Eating healthy is too expensive

[ByLoudSeal]

Big shop just cost £150. I don’t buy organic, and I will go for own brand if the taste/quality is fine. Includes fresh veg, tinned fruit, meat, eggs, milk, bread, a box of cereal, tinned meals, healthy snacks, toilet roll, fabric softener, disinfectant spray and washing up sponges, It won’t even last the full week and is unsustainable

Add living in a property thats like a fucking sauna so things dont keep for long Not everything can be or is even meant to be stored in the fridge

This surprises me. I shop for myself, 2 cats and stuff like washing powder, laoo roll etc (I dont go elsewhere for any of that). I spend £50 a week and alternate between ocado and Tesco, so not the cheapest shops by far. I don't eat meat every day but I buy good quality meat from ocado. I use tesco for the bulk buys/cheaper items and ocado for meat, cat litter (one cat is super fussy) and the "nicer" food. I eat well on that amount.

I could probably get food cheaper elsewhere but I'm happy with that budget and don't need to reduce it. Plus I prefer the convenience of having it all delivered. I don't want to go hunting round various supermarkets to save a £ here and there.

Same here. I only like fresh food, hate pizza and ready meals, but love new potatoes and salad with almost anything.

We spend around £250 a week but that's for 6 of us and one has complex dietary needs.

Approx £150 on big shop, £50 on top up, and £50 on school dinners (in term time of course)

Eating healthily can easily be much, much cheaper than eating crap. Takeaways are expensive and unnecessary sugary snacks add up. Stop buying meat if you want to save money - that costs a fortune and plant based is very healthy.

Can you post a receipt?

Why are you buying fabric softener or disinfectant spray?
What snacks are you buying?
What do you mean by 'tinned meals'?
Why tinned fruit not fresh? Bananas are about 16p.
Oats are better value than cereal as they are more filling and nutritious.

Have you tried a community pantry?

As others have said depends on how many you’re feeding but DH and I only spend £60 and that covers breakfast, lunch and dinner for the week, plus healthy snacks. I will say that I think time is a privilege here, we manage to keep this budget because I meal prep lunches and vegetables on a Sunday, batch make granola and snacks etc. If I had kids that might be more difficult.

Pretty much, yes! When we've taken off the majority, we strip off all the remaining meat from the bones, pull or chop any large pieces into smaller ones, shove it all in a freezer bag and freeze it.

On the day we are going to use it I take it out of the freezer and thaw it, then just add it into whatever we're making.

Chicken fried rice, chicken chow mein, Mexican chicken and bean soup, ramen, chicken salad, Coronation chicken, omelette (OH, not me - chicken and egg weird me out).

We also regularly buy chicken leg quarters - incredibly cheap and delicious, we use them in curries, stews, casseroles, or just roast them with spices. Leftovers go in the freezer.

Getting toiletries and cleaning products from main supermarkets is an absolute rip off. Savers or Home Bargains is miles cheaper. Things like toothpaste can be £2 cheaper!

Agree overall though, fruit is expensive now although basic veg is usually OK (e.g. Aldi and Lidl do the weekly super 6 offer).

Meat depends on the type and cut. Avoid anything processed or pre seasoned. It's simple to season yourself if you invest in the seasonings which can be £15 but then lasts 6 months.

I'm running £150-180 on a weekly Tesco shop for 2 adults and 2 kids. Doesn't include cleaning or toiletries. But does include "snacks" which is processed and therefore massively expensive, e.g. roasted nuts, babybels, crisps, ready grated mozzarella, individual yogurt pots ( a bit pot would be much cheaper) Same as PP I have to feed DC what they will actually eat. Also if I can be bothered to go round Lidl it's a bit cheaper. Tesco is definitely more expensive but at the moment the convenience of click and collect is something I'm prepared to pay a premium for.

OP define "healthy snacks"? I've a feeling this is where your money is adding up..

Since DS left home I've managed to get my weekly shop down to £40 but I cook everything from scratch and don't eat meat other than chicken. I bake or make flapjacks, crepes, fruit crumble or popcorn if I fancy something sweet.

Depends where you shop. I shop in Aldi. Any time I go to any other supermarket the bill makes my eyes water!

I agree, OP. I’m trying to stick to £100 a week. Shop in Lidl/aldi, not very expensive tastes but we do have meat every evening, budget doesn’t include alcohol. 2 adults, 1 toddler in nappies, 1 twelve year old (eats lunch at school and is with his dad 40% ish). I’m meal planning but it’s a struggle! We’ve had v little wastage since I started meal planning.

I buy frozen berries and we don’t eat much of them. 1 punnet of grapes, bananas, apples each week. I’ve quit my milk delivery and buy from supermarket, aim for no top up shops or just milk, don’t need many cleaning products as a friend gave me a huge refill bottle of multi surface cleaner, make my own bread which is around £1 a loaf. I’m not sure there’s much more I can cut! We try and do 1 cheap meal (fish fingers/cheap filled pasta and sauce) per week.

I was wondering about the snacks too. We just tend to eat fruit or lunch type food for snacks, nothing individually packaged as a 'snack'.

Ok I will post my list
Fruit
apples
Bananas
Tinned Pears
Tinned Apricot
Tinned fruit cocktail
Tinned Peach halves
Tinned Mango slices
Veg
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatos
Sweet potato’s
Leeks
Onions
Celery
Cucumber
Tomatos
Peppers
Green beans
Frozen potato wedges
Meat
Lamb
Beef
Mince
Tuna
Eggs
Tins
Chickpeas
Baked beans
Kidney beans
Tinned tomatos
Sweetcorn
X4 Tinned meals (ravioli is one of them, sometimes I need to grab something right away)
X8 Tinned Soup
Breakfasts
milk
Yogurt
Porridge oats
Nuts
Bread
Snacks
biscuits
chocolate
Cinnamon swirls
Popcorn
Rice cakes
Rice pudding
juice
Icecream
other
Tea
Toilet roll
Disinfectant spray
fabric softener
scourers
sponges

I already had cheese, lentils, pearl barley, pasta, rice, stock cubes and herbs in

Tinned fruit is expensive, especially in fruit juice - if it's in syrup it's not healthy.
Are you buying branded or supermarket's own tinned beans tomatoes etc? Branded are often at least 1/4 more expensive.
Tinned meals sound vile tbh and soups can be made for 1/4 of the price of tinned.
I don't see any "healthy snacks" in your list btw... biscuits
chocolate
Cinnamon swirls
Popcorn
Rice cakes
Rice pudding
juice
Icecream
I think you might need to revisit the definition of healthy 😂

How many people?

Here is my opinion for what its worth

Ok I will post my list
Fruit
apples -
Bananas
Tinned Pears
Tinned Apricot
Tinned fruit cocktail
Tinned Peach halves
Tinned Mango slices

Well, apples can be cheap or expensive - what sort are you buying? Some of this tined fruit is very expensive - tinned mangoes cost a lot!

Veg
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatos
Sweet potato’s
Leeks
Onions
Celery
Cucumber
Tomatos
Peppers
Green beans
Frozen potato wedges

Again, a lot of variation in possible prices for some of this - green beans and broccoli can be very expensive if you buy premium ranges, rather than just bulk in a paper bag.

Meat
Lamb
Beef
Mince
Tuna
Eggs
Tins
Chickpeas
Baked beans
Kidney beans
Tinned tomatos
Sweetcorn
X4 Tinned meals (ravioli is one of them, sometimes I need to grab something right away)
X8 Tinned Soup

From this list, I would expect lamb, beef and most tinned soups to be out of my price range also, do you buy cheap or expensive baked beans?

Breakfasts
milk
Yogurt
Porridge oats
Nuts
Bread
Snacks
biscuits
chocolate
Cinnamon swirls
Popcorn
Rice cakes
Rice pudding
juice
Icecream

Personally, I would cut out the nuts, the cinnamon swirls, the rice cakes and the chocolate, as they would all be expensive and poor value for money, nutritionally.

other
Tea
Toilet roll
Disinfectant spray
fabric softener
scourers
sponges

Ditch the fabric softener! no one needs that!

As others have said it isn't clear how many people you are buying for but I would (a) have a think about portion sizes. Do you have lots left over? (b) Are you batch cooking or bulking out meat dishes with vegetables and pulses? That is a lot of meat per week. If you are buying fresh tuna that is super expensive. Cheaper fish options exist. And (c) I would completely ditch the tinned meals. They are super pricey for what you get and homemade much nicer.

There is lots you can do to cut back. Don't despair!

I never buy lamb or beef to expensive. Mince beef once a week chilli or bolognais. Chicken whether in curry, chicken and leek pie, enchiladas or with potatoes and veg. Fish cakes with made potato wedges not frozen. Why so much soup and tinned fruit. Never have juice. Why so many snacks I buy some biscuits when there gone there gone. Why nuts.

biscuits
chocolate
Cinnamon swirls
Popcorn
Rice cakes
Rice pudding
juice
Icecream

Popcorn kernels are cheap, that and a bottle of juice to share once a week are all I'd bother with.

X4 Tinned meals (ravioli is one of them, sometimes I need to grab something right away)
X8 Tinned Soup

Just batch cook some vegetable soup to serve both purposes.

How many people is that for? It looks like it will last a lot more than a week unless it's for 6+ people in which case, £150 pw isn't a lot of money for a grocery shop for that many people.

But in terms of what is likely to be bumping up the cost:

Lamb, beef and tuna are all expensive, so you've save by swapping to pork, turkey, mackerel

That's quite a lot of snacks and puddings. I would possibly suggest that 'healthy eating' maybe expensive, if you also carry on with the unhealthy eating at the same time

As others have said, toiletries and cleaning products cost way less at Home Bargains. I got Colgate toothpaste in there a couple of weeks back for about 80 p. There will be people paying £3/4/5 for a tube of branded toothpaste in supermarkets and then saying that basic hygiene is too expensive.

Still don't understand why people go on about fabric softener. It costs nothing over a year and such a tiny percentage of the average grocery bill that it's not worth worrying about.

Why are you buying all that tinned fruit?! Apples, bananas, maybe a citrus plus some frozen berries should cover your fruit needs.

BUT I don't think £150 is that much if a family of at least 4. I would aim to keep the big shop to £100 and then there will probably be the odd top up for milk, bananas etc.

The famous mumsnet chicken!

I don’t know why you’re saying it’s a lot of fruit I don’t think it is a tin will do two servings. It’s for four and I didn’t even buy everything like cheese which is bought every couple of weeks