Grocery Shopping budget thread

p-pincher

hi

I have £160 a month to spend on gorceries, cleaning stuff and toiletries, Thats for 2 adults and 2 kids (5 and 3), me and other put £80 in each when we get paid at the end of the month and i make that last me.

I do a big shop at the begining of the month where i normally go to tesco, aldi and iceland (for frozen emergency veg, garlic bread and emergency oven chips) and fill up my cupboard and freezer. then ill go to wilkos and £shop for toiletires and cleaning bits. I normally spend abot £80-90 on this shop then ive got the rest to last me for the rest of the month for bread, milk, fresh fruit/veg and anything else we might need or fancy.

I make just about all of my dinners from scratch and we hardly ever have takeaways as i just cant justify £20 every weekend for 1 dinner (though we do sometimes have as a treat, just not very often)

Bella79

Im spending £50-£60 a week for 2 adults and a 3yr old toddler, i cook from scratch everyday and dont buy readymeals but i sometims still struggle with this !

We have stoped having takeouts and i meal plan but i jst carnt get it below this would love to but finding it hard to

Dave101t

i spend about 200 quid a month not including the odd thing she buys, but im not on a budget, so if i was, im sure i could halve it by eating more fresh and less frozen.

MrsE_2

DH gives me £110 pw to do the shopping & double at xmas - that works out £486 per month. There are three of us (all adults). I include all cleaning stuffs in that & some toiletries (not make up just shower gels & stuff like that).
No alcohol, except the odd bit for cooking.

I used to get £100 last year & I always had some left over, now I spend it all, prices have risen.:mad:

That also includes packed lunches.

Doesn't include cat food (supermarket food not good enough for them:rolleyes:) but does include litter.

I buy a lot of fruit/veg/salads & lean meat - these seem to be the most expensive things.

gettingready

BigMummaF - thanks a lot for that ....

That Asda order was £100 not for a month though, I must have been posting lateeeeeeeeeeeeeee and got it wrong.

Not sure how long was it for as I order food/cleaning stuff etc all together - some things last a week, some month, some are used on the day.

Thanks a lot for this summary and directions in your post - very much appreciated

FreeMe_2

Hi Everyone,

In our house there is myself, OH and our young son. Our budget for the month for food has been squeezed and squeezed and we now only have £40 a month (or £10 per week) to spend on all food for the three of us. That includes drinks, breakfast each day for all of us, packed lunches for work for me and OH 5 days a week (son has school meals), evening meals for myself and OH 3 days a week, evening meals for 3 of us 2 days a week and all weekend meals for all of us. Can it be done? Or am I being unrealistic? I'm hoping with some old style savvy that it can! Else I'll have to find some cash elsewhere in the budget to make up the deficit.
Thanks

FreeMe

zippychick

Hi Freeme

£40 a month certainly is quite minimal but you can do it (however i don't think you can afford to b e fussy meat wise etc)

Loads of advice but i havent got lots of time for a big reply now. There are loads of threads to offer advice.

Have you posted your state of affairs on the debtfree wannabee board? Often there are plenty of other cuts which can be made (which you may not see) . They are helpful folk.

If possible, I would aim for increasing your budget if possible - but it can be done with very careful planning and spending.

What do you have in yoru cupboards at the minute? Freezer etc? Best thing is to put a list up of EVERYTHING you have = make as many meals out of that as possible and only spend when you really really have to...xxxxx

What kind of things do you eat? Allergies/dislikes? Cooking equipment (slow cooker/can you make bread).

Does this include baby stuffs and other househopld expenses? What about nappies /milk/food etc for the baby? Would be good to start with that in your budget already and work with what you have left. xxx

Edit - i am single, and would say getting by on £50 a month is as low as I can go without trying too hard. Could prob get it down to £30 if stuck.....x

Edit again - I cook everything from scratch (most including bread) and hardly use much milk.

FreeMe_2

Hi Zippychick,

Thanks for your reply. We've got lots of food in the house at the moment, cupboard and freezer are quite full as we've just done a big shop to get us through this month but despite going to a cheaper supermarket we managed to spend a lot more than the £40 and it isnt too healthy either. I'm certain that we can do things cheaper and healthier but I need some tips to get me there. What I'd like to do is take charge of next months shopping budget from the OH and prove my point. All being well it will only be for a few months whilst we sort out the rest of our finances.
I should have been more specific about our son... he's not a baby anymore so no need for nappies etc. The £40 is as I said purely for the food and drinks for us all. We dont have a slow cooker or anything like that but we do have a food mixer. I havent the foggiest idea how to make bread but I do know we've got stacks of flour in the cupboard that I got given for free. I have had a read through the £1 meal thread and got a few ideas but would welcome any further advice.
Thanks again!

Jadek

Hey there freeme.

That's going to be a tough challenge but it is doable, there are people on these boards that feed similar sized families on a similar budget quite successfully.

The main thing I would say would be to make sure everything you cook is from scratch. I would also say batch cooking and freezing would be a very good place to start and can get you out of sticky money situations as if you find yourself strapped for cash there'll still be something in the freezer to eat.

Many people on here also use cheap pulses such as lentils and beans to stretch meat dishes. Have you considered going vegetarian or cutting down your consumption of meat? Is this something you and your OH would be willing to do? It would certainly shave quite a bit off your food bill.

There are a plethora of threads on here that serve as goldmines of ideas, tips and tricks for stretching your food budget, however the first one that comes to mind is this one on living on 50p a day: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1007423&highlight=weezle

And if you're not accquainted with rubber chicken give it a search - it's the principle of making a £3 chicken last for 3 to 4 or more meals.

And my final tip would be to try and find out when your local supermarkets start reducing fresh food in the evenings. For example, when I used to live near a Waitrose (which for me was far too expensive) I found out that they reduced everything at 7.30pm (half an hour before closing) so you'd get things for a fraction of the price (literally pennies for some items), which can always be frozen if you won't use them that evening. I used to get hot roasted chickens reduced down to between £1 - £1.50 depending what time it was which, if you apply the rubber chicken principle, would be a fantastic deal. I was in there with my dad once at about 10 past 7 and I said I wanted to wait around for them to reduce the chickens. So he went up to the counter and asked the man if he'd reduce them for us now and he happily agreed to, so we got 2 chickens for £3, so it's always worth asking with things like that - if they say no you won't have lost anything.

I'm sure there will be many more people along to give more advice. Good luck.

Primrose

If you have got a pressure cooker, or are prepared to make stock by scrounging free chicken carcasses from your local butcher, you can make lots of delicious and filling soups from vegetables and pulses such as lentils. Put in a tin of beans (haricot, borlotti or whatever type you like) and you have a whole meal in a bowl for little more than pence.
Make friends with your local butcher if you have one. There are lots of cheap meats (like pork belly strips), where one strip can be shares between two of you, cut into small pieces and stir fried with lots of veg. Stir fries generally are healthy and you can get away with the smallest portions of meat, chicken, etc and not feel deprived. If you belong to your local library, check our their cookery book section for any books which cover eating on a budget. You may get some good ideas.