Food Budget Crisis

fletch3163

See, I said this thread would be insightful. I find it fascinating hearing how you all spend/live.

I too bulk buy when I see bargains (especially loo roll - gets me reaching for the calculator on my phone every time ). I also at one time had a dozen or so boxes of Frosties and Coco Shreddies under the stairs.

I've had a bit of a freaky month though with my spending. I've gone WAY over £400 and that's for 2 adults and one child, includes lunches too. I'm trying to make things stretch without spoiling the flavour and keeping the nutritional value. I find oats are the very best thing for padding out bolognaise, etc. I work upwards of 50 hours a week so mealplanning sometimes takes a battering.

clutterydrawer

I think £200 a month for 4 people is fantastic....I spend between £50 - £90 and there is only me and two rabbits, I don't know how people do it

shopndrop

PaulB79 wrote: »

Hi all

Would some well be able to link me to the old board Grocery Challenge thread.

Living on my own I'd like to see what advice people have on grocery spends.

Many thanks

Paul

For April, you can find it here. Good luck

dirtyflannel

Well its a five week month this time and budget at moment is £60 for two adults 3 cats and 2 dogs

Siemo

We've just got a new credit card that we are only going to use for grocery shopping in the hope that we can properly keep track of our spending. We've tried keeping receipts and notebooks of spending etc but end up losing/forgetting to write down. Think I might be in for a shock....:rolleyes:

mum26

We spend far far too much on food shopping, there are two adults and six children in our family. I do find I am much better if I go into the store with just cash as I have to stick under that amount or put something back and I am much more alert to what is going into the trolley.

We currently have 5 lunchboxes - will be 6 in september. My mum was sure it would be cheaper for them to have school dinners until I pointed out that for 3 of them it would be £1.70 each a day and for elder two £1.80 each!

I really need to get a grip on it, I think part of the problem is habit - school run, pop to shops...

fletch3163

I don't know what it is with me. There's a bit of me doesn't want to "feel" like I did when I was small and we had no money. I think that's why I buy so much (well, greed also obviously )

This morning for instance, I decided my Grocery Challenge was salvageable. So, I look at what I have and decide what I need to buy. I write it down. I say bread, cheese, butter, tuna x 2, cold meat, diluting juice, pork for Sunday. Sorted! So why did I spend nearly £70?:o Not to mention the fact I'd left the list by the computer when I went out.

So here I am, tons of fruit shoots cos they're on special, dozen Diet Pepsi cos it's on special, 2 x 5 mini cans (cos I had grumpy kids with me), and I can't remember what else. I think the subtle suggestions of the supermarkets get us, even when we (me) say we know what they're doing and we won't fall for it.

Do we need to get back to how our parents did it. Butcher for meat, bakers for bread, etc or do I just need to exercise restraint? Who knows

tiff

Restraint, dont waste money on expensive drinks, be organised. Dont shop with kids. Use coupons where you can. Make a list and stick to it. Sometimes easier said than done.