-off in the end. My 17 year old mushroom hater ordered chicken in mushroom sauce this week at college. We never force them, just cook stuff, Serve it and encourage them to try. I've now got 2 adults, 2 teens, who eat pretty much anything. And, can cook/shop/budget. It pays off in the end.

@Icannotbudget solidarity! I don't have much advice as my grocery bills are not far off yours. I don't know what to think about it anymore, I do my best to shop for deals and I do cook from scratch a lot but honestly it is soul-destroying. Having to think all the time about costs and budgeting when I (like everyone else) have plenty of other problems to deal with too. And don't get me started on gas/electricity bills.

Kids are a pain in the arse and there's no point buying and cooking what they just won't eat, can't beat them these days (joking).

As usual it's me i can scrimp on and it's healthier too to have porridge and a vat of bean stew or lentil soup. It's rubbish when you're debating something that isn't decadent like fruit, it's hardly Bollinger is it. And sometimes 'cost saving' actually isn't - breadmakers. But anything that the adults can do eases the budget - packed lunches (leftovers), reuse bottles and take a drink from home, water down detergent, no air fresheners etc. The creamfields plain yoghurt in tesco is 39p for a large tub and tinned peaches are 34p. I'm very fortunate to have fruit trees and I'm going to grow more fruit. I don't find growing vegetables is a saving. I'm going to draw the line as reusing knickers as dusters. We don't have any shower gel or wipes, just flannels and bar shop. And roll on deodorant doesn't get sprayed around with such gay abandon.

I know, right? When did parents forget who runs the house?

I stopped buying fresh berries and buy frozen in Aldi. So much better as they don’t go off and there’s no wastage. Much better value. Apples and pears are cheap and very healthy.