Shopping bill so high...help me!

[Persephoponce]

My weekly shopping bill was £130 this week, and that was WITH a £10 promotional code and free delivery. Help me see where I am going wrong, please. Am I being frivolous? Where can I make savings? I am feeding two adults and two children all of whom eat like horses. Ideally I'd like it to be under £100 a week.

This is my shopping list:

After school snacks for DCs x 2:
1 loaf of raisin bread (half price)
8 pack of crumpets (half price)

Lunches:
2 loaves of wholemeal bread
2 tins value tuna
6 eggs
1 block of value cheddar cheese
1 pack of value cream cheese
2 x 4 packs of yoghurts (Rachel's ones, as they are sugar free)
1 pack of cereal bars

Fruit & Veg:
1 box strawberries (on offer)
8 apples (got the cheapest ones in the shop)
2 bunches bananas (again, cheapest)
6 oranges
1 bag of grapes
2 avocados
1 big bag of spinach for salads
1 cucumber
1 box value tomatoes
Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, sugarsnap peas, onions, carrots, a swede, parsnips

Meat / Fish:

I pack beef mince
1 whole chicken
Frozen 6 pack of salmon fillets
4 pack of pork chops

Other dinner stuff:

4 baking potatoes
4 sweet potatoes
4 cans of baked beans
2 cans chickpeas
2 cans tinned tomato (value)

Essentials:
4 pints of milk
1 litre bottle of own brand olive oil
4 cartons of fruit juice (4 for £3 deal)

Treats:
1 packet of choccolate biscuits
2 bottles of wine (both half price)

Household stuff:
12 loo rolls
1 bottle of laundry detergent (value)
Cleaning cloths (value)
Kitchen cleaning spray (value)

Buy loo roll from home bargains, its much much cheaper - around £2 for 12.

No wine

Strawbs still expensive even though on offer.

Where do you shop?

I've found that by checking food prices on MYSupermarket.com I've cut my shopping bill right down. I go to the local market and get my fruit and veg there. It's much fresher and lasts longer than from the supermarket.I also plan the weeks meals in advance then buy what i need for the week. You can get ideas for meals from Tescos, Sainsburys and Asda and not forgetting mumsnet. We've tried the Feed your Family for a fiver ideas and they've gone down well with my fussy kids.I also get the basic shopping from Lidls and anything else from Tescos. We buy big packs of loo rolls from the market and some household cleaning stuff from Poundland. Basically you have to become a bargain hunter and hopefully you'll save money. Also stock up on essential items on offer and any reduced meat etc can be frozen for future use.Hope this helps.

Market for your fruit and veg - you can get smaller quantities than the supermarket make you buy and it will be ripe. Try and buy seasonal. If your kids are picky about kinds of fruit, tinned fruit goes down well with ds.

Buy a big lot of cheap potatoes rather than separate special sorts.

2 bottles of wine is a tenner. You can do without.

Laundry powder usually cheaper than liquid?

Use washing up liquid to clean your kitchen. Rip up old Tshirts for cloths, you don't need to buy loads.

Cereal bars are hugely expensive aren't they? Maybe look into making flapjacks instead? And look into a yogurt-maker. If buying cereal bars, why worry about sugar-free yogurt?

Basically, whatever is most expensive on your list, find a way to cut it.

I'm interested to know what you guys eat for breakfast - the bits I find hard to cut are cereals and bread. I do like porridge but I struggle to eat it all the time.

Could you replace one or more of your meat meals with veggie versions - to me this is not very many eggs for a family of four?

Replace cereal bars and crumpets with home made scones/pancakes/flapjacks. Buy fruit and veg which are in season (cucumbers/tomatoes etc. are at the end of the season and parsnips aren't in yet, so these will be more expensive). Try frozen veg like brocolli, green beans etc, they are much cheaper and there is no waste. Buy a big bag of potatoes rather than small packs of baking ones etc. Make your own bread. Replace some of the meat and fish with beans and lentils. Buy cheaper cuts of meat like pork belly, buy tinned salmon not fillets. Make your own cleaners from vinegar and soda crystals and soap powder from soap, borax and soda.

you have no breakfast things, juice, tea, coffee, sugar, rice, pasta etc. on the list. Do you buy these separately? That must add a good bit to your bill as well. Try things like porridge or homemade muffins for breakfast and make a veg soup one night a week with bread and rice pudding or something for after. base some of your meals around rice/potatoes/pasta as they are cheap and filling. Combine grain food with either pulses or dairy if you are worried about protein, but you shouldn't really have a problem.

Shop at Netto and get meat from your market nor pre packaged from supermarket. Me, dh and ds manage to have lovely homecooked meals, plenty of snacks and a couple of bottles of wine all for about £50 a week.

Buy lots of pasta and make your own sauces, very cheap and you can pack them with veges and peppers and stuff do will be healthy. Homemade cottage pies are very easy and freeze well so you can make them in bulk which is cheaper. Making things like toad in the whole with cheap frozen veges is just as healthy as all the out of season exoensive stuff. Get cheaper yogurts, a bit of sugar is fine and all of them contain sugar be it it added or from fruit. Loo roll, get the cheapest possible stuff, you only wipe your arse with it, no need to be luxurious. Buy the value fruit juice, should be able to get about 4 for £2 instead of the 3 quid you spent and it really doesn't taste any different. Go for sunflower oil or rapeseed oil, far less expensive and doesn't explode like olive oil does (or maybe that's just me?!)

Just about cutting back really, going for less exotic things which aren't in season like strawberries etc.

Maybe a veg box if you don't have a local market? Supermarket veg is always very expensive IME.
Less meat?

Frozen vegetables - supermkt broccoli are really quite ill looking most of the time, so you are better off buying big bags of florets - they tend to be cheaper if buying own brand. Ditto with other veg

Chicken thighs rather than a roast chicken can work out cheaper if bulked out with veg

Salad in a bag always works out quite expensive - just buy plain lettuce is cheaper

You have a lot of offers in your shopping basket. were those items on the list or did you just buy them because they were on offer?

I think olive oil is fine - but use it only where it matters (not on stir fries etc)

Buy mince at your local butcher - often it is cheaper. Also, you only have one pack, which is probably going to last you one meal. Buy two, bulk with veg whatever it is you're doing, and it will last for 3 meals.

How do you get to your shopping list? Do you meal plan?

Lots of good advice above. I found that replacing a couple of evening meals with good filling soup (mine is always more like casserole!) helps cut costs. Baking potatoes are always expensive, if you have greengrocer nearby they're generally better for veg. Also try to get to know your local shops - I always buy eggs and bread from Iceland (6 free range eggs £1, 2 loaves Kingsmill 50:50 for £1.50 whereas in local Somerfield it was nearly £1.50 for just one Best of Both). It does mean more than one lot of shopping, but if you can stock up on tins/non perishables from wherever is cheapest, it helps. I also found that cutting costs on washing powder helped - now get the Formil stuff from Lidl.

Just realised you mention free delivery - which implies you're not going shopping yourself. Is that because of time? Probably harder to save money if you're not able to shop about. If that's the case, once a month try to go to Lidls/Netto/somewhere that's a good cheap shop that doesn't do online shopping, and stock up on lots of non-perishables plus the fruit/veg you need for that week. Then for the other weeks, concentrate on the perishables for your online shopping, and buy seasonal or bogof offers that will work for you. I often buy 2 fresh mince and freeze one for another week. Or do you have a grocer you can pop to in a lunch hour to get the veg???