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

georgia1

Hi again

I've gone through your shopping list below and, assuming it's all from Sainsbury's, tried to put in "best" price options for you:

moneypanicker wrote: »

Wow - just got in and found all these replies thanks!



My shopping today consisted of

• 2 pack of nappies (don't usually get these with shopping but was a third off - i even bought sainsburys own to use in the day I will only use pampers at night! 2 x £3.99 for Sains own = £7.98
• 6 baby meals (to keep in cupboard) 6 x 70p (for 12mth + jars) = £4.20
• 3 x 4pints blue milk (didn't have any 6 pinters) 3 x £1.53 = £4.59
• 1 x 4 pint 1% milk (usually get skimmed but this is cheaper) £1.00
• broccoli 1kg frozen = £1.32
• carrots 2kg loose = £1.40
• apples 12 loose basic apples = £1.32
• grapes 2 packs white loose grapes = £2.50
• lots of bananas 2 packs basics bananas (£1.39 for 8) = £2.78
• onions basic cooking onions 1.5kg 59p
• chicken breasts (on offer) 2 packs for £6 (BUT 2 packs of thighs/drumsticks are on BOGOF for £3, so a saving of £3)
• diet coke 2 x Sains own = 96p
• chicken joint (on offer - to do a roast) 2.5kg chicken on offer at £5.58 (BUT 2.2KG frozen chicken only £3.49 or 2.7kg frozen one £4.79)
• sainsburys own shreddies £1.20
• squash basics 1.5L 58p
• cous cous 1 kg £1.19
• basmati rice 2kg = £3.19 (BUT wholegrain brown rice is only £2.44 for 2kg)
• salami 150g £1.39
• lots of rolls £3 - you can get 36 rolls for this price - wholemeal baps are on offer 2 packs (6 per pack) for £1. Not sure if buying loaves would be cheaper per serving in the end though.
• yoghurts pack of 6 = £1.05
• Baked beans Sains basics ones are nice and only 29p
• cheese (2 packs) 2 x basics grated cheese (500g per pack) £3.94

That is about it i've prob forgotten some. It doesn't even include any bread, washing powder or cleaning stuff. Generally i buy loo rolls and cleaning stuff in bulk when they are on offer in costco.

I did used to have a fab store cupboard but its stocks have gradually been depleted especially as have being on mat leave. I did get a shock when it came to £75 especially as i thought it would be about £40.

£75 doesn't seem to go very far:(

OK if you use the red figures (and assuming I've added it up correctly LOL!) I make it around £56, saving you nearly £20 on your £75 figure. If you take into account my suggestions in purple for cutting back further, you could reduce this by another £5 or so.

Of course, my calculations could be wildly inaccurate because I didn't know exactly what quantities of each product you bought but hopefully some of my suggestions might be useful. You could also try freezing any leftovers from your main meals in little pots for your baby and just get one out each night to save on the cost of the baby food jars.

Hope this helps.

floss2

moneypanicker wrote: »

• chicken breasts (on offer) buy a chicken & joint it - much cheaper
• chicken joint (on offer - to do a roast) as above
• squash Own brand??

When I was very short of cash, and had two teenage sons to feed, I would make a loaf of bread in the BM either overnight or whilst at work to have with our evening meal - it filled the gannets up without costing me a fortune in things to top them up. I would also buy a sack of spuds to keep in the garage - baked, mash, boiled....relatively cheap and always filling.

kezlou

Your right money panicker everything has gone up,it's ridiculous.
Last year i literally used to buy twice as much than i do this time around.
One of my tips is to go to your local market, not a farmers markets and you will see a massive difference in prices.Oh and by the end of the day the prices are 75% off than at the beginning.

I find certain butchers (in my case the halal butchers near me are than Sainsurys etc) and buying a kilo's worth of mince is cheaper than buying packs from supermarkets.

I always look in the reduced section before looking full price, i try to meal plan around what i find.

Its depressing price of food has gone up but no one's wages has , well mine haven't yet.

ALIBOBSY

moneypanicker wrote: »

Baby is 13 months - he generally has what we do. But sometimes he won't wait till tea when he's hungry he's hungry and no amount of rice cakes will fill the void! It's for emergencys really - i don't have time to make him food now (been there done that!)

I have 3 kids and one more on the way. To be honest I only bought a few jars for the first one and the other 2 never had any. By 13 months they would be sat with a child fork and spoon eating the same as us.
If the child is hungry I would look at things like finger food. Mine all liked a sort of taster plate. Couple of fingers of cheese, bit of carrot, peices of apple a few grapes, toast etc etc. Never bought a rice cake or rusk in my life. All my kids are very healthy, all well withing the correct weight ranges and all have good teeth, and are totally unfussy eaters. I remember my eldest at about 1 asking his gran for a big fish for his dinner in morrisons (he was pointing at a whole salmon rofl).

ali x

Butterfly_Brain

jess1974 wrote: »

Err no thanks its cheaper in Tesco 2 litres for 65p each, so £1.30 for 2

1 litre is 65p (2 pints) in Tesco not 2 litres (4Pints)
2 x 2L = 8 pints for £1.50

moneypanicker

I've done all that with son - but he won't eat food the same way his sisters did! Last night he picked at his food the same as us and then woke up in the night starving!! To be honest it is used as a lazy tool I work very long hours and they are only used about once a week. I bought them today to keep them in the cupboard for when needed. His sisters would never have touched them but he seems to love them:p

I also forgot about baby wash in shop today. I've tried to change to cheaper brand (than johnsons) but all kids come out in rash same as washing powder. I only buy it on special though.

I am going to have to be stricter with myself. Although we don't buy crisps, biscuits and things we tend to buy the same things coz they are easy and i know the kids eat them. I think my main problem is fruit and veg. It must be at least £30 a week and i only buy the stuff on offer. My kids love it so i shouldn't complain too much.

Tomorrow i'm going to try to meal plan for the remainder of the month and do a big internet shop next week.

Thanks all for input :T

NJW69

Whilst waiting for tea why not give a yoghurt as this is usually acceptable and healthy.

I'd but nappies in bulk when the supermarkets have baby events on. At the moment most have the large boxes at 2 for £18.

When my son was small he had a dry scalp and my GP asked if I used Johnsons baby shampoo as he said it was very harsh. I stopped using it and just used soap as he recommended and it stopped.

You could buy hypo-allergenic brands or Dove etc and see how they do with this.

My teenage son 6'2" has a large breakfast, takes food to college and has at least two other meals as well as the evening meal I make alongside two litres of fresh fruit juice and about 2 pints of milk and I'm still only spending circa £250 per month. Today he had cereal and two slices of toast with butter and jam for breakfast and a pint of juice and a pint of milk. When he came home from college in the middle of the day he had some HM soup, cheese, crisps, fruit, a chicken curry with added tin of tuna and a yoghurt. When he got in after college before tea he had a three egg omelette with ham, cheese, onion and peppers and then after going to the gym he came back and had two pork chops, mashed and roast potatoes, carrots, green beans, cauliflower cheese, stuffing, apple sauce and gravy. He is very slim with a 30" waist.

Was about £400 until I started counting.

bluebag

MoneypanickerI can sympathise, a little extra on here and there all adds up. It sounds like you are doing quite well. I wouldn't worry too much about the odd few jars of babyfood it's pretty small cheese for a working mum really.

The things I have found the most helpful is the bogof especially when feeding a family. A huge, huge slow cooker also helps in that you can use cheaper cuts of meat such as stewing steak rather than braising steak and chicken thighs to make curries, chucking in some lentils and barley helps stretch it and adds to the nutrition and taste. The bonus is you can cook double and have a cook free night for your efforts.

Shopping on line helps me budget better and also saves a lot of time, the special offers are easy to find too. Moneysaving can be very time consuming for working mums and with only one mum sometimes you can end up spread a bit thin.

It can be a lot cheaper to make things from scratch, but it isn't always good for the sanity after a hard days' work, sometimes you just have to acknowledge you have to pay a little more so you can have some time to live.

jess1974

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

1 litre is 65p (2 pints) in Tesco not 2 litres (4Pints)
2 x 2L = 8 pints for £1.50

Actually i've got my milk here in front of me and its definately 2 litres for 65p, so to reiterate i can buy 2 x 2 litres for £1.30...

nesssie1702

The price of food in the last wee while has been really scary. I've been finding that I buy things on special offer and either storing or freezing them. I've started meal planning too, so that we know what we're having each week, makes life a lot easier and saves the pennies too.

I find that I buy meat when it's on offer and I'm not ashamed to use the RTC sections in the supermarket either, can pick up some bargains there Likewise with household things like cleaning products and loo rolls, buy them when they're on offer (The Co-op are selling 18 rolls of Velvet Loo Roll just now for £5.)

Like OrkneyStar, I'm on an island too (Lewis), so don't have the range of shops that others do in my reach - Tesco, Co-op and local stores. Not even an Aldi or Lidl up here

When I'm lucky enough to get a mainland trip in, we'll bulk buy various bits and pieces from shops that we don't have here and store them up. Costs a lot at the time, but saves us in the long run.