Shopping Bills

[Chinchilla]

Long story, but dh and I are having to make cut backs in our monthly expenditure. We realised that I was spending far too much while shopping, because I make several trips to various supermarkets, and get a few extra things that can sometimes add up to £30 a time, on top of the weekly shop. OK, so we decided to stop having take-aways at the weekend, going out for pizza, and for me to make only one visit to the supermarket, unless I need milk or bread (and then I must only buy those items). No problem there, and last week, I managed to spend 'only' £75 in two trips (one for milk only!) However, today I went for the weekly shop, and managed to spend £110. Before you all gasp in horror, I have ds's 2nd birthday party next Monday, and a lot of the shop involved fizzy drinks, wine, squash etc. Also, there were a lot of toiletries involved this week. In addition, wherever possible, I bought BOGOF items and 'two for £xxx' offers.

We spend a lot on food, buying stuff like whymummy's delicious selection below, as DH-2-B is a fab cook and LOVES to be adventurous in the kitchen

We go to Tesco at least 5 times a week and we always spend at least £25 (about £125 a week min) for 5 people. We don't do a 'big shop' as I can't be arsed dragging all 3 kids around Tesco on a weekend afternoon with all the other harrassed 'big shoppers'. I know that it works out expensive but it is the most convenient way for us.

I do my main weekly shop on Ocado.com (waitrose internet shopping) It's more expensive that other supermarkets but they are very good. I find I save money doing this as am not tempted to buy stuff I don't need just cos I see it and it looks good. Usually costs £75 to £100 per week incl formula, nappies etc.

On top of that I ruin it all by nipping into waitrose twice a week and buying all those other things. Usually spend loads more, £30 a time. It is more expensive than usual at the mo as am on Atkins diet (so is dh) so we have to buy delicious things to stop ourselves falling off the wagon.

I have tried Asda but they sell things in such bulk a lot of the time and it's so huge I get bored and just grab anything to get out of the place.

I went to Lidls last week and spent just £40 including lager and wine. BUT I found it a bit scary, lots of intimidating looking people with tattoos so didn't actually do a full shop. If I had I could have saved quite a lot.

I know, I'm a wimp!

I cook everything too, ready made meals often give me terrible headaches. We get through a minimum af 5 loaves a week and about 40 pints of milk. Also about 12 fromage frais ,3 giant tubs of yoghurt, and masses of fruit. We do have biscuits and crisps too, as last resort "shut up for the millionth time before I explode" bribes. Dh does most of the shopping too, at night unencumbered by children. He says the trolley is half empty until we get to the bread and milk then it's almost overflowing!

Chinchilla, ASDA is defineately best. I now buy loads of smart price stuff which the girls seems to love. I managed to cut our bill to around £80 a week for the main shop then an extra £20 for bread and milk and bits and bobs! However I did a shop the other day and it was £118!!! So saying I added some extras that I haven't bought for ages.

Like others I think it is not a shopping issue, more a control thing. But to show him you are trying try serving him Smart price beans 9p on smart price toast 35p for a few days. Do a complete Smart price shop and you'll be suprised at what you can save. We buy SP squash at 69p for 2l, coca pops at about 70p a bag, bacon about 72p a pack. I always get the two 4 £5 chickens, once a fortnight, cook one freeze one. It does make a difference and certianly is about £20 - £30 less now than things used to be. The wine is OK also, I never used to buy it, now I get a bottle or two a week at about £2.80 a bottle and it still keeps the bill below £80.

Good Luck,

PS I went past your road on my bike today, on my way to work!!!

and another thing...we decided to cut down on our wine consumption to save money but lasted 3 days before giving in SO we now buy a box of it on Saturdays and when its gone, thats it! We used to have a bottle every day so it does save a bit. Sound like an alcoholic now

We've saved a fortune on wine (as it's not allowed really on Atkins) Instead we have a monster V&T or two every night and it's much much cheaper than drinking wine!

I take £100 out of the cashpoint on Monday morning and TRY to make it last all week - thats everything, food, wine (we try not to drink at all during the week - it was a health/money thing originally but we have both lost a few pounds in weight doing this too ), trips out for me and the girls, baby milk, organic veggy box. It is very hard to stick to...often impossible at the weekend as we often have people to stay and then you have to cook decent food for them/provide nice breakfasts, snacks etc - that really adds up.

I spend a fortune _ and I'm wasteful. I really need to do something about it. I work in the middle of niowhere so pop out to Sainsburysd and Tesco that are the only places to go to during lunch and pop in for 2 basic items and come out weith a 5 bags having spent £60 and I do that at least twice a week. having read the threads I realise I'm going overboard and am going to make myself shop better! We do drink at least 1, if not 2 bottles of wine every night though so a lot of money goes on wine, and I am NOT giving that up!!

Have been reading this post with interest (although i think it has somewhat moved on from Chinchilla's original problem - hope that you manage to sort out what is going with DH!). I have never managed to get myself that organised to do weekly shop - i work part-time and used to take DS (19 months) on one of my mornings off but decided that it was too much hassle dragging him round and all the shopping. Try to do once week big shop but also get tempted to do smaller ones as Tesco is round the corner from work. What i hate about all this is the idea of buying cheap food - we know what problems this can lead to in the long run (foot and mouth, BSE etc). I would like to buy organic/free range meat etc but when i get there and it is so much more expensive i dont know what to do - sometimes i do and sometimes i dont! i feel i should be paying more attention to what i feed us especially DS but it is so hard when you are trying to budget!

I'm also not very good at planning what to eat for the week so any tips to help with this would be good!

Manfwood why don't you try internet shopping. As I'm doing it I go through each day, think of something to eat and they get all the bits. It does avoid waste - I throw out a lot less now.

You do get in a rut a bit though, I often pick things from my favourites list and so we end up eating the same things a lot.

Re the organic meat thing, I have the same problem. I always want to buy it but sometimes I think it's too much. If you go on a Saturday evening they often have things marked down I find.

Thomcat you sound like me with wine, Ive been trying to cut down

Internet shopping is another thing i keep meaning to do - did it a few times when DS was tiny but trouble is need to plan in advance so can book appropriate delivery slot - somehow never quite manage it - but must try harder! it's all so miserable though isnt it - watching every penny although i do appreciate we are a lot better off than many people.

Thanks for the tip anyway!

I couldn't eat cheap meat,too scary, so our solution has been to buy the expensive meat but only have meat 3/4 times a week. We average about £60 per week at Sainsbury's including alcohol. Can't shop anywhere else, I enjoy our trips to Sainsbury's en famille. Weird or what?

I am amazed at how much our shopping seems to have increased since having ds2 and it's not as though he's having formula or jars of baby food. I shop in Sainsbury's (and I love supermaerket shopping too) as it's 2 minutes walk as opposed to 30 minute drive to Tesco or Asda. Tesco is too huge and Asda was really disappointing when I tried it e.g. no bread in the bakery section (maybe I just went on a bad day). I think what drives up the bill is preferring organic where possible esp meat. Do buy lots and lots of bogofs - as Alvin Hall said that's a much better return for your investment than putting the cash in the bank. I find that if I do a big shop every 2-3 weeks then the in-between times for fruit & veg mean the average weekly bill is less than if I go once a week for the week.

Another big supporter of internet shopping. I think if you are on a really, really tight budget then you could definitely do better by using markets and stores like Lidl / Netto etc but if you are just trying to control your shopping costs then the internet is great. There is just no source of visible temptation. Most weeks I just do a repeat order with a few extras added on and for the savings in terms of fuel, hassle and time - I don't think it can be beaten. My weekly shop (including nappies, all toiletries, cleaning stuff) for one adult and two kids ranges from between £50 to £80 with about another £20 to £30 on extras at local shops.
Ages ago, in the dawn of Mumsnet time, Eulalia (where is she btw) gave some really good pointers on sticking to weekly budgets and how to keep costs down.

I found I was spending far too much, I started tesco on line and saving at least £10 a week.

I don't like internet shopping that much. They always leave something out which means you have to go to the supermarket anyway, or substitute ridiculous things (like having no nicotine gum for dh so sending crisps instead). They also tend to upgrade instead of finding similar sized products at the same price (i.e giant box of dishwasher tablets) so it's always more expensive. Plus like I already said, if you go instore you can pick up the bargains you might not have noticed online.

What a great thread - I've read all of it!!I use to be a real spendthrift with the weekly food shop - but all that has had to change...Since january I have been keeping a household budget. I've found that by planning meals and shopping on the internet I've saved loads ( i also find that by planning meals it stops that "oh no what are we going to eat.....). I am now inspired to try Netto/Aldi and that Gloop!!

On a slightly different subject -where have all the greengrocers gone?. I now have to travel accross town to get to one which negiates the saving. I live in a relativly rural area but farm shops are also a good 12 miles away!!

lou33 if you shop online with Ocado they never do silly substitutes, they take real care to get nice loose veggies etc and if they do sub something and you say you don't want it they let you keep it anyway! On top of that the delivery people are marvellous and always give our dog treats etc, and they give you free gifts, the other week I got some Ulay anti wrinkle cream worth £19.99 for nothing!

I don't work for them, honest!

Well it's all right for you Suvners - Waitrose doesn't exist anywhere near here (god knows where the nearest store is...)

Mind you there is an Asda 10 miles away and they won't deliver here either. Second class citizens or what?

Jan - I am living in the south and neither waitrose nor asda deliver here even though we are about 4 miles from the asda.... so it is not just up norf....

asda dont deliver here either(midlands) but sainsburys and tesco do. Dont know about waitrose. I have ordered before off the internet though and some of the food doesnt have very good dates on them. Anyone else found this?

Sorry, eidsvold, that must be even more annoying! But do you have a Waitrose to go to sometimes for a treat?

I just don't know how you do it. I spend on average £140 a week (2 adults, 4 children). We do buy lots of fruit and veg, a few convenience foods (maybe 2 meals for me and dh a week), meat.
Shopped in Asda once and never again. Took 2 hours to walk round! Bread was tasteless. Meat was very poor quality. Local greengrocers have shoddy produce and are more expensive than Sainsburys/Tescos. I buy all milk from supermarket now (often keeps for 5 or more days) as it is half the price of the milkman's. Often shop on the internet. No internet Waitrose here either despite there being a Waitrose only a mile down the road.