Grocery Shopping budget thread

Smokemeakipper_3

I currently spend approximately £60 per week for 2 adults and a 1 year old. That includes nappies and cleaning goods but not toiletries. (but I have a good stockpile of these anyway) I shop half and half in @ldi and Mr T and am finding the Mr T side is getting less and less each week! The @ldi equivalents are, on the whole, just as good as the brands and in the case of bacon to name just one item, better.
I buy joints of meat when on offer and cook them for evening meal then cut up the rest for sandwiches for DH. I also buy @ldi nappies which are better than a lot of other brands and literally half the price! Another thing which helps is I bake cakes, flapjacks etc and then where applicable slice and freeze for lunches, snacks etc, just thawing that which is needed.
I agree with some though that it is getting increasingly difficult to keep in budget.

maman

Smokemeakipper wrote: »

I currently spend approximately £60 per week for 2 adults and a 1 year old. That includes nappies and cleaning goods but not toiletries. (but I have a good stockpile of these anyway) I shop half and half in @ldi and Mr T and am finding the Mr T side is getting less and less each week! The @ldi equivalents are, on the whole, just as good as the brands and in the case of bacon to name just one item, better.
I buy joints of meat when on offer and cook them for evening meal then cut up the rest for sandwiches for DH.

Your post got me thinking Smokemeakipper: I'm often curious how people talk about toiletries and cleaning materials on threads. Of course, they have to be bought but (unless I'm a very dirty person:o) I don't buy these items very often at all and they tend to be cheap anyway. Most of my own toiletries are gifts but for DH I buy shampoo in the £1 shop, deodorant from Lidl/Aldi. Magnum washing up liquid from Aldi is great. I've gradually built up other things like polish, Brasso, limescale remover etc over time and they rarely need replacing. I know I could cut back even more by using vinegar etc.

On the meat question, I've noticed that joints of beef and pork can be bought more cheaply than the so-called 'cheaper cuts'. I think beef joints are £6 a kg in Asda at the moment. At Christmas (when they were £4?) I bought a few and cut them up into smaller joints and pieces for casserole/stew before freezing.

minniemaus1970

As an easy guide I would say £3 per person per day x

bossymoo

I tend to do a shop every 10 days and budget £100 but normally come in at £70 or £80. There is me and two toddlers, one in nappies, and the other just pull ups for bed. One also has a special milk for her intolerances.

I tend to batch cook for myself as I often eat when they are in bed so just bung something in the microwave. The tots still snack loads too.

We seem to go though lots of laundry stuff. I use the £2.99 for 20 liquitabs from home bargains, and I bet one of those doesn't last a fortnight. And I only put one in...

We rarely eat out though, and never get takeaways.

Alwaysthebusybee

Thanks OP for the question, we currently have £60 per week for me, DH, DD 11 weeks, 2 dogs and 1 cat.

I have been really struggling this last month. I stockpile nappies, formula, toiletries & cleaning products when on offer. After taking out budget for DD and pets we have about £40 per week for me and DH. I can normally manage on this but I am finding the increasing of prices ridiculous so might have to re-think.

Thanks Pink for the links, going to have a good browse now

p0lly

Hi OP I am currently spending 200 per month -however many days are in it. That is for 2 adults and 1 dog and includes everything. Since lurking for 6 months then finally joining this site I am always on look out for deals to build a little stockpile.We eat really well and I could lose a few pounds to be honest. I was spending about 350 !!! HTH

RedLass

It's just me and my OH in this little household. We set aside £250 a month to cover all supermarket spending, but it usually forks out for a couple of takeaways over the month too. I suppose it averages to about £50 a week, but we don't always shop weekly and I tend to buy or stock up on useful items if they are on offer. We shop at Mr T because it's our closest - certainly couldn't say that it's the cheapest! We have a Sainsbugs, ASDA and Waitrose all within 10 minute drive, if we wanted ALDI or LIDL we'd need to go 30-40 mins out of town.

maman wrote: »

I'm often curious how people talk about toiletries and cleaning materials on threads. Of course, they have to be bought but (unless I'm a very dirty person:o) I don't buy these items very often at all.

I am in with you on this one - things like toothpaste and handwash I always buy on offer, and am not brand-loyal. Shower gel and shampoo we are particular about because OH has eczema that flairs up.

Cleaning products though... sometimes I think I must have the dirtiest house on this forum!! Can't deny that my main focus is tidy, and always takes priority over clean if I have to pick. At least that way when I find some time to clean, I haven't got to tidy first.

Perhaps cleaning stuff is also influenced by my buy-it-on-offer approach. I''m sure we haven't bought washing-up liquid for many months, but we probably did buy 2 or 3 bottles the last time...

p0lly wrote: »

Since lurking for 6 months then finally joining this site I am always on look out for deals to build a little stockpile.We eat really well and I could lose a few pounds to be honest. I was spending about 350 !!!

I'm in a similar boat as you here I think, though I've lurked for about 18 months now. I still kinda feel that to spend £250 a month at the supermarket for 2 adults is a little OTT, and I know that many families on this board are getting by on less for more people. But previous to spending time here, doing a proper budget, and paying more attention to the cost of the things we buy, we would spend £90-£100 or more every single week without fail. I look back now and wonder what on earth it was that we were buying! So I'm proud at least that we have taken some control - £450 down to £250 has made a big difference to us, and I owe it in part to the advice I have found on these boards.

Definitely take a look at some of the threads Pink-Winged has posted, they're chock-full of great tips.

The main tips that helped us were

1/ Always look at the cost of multi-packs. I used to assume that if you're buying more, it must be cheaper. Now, almost every time we do our shop, we see at least one product we regularly buy where it is cheaper to buy say two singles, than a double pack.

2/ Just because we bought carrots last week, doesn't mean they're now "off" because it's time to shop again. We would have to empty the fridge of veg just so that we could fill it again :embarasse Shameful. Now it doesn't get thrown out until it smells bad, or is growing/mutating! Saved us so much money and probably halved our waste too.

3/ Roasting joints and rubber chickens! Used to get two meals out of a roast chicken, now we tend to get 4 plus sandwiches. Buy joints of Pork or Lamb when they are on special, and use them for roasts, curries, stir fries, casseroles etc.You'll see loads of ideas and discussions about this across the board.

4/ Bulk cook and freeze. One of the most significant changes we have made, if not only because it makes it so much less tempting to just go down the chippy when we're tired. If there's something in a pot that we can warm up and throw with rice, that's almost less energy than even getting in the car. This might help with make things easier around your shift-work week?

Oh, and take a list. Maybe if your OH is distracted with the task of list-picking/crossing off, he will have less time to grab random things that catch his eye as you're going round

Penny-Pincher!!

There are 3 adults here, plus a dog and DD's BF who seems to be here every weekend and is a big lad. I budget £325 every 4 weeks, but thats to include diesel as well. So I suppose £60pw, but we eat very well on that and shop mainly at Ocado where I get all our meat, poultry and fish by using voucher codes. Anything I don't spend from the budget I save in a pot and always save at least £15.

I could get a lot lower if needed.

Meal plan is the way to go and cut the rubbish food.

rachbc

£250 pcm for 2 adults, a teen boy who eats way more than me and a 5 yo.

Thats £57 pw - or £15 per adult appetite and £12 for the little un - she has her own expenses - mainly tons of fruit and yogurts!

This inc cleaning stuff but thats a big box of washing powder every 6 months and dw tablets when they are on offer. The rest of the time i use hm cleaner made with Dr Bonner castille soap.

We eat well on this and coudl go lower but this is my comfort zone

mummyroysof3

about £450 for 5 of us and pets..that includes everything