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Original poster

Food Shopping

41 replies

cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 09:30

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice please of how to get my weekly food shopping bill down.

There's just me and DH and we spend around £80-£100 a week on food shopping, including alcohol (ciders, lager), which my DH drinks (usually about £15-£20 worth). He thinks our weekly bill is a bit too much so I've recently been trying to get this down.
I've been making 'family favourite' type dinners and have frozen stuff like fish pie, lasagne, curry etc but I'm still finding that our weekly food shopping is touching the £100 mark most weeks. I think this may be because I buy fresh fruit, nicer meats/fish and the odd bar of nice chocolate/biscuits/cake but I don't feel that this is unreasonable. We very rarely get takeaways etc and eat out probably about once a fortnight.
I plan every meal we are going to have and buy the ingredients, so I'm at a loss of how to squeeze this down further.
I've tried to say to my DH that £80-£100 a week is normal for two people and the new normal (not sure if I'm just trying to make myself feel better and I'm delusional/just used to spending this amount) but I'm unsure of how to squeeze this down further. Thank you.

OP posts:
sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:34

this is a bit odd

20% is booze for your dh to drink

no brainer how to reduce 🤷‍♀️

Bromptotoo · 03/12/2023 09:34

Are you shopping at an 'ordinary' supermarket or Lidl/Aldi?

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:35

and to add to the oddness… it’s your dh pushing for a reduction 😂

tescocreditcard · 03/12/2023 09:37

If you take off the £20 your dh spends on booze that makes it £40 a week per person. You won't get it down any cheaper if you want a nutritional healthy diet.

Also amused that it's your dh drinking and your dh telling you to get the bill down. Tell him to do one.

Peablockfeathers · 03/12/2023 09:37

I'm sure if you point out the obvious solution, which is for him to cut back on the alcohol spends he will soon agree it's just a sign of the times and costs have indeed risen. If he says I'm not reducing it and you can cut down on actual food then he clearly has a problem.

ZiggyZowie · 03/12/2023 09:37

Our food bill is around £50 a week. For 2 of us.

No booze.

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:39

his response to you suggesting he reduce what’s taking up 20% of your grocery bill…. will be telling OP

Original poster
cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 09:40

Thanks all, I agree about the booze. I used to drink wine but don't anymore but I think I've replaced the wine with chocolate!
I'm going to tell him to stop factoring the alcohol in as it skews it somewhat. Just to clarify he mentioned in passing that it seemed a bit high, he wasn't demanding it was lowered or starting an argument, it just gave me food for thought as one of my 'jobs' is to sort the food shopping and he does the cleaning etc.
We shop at Tesco and Aldi although I was finding Aldi to not be as cheap as it has been in the past and the quality not as nice. I don't want to eat processed shit for every meal so to me the budget is ok.

OP posts:
JammieJem · 03/12/2023 09:41

Suggest that if £20 of alcohol is his luxury, and he isn't prepared to skip it, then you spend roughly the same amount on luxuries for yourself such as tastier fruit etc, which obviously he won't be eating himself. Then the rest of the shop can be really scrimpy and basic. See how much that costs then? I'm betting it'll actually cost more if you are getting the same amount of luxuries as he is.

flowerchild2000 · 03/12/2023 09:41

Substitute legumes for meat one meal per week and gradually increase as desired. It's healthier for you, the planet, and your wallet.

Make your baked goods at home, much cheaper.

This one might be super weird to you, but have you and your DH ever tried kombucha? It can be made alcoholic and it's incredibly healthy and very easy to make at home. It costs almost nothing. You can tweak it to suit your tastes.

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:44

are you not concerns about his alcohol intake?

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:45

I've tried to say to my DH that £80-£100 a week is normal for two people and the new normal (not sure if I'm just trying to make myself feel better and I'm delusional/just used to spending this amount)

what’s been his response on the times you have tried to explain (but surely the only explanation is… your booze is 20%!)

Original poster
cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 09:49

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:44

are you not concerns about his alcohol intake?

Not particularly. Sorry to be unclear/drip-feedy (unintentional) but £20 is probably the max spent on alcohol a week, this is probably just once a month where we will buy some nice ciders etc. The majority of the time it's just £10-£15 a week buying day 4/5 'nicer' ciders at Tesco. He doesn't drink every evening but when I've read my post back I realise it makes him sound dependant.

OP posts:
sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:52

so the majority of the time it’s £10-£15 and not £15-20?

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:52

still a very easy to reduce bill

Doggymummar · 03/12/2023 09:55

Reduce it by telling him to get his own booze! Ours is £200 today and we shop weekly, but it has all the Christmas booze in it. We spend about £50 a week normally but our two freezers are full as are the cupboards. So it's just a top up.

Teaandbiscuits60 · 03/12/2023 10:10

our average is about £40 a week but I make our meals myself , the only ready made food I buy is sausages or breaded fish. We don’t buy any alcohol except for Christmas - no judgement call I’ve had a stroke so I don’t drink much now. I Shop at Lidl and Aldi every week and I’m just agog at the prices in the big supermarkets I wonder how people afford it. I treat myself with some m and s very occasionally but otherwise I make everything myself lasagne, fish pie , spag Bol, shepherd’s pie and even a Korean chicken. It costs less to make yourself I’ve always done this even when I worked full time. I bake too. Jane’s patisserie recipes are the bomb, quick easy and fab x

Teaandbiscuits60 · 03/12/2023 10:12

Also I just bought a double air fryer ( crosswise on Amazon) and I do everything in it. I’m trying Cookies today I’ll let you know how I get on.

BarbaraofSeville · 03/12/2023 11:07

This sounds like a case of him not having a fucking clue how much things cost and also being oblivious that it's him that's pushing the bill up. I bet he eats more than you too.

Alcohol should not be part of the food bill, he needs to pay for that separately.

Do you actually need to reduce the food spend or is this just him plucking figures out of the air about what he thinks it should cost?

You could reduce your spend buy buying hardly any meat or fish and make mostly vegetarian meals. Indian vegetarian food costs very little to make (Tesco have big packs of Asian branded spices, also frozen ginger and garlic).

But those recipes are often quite time consuming to make than grilling a piece of chicken or fish. Is he willing to put in the extra effort that eating well on little money requires?

GonzoGonzo · 03/12/2023 11:26

Hi op, you may want to re post taking out any reference to your DH to get more helpful/balanced response.

I think your your correct in this is the new normal. Trading meet for alternative is good idea. I find this time of year a home made soup can be a cheap meal with cheese on toast etc.

Original poster
cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 11:27

Thank you everyone for the responses, really appreciate it Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 11:35

Just to add I think it's more a case of my DH doesn't realise the price of things anymore as it's been a long time since he was responsible for buying the food, I've spoken to him about the alcohol and he agrees completely (luckily!) I think i was just looking for reassurance that I'm not excessively spenny with buying stuff rather than having a dig at him. Thanks everyone

OP posts:
theduchessofspork · 03/12/2023 11:37

tescocreditcard · 03/12/2023 09:37

If you take off the £20 your dh spends on booze that makes it £40 a week per person. You won't get it down any cheaper if you want a nutritional healthy diet.

Also amused that it's your dh drinking and your dh telling you to get the bill down. Tell him to do one.

This

It’s a normal shop

He wants it down, he drinks less

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 12:19

cookiecrunch94 · 03/12/2023 11:35

Just to add I think it's more a case of my DH doesn't realise the price of things anymore as it's been a long time since he was responsible for buying the food, I've spoken to him about the alcohol and he agrees completely (luckily!) I think i was just looking for reassurance that I'm not excessively spenny with buying stuff rather than having a dig at him. Thanks everyone

That is a bit odd. Does he never listen to the news regarding COL crisis and exponential rise in grocery prices?

My children are fully aware of the increased cost!

Bromptotoo · 03/12/2023 12:40

sugarandsweetener · 03/12/2023 09:44

are you not concerns about his alcohol intake?

Is £15-£20 worth a week retail going to bust the 14 unit/week list by much

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