Grocery Shopping budget thread

Podgy_2

:AI wonder if anyone has any information on the Morphy Richards Vorticity Plus vacuum cleaner on sale at Lakelands at £219.90 I have 2 Remoskas and wouldn't part with them now but I don't know how to get on to a forum for vacuums. I'm new to this forum thing and see that it can be very useful to get proper feedbacks from independant users.

Fruball

I am hitting tough times and really need to cut my weekly spend on groceries.

Can anyone tell me how much their food bill is per week for one adult and 2 kiddies... I want to cut it down as much as possible but still be healthy. Kids will have packed lunches.

I have a SC and a BM.

Any meal ideas and menu plans would be a huge help.

Thanks - I love this board and have already cut my bills massively by following all your advice

:beer:

Fruball

A shopping list I could follow would be fab

Bigjenny

Hi Frugal.

Try this site www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk. for some ideas.

All the recipe from Option 1 have been tested and Option 2 which is vegan, are being tested. Shopping lists are on the site, and some lovely recipes.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, I feed two adults and two boys aged 9 and 11 for £75 a week. This includes all everything, all toiletries, cleaning, loo rolls etc. The only way that I can get this lower is to start serving veggie meals, which I would happily eat but I am never going to convince my OH who works outdoors in a manual job and has a very hearty appetite!

This is the way that I do it:

* I never buy anything ready made if I can make it myself.
* I do a big online shop twice a month. Before I do the shop I make a menu plan for the next two weeks and only buy what I need for those meals (plus things for packed lunches, breakfast essentials, etc). I aim to spend £240 on these two shops.
* The other £60 of my budget goes in a separate purse to buy bread, milk, fruit etc that I run out of. However, I try to go on the basis that if I have run out of something non-essential then I will wait until the next big shop.
* I avoid named brands wherever possible and buy supermarket only (and have experimented with value brands to find out what works and what doesnt)
* I generally avoid special offers. I know there is much discussion about this but I find it makes me buy things I dont need.
* I rarely waste food, leftovers get frozen, and if something in the fridge is going to go off then it gets made into something.

This weeks menu for example is :
Monday, HM burgers and HM oven chips
Tuesday, meat and potato pie, mash and veg
Wednesday, chicken and bacon pasta bake with veg and garlic bread
Thursday, chilli and jacket potatoes
Friday, fish pie, veg and new potatoes
Saturday, lasagne, veg and HM chips
Sunday, we are out for most of the day so will probably end up with beans on toast or leftovers!

I used to spend over a £100 a week and it takes a while but once you get started you will be surprised how easy it is. You need to go and read the old style moneysaving board. I can also recommend the book "How to feed your family a healthy balanced diet with little money" by Gill Holcombe.

tinkerbellsmum_2

currently I feed 2 adults and a 2 and 9 year old on 40-50 a week but really need to lower this so I will be watching this thread for tips

rachierach0000

Hi everybody!

just thought I'd jump in with this thread cos it's great! I am about to embark upon some grocery saving plans myself!
At the moment god only knows how much I spend but as of 1st September I am keeping notes/receipts of what I spend-anything food/ drink related just to get a feel of things!
Just bought a fridge freezer as I had a tiny fridge that froze things in the fridge section but didn't freeze anything in the tiny tiny freezer section, so yay can now freeze stuff again! Looking to start at £80 per month food shopping toiletries too if poss and that will hopefully be a £40 big shop with all heavy bulky items for storing freezing etc then £10 ish a week for top ups like squash milk eggs bread whatever I need, hoping when I get to the £10 a week I'll realise it's more than I need and will trim accordingly! Adjusting to os / newly single / gettig my head properly screwed on but I love it!
About to make toad in the hole from scratch and clean with newly purchased stardrops/bicarb/soda crystals for first time x

kochi1

Blimey!! Thank you for all your postings on this one - Have observed and taken on-board all the suggestions and advice. Shall be applying next pay day - taking out separate wallet with cash on for the month and shopping list for the month prepared! Thank you - your stars and inspirations!

Shysarah

Wow, looking through this thread makes me think I am living very richly on my £80 per month for just me and my cat. My cat has to have specialist food but as he cannot tolerate it alone I mix it in with Iams to make it more palatable for him and I know it is a good quality food. I don't mind skimping on my food but never would on his.:D

This is my first ever month on the GC and prior to this I was spending about £50 per week so I cannot expect big changes too fast.
I have become addicted to buying 'whoopsies' and have quite a good stock of raw and cooked meats, blanched reduced veggies and the like in the freezer. Not bad as my freezer was full of rubbish!:eek:

I include all food (plus cat), toiletries, cleaning products, foil/freezer bags etc. Basically anything I buy from the shop apart from tobacco and fuel. Fuel is a biggy for me my nearest shop is 5 miles away and work when I go in is 52miles round.

Anyway I am trying to learn what I can from you wise OS's and have already been asked for advice from two people since I began 'boring' them with my whoopsie stories which is great (yes i am directing them here )

S x

Nicoll

Nicoll wrote: »

Since posting this I thought I'd look back through my debit card statements to get an idea of what I'm spending and thought it was about £200 a month. I'm really embarrassed to put in the figures below...

For July £372
For June £354

That's for 2 Adults and 1 Rottweiler, does include all our cleaning stuff, loo rolls etc. I though I was doing pretty well but seeing those figures......Well, I guess I need to think again

Especially fed up with July figure as I was emptying out the freezer and so made lots of meals up from that. I have to seriously look at my buying habits, we are neither of us fat and we don't throw food away, I always look out for the cheapest options and special offers. Going away now to weep into my "basics" tissues

Just checked back over everything we spent on groceries for August and it came to £290.37 :j:j
I know that still sounds a lot but it's going down each month from the figures above so I'm happy. I feel I'm trying really hard so hope September will be down too