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.

For people saying they keep their bills under control by not buying crap - the crap is cheap! It's meat, fish, cheese that are expensive amongst other things. Basic products like bread and cereals are often full of additives at the cheaper end, so for me, the frustration is in trying to make meals cheap but also as 'clean' as possible. It means things are just dull with classics like baked potato, roast veg, pasta, vegetable soup, porridge being on rotation with no end in sight. Hopefully DCs will grow up with good health and appreciate my effort. Slightly concerned they'll remember a childhood of miserable meals like Oliver twist!

If you have an insta pot or yoghurt maker it is so easy to make

I do a 2l batch every two weeks.

I'm now tempted to try Lurpak - DD who was raised on Aldi butter is now a student, in charge of her own shopping on a limited budget. She insists she will only buy Lurpak . It must be bloody amazing

Try ocado.
Potatoes 90p
Mince £3.30
Carrots - 65p
£1.02 saving just on 3 items.

Totally agree, I’ve swapped back to Tesco after being a huge Aldi advocate for years. There’s no deals, fresh produce is poor and prices have crept up and up making it no different to Tesco.

Totally agree, I’ve swapped back to Tesco after being a huge Aldi advocate for years. There’s no deals, fresh produce is poor and prices have crept up and up making it no different to Tesco.

Really? Whenever I shop anywhere other than Aldi (usually Asda or Tesco) I still find it way more expensive!

We've drifted back to Sainsbury's due to Aldi jacking up prices so much.

Aldi are still cheapest for non-price matched items - e.g. their finest crisps, packets of rice, etc.

Tesco do Aldi price match on loads of products. I find Tesco best, possibly because I know it so well though.

I disagree to an extent. Ready meals which only serve one person, you could make minced beef bolognese or a chilli and feed 4 for pretty much the same price. Or a frozen/chilled pizza, 3 or £4 at least for a decent one, you could make a really healthy mixed bean chilli or a massive pot of soup for half of that. Biscuits and crisps which just get eaten mindlessly and are of no nutritional value whatsoever cost quite a bit vs a bag of apples for £2 or a bunch of bananas for £1.

Not saying I don’t buy for convenience or buy treats sometimes, I’m sure most of us do, but cooking a healthy meal that serves 4 people can be done much more cheaply than food manufactured for convenience.

@CharlieBoo the biggest thing for me is I can get it delivered too. For £1.50. I can't be arsed traipsing around a shop, hoiking all my shopping from trolly to conveyor belt, racing to pack it, shove it in the car, then unload. No siree.
I place my order on line, it takes about 15 mins tops. Then wait for it to come. Easy peasy.
I control my budget, I'm not tempted to buy extras either. So win, win.

@Neurodiversitydoctor

tell him to eat less yogurt?

This.

You’re buying the food. Just say no, sorry, we can’t afford fresh berries out of season. Have an apple. Sorry, Lurpak (🤮) is too expensive now, we’ve got this butter instead.

If they really will ‘only’ eat Lurpak, tell them they’ll have to buy it themselves.

Yep. Chicken dippers, chicken nuggets, chips, blocks of own brand chocolate, cheap fresh pizzas with almost no topping, jam toast, cheap sausages full off filler and who knows what... All quick to make and children will eat them. Hardly good for growing bodies though (or anyone).

They also like chicken fajitas, roasted veg, berries, mince, cheese on wholemeal bread, cooked-from-scratch curry, roast dinners... but so expensive!!

I get that veg soup, beans and porridge is cheap, but they'll only eat so much, and tbf I don't blame them. We do make bean stew, but it hardly gets anyone's hearts racing. Children (and people in general) do need protein too... you would have to eat an awful lot of beans and eggs to get enough.

... if you cut out the meat on 3/5 meals and replace with a veggie (cheese & pulses) or vegan (pulses) option, you can actually save a lot of money on your weekly shop... that, plus bulk buy and cooking from scratch if at all possible.

Granted, food in general is more expensive than it was 2-3 years ago and wages have stayed the same.

Hopefully there will be a point when supermarkets and other companies don't get bumper profits because we are unable to buy the more expensive items and switch to eating lentils in our cold homes wrapped in blankets and winter coats with broken zips.

@AllProperTeaIsTheft i only really buy Tesco own brand and then shop the offers.. but honestly I don’t find any difference. Aldi has no offers, just a fixed price each week.

Milk's come down about 20p for 2 pints recently in supermarkets. Small shop near us hasn't bothered to reduce theirs though.

Spot on!
I think it was around the time when everything was shown on Instagram
Look at my perfect life

Hands on parenting was replaced with pictures of the perfect life and children had to be happy all the time.
I'm not from the UK and its very different

Just to answer the posts about teenage boys
Instagram and tiktok are fuelling the strange diets where teenagers are living the life of elite athletes with high protein diets etc
I'm sure there are a few who will go on to be elite athletes ( so no need to tell us that they need 5000 million calories)but most are not and only need 300- 600 calories more than teenage girls, essentially a few extra rounds of toast and PB.
It's also male entitlement and needs to be nipped in the bud.

That’s so true.

Biscuits - if you don’t eat them will last.
Apples - go off.

@ColBoulter exactly, and again, I see posts on here from women where they complain about "penis portions" where their partners/partner's family give the male members more food or nicer cuts of meat etc and about how sexist it is. Well this is where it starts and where it comes from!

The women on this thread who go on about teenage boys having hollow legs are the ones setting up the entitlement that those boys will then take to their relationships.

I have seen threads from women where their partners have eaten their child's birthday cake, other people's treats, all the snacks in the house etc. Threads where women are literally having to hide food to keep some for themselves and their children. Where does that level of entitlement come from I wonder? It's greed, pure and simple.

This is one of our favourites too! Only we add tinned tomatoes to it

Agree with every single word

this nails it. Thank you

I was shocked to hear that people claim disability benefits like PIP to afford branded foods. This kind of payment is for life saving essentials surely?

Thanks @PamPamPamPam

Yes there was recently a thread where the DH had eaten his own children's Easter eggs the night before Easter Sunday

"It's also male entitlement and needs to be nipped in the bud."

Teenage boys eating food is male entitlement that needs to be nipped in the bud What's wrong with you?

Don't be ridiculous. Teenage boys eating food is not male entitlement. Teenage boys greedily constantly consuming food, treats and snacks with no regard for cost and other people's needs is. But I guess boys will be boys eh?