Help my grocery budget out of control!

gailey_2

We have set a monthly grocery budget of £200 which we are failing to achieve.We are family of 3 2 adults one toddler 2half who eats loads and 10year old step son one weekend a month too.

Recently given up work but when I was in work did large monthly shop in tesco, we had a milkman now cancelled as too pricey,did small frozen shop in iceland and did top up shops at sainsbury/somerfeild near me but pricey and we keep the corner shop going!

Im too embarred to say how much we overspent in july is huge amount.

Hubby gets paid on 15th so we always went round about then, we lived like kings for first week then ran out of fresh stuff!

We actually tried Aldis and not bad will go there again as cheap veg, we eat alot of fresh.

I always hunt round reduced sections and hubby laughs at me.

We hunt the deals like buy one get one free and got m&s meal deal offer the other week with gift card from my birthday.

I have started making my own bread from packet mixes as hubby loves his bread.

We have grown some veg and herbs in garden this year

I am cooking from scratch even making pasta sauces from passata and tinned tomatoes.

I have batch cooked and frozen stuff.

We not big drinkers maybe £10 on alchol a week.

we downgraded to own brand products and some basic/value lines

we try and get toilitries in supermarket

we use cloth nappies.

We tend to run out of impulse items like crisps, biscuits and fresh fruit/veg/dairy as daughter and hubby love their milk!

I cook meals like shepperds pie, spag bol, lasagne, rissotto, chicken curry with jar, chicken faittas. Hubby really loves his meat, we also get lot of fish too as cheaper

We have found local farm shop quite cheap.
Sainsburys and somerfeild our nearest supermarkets where we live

Should we stop going to tesco? Is it the most pricey?

Morrisions is ok for grocery/frozen but dont like their produce or meat.

I do find sainsbury good value for some things, somerfeild very pricey I just shop the deals.

Not too keen on asda but willing to give it a go.

will continue to try aldis.

Should we visit them all? shoudl i go in b4close?
Hubby says we going to try going weekly 50quid a week and see if that works.

So what are we doing wrong? Everythings rising.:rolleyes:

Do I need a slow cooker?

mardatha

I can work by taking out the weekly cash on a thurs/fri, and then sticking to that money until the following week. If I used plastic this house would descend into chaos very fast !

wornoutmumoftwo

Best advice I can offer, if at all possible do NOT take the children shopping.

Everytime I have my boys with me my shopping bill doubles, if not trebles.

Also, you could join the monthly shopping challange on here - it really does help as others skills inspire you to reduce your own bills.

Pink.

Hi gailey,

It sounds as though you are doing a lot of things right but the rising prices are making many of us panic. Have you thought about using only cash. Divide the amount you have to live on by weeks in the month and only use that amount each week. It's difficult telling kids that there isn't enough in the pot to buy whatever but easier if you tell them you may be able to get it on Monday.

A slow cooker won't necessarily save you money but it will save time especially if you have a busy lifestyle. It is good though for cooking cheaper cuts of meat so may reduce your costs if you use it a lot.

A good place to get help and support is the monthly Grocery challenge where other Old Stylers will have lots of advice.

I would also recommend reading Martin's article on Supermarket Shopping which has lots of tips on saving money on groceries.

Menu planning is a good idea...where you plan what you are going to eat for the next number of days then shop only for those things. If you look in The Complete Menu Plans Collection there are lots of threads with good advice.

Good luck with cutting back.

Pink

NemoToad

wornoutmumoftwo wrote: »

Best advice I can offer, if at all possible do NOT take the children shopping.

Everytime I have my boys with me my shopping bill doubles, if not trebles.

Also, you could join the monthly shopping challange on here - it really does help as others skills inspire you to reduce your own bills.

I also recommend shopping without the OH, whenever I go with my BF we spend so much more. It's helpful to have him there to help carry the heavier things home, but we're much more frugal when it's just me in control!

Do you take a shopping list with you? Do you stick to it? I always take a list and only get what's on the list. With BOGOF's you have to be careful and think will you actually use them, and is it actually working out cheaper. The only time I deviate from my list is when I check the reduced sections and see stuff that will freeze well (if we have space) and I always check the vegetarian meat alternatives section of fridge and freezer for good offers as those are the most pricey parts of our shop so stock up if they're cheap.

What time of day do you go shopping? I find that around 6.30 our Morrisons drastically reduces bread and things, so I always manage to pick up bargains. It's also worth checking right at the end of the day, especially on a Sunday.

Cornishpixie_2

I guess you can only do what you can. Price of food going up and up, as well as everything else. I have decided to shop on line weekly at the moment, and have a rough budget. We are a family of 6 and I spent roughly £68, for this week. But it did include stuff that should last a bit longer, like 200 t- bags and 18 pull ups for DS3 (only wears at night). I did a menu and based it around pasta, rice and pots with the meat, turkey etc. I also use up left overs, which fills the kids up. I bake biscuits and always leave things like milk and bread to the last minute. I also buy in bread mix and have something like pitta bread in, so not always running to the shops. HTH. Good luck:)

zarazara

HI, and ((((((((HUGS)))))))) I think £250 a month would be more realistic. we are 3 adults and I find I averge thi amount, it includes cleaning products and food for our 2 cats.
ways of saving include cutting out alchohol except for special occasions and home baking bread,cakes and scones, pies,cornish pasties,soups. we are getting an allotment up and running, but its slow and we havent much yet.
we have a good sunday lunch,eg roast freerange chicken, veg, pots and a pudding, something like HM fruit cobbler and custard. midweek we eat cheaply, HM lentil curry,HM pates on HM bread, home grown salads, and I make lots of veggie soups.
its importamt not to throw food away, not only does it waste that food and the money it costs to buy, but you need to replace it with something,so that costs money too. I recently bought a breadmaker and find it to be excellent, good for pizza bases,chealsea buns,currant loaf,sundried tomato and olive bread,sunlower seed loaf etc.

Pippilongstocking

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids - 2 dogs and cat (fish dont eat much).
I find it hard to stick to a budget - i try for about 200 but usually its around 300 which I didn't discover until I kept all my receipts. I wonder if 200 for the four of us and pets is realistic?

My problem? Hmm unsure we do the reduced/value/HM etc lots but I think shopping between supermarkets on differernt days ie lidl's one day, co-op etc other days depending on what I need means I pick up lots of reduced and 'bargains' which I can't resist to stick in the freezer for a following weeks tea but the budget doesnt quite catch up. Just tell me to stop if I am talking nonsense!
So we have started having bitsa teas (bits of this and bits of that) bit like a buffet but with everything in the middle of the table and its a good laugh, some very odd combinations....
We also have a use it up week - where I absolutely don't shop. Again some good interesting combinations!
To be honest if I take the kids, they are great at keeping me in line, we use a list which I am hopeful at sticking at, and sometimes take a calculator - see which one is the least out by the end of the shop.

Guessing the price of the shopping whilst its being beeped through gets the winner a ride home in the front seat (yeah we are that sad!)

I sabotage myself by buying all my milk/bread at the start of the week, and always have a spare 2lts or even just a pint in the freezer - stops me going in for milk and spending 20 quid.

ashbart

Hi,
I had the same overspend problem and, whilst I am not quite down to where I want to be, I have majorly dropped my shopping budget by sticking to a few simple rules:

1. Use www.mysupermarket.com - this is a LIFESAVER! BOGOF's and reduced items are not always the cheapest. I go to this website every week before I go shopping, print out my list and STICK TO IT! The website tells me what is on offer at my local supermarket so that way I don't have the excuse of buying random things 'because they were on offer.' Also, I would make a quick stop at Aldi's on your way to your usual supermarket and get whatever you can from there (if it's cheaper) and cross it off your supermarket list! Fruit and veg is normally much cheaper. (The same applies to your local markets - cross off the list what you can, if you can get it cheaper)

2. Meal plan - It really does work! Plan your meals for the week, before you print off your shopping list and make sure you use everything you buy. For example, if you're making something that includes cherry tomatoes, make sure another recipe in the week has cherry tomatoes so that you use them up and don't end up binning what's left over.

3. As above - DO NOT take hubby or children food shopping with you. They will want things that, if they weren't in the house, they wouldn't have thought about anyway and it will cost a fortune. I make sure I ask my OH if there's anything he fancies before I do the shop so that way he can't say anything when I tell him 'it wasn't on the list!'

I know a lot of the above is repeating what others have said but they really do work. Also -
- I'm not sure how much bread packet mixes cost - take a look at the thread 'Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day' - I've just started this and it really is so easy and cheap!
- There are a lot of good ideas around re: bulking out meals. I use red lentils to bulk out shepherds pie, spag bol, lasagne, etc. I personally boil them first, then add them in just after I've browned the mince - they break down and don't change the taste at all.

I hope someone else comes along with some more ideas. Good luck! Join the forums on here, they are great and offer lots of good advice!