My shopping bill keeps on going up and up!!!

moneypanicker

Hello all,
As title suggests my shopping bill is going up and up every week! I guess some of it is from the cost of food going up but not the amount i seem to be spending.
A year ago i was spending about £240 a month now its about £400. The only difference now is that i have another mouth to feed but i tend not to include nappies in grocery budget and buy them seperately in bulk.

I do buy some jars for ds but only when sainsburys has third off and as a backup. He likes to eat earlier than the rest of us and sometimes i just can't keep him going until tea so i end up having to feed him seperately. If i'm organised and done a big roast he'll have leftovers as will my other 2 children but they are getting fed up of this at least once a week.

I try to cook from scratch as much as possible. I make 2 weeks worth of sandwiches at a time for my husband (work), daughter (school)and me (when I work) so that really doesn't cost much and saves time in the morning. I do meal plan at least 90% of the time but i still end up spending a fortune! Milk for the week is at least £10:mad: This morning i spent £75 but that is only enough till friday and doesn't even include meat as i buy that elsewhere and freeze it!

Cereal was a big spend of mine (i'm addicted) but my son and I now have porridge in the morning made with water and milk and my daughters have supermarket brand cereal. The only branded thing i buy is diet coke and that works out about £3 a week.

Please does anyone have any ideas for me? I do not have any debts and can afford £400 but as my username suggests i panic nonstop about money and would prefer to be able to put more into savings.

Thanks

Butterfly_Brain

I agree moneypanicker
Prices are indeed rising faster than they have for a long time and it's not by 1p an item it's 20p,30p,40p and even 50p on some items - a lot is to do with the pound but an awful lot is due to vat going back up and the hike in taxes on diesel (Roll on the Election)
I have had to make cut backs as well and shop in Aldi and Farmfoods for more things these days

gratefulforhelp_2

I don't have any good advice, but wanted to say that you are not alone!!

aliadds

I agree that prices are constantly rising. The only way I can economise any further is by using more and more value products! I have to confess that I even buy value eggs because they work out at 10p an egg!

Unfortunately it's more important for me to be able to keep the roof over my head than buy ethically! And that makes me feel very sad!

Butterfly_Brain

Unfortunately it's more important for me to be able to keep the roof over my head than buy ethically! And that makes me feel very sad! [/QUOTE]

I so agree with you on that one, you have to comprimise in life, and sometimes buy unethically because at the end of the day keeping a roof over your head, and your family warm, and well fed is the main priority.

smileyt_2

I'm having this problem too; mine is compounded because at the moment I'm caring for a 17 year old lad who is 6ft 3 and eats at least three times more than I do!

All I can suggest is that you start shopping at places like Iceland, Netto and Aldi instead of the 'big name' supermarkets. I work part-time and I now seem to be spending a lot of my 'spare' time hunting out cheaper food in several different shops every week.

Could you grow some staples for yourself? Yesterday I went to our local community garden centre and spent a tenner on garlic, onions, shallots, jerusalem artichokes and seed potatoes. Hopefully they will all grow and then next winter/spring I should have enough in store to see me through. That's the plan, anyway. Spuds and jerusalem artichokes you can grow in tubs or rubble sacks, and garlic you can grow in pots, so you don't need a garden for these. See if anyone has any spare seeds/spuds/tubs etc on your local freecycle.

Good luck.

If all else fails, send a letter to your MP asking if you can put your food bill on his/her expenses list!

OrkneyStar

I agree that prices are going up these days, the thing is the variation- one day Tesco is cheaper, the next the Coop, the next the local shop, the next its Lidl! I still only buy free range, or barn, eggs (but not organic ones unless on offer) and won't buy crud meat- would rather have more veggies instead (although even they are not that cheap!). I agree that if you are struggling money wise then something has to give and if you can only afford value eggs one week then value eggs it has to be!
For cutting down I'd say:
1. use everything up! (eg crusts for breadcrumbs, cereal packets as bags for sandwiches, potato skin crisps etc)
2. use vouchers.
3. BOGOF if you can freeze/keep one.
4. Stardrops and vinegar for cleaners
5. check out whoopsies
6. check out the frugal eating threads on here, eg weezls
7. share a shopping trip with a friend and half in for petrol/diesel
8. go on the air diet

---

this one is a joke.
All the best.

Sunnyday

I agree with the massive price hikes :eek: if things go up much more we will end up in a mess, last year i grew quite a few things in the garden and even got a greenhouse which made our summer spends come down quite a lot.

If you have space ask on freecycle for a greenhouse or maybe one of the little plastic coated ones which work well for some things, an awful lot can be grown in thick binliners, tubs and growbags too.

I plan on growing lettuce, radish and spring onions in small tubs this year as they kept us going all last year with repeated small sowings. In the bigger pots i`ll be growing potatoes carrots and onions. The greenhouse will have tomatoes, chillies, peppers and mini cucumbers and in the front garden in between the flowers i shall grow beetroot again - i tried them last year and they were great. I also planted some of the fruit shrubs from the pound shop and their first fruiting year was last year. We got lots of lovely berries to stir into yogurt and make jam from. These are expensive to buy from the supermarket so the little shrubs did really well.

Sounds like i`ve turned this post into a gardening one oops sorry but i`m not an experienced gardener by any means and its usually trial and error. Think yogurt maker and berries for breakfast, soup made with the veggies for dinner and at tea time a nice home grown salad and its not hard to see how your summer shopping bills can come down.

Good luck.

HTH
SD

PS you don`t even have to buy the seeds as freebies are often given away.

tessie_bear

i think reduced food is a good way to go....asda always seem to have something reduced...street markets can be good value for fruit and veg.....meat ..i only buy organic but normally something is on offer and sometimes find things reduced...have u a freezer to stock up on bargains ?

good luck

Purpleclutterbuck

I have to agree with the recent comments too! its a fine line we tread when trying to look after the old pennies, trying to keep up with the food prices and look after the family healthily - every week my grocery bill seemed to go up until I took stock and began buying treats every couple of weeks and made meals stretch over two main meals buy including lots more vegetables/pasta etc. My hubby now takes allsorts to work for lunch (not the liquorice variety!!!) today for example he took leftover bolognaise, grated cheese, dried figs and nuts and a few pieces of choccy and a few prawn crackers! what a mixture but I can't remember the last time he took sarnies as he just seems to use up anything thats been already opened as I always keep a bit back !
.

moneypanicker

Thank you all for replies. I do try to vary supermarkets but the problem i have is that if i pop into tesco/morrisons/asda i always spend about £20! as well as weekly shop. I do however only buy the things that we will use. I can't even use up what's in cupboard as although going shopping today there is hardly anything in the cupboard. I only have chicken breasts, sandwiches and fishfingers in freezer.
I tease my mum as she has enough food in her cupboards to last about 6 months but if anyone came and looked through mine they'd find nothing. I do feel bad that if anyone came over and i had to improvise and provide food i'd have nothing to give them!