can someone help me cut down on my weekly food shop?

[cheapandchic]

we are struggling with money and I spend about 100-120 per week on food/nappy/cleaning, etc and I have two young children and husband.

I dont drive. so usually I end up with delivery, organic veg boxes, ocado, sainsbury. I realise that many people recommend aldi or asda but there is no shop near me. There is a Lidl, but its so difficult to get there and back with a toddler and baby and shopping...so I end up getting just a few things.

Please offer some tips on spending on the weekly shop. I keep thinking I could be saving...

I use the website mysupermarket. It helps compare supermarkets.

Also the money you save shopping in lidl or aldi & then gettin a taxi might still be cheaper than what you are doing at the moment.

I am just about to do a monthly shop for me & dd. i have estimated that it will be around £100.

Lastly. How about you buy cheap range but dont tell your dh. Put the cereal in an old named brand box or in a plastic tub. A lot of people dont know the difference if they are not told.

How much are you spending on meat/week?
How much are you spending on nappies/toiletries
How much are you soending on snacks?

If you split it up like that ^ you'll see the areas that are the worst overspends. Some of it is probably going to be you learning to stick to a list though. There's nothing that says you can't buy your meat once a month and freeze it and do your other shops from eg Tesco or Lidl.

I get 12 mini boxes of raisins for DD for £1 in the pound shop! I also buy all my cleaning products/washing up liquid and snacky bits in there! So much cheaper.

It's hard to say without seeing your menu how much "top end" stuff you are buying. Some people wouldn't dream of not having real butter, or branded coffee, or always keeping the house stocked with wine/crisps/snacks. Others would think all those things a luxury.

Online shopping should be ideal - you will definitely be able to get an Asda or Tesco delivery and there is little noticeable difference in 99% of the items to Waitrose I'm sure. Mysupermarket is the business, IME, and it's better and quicker than supermarket own sites. Plan out your meals, (fortnight better than week), fill up the online trolley for those, see how much money you have left of your budget and then you really have to choose extras accordingly.

People have survived having own brand cereals, non organic milk and cheapo shampoo for whole years Your DH needs to get with the plan or decide what else to cut out on!

Don't make hard work for yourself as well - no point trailing round a market if you have to pay for the tube and a Starbucks afterwards!

ooh. I like the idea of hiding the fact that things are 'basics'.

in mysupermarket can you shop at two different places?

I dont shop on mysupermarket so i am not sure if you can. What i do is use it to compare. It compares 4 supermarkets and it tells you how much you would spend at each one. I fill up my basket & then print out my two nearest supermarkets and then i can work out what products are cheapest and in which supermarket. It does take time but it helps me save money.

I buy some of the basics cereals and decant into plastic cereal containers..DH and DS ate them up as Normal but had they known they were the cheapest of the cheap they wouldn't have touched them! My DS prefers the basics bread...

I used to live in London, for the stuff we bought I found Tesco to be cheapest and to have the most deals (especially on baby stuff, nappies).

Definitely do the pound shop for cleaning products, soap, shampoo, any household stuff.

I understand your husband works late but what about the weekends? You can save soooo much money by going to fruit/veg markets and there are Lidl all over London now.

For snacks, the DC are better off eating fruit/veg/yogurt anyway.

I wouldn't buy things like chicken breasts, it is really wasteful. buy a whole chicken then use breasts for one meal, legs/thighs for next then make stock with the carcass and make a third meal with that and the carcass pickings.

If you like to cook with fresh veg the.n the boxes are actually better value than Supermarket veg. So I would continue buying organic and make savings on things like cleaning products. Most of them are unnecessary anyway, you can get things just as clean with elbow grease.

Cloth nappys also save money in the long term, depends how old your dc are and how many.

Not sure if been said already but amazon subscribe and save I'd fab for nappies, wipes, washing powder etc and you can cancel as soon as you get a delivery if you want and still save. I got toothpaste on there yesterday with free delivery.

The main thing that has helped me save money on the weekly shop is asking hubbie do it.

I've been ill for a few months and wasn't coping. Food was major stress, so I asked if he could take over meal planning and online shopping. Amazing difference.

It just isn't as emotionally loaded for him, and he works well with lists and plans and seems to relish the challenge of sticking to a budget (I do NOT).

Takes him about 30 min twice a week while he is watching telly. I just cook the meals.

If you do your shopping online, that should actually be easier as you know how much you're spending as you go along so no excuses!

We do two things in our house. Firstly check all the offers before you start shopping and plan your weekly food around these. That way it's not so much a case of crossing your fingers that what you want is on offer, but making sure that what is on offer is what you want, if that makes sense.

Our other thing is to set a weekly budget (£100 in our case for us, DS and two cats - don't laugh, they're the most expensive!). If the Ocado shop comes to more, we go through the trolley before checkout and either downgrade something or simply remove it if we don't need it (you'd be surprised how much you can do without when you give yourself a target). And then on the freaky weeks when we spend under, we'll top up with nappies, cleaning products etc. and put them to one side so that we don't have to get them another week - just keeps the bill the same each week.

But I'd also agree with other posters about the merits of jacket potatoes etc. over expensive meat and fish. We're the same as you and only buy organic, but it ain't cheap - if you don't want to compromise on the quality, just reduce the quantity.

Was amazed to find a product which cost £3.80 in Tesco was £2.00 in Wilkinsons! Just one of many price differences with Wilko always cheaper and this was a branded product too.