Weekly shop cost...

[Jaimx86]

Just been reading Daily Mail comments (my guilty pleasure) on an article where a women halved her family shop by buying out of date food. The commenters mainly stated they their all their family on less than £100 a week.

My DP and I spend a fortune and I don't know how. Granted, we don't actively try to bargain hunt by shopping around - we do regular Tesco plus an occasional pop to Lidl for the mussels and baked Camembert we get from there. Does anyone else have a sub £100 weekly shop without actively trying to be thrifty?

I did a big shop yesterday to fill up new freezer (£90) but normally about £40-£50 max for the two of us (thank you Lidl 😀)

I just don't know where the money goes gin. I really don't wine. It's a puzzle more wine. I must check port.

70 pounds a week for three of us.includes toiletries and cleaning stuff and pet paraphernalia. The toilet ores are quite a lot as I buy fairly expensive shampoo and conditioner.
I used to spend 120 a week big shop plus bits and bobs on top of that in the week so probably another 20 quid on top!
I've started doing online shop and meal planning now and have found it really helps.im not skimping on anything we used to have just not buying stuff we don't need.
Also I got that save with Jamie book for Christmas, so I pretty much choose one of the ideas from that to do every week, and scale the amounts down a bit to fit our smaller family.Its been a revelation both in how far you can make food stretch and also introducing the DD's to new meals (for some reason they will try anything from the book even where it's something they wouldn't touch before-it must have stuck a chord with them for some reason-but I'm not complaining!).

Just did weeks shopping for 85 quid online asda, for 4 adults ( 2 of them very greedy) and one extremely greedy teenager). That included some beer but no wine, and no cleaning products or toiletries. Will do bread and milk top ups during the week. We eat meat or fish every day, but not necessarily huge portions - so 500g of cheap mince ( tastier than extra lean) will make spag bol for 5 with some over.
I agree that meal planning is your way forward, so you know exactly how much you will need. I've started freezing leftovers in single portion sizes, which work as lunches for me ( access to microwave at work) or spare mheals/ snacks for the lads. This works particularly well with soups, and for DH who is on odd shifts.
We never have ready prepared meals, but I do like cooking, and am normally home early enough to do so. If I worked longer hours, I might feel that a few ready meals might be worth the trade off.

I spend around 100-140 and do all my shopping in Aldi and B&M bargains. We have 2 children under 2 both in nappies. One of them is only 9 months so he is on homemade (slightly puréed) food so I spend quite a lot on vegetables as I need double the amount I would usually so I can make DS lunches and dinners. I get all our brand stuff from B&M so that's washing powder, toiletries, Heinz beans!

We spend under £100 a week for 7 of us and the 7 pets and the stuff I buy for the wild birds in the garden.

I never buy out of date food and it doesn't usually include reduced items(because I can hardly ever find any)I'll never shop at Tesco though I've always found it expensive even when I worked there as a teen and had a discount card.

I use Asda and Lidl and sometimes Iceland for things like flavoured water,they usually have special offers on the kingsmill breakfast range,Ice lollies and Ice cream and they sometimes have really cheap offers on things like crisps.

I use Poundland/Poundworld for sweets(chocolate bars)for the children,cleaning products(2 large bottles of morning fresh washing up liquid for £1)crisps if they work out better value there than the supermarket,kitchen towel,tissues,toilet rolls,food bags,black bags,treats for the 3 Dogs,the Cat and food and seeds for the wild birds.

We usually use the butcher for our meat except for bacon,sausages and burgers.
Any meat pre made products like sausages and burgers have to have a very high content of meat,I won't buy the cheap one's.
Our butcher offers free delivery which is handy as it's about an hours drive there and back.

The pet bits for the Rabbits and Hamster we buy from a local independant pet shop(alot cheaper than Pets at Home) and they offer free delivery as well.

I know were very lucky to have a lidl and a poundland within 10 minutes drive and Asda and Iceland is less than 20 minutes drive and they're both right near each other.

I don't go looking around all of the stores,I open up different windows on the computer and compare prices whilst I'm making the shopping list.
Starting to make a Meal planner(I never thought to do that for years)is most probably what's saved us the most money.

When I mean not thrifty, I mean I actually eat seafood once or twice a week. (Some poster upthread mention salmon). We get salmon fillets, king prawns, etc that kind of stuff. And those expensive fresh bundle of herbs. A bottle of wine. I never look at the sale items either. I just do a meal plan and order whatever that's needed. I don't do organics though. The OP still hasn't said her family size. Maybe have a look at your basket and see what's not needed?

I spend around £80 a week at asda then top up at the very expensive but very handy and lovely local shop. I doubt it ever come in at under £100, especially if you include any booze or if we're having people over to eat. That's for 2 adults, a toddler and a weaned 8 months old and includes nappies and cleaning stuff.

I spend approx £75 a week for a family of four including all booze, cleaning stuff and nappies etc

Me and dh do all our shopping from independent places ( butchers, farm shop) and we make our own bread, cakes.
Costs about £70 a week for just us two, our ds is only 6 months so doesn't eat much.

I spend £50ish a week for 2.

I think £100 is a lot for 2 people but it really depends on what you buy. Fillet steak and salmon would soon add up, organic fruit and veg are expensive so you can't really compare cost. Someone eating the sort of food mentioned can't really be compared to someone who eats value range and cheap cuts of meat. The price reflects the type of stuff bought.

FEEL FREE TO SKIP

This weeks shop to date. Can't see us getting much more.

5 X dozen eggs = £12.50
2.5 bags tuna steak = £8.75
3 X Greek yog four pack = £2.98
2 X Teaco bright salad bowl = £4
6 X 2 litre bottles water = £2.10
1 X 12 pack 500ml water = £2
X 3 packs Spring onions =£1.57
X 2 bags carrots = £0.98
X 2 broccoli = £0.98
X 2 packs kippers = £2
X2 Cup a soups =£2.48
X 3 bags tesco protein pasta £3.55
X 1 box string teabags £2.59
X1 big milk £1.48
X 1 Kerrygold £1.60
X 2 packs mussels in white wine £6
X 1 garlic flat bread £1.30
X1 southern fries £1.80
X1 bag sweet potatoes £1.25
X 1 pack cookies £1
X 2 fresh salmon with chilli £3.50
X1 pack fridge salmon fillets £3.50
X 1 block cheese £2.00
X1 salad dressing £0.99
X 3 packs tuna cans (4) =£7.50
X 1 pack baked jalepenos = £1.50
X1 pack Creme brûlée £1.50
X 1 baked Camembert = £1.50
X 1 pack avacado =£1.75

Total £65.83. On top of this, DP
Usually grabs soom cheap noodles and mini chocs from Lidl. Then household basics like tin foil, big bags etc top it up.

We get 12 bottles of wine delivered at the start of the month that's not included in food shop.

I'm about to do ours. When baby was tiny I dragged him round lidl and aldi and between those two I got everything we need for, on average, a third cheaper. I used to check by putting a comparable supermarket shop into my supermarket.

Now he's bigger, has a huge inconvenient nap, and is a walking liability, I just do an online shop. If you really need to save that's one thing I found that worked

It is having the time and inclination to plan and cook. If you are on a budget or want to save money, it is easy enough to bring your spends well under a hundred through a variety of methods: meal planning, shopping around, getting most of shop from discounted or Aldi/Lidl, going fully or partially vegetarian, down branding.

However, if you are time poor, you are more likely to quick fix which you pay for.

I move between the two. I work FT in a demanding job. I've managed to feed us (me, DH, DD (17), DS (7) ) very well for about £50-£60 a week using the methods above, but I am a pest to sinking back into old habits because it is very time consuming, so I end up ordering from Tesco online rather than going to a couple of shops with a list. I'm spending about £100 atm, but need to reign it in. I still down brand, I still have the odd trip down to Poundstretcher. Example: my DD has spaghetti hoops in a thermos for lunch. 75p a tin from Tesco, which I was paying; £1.49 for 4 in Poundstretcher. If you buy coke you should definitely go somewhere like that and stock up as it s far cheaper. Home Bargains are also good and Farm Foods. Lots of discounted brands there.

I used to get very excited going to Aldi and getting a massive shop for £35. The only problem is that ours is a total scrum and I hate going there. We're supposed to be getting a Lidl very close to where I live, so that will be my main shop.

The one thing I would categorically never do now is shop without a list. That way disaster lies. Especially if the shop is a big one with lots of lovely homeware and clothes. I've had many a bad trip to Sainsbury's where I went for a couple of things without a list, wandered around (fatal) and filled up a trolley whilst there... I LOVE Sainsbury's, but it is £££.

rein

Should add, pretty much wholly vegetarian and no booze, which certainly brings down cost. I started to eat meat again after 26 years and the bills shot up. Have curbed it again now, with the odd meat meal, but mostly vege with some fish - I eat tinned mackerel with salads or tinned tuna, salmon fillets.

That's seems like a lot of food for two people, do you eat it all or do you have some that is wasted?

You seem to eat a lot of eggs between you, same with tuna. Is that figure right? Other than that I can't see a lot of food that costs a lot on its own, just a heck of a lot of food!

I think you have a lo of luxury products there.

I spend about 70 including nappies for two toddlers and another 8 on milk midweek

I batch cook about 12 shepards pies and curries etc so some weeks I don't have as much meat to buy but we always have steak once a week. I buy alcohol separately

Wow OP that is a lot of food! Do you eat it all? Obvious things are drop the bottled water. fancy salad and so much protein. 60 eggs for two people is a lot.

Seems a lot of food for two people.

I'm currently spending £50 plus £20 top,up, as I'm trying to empty the freezer.

How do 2 people get through 5 dozen eggs ??

I agree with everyone that it so much depends on how many you are shopping for, and what you are including.

Generally I spend less than £50 on my weekly shop for 2 adults and 2 teens. (no pets, no alcohol). I don't conciously try to scrimp nowadays, but I do shop in Aldi and just buy the 'normal' weekly shop.

up must be low carbing but 60eggs are excessive

Our budget is £75 a week. Me, dh, dd(12), 3ds's (7,4, 3months) and sdd(6) eowe. We shop at tescos and mainly buy value food. I imagine our budget will triple when the boys become teenagers