Food bills out of control!

[BaitandSwitch]

There are just two of us in this house, but our monthly food bills seem to be way, way over line compared to just about everyone else we know. Spending £500 a month on food (exc. alcohol and household products) is normal, yet we do most of our shopping at Aldi!
We do eat well - plenty of food, fish, meat, fruit and vegatables and we are healthy and slim. But I don't understand it, as we don't waste much at all. I am however going to keep receipts for the next 4 weeks and monitor spend, but somehow I think this is just the way it is?

Are there any other big food spenders out there?

For me and DH and toddler we spend about 250 a month in Aldi. We do all fresh veg, meat every dinner, not much sweet stuff or treats admittedly. We would also buy a bottle of prosecco in that too. We dont scrimp on food at all and my DH is a pretty big eater. I think the main way it doesnt get out of control for us is we sit down for 10 minutes before we do a shop and plan our dinners for the week, so we dont just randomly pick up stuff. We would have very little food waste. We would also only shop once a week, and we wouldnt go into a food shop again for the rest of the week (unless I needed milk or randomly ran out of nappies). I honestly dont know how i would even spend twice what I currently spend in Aldi. Its so cheap! I shopped in Morrisons over lockdown and my monthly spend went up to 300ish.

Do you have food waste every week? Maybe fresh food that goes rotten throughout the week? Or are you eating expensive meats like steak? Do you use for example a 750g of mince every meal or do you split that over 2 meals? I am just trying to get an idea of what you consume every week to see where changes could be made.

OP we are also 2 people, and eat well, and probably spend about the same as you but that includes alcohol & household products, and we generally shop at Waitrose.

We used to spend more, but now this is what we do:

• 2 weekly meal plan - means we buy what we need, rather than just what we see
• Buy meat and some other things in bulk at Costco, then freeze. E.g. just bought a pack of toilet bleach (12 bottles) for about £4. We also buy slabs of salmon and cod then chop into servings and freeze. Ditto chicken thighs & breasts, and fillet steak.

Lunches are our downfall, but just doing those 2 things helps us keep it under control. Our 2-weekly (I would usually do weekly, but with COVID I'm trying to limit our exposure) Waitrose shop is about £150, then about the same again at Costco every 4-6 weeks.

There are some really good pointers here for us to think about, so thanks everyone for your contributions so far. Also good to know that we're not completely on our own with our large food bill! Forgot to add my husband loves cheese and some types can be expensive. Also I think we're too prone to stopping by the shops to pick up a few random items (which then expands into a small trolley's worth of goods). Yes, on one hand, we can afford it and don't want to alter our way of eating to save money, but, we do wish to conserve some dosh. Baby steps may be for us to try a 3 day menu plan and see if we can limit food shopping to 2 times a week. Also other ideas eg bulk buying is something we could do more of. Keep the comments coming in and I will update you re progress

Keep a diary for a week of what you eat.

But Leify, how on earth do you do it? What do you buy for £106 a month for two people? If you don't mind could you photo your receipts and post them here ... though appreciate it's quite a thing to ask!

£106 is amazing! I did my shop in Aldi yesterday and it came to £45 for the two of us although it didnt include wine (I am pregnant) and only one meat (mince) as I have meat leftover from big packets of chicken and some prawns in the freezer. I dont plan on going to the shops again til next weekend, so that's for 7 breakfasts, lunches, and 6 dinners (we do one takeaway a week) for 2 people and a toddler. If I can find the receipt I will put a pic of it up.

It does seem a lot, although, if you have enough money to do so, and that is what gives you pleasure, it isn't really an issue.

Things that might help - you say you eat a lot of fruit and veg - it makes sense to eat what is in season (and in Aldi, take advantage of the 'super six'. Out of season fruit costs a fortune. For the last month, blackberries have been plentiful and freely available growing wild. We've given pounds of blackberries away from our garden and still have them dropping all over the floor.... get into conversations with neighbours / colleagues / you never know who has excess produce.
As you like cooking from scratch, why not commit one day a week to 'trying something different' and you might surprise yourself how nice some things you've previously turned your nose up at, are (eg a vegetarian curry).
Try swapping some of (what you perceive as) the "quality" food for brands you don't recognise. A lot of Aldi produce is top quality - not just in my opinion, but in blind taste tests and Which tests. It's worth giving it a try.

I'm a big food spender. Just two of us and I spend at least 800 a month. Husband not a big fan of the odd beans on toast supper and we're both addicted to berries!

You mentioned a pan of chilli for 2 days. So, next time you make that chilli remove 50% from the pan and put it away before you dish up dinner.
My DH will eat anything in sight after his meal simply because it’s visible. Obviously I don’t know it you or your DH are the same as my DH and I’m not implying that you are.

Re using lentils, red lentils cook down well so if you use them with minced meat, 60/40 meat to lentil ratio, they will pad out the end result with it looking like a plate of lentils. Also, upping the veg content in most meals will help, especially in sauces and if the veg is finely chopped in a food processor.

Another trick is to cut the meat either before cooking or before serving. That way one largish steak can feed two when added to a salad/rice/potato. Exactly the same with fish. I do a pasta dish using 2 salmon fillets and lots of veg for four adults. No one, not even DH!, has noticed a lack of salmon with that dish. Ditto sausages, 6 sliced sausages over mashed potatoes and veg and no one feels short changed. As it’s just 2 in your household you could freeze half a packet of sausages/chicken pieces etc before you prepare the other half.

We spend £500 per month for 4, including ravenous teens.

Thanks Tofo, it's good to have company!
AdoraBell, you are absolutely right! Alas my husband doesn't like lentils as much as I do, but yes, we always have 2nds because it's there and visible.
We have decided to keep going with it - the spend tally for August (food only) was £500, as we can afford it and my husband now wants to draw a line under it all (and he does most of the shopping and cooking!) However I'm going to look back on this thread as there are defo some good hints and tips here.