What am I doing wrong?!

[TheDetective]

I want to cry, stamp my feet, and shout. Todays Aldi shop came to £100, then the bits we can't get at Aldi came to £37 in Asda. We will need £5-10 worth of fresh fruit, salad items and bread midweek also.

I just added up the previous 2 weeks shopping bills. It averaged £200! I can't justify this cost! It's insane!

We have 2 adults, one 12 year old, and a 1 year old. 1 year old is on a dairy/soya free diet. Cat and large dog also.

I'm guessing it doesn't help that me and DP have been doing slimming world for a year. So we sometimes have to get the more expensive non aldi item such as frylight, which there is no alternative for at Aldi. Add to that the seperate toddler food we often have to do as low fat meals which aren't dairy free just aren't suitable for him. Older DS eats the same meals as us however.

I'm happy to spend £110 a week. £100 main shop, £10 top up. So, any advice?

We meal plan, take a list and completely stick to list by the way.

I've made some comments

Eggs x3 boxes (of 10) - tray of 30 in Tesco and I am pretty sure they come cheaper per unit, do they come in bigger trays in Asda as well?
Bananas and Apples & other fruit/veg - buy loose, likely to be be cheaper
Jaffa cakes x2 - who eats them? do you buy own brans or branded?
Cupshotz x3 - I would try to cut down on those if they are for lunch box
Pasta x1 - was it wholemeal or economy?
Tinned sweetcorn x3 pack - buy frozen, will work out cheaper
Toilet roll - was it on offer?
Kitchen wipes x2 - disposable? maybe worth sticking to sponge
Tinned tomatoes x4 - own brand?
Frozen chips x1 bag - who eats those? are they necessary?
Spinach x1 bag - if used for cooking I would try frozen
Tomatoes x1 pack - you had already mentioned tomatoes - did you buy 2 packets of 4?
Chillis x2 packs - much cheaper in asian shops, you can freeze them and use for ages
Chilli mix pack x1 - cheaper in ethnic shops

I think mabye we just eat too much.

Whatever we make generally, there is nothing left of. And I'm using a huge pot, or tray etc, with no room to cook extra in!

The only meals we get left overs from are chilli (which I take to work the next day) and stews.

We've rationed all the 'treats' so that we know we aren't spending ridiculous amounts on crisps/chocolate/biscuits.

We are each allowed our 'syns' (me and DP) which is usually a chocolate bar and packet of crisps in the evening. DS1 has his ration which is 4 jaffa cakes. Toddler gets fruit/raisins!

So I know where it's all going. I reckon we can save some money when it comes to veg.

Will look at getting the chicken and eggs elsewhere.

Have decided to cut down on the pepsi max. That's my downfall. Neither of us drink/smoke. I like a nice fizzy cold drink! :(

I need to look at the toddlers oat milk. At around £1.25 a carton, and using 3 a week, if it's not on offer that is £3.75 a week just for his milk! Which is expensive. We did get dairy free formula on prescription, but they didn't want to continue it after 12 mths old as its £30 a tin. So we stump up for the alternative milk. I wonder if there is a cheaper but still healthy alternative.

Frylight, that's fecking expensive too, we use 2 bottles a week at £2.20. Other spray oils aren't syn free. So either we need to use less, or suck it up. Will try using less (it's difficult as using less means ending up with burnt stuck on food!).

Nosey this is from my earlier post - "This came to £100, then the extras in Asda included 2x frylight, 3x oat milk, dry shampoo, 4x pepsi max, kit kats, organix oat bars, deodorant, bin bags (aldi's are shit!), 3 pack of Cadbury caramels, muller lights x 4."

Sorry, I missed that bit about the Asda shop.

I think it's definitely a case of volume then. 2 bottles of frylight a week again seems like a lot! In terms of cost I can't see any way you are going to reduce it drastically if that's the amount of food that you use each week. Not implying you should eat less just to make that clear but can't see how you can reduce the cost otherwise.

Aldi is by far the cheapest supermarket in my experience and going to other shops for different things might save a bit here and there but if you're paying extra for fuel/parking then it's easily cancelled out.

One option might be ordering chicken online? My mum/sister order it from Musclefood which has 5kg of chicken for £25.00 which is cheaper than the supermarket. Never tried it myself, but they say it's really good as the chicken you get has already been trimmed of all the gross bits so you get good value for money.

Thanks Anti.

The frozen spinach - brilliant! We have 2 recipes which use spinach - we make both of these most weeks. I'll check out the price difference.

Jaffa cakes - Ds1 eats the most, followed by DP. I occasionally have a couple. We get Aldi's own. They are 95p for a pack of 24.

Cup shotz - I take these to work. When on an early shift, I tend to have a break around 10-11am, and then no lunch break (as you get a 15 min 'concessionary' break to be taken when you are told). So I need something quick, I usually take one of these, some fruit and a yogurt. They are 33p so pretty cheap, and fairly filling. I don't get home til about 3.30-4pm, so lunch doesn't happen on those days.

Pasta was Aldis own again. Think its about 45p a 500g bag.

I tried frozen sweetcorn, and didn't like it, I found it not sweet enough, and a bit tough. I make pasta salads, or use it in a baked potato with some cheese. Or the toddler has it with pasta. Mind you, he doesn't eat it anyway. Probably wasting money giving him anything at the moment!

Toilet roll we just get aldis cheapest stuff, £1.95 for 6 jumbo rolls.

Tinned tomatoes, again, aldis own, 31p a tin, same as smart price etc.

We get cherry tomatoes for salads, and the toddlers lunches, and regular tomatoes for grilling to go with a cooked breakfast. Most weeks we just get cherry tomatoes (usually get 2 packs a week).

Kitchen wipes - I find so useful. But they are a waste really. DP said we should use kitchen roll more. He's right I guess. We need to get our hot water sorted first. We have to boil the kettle to do dishes FFS!

The fruit is generally pretty cheap when I've worked it all out, especially when they do the super 6 offers.

Eggs are £1.25, and I've just realised they are boxes of 15 . We definitely go through 30 a week then! Just checked the prices at the big 4, and Aldi still come out cheaper for eggs. The trays of 30 are £3.30-3.75.

Frozen chips - Ds1 eats these. His treat meal once a week is chips and pizza, or chips with some sort of junk food. We don't have take aways any more so this is his treat. A bag of chips lasts a few weeks.

I'm seeing from writing this that we are all eating different things. This might be why things are so expensive. It's cheaper to cook for more...

It's tricky with shift work, a fussy ex vegetarian, a dairy/soya free eater... I need to try and make it work better for us all.

And I think I am too concerned with the toddlers diet. I try and be all singing all dancing balancing his meals, while catering for his diet. His breakfast is weetabix with oat milk. Lunches are sandwiches with cucumber/tomatoes and fruit or dippy eggs, tuna pasta, eggy bread with cucumber and carrot sticks or crumpets with ham/chicken and salad type stuff. I try and make something different most days, to keep his tastes varied. His dinner is with us if it is suitable, and if I am not working a late shift. Invariably we cook a seperate meal for him 3-4 times a week, or a variation of what we are having.

Urghhhhh. I need more time, and less work. Then maybe I could make it work better!

I think your problem is too much food rather than your shopping methods

two cans of spray oil a week is far too much

and then:

2 kilos of chicken breast fillets

30 eggs

4 bags of potatoes AND 4 baking potatoes AND frozen chips on top of that

...between two adults, a pre-teen and a baby/toddler
... for just 1 week
....WTF!?

and thats without taking into account all of the rest of the food you buy

you are trying to justify all the wrong stuff OP.

Let your baby have his oat milk, all the fruit veg etc is fine.

Your meals on the meal plan sound like huge portions and definitely not 'slimming'.

for example... in your meal of Jacket Potatoes AND chicken breasts AND Salas how many jackets spuds would you have and what fillings and how many chicken breasts, what does the salad consist of? Who would eat that, just the adults?

Why are you having a potato topped chicken pie with a side dish of more potato!?

Asda do free range eggs 15 for £2 so check if that's cheaper than Aldi - they also do 30 from caged hens for about £3.50 if you're not bothered about free range.

Fry light - I thought you're only meant to use a few squirts of it, when I did SW a bottle of it lasted well over a month!

Can you get own brand cola instead of Pepsi? Or smaller amounts - one bottle rather than 4 if you only like the branded stuff?

If you're buying so many potatoes do you need the oven chips too?

Organix bars - easy to make dairy free flapjacks and so much cheaper!

Can you bulk buy things like toilet roll, cleaning products etc at the start of the month to last until the following payday? If you aren't already, make sure to buy own brand for these rather than branded.

Slightly off topic - my biggest downfall at slimming world was hearing that foods were unlimited - I was still utterly overeating so although I lost weight at first, it tailed off once I didn't have as much to lose because I was still consuming too much for my needs even though it was healthy. If you know you're having big portions, it may be worth gradually reducing them now so you don't end up in the same boat as I did :)

What do you eat Will?

Can you list your shopping list for me?

Genuinely.

I'd like to see what volume of food others buy.

One jacket potato with 35g of reduced fat cheddar. One chicken breast with pepper and garlic crushed on. Salad is lettuce leaves (baby butterhead leaf) with chopped cucumber, cherry tomatoes and red onion. With salt and pepper on and some balsamic vinegar (I've had the same bottle for 4 months, so not much of this gets used).

A jacket potato with salad would not fill me at all. At lunch possibly, but by evening I am ready for a properly filling meal.

The meals must be working, as you don't lose 4 stone in 12 months without changing something. DP has lost the same without being as strict as me. Jammy bastard.

The potato topped pie means the potato is topping the chicken in low fat philli. There is no pastry. Sweet potatoes have a different taste to potato. They are nice roasted, and go well with the meal quite honestly.

If me and DH have jacket potato for tea it'll be 2 spuds each with something like leftover chilli and maybe a bit of grated cheese. Or one large spud each with chicken and salad. If I do spaghetti bolognese a 500g tray of mince plus veg and making a sauce will do me, DH, DS (3) and DH's lunch the next day. How do you find that compares to the amount you're eating? I'd happily eat more, but am satisfied by that amount so I no longer cook more than that.

Rockchick, yes, dairy free flapjacks would be good, do you have a recipe? The ones I buy have no sugar, where as flapjack is full of sugar. Is there a good alternative? I hear apple juice is good to use as a sweetener?

Fry light, yes, you are only supposed to use a small amount. I had this discussion in my group. Everyone agreed that you need a lot of sprays to get it to work properly. And everyone equally said they use one bottle every 1-2 weeks or so. So I know I'm using more than everyone else. But then I don't use oil at all, so I'm cooking for us all with frylight. And most of our meals are cooked using it. So I'm not sure. When I asked 30-40 sprays per meal were about usual - which is what I am using.

Yes, I've got 2 stone left to lose now, and it has slowed down. I lost 3 stone in my first 8 months, 1 stone over the last 3.5 months. So I think it is time to look at the volume I am eating.

That's exactly right then rockchick, that is the the amount I cook.

A spag bol here is made with 300g quorn mince, 3 tins of chopped tomatoes, 250g mushroom, 1 onion, 200ml stock. Does 2 adults, 12 year old, baby and an extra portion is often left.

sure...

our meal plan for this week (just two of us)

Yoghurts/ toast for breakfast every day. Sandwiches/ Salads for lunches on work days.

We shopped today so:

Tonight - large pizza shared between two.
Tomorrow -chicken salad for lunch, Fish boiled potatoes and veg for tea
Tue Beef stew with dumplings
Wed Breaded fish with frozen chips and veg (but usually pasta bake)
Thur Beef Stir fry
Fri probably takeaway
Sat Bacon Sandwiches for brunch, steak and chips for tea
Sunday Lunch dribs and drabs of leftovers before going shopping

on top of the things required for those meals we would also generally buy:

apples
bananas
lemons
milk
toilet roll etc
cold coffee based drinks
3 bottles of wine
bread
Salady stuff and sandwich stuff
cottage cheese
Juice
treats like a bag of M&Ms
fizzy water

Our shopping probably comes to max £60 main shop if we have had washing powder and stuff 'top up store cupboard' stuff to buy. We then probably spend another £30 during the week on a friday takeaway and a few top up bits and pieces. So an expensive week would be £90.

We shop mainly at Morrisons and Sainsbury's

I'm not criticising, as you can see we are hardly health freaks, and I like my food, but I'm just in awe of how much food you seem to get through, particularly potato based products.

Pic below is a portion size here.

Piri piri chicken with wedges.

Toddler portion. Potato cakes with a sliced hard boiled egg, cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

Roast dinner.

honestly you would be better with a drizzle of olive oil than 30 - 40 sprays of fry light

I don't think I'd have the self control. 30-40 sprays is 30-40 cals.

I'd struggle to use so little olive oil.

Do you have a Farm Food near you?
Toilet roll - 9 rolls (of thick, quilted stuff) is £1.95
Frozen veg - usually 3 bags for £2

I mainly shop in Aldi, but keep a note of things I can get cheaper elsewhere, and stock up every couple of months.

That does seem like a lot of food for 2 adults, 1 x 12yr old and a baby though. My normal weekly bill in Aldi is £50, and that's for 2 adults, and our dc are 17. 15. and 12, so you'd expect them to be consuming more than one 12 yr old and 1 baby.

your main meal portion sizes I would consider to be slightly on the large size, but fine if you are only eating smallish meals the rest of the day. Definitely couldn't eat a meal that size every night as much as I would like to.

Unless they are small dinner plates your problem is portion control ,those meals look huge to me .

I'd like to give an example of a typical day, but it's impossible with doing shifts, days aren't typical!

Today I had 3 soft boiled eggs, with 1 slice of wholemeal toast for lunch (no breakfast).

I ate half a pack of frozen steam veg that the toddler doesn't eat (one bag is too big for him alone).

An apple.

Dinner was chicken 'fajhitas'.

This evening I had a cadburys caramel and a packet of space raiders (190 cals, and 64 cals respectively) using my daily 'syn' allowance.

Tomorrow I am on a night shift, so will get up at lunch time, and I'm guessing I won't eat til mid afternoon. I'll probably have some salad and some fruit. Then I'll have dinner at 6.30pm, which is baked potato/chicken/salad. I'll take to work the soup I make (sweetcorn and potato chowder) with some hard boiled eggs, veg sticks and salsa. I'll also take some bread to make toast if I fancy it. And maybe a yogurt. I eat a lot on night shifts. I need it to keep me going through it, particularly on my first night. I will take my 'syns' with me too, as in my most stressful moments, these will be much wanted, and will stop me eating all the very bad things everyone else brings in to share!

I don't get up at mid day for lunch by the way. I sleep til 5pm the next day. So I'm not eating like 6 meals a day.

Floral, no idea, they are just regular plates. £1 each from Asda! I did notice that when I bought some to replace broken or chipped ones, we now have some bigger and some smaller plates. So I don't know what size the plates are in the pics. Could be the bigger, or the smaller ones.

I though you would be better off bu buying one of those sprayers:
www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/oil-sprayer

Sorry, where's the dog & cat food in the weekly shops?