Grocery Shopping budget thread

weezl74

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Thanks for that reply weezl, wasn't meaning to put down any of your hard work, or the rest of the helpers!

I know sorry I didn't put more smileys in the last post if it sounded huffy! The boys were distracting me!

Missus_Aka

I Had started on a budget of £150 a month but have changed that to £135 a month but have a stock up budget per yr. of £180 that i can spend any time i see a good offer, if there is a good offer i normally stock up for the year, they are normally non food items...washing powder, softener, toothpaste...this is for 2 adults, my ds 3yrs , my sister who i have 2 nights a week and dh brothers who normally come over a few times a month for dinner. I dont really buy value items its normally all branded......most of my meat/veg/fruit comes from the local turkish shop it is always cheaper...i normally allocate £55 for my delivery of tescos at the beginning of the month, £30 for my first turkish weekly shop, £10 for my second, £15 for my third week and £25 for the last week. Have noticed shopping around normally helps with prices, home b@rgains are great if you have one near to you.......to be honest we eat quite well & i have no idea how much we used to spend before i started budgeting it must have been nearer the £300.00 mark but we would waste soooo much....

Yesterday i had a ready meal left in the fridge beef & mash that a family member had left because they didnt want it and we never eat them & they never look like enough for one person so i used the sauce put it in a pan added mushrooms from the freezer, carrott, half a pepper, half an onion, quartered and boiled 5 small potatoes added this, sliced up the beef a little more finely and added it the ate with some leftover rice and presto had a meal for 3 (me &ds snacked on the mash)

Sparklyfairy

Missus - that's an amazing budget! Well done!

freyanneke_2

I am trying to save as much as I can in the next two weeks. Nothing special about that.
For this week I have made a meal plan for 1 adult and 4 children. I take the bus as little as I can, as long as my hips don't play up. I have tried to find online value deals online, but it seems they don't have big packages in the shopping list that you can choose from. The nearest big store (Tesco) is in the next town and there is no way I could carry my weekly shopping on the bus. I tend to do my shopping at Lidl most days after the school run and when I am in the 'big' town I pop into Poundland to get my cleaning stuff.
I read on here a lot of success stories about eating for a lot less than I spend and I wonder if all those people have a car, a credit card or live in a town that is much bigger than mine.
How do other people with a larger than average family do it?

Penelope_Penguin

We're just the average family So can't help you with specifics, but you may want to take a look at this thread to see what others spend.

freyanneke_2

Thanks PP, I have had a small peak at the thread. It is full of good ideas. Still have not spotted big families, but I will keep looking!

tori.k

Have you looked at sites like approved foods and big brands for less (short dated sites)
We are a family of 5 (2 adults 3 teenagers) that live rural, it would be a 41 mile round trip to a poundland from here, but use Asda as my main supermarket as i work there (so do get a staff discount) as part of a challenge we are involved in to get some saving behind us, this year my grocery budget is set around £45 a week, tho i had £6.68 left to carry forward from this month.
Planning is key, i use a few of weezl's recipe from her feed a family of four on £100 a month that would be a great place to start. Does your tesco do home delivery? would the delivery charge work out cheaper then the return cost of the bus?
If i remember right poundland is one of those places were everything cost a pound? i imagine it would be a lot cheaper to use tesco basic range for cleaning stuff, i notice there basic bleach cost 29p for money thats flushed down the loo id go for the 29p stuff

freyanneke_2

Thanks Tori, I haven't been in Tesco for ages. The online Tesco that I can access since last Thursday seems not to carry that many value products. I am still trying to find things on there, so I might have overlooked the best bargains. Closest other stores are Waitrose and Co op.

proudmumof4

Hi, we are a family of 6 (2 adults 4 children). I try to spend around £50 a week, sometimes I can do it for less if I manage to pick up some bargains.

I tend to do a big monthly shop at asda online for all my laundry, wash stuff etc and bulk buying. Then week by week I spend around £20 on milk, pullups (2 year old twins) and bits and bobs.

I meal plan as much as I can and batch cook. The children enjoy baking so every week we bake cakes and biscuits for pack lunches and snacks.

What budget are you looking at? It's a good exercise to work out how much wash powder, washing up liq, shampoo etc you need for the month then on your best week money wise just buy the whole lot and you don't need to worry about it again. Then popping to lidl's on a weekly basis you will only need to get food. Bulk buy beans, peas, crisps etc once you have planned your menu's for the month.

It feels like hard work in the beginning but once you are organised it is well worth it.

jcr16

were a family of 5, so average number really. i spend about £200 a month on the shopping budget. some months it is about £100 , some months about £300, so it averages out.

i do meal plans, i cook from scratch, i bake snacks and lunchbox bits. this all works for us.