How often do you grocery shop?

beingfrugal

I'm seriously looking into buying in bulk and shopping monthly as opposed to weekly like I do now. 25 mile round trip every week, that's 100 miles a month - how much in petrol????? Hmmm plus the impulse buys.

If I do a rigid meal plan for a month do you think that it is something that can be achieved or will I end up popping to my local (expensive) coop for supplies costing me more in the end. At the moment I'm spending £50-£60 a week on a family of four. I just know I can make this come down but how, I'm unsure.

How do you shop, when and how often? Any tips or advice would be very much appreciated.

justjohn

impulse buys - is that when you go in just for a pint of milk or loaf of bread , and end up spending 60 pound ...thats what i do lol

UnderPressure

Yes Im sure it can be achieved, you would need a big freezer obviously and still going to need to buy milk fresh (although it doess freeze well) and fruit and veg but for everything else I dont see a problem.

As to wether it will be cheaper, who knows you will have to try it and see, I think 50-60 a week is excellent, we are 2 adults and 3 children and I pay double and a bit more that every single week, I have seen the threads on her about people saying they spend unbelievable small amounts of money feeding their families, I take them with a pinch of salt and so should you, just buy whatever you want to buy and go from there.

I often get the feeling on this board there is an element of competition from certain members as to who can sepnd the least on a weekly shop lol I would hat to live with any of them! Of course you can save money buying special offers, cheaper brands etc but you still have to have a standard you are comfortable with.

Crikey to follow government guidlines of 5 fruit and veg a day for a family of 5 is going to cost you at least 20 quid a week lol so when member are trying to tell me they feed their whole families on £30 a week and they are eating steak every night just ignore them its all make believe

You do whatever you are comfortable with, shop around find the best price for things, look at cheaper cuts of meat, try different cheaper fresh fish instead of cod haddock etc, try some of the cheaper brands of basics such as clening materials or do a trip to a couple of supermarket buying mainly any special offers, there are way to save money without eating beans on toast most nights

As said though I think you are doing great on 50-60 a week already its all down to your own tastes I suppose

nowpanicking

Hi Beingfrugal

I have a family of 3, myself, OH and wee boy who's 4. I spend £140 in 4 weeks. I prepare a meal planner at the start combined with a shopping list. I tend to spend around £80 in the first shop where I buy all the meat etc I need for the month - can then take advantage of offers on larger amounts etc. The remaining 3 weeks I then spend around £20 on fridge items; fruit; bread etc. These shops are also included within the meal planner/shopping list so that I know the end total comes back to my budget.

I batch cook as well which helps, eg will make double lasagne then freeze the rest to have later on in the month.

Some veg I buy frozen, especially leeks - great for soups; casseroles etc.

Another tip is to bulk out your meals with tinned beans - chicken and bean casserole is great... I usually use 2 chicken breasts; a tin of mixed beans; 2 tins of chopped tomatoes; frozen leeks; other veg depending what I've got in; garlic and herbs. This meal does us 3 times over the month. Great with rice and HM garlic bread (p.s. I make garlic bread with normal bread so don't have to buy extra bread - tastes really nice, family love it )

Summercherry

beingfrugal wrote: »

I'm seriously looking into buying in bulk and shopping monthly as opposed to weekly like I do now. 25 mile round trip every week, that's 100 miles a month - how much in petrol????? Hmmm plus the impulse buys.

If I do a rigid meal plan for a month do you think that it is something that can be achieved or will I end up popping to my local (expensive) coop for supplies costing me more in the end. At the moment I'm spending £50-£60 a week on a family of four. I just know I can make this come down but how, I'm unsure.

How do you shop, when and how often? Any tips or advice would be very much appreciated.

Just a thought, would it be cheaper for you to pay the delivery charge and get your groceries delivered to your house via the internet say every 2 weeks rather than weekly maybe?

x

penelopedee_2

I do a big shop every fortnight on-line and then leave about £10 cash in my purse that has to cover any bread/milk/veg needed in between.

Meal planning makes it much easier, especially if you are not the one cooking everynight. Also get everyone to drop their spare change into a pot to use for takeaways or special treat foods. That helps us stop and think before we blow more money at the weekends on junk food - which is our weak point. If the pot's empty we can't have it.

When we are being careful I think we spend about £60-£70 per week on 3 of us (2 adults / 1 starving teenager). But that doesn't include wine/beer.

UnderPressure

nowpanicking wrote: »

Hi Beingfrugal

I have a family of 3, myself, OH and wee boy who's 4. I spend £140 in 4 weeks. I prepare a meal planner at the start combined with a shopping list. I tend to spend around £80 in the first shop where I buy all the meat etc I need for the month - can then take advantage of offers on larger amounts etc. The remaining 3 weeks I then spend around £20 on fridge items; fruit; bread etc. These shops are also included within the meal planner/shopping list so that I know the end total comes back to my budget.

I batch cook as well which helps, eg will make double lasagne then freeze the rest to have later on in the month.

Some veg I buy frozen, especially leeks - great for soups; casseroles etc.

Another tip is to bulk out your meals with tinned beans - chicken and bean casserole is great... I usually use 2 chicken breasts; a tin of mixed beans; 2 tins of chopped tomatoes; frozen leeks; other veg depending what I've got in; garlic and herbs. This meal does us 3 times over the month. Great with rice and HM garlic bread (p.s. I make garlic bread with normal bread so don't have to buy extra bread - tastes really nice, family love it )

So average of £35 per week :eek:

Crikey we go trhough a full big 6pinter of milk a day thats over 15 quid a week, then you make a chicken casserole with 2 chicken breast that then feeds the 3 of you 3 times!!!

Im sorry being frugal is all well and good but.....................

I give up I really do

So far as home deliveries I tend to go to the supermarket in person mainly to be sure of special offers oh and of course the reduced cabinet which can be great in Tesco now and again, dont bother even looking at the reduced stuff in Morrision though if it is anything like ours they knock about 10% off when the food is half mouldy you may as well buy it fresh

UnderPressure

penelopedee wrote: »

I do a big shop every fortnight on-line and then leave about £10 cash in my purse that has to cover any bread/milk/veg needed in between.

Meal planning makes it much easier, especially if you are not the one cooking everynight. Also get everyone to drop their spare change into a pot to use for takeaways or special treat foods. That helps us stop and think before we blow more money at the weekends on junk food - which is our weak point. If the pot's empty we can't have it.

When we are being careful I think we spend about £60-£70 per week on 3 of us (2 adults / 1 starving teenager). But that doesn't include wine/beer.

someone sensible at last

anymeans

We do a meal plan for the comming week, trying to pick things that two meals use f.ex chicken and asparags using the rest of the asparags in a soup later in the week. Spend around £30 for the week, family of 2 adults and a toddler.

Buy milk from the corner shop as/when needed, trouble is I end up spending £2 on a small pot of candy floss they sell there a couple times a week :mad:

I pickup the meat we use for the week on a Sunday, I work for Tesco so usually there on Sundays so it might not be workable for you/others, but at 9:30am when they open for "browsing" go to the fresh isles reduction section and your looking at 40% off meat on today's date, freeze it down it's fine for the week.They do 80-90% reductions just before 16:00 (closing) if theres anything left to get it shifted! I'll spend around £2 today and pickup a couple packs of chicken breast, pack of loin steaks, pork mince/chops, maybe a lamb roast if I get really lucky :cheesy:

All the best.

UnderPressure

anymeans wrote: »

We do a meal plan for the comming week, trying to pick things that two meals use f.ex chicken and asparags using the rest of the asparags in a soup later in the week. Spend around £30 for the week, family of 2 adults and a toddler.

Buy milk from the corner shop as/when needed, trouble is I end up spending £2 on a small pot of candy floss they sell there a couple times a week :mad:

I pickup the meat we use for the week on a Sunday, I work for Tesco so usually there on Sundays so it might not be workable for you/others, but at 9:30am when they open for "browsing" go to the fresh isles reduction section and your looking at 40% off meat on today's date, freeze it down it's fine for the week.They do 80-90% reductions just before 16:00 (closing) if theres anything left to get it shifted! I'll spend around £2 today and pickup a couple packs of chicken breast, pack of loin steaks, pork mince/chops, maybe a lamb roast if I get really lucky :cheesy:

All the best.

Thaks for the Tesco tip I am a huge fan of heavily discounted reduced items you can save a fortune this way always have a few reduced bargains in the freezer.

Had never thought about going in browsing time on a Sunday I will try that next week

weezl74

UnderPressure wrote: »

Crikey to follow government guidlines of 5 fruit and veg a day for a family of 5 is going to cost you at least 20 quid a week lol so when member are trying to tell me they feed their whole families on £30 a week and they are eating steak every night just ignore them its all make believe

Hi there, you can do the govt recommended 5 a day for 19p per person per day at asda at the moment, so it is very faesible to do your groceries much cheaper, if you want to that is.