Tell Me I'm Doing the Right Thing!!!

[GeorginaA]

I'm being really good. I'm making an effort to stick to menu plans, minimize junk, shop locally rather than in evil supermarket conglomerates (well okay, the last isn't a great sacrifice - we've had such dreadful meat fruit and veg from Tescos and Sainsburys recently...).

Anyway, I've just done my "minimal" supermarket shop for a week (bulky washing liquid, dry goods, tins... everything that isn't meat fruit or veg, basically) and it's come to £65. SIXTY FIVE FKING QUID! And I haven't even BOUGHT the meat fruit or veg yet... or a couple of other items that I can only get in the other sodding supermarket.

I wasn't doing this to save money or anything, but still...

It's all for the greater good though, isn't it? ISN'T IT?!!!!

How many are your buying for???? Although, if you have bought all washing powder, softener etc, that can cost a tenner by itself...

if it helps our weekly shopping bill, for 4 (including a 4 year old and an 11 month old) is between £100 and £150

and of course you are doing the right thing

the meat and veg part of our shop is normally about £40 - £50 (but we get through stacks of fruit)

god knows where the rest of the money goes, although I do have a tendency to bulk buy and have a store cupboard and freezer full of 'special' offers (that I then chuck when they're past sell-by)

We do the same and things seem to go so well until nappies, washing powder and dishwasher tablets all run out in one week and suddenly were up at about 80\90 quid

store cupboard full of Twigletts no doubt?

Buying for 2 adults, one almost 4 year old and a baby

My budget is around £100 per week for us (I know that's probably a bit steep too, but I'm still in the main cooking separate meals for the baby) - with 3 out of 4 weeks it coming closer to £80 so I can relax about other budgetary areas like alcohol . I'm just not convinced I'm going to get all the rest we need for the week with the £35 I have "left" - no treats for us this week

Although, by the sounds of it Twig - we're not far out in terms of expenditure. Perhaps I'm just being unrealistic.

I would say £100 per week for family of 4 is probably about right.

What i usually do is do a big shop at the beginning of the month and this includes the months nappies, dishwasher tabs, dry goods, tinned etc, so then all i need to do is buy fruit, veg, milk and bread etc weekly.

The main shop for 4 of us, including two cats monthly feed aswell is about £150.00 - £180.00

You're doing the right thing, definitely. Our weekly food bill, including nappies but no wine is about £180-200, sometimes more, sometimes less. What was the bulk of that £65? Can you change to unbranded for some things like washing up liquid, loo roll? Bet that would get it down a bit.

Yes, I need to look at it a bit more carefully and work out where I can substitute stuff. Plus there was a fair few storecupboardy bits (new spices etc... I blame that Jamie Bldy Oliver myself ) which I won't have to buy again for a while... then again, something ELSE will crop up next week I'm sure!!

Still. It'll be better for us. It will it will itwillitwillitwill...

admittedly my bill doesnt include alcohol, or sunday joint

Jampots, what is that sweet aroma coming from your house??????????????????? [Grin]

Okay, meat and veg came to exactly £35 so I'm feeling a bit better now.

Butcher was ace - definitely going there every week - was cheerful, friendly to ds1 (even when he was stretching a mother's patience) and knew what was in everything - gave recommendations etc. Plus it's nice getting the exact quantities you need rather than having to work out what the nearest pack size is.

Greengrocers I remain to be convinced - perhaps I just have to look for a good one? It was a self-service but no weighing scales anywhere except at the checkout, so had to guess how much I had all the time which was a pain. Plus it was really narrow so trying to get around with a baby in pushchair and an inquisitive 3 year old was really stressful. Are there still greengrocers about which are not self serve?

Oh meant to say, didn't think the quality at the greengrocers was all that, either...

GeorginaA, I am thinking of getting an organic veg box delivered every week instead of getting naff stuff from greengroces etc.

Problem is, I tend to cook to recipes, so veg boxes are a pain because a) they don't have what I need that week in 'em and b) I end up not using half...

ah right, just and idea.

Appreciated

our weekly shop is between 70 and 90 for 2 adults a 18mth old and a dog...sigh
I hate it cos it is food we need. Have been shopping more online and using the discount codes from MN so at least with delivery taken off codes ive been getting between 5-10 of free shopping

Okay... ds1 has just eaten 2 apples in a row... perhaps the greengrocers wasn't that bad

have also been looking at the boxed delivery for veg etc..they also do a meat one in our local one and i did a sort of test run shopping box and it only came to about £40 but then have cleaning stuff etc to get on top
suppose should take the plunge for few weeks and see from there

Try Lidl!

I base our weekly menu plan around what comes in our veg box...

I don't think that sounds bad at all. Our shop comes to £55-75 a week usually, on top of that I spend up to £20 at local organic shop plus about £12 on milk delivery. And I think we are pretty frugal (for example we only have meat about once a week). There are bumper weeks when we buy lots of nappies and alcohol - this weeks shop was £95 for some reason!
I alwasy assumed that it woudl cost more to buy more junky stuff...i bet you will find you save money in the long run.

We're still at about £60 including booze (not much though) for our similarly sized family. DD does have family meals but I still stew fruit for her. Also kids at nursery 3 days so have meals there. Although DS has breakfast at home plus at least two fruits for supper and DD has a supper. But I do still buy everything at Asda.