Where am I going wrong with my food shop??!!

[Sastra]

So currently its just DH and myself and I managed to spend £100 on food . Its not that we can't afford it, but I think its bloody ridiculous! I'm currently pregnant so in the near future our outgoings will increase, so I think it makes sense to try and make some savings now.

I have tried this week to reign in the spending, but I have still spent £60. Ideally I'd like to be spending about £40!

I'm Pescitarian and DH only has meat on a Sunday (I buy one of those mini crown things of chicken and he has the left over on sandwiches), so don't need to reduce meat intake. We eat fish perhaps once or twice a week and king prawns another couple of times (these are pricey). Current food bill doesn't include lunches or alcohol.

Not sure whether living in London makes a difference (I can't imagine food's much cheaper elsewhere in the country?)? Can't really batch cook food as the freezer isn't large.

Admittedly I use Ocado (online) but I'm tied in for a year with a delivery pass (£10 a month) so if I switched shop I'd have to factor in the fact that I will be having that outgoing additional to any other delivery charges. I did try an online shop in Sainsbury's but it came out basically the same price. No Lidl or Aldi (God, how I miss Aldi!) nearby and no car (hence online delivery). Always meal plan as we cannot deal with decision making once home from work .

Am I missing a trick or is £60 about right for two adults?? I hope its the former!

Our food bill pre kids was ridiculous. The minute DD came along we learned to spend more wisely. I spend about £60 a week now for three of us, once a month I'll spend about £90 when I buy all the laundry stuff, toilet rolls etc that we need for the month so I reckon we do about £300 a month in food and household goods. Have you tried shopping on Mysupermarket? Choose your retailer and they'll compare prices across all the major supermarkets, that would show you if you'd be better off switching when you can get out of your delivery pass.

It's just dp and me and we spend 60 a week but can spend 40 a week

The prob with ocado is the veg is v expensive even though eating lots of veg normally brings down the bill

As always can you tell us what was in your last shop

You will have an itemised bill in the email you got

Is that really just food? Or does it include all sorts like washing powder, cat food and moisturiser? It's hard to know why your bill is so expensive if you don't eat much meat. FWIW, I have ocado/waitrose delivery and we spend somewhere between £60-80 a week for me, DH and 1yo DD. This includes lunches, and usually a bottle of wine.

But doesn't include nappies btw. We get that and wipes from Asda.

Actually, now I think about it it does include cleaning products, moisturiser etc.

I def think a large proportion of the money is going on fruit and veggies. Pricey bleeders.

Could you get fruit and veg from sainsburys or Market so they are still good quality but cheap and the rest from ocado? Morrissons veg also good quality and cheap.

My ocado delivery is always £100 per week and I meal plan too. It does all meals (including lunches) for me, DH and two small DC, but we don't seem to eat much . I think the non-consumables do add up. Have a look at your receipt and see how much your non-food groceries account for, you're probably not spending as much on food as you think.

Agree that fruit and veg are very expensive from Ocado - we got 10 bananas and strawberries and grapes on BOGOF today - about £14

Is that the BOGOF price? I just looked at my waitrose bill on my phone. 2kg bananas £1.38. That is probably 10 bananas? The strawberries are £8 for 2 if not on special, but was half prices, so £4. I cant believe grapes from waitrose would be £8!

Fish is expensive, I think anyway. With meat you can bulk it out often with vegetables or pulses and buy cheaper cuts to make it go further - fish not so much, and I don't find I feel as full if I have e.g. a salmon fillet with veg compared with a chicken fillet, so you might be eating more of the veg/pasta/rice etc which goes with it. However I wouldn't cut down on it, just be aware that this might be pushing the price up.

I would also say people probably tend to have more expensive eating habits pre children. Have you tried switching brands down and/or substituting ingredients for less expensive options? E.g. using ordinary onions when a recipe calls for shallots. I also tend to ration myself with meals which do have expensive ingredients such as cream, I definitely wouldn't buy more than one "expensive" ingredient a week, though I'd try to plan more than one meal using it, if possible.

You say you meal plan, but are you doing so efficiently, especially considering you can't batch cook. Re-using leftovers for the next day's meals, etc? Do you find you throw much food away?

I think the grapes were 2 for £5. There were half a dozen apples in there as well that I'd forgotten about

We're a family of two and £60/week on groceries (including non-foods) is what we spend as well. School lunches extra. If everything is being used rather than wasted and you can afford it, I don't think it's a problem. If I want to bring the bill down we eat more things like soup, eggs and whatever is lurking in the freezer.