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.

Family of 7. Similar spend - its outrageous and no fancy cuts of meat anymore. No alcohol. Lots of own brand product. I actually find tesco cheaper than aldi overall. We used to shop in waitrose but can't afford it anymore.

Just to say that this has been a bit of at recent revelation for me too. Turns out my DC love 'picky dinners'!

What other meals will he eat?

First I'd look at how much food you throw away, and what it is.

Secondly batch cook a load of Bolognese and chili so he can have that reheated when you and the rest of the family have other easy things.

Finally look at cheaper protein sources for your other child.

Pets are expensive and I know it's too late for this but for anyone else reading, don't get pets unless you can easily afford them!

Having one now adult son who eats like a horse I’ve always said I’m grateful for only having 1, and that’s been without the complication of there being selective eating as well.

I have no experience of selective eating but even from what I see on MN it’s just not as simple to cut costs when that comes into play. As others have said, it’s the profiteering by supermarkets that’s the real issue.

The price of food has been waaaaay cheaper than our comparative European counterparts for far too long. It’s rebalanced now, in fact it’s still cheaper than some places.

It’s never been the case that a family of 4 can heap whatever they want into their trolley and still have change from £20.

I feel like the entitlement of people in this country is massively unrealistic and sort of hinges on the false belief of ‘if things were fair I could have whatever I want’

Also, what i have done to try and bring the bill down is try snd eek another couple of days out of the weeks shop - so one week i'll go on monday, then i won't go to the following wednesday. Over a month you gain a weeks worth of shopping.

It's all very well saying this now, but people in this country have been used to things being cheaper than European counterparts and don't know any better.

Parents have a holiday home in SW France and to be honest I haven't noticed food there to be that much more expensive there than in UK, but then again, the French don't import much either.

Do you really expect UK residents to suddenly find a magic money tree for food, when many are struggling with CoL and a lot are relying on Food Banks, Food Pantries and other methods to simply make ends meet to feed themselves?

"I bet no one is telling Rishi Sunak to eat 'cheaply' on porridge and pulses."

I think this is the problem with Britain today. People seem to have this bizarre belief that they shouldn't ever have to compromise when making financial decisions.

"If a multimillionaire can buy whatever he wants at the supermarket, I should be able to do the same."

It's infantile.

Keep the Lurpak packaging, pop the Lidl version in as you open it, and let them eat it. My friend did this with great success, personally I prefer Waitrose butter (£3.50 for 500g) to Lurpak

Maybe OP it makes sense to look at other places to cut your expenditure.

Never heard of soda being landry conditioner. Its used as a detergent where I am.

Have you tried decanting cheaper versions of things into the expensive containers, I be they won't know the difference. Dh likes the Norpack from Aldi tastes like Lurpack to us.
I had a friend who used to refill the name brand ketchup from a cheap bottle. The kids had no clue but were fixated on the brands.

So many people saying batch cook like this is the answer to everything. It’s still the same amount of food just all cooked at the same time!

Nail on head

During lockdown I shopped every 8-10 days and would try to stick to £100 budget. Often it was £105-110. And no top up shops. (2 adults, 2 teens, 2 cats)
Now we're shopping once a week, I easily spend £120-140 and sometimes do a top up shop during the week. Admittedly we do have certain branded stuff but certainly not everything is branded.

I really can't understand how you are spending £250 a week especially when shopping in Aldi.

OP isn’t using food banks neither is she living in poverty. She’s just moaning that 2 packs of
mince and premium butter every night is expensive. Well, yeah? As PP said, posters on here seem to think they should never financially compromise on anything and if they have to it means they’re ’living in poverty’

haha! No it was a typo- I did mean per month 😁

Mince and chicken Drumsticks are really cheap!. Nuts are expensive.

That’s just bollocks. My food bill for just me £200 a week. I eat vegetarian meals 5/7 days a week. Vegetarian or vegan is not automatically cheaper - particularly if you like good quality fruit and veg that isn’t covered in chemicals.

And meat is nothing compared to the carbon emissions of countries like china and India. OP (and everyone else mumsnet) going vegetarian isn’t going to magically to solve climate change given all the other issues in the world.

Comments like yours don’t help OP in any way, shape or form.

OP, you’re doing your best. Try cutting things like squash (it’s just full of sugar and not really necessary?). Frozen fruit and veg etc.

What are you buying?

Ah ok let’s all stop recycling and using public transport, and just do what we want because of India and China who produce emissions as they’re supplying cheap goods WE buy

That's probably because he isn't asking for advice on how to shop more cheaply.

I guarantee you that if he came on MN asking for this particular advice he will be told to use lentils in his spaghetti bol and porridge for breakfast.

That is far too much to be spending. If your son only eats chilli and bolognese, batch cook it using slightly cheaper mince and freeze it. Lurpak ! stop buying it , it is not essential, buy Aldi's own version and then they can either choose to use it or go without. Chicken breasts can be as little as £6 a kilo, buy 2 kilo and no more. If they are hungry the can have toast and jam. You have to cut your cloth and your children ND or not have to learn that lesson.

15 years ago when I moved in with my boyfriend (now dh) I was a brand snob coming from my mums house where she paid for the Heinz ect..

Having to learn to then live within my means but still being a brand snob my bf kept the branded bottles and then refilled them with the 'cheap' alternative. After a month of me not noticing he cam clean and I've never bought branded again. Would suggest you do this with your teenagers.

Definitely get a bigger freezer. Batch cooking does take less time overall and then you can have things in portion sizes ready for evenings. Consider getting food delivered, so there is no impulse grabbing as you go past.

Also, map out what you spend on each child's preferences and show them. Get the less restricted one to come up with alternatives. See if they will both get involved in food prep more as it might expand his horizons. Do appreciate that this might not work, or they end up using even more expensive ingredients!