What works best for you?

littlemissmoneypenny

I have just been working out our budget for September and it's not looking too healthy. We have already cut down our direct debits as far as we can so no more savings to be made there. Still to apply for childcare vouchers as that will save a little bit each month so must do that asap. We usually budget for our mortgage, bills etc each month but don't allocate a specific amount for food shopping. There is me, dh, 2 children under 5 (one still in nappies). How much is a realistic budget for groceries per week? Also, do folk find it works best to do a big monthly shop and then top up fresh items weekly or do a weekly shop and just buy enough for the week? I've been trying to get shopping delivered recently so as to avoid buying lots of extras as I go round the shop.

Thanks

princess*daisy

Hi

Not sure about how much your budget should be as I don't have children, but my partner and I spend approximately £80 a month.

In terms of reducing your shopping bill, there are plenty of tips on here. Try the "downgrading" challenge - next time you go shopping, buy every item a brand lower than the one you usually buy, e.g. if you usually buy Heinz beans buy Asda's (e.g.) own; if you usually buy Asda's (e.g.) own orange juice, try Smart Price. Also, many of the value range items are highly rated by MSE users, such as Smart Price/Value chopped tomatoes etc.

I tend to buy a lot of frozen foods, including veg, as you can really save a lot of money that way and avoid waste. Farmfoods is a god-send to me, especially things like the frozen chicken pieces at £2 per pack. All you have to do is defrost them, then you can either eat them cold or throw them in a stirfry, etc. Also, you can get two Hovis loaves for £1 :money:
There are also lots of codes for online shopping offers with Tesco and Asda on these forums. If you don't drive or live a fair distance from your supermarket, it's often worth paying the home delivery if you have a code for £10 off your order.

I also cook extra when I make meals like chilli and spag bol, so that I can take extra to work. Home-made recipes work out so much cheaper - if you struggle to find time to cook with the little'uns, you could have a big "cook up" on a Saturday/Sunday and freeze meals for later in the week.

I also save the pots from individual sized frozen mushy-pea portions & Weight Watcher desserts and freeze individual portions of veg - this could be good for you with young children.

Finally, if you like soup then invest in a blender. I can make a huge vat of carrot and coriander soup for about £1. Homemade soup is healthy, tasty and great for winter, which seems to be upon us already!

Hope this helps - good luck

Pink.

Hi littlemissmoneypenny

Everyone's needs/wants are different so it's hard to put a figure on what is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries, but this thread should give you an idea of what others spend on their grocery shopping: Grocery Shopping budget threads I'll add your thread to that one later. Also this thread discusses the merits of shopping monthly rather than weekly: Shopping-Monthly vs Weekly (merged)


It might also be worth joining in with the August 2010 Grocery Challenge thread. You can set a reduced amount that you feel comfortable with and if you manage that then try to reduce it a little the following month. Everyone sets themselves a personal grocery budget and try to encourage and support each other throughout the month to stick to their own budget. What you include in your budget is entirely up to you. The thread for September will begin on Saturday.

For lots of tips and ideas on cutting back your grocery bill have a look at Martin's article on Supermarket Shopping and we also have a board where grocery offers are posted regularly: Food Shopping & Groceries Also the Discount Codes 'n Vouchers board has vouchers and codes that should help with online shopping.

Meal planning is a good way of managing your grocery spending. It takes a bit of getting used to but once you do it's a great way to save money by making sure you don't buy unnecessary things. Perhaps try it for one week to see how you get on by making a list of what you have at home and trying to build your meals around that. To get some help with mealplanning have a look in The Complete Menu Plans Collection.

For cheaper meal ideas have a look here: Cheap recipe threads

I'm sorry to have bombarded you with so many links but if you take the time to read through them it should help you to cut back. Good luck with reducing your bill.

Pink

nuttybabe

Hi

Just thought I would let you know what I do. There are 5 of us, me, dh, ds1 (6), dd (4) and ds2 (3). I do my shop every 4 weeks. I go through everything in the cupboards, fridge and freezer and write a list. I then do a meal plan crossing stuff of the list as I go. I then write 5 shopping lists. A big monthly one (which is delivered and i look for money off codes) and 4 weekly top ups or stuff that I can buy cheaper elsewhere and always add in a little extra for whoopsies that I see or some thing on offer. I have been doing this for a few months and its has really worked for me to bring my shopping down and stop buying stuff i dont need or want!!! :P

ERICS_MUM

A quick few ideas:

1. Plan your meals for the week, make and stick to a shopping list. When you pick up fresh stuff don't be tempted to buy other "nice to have" stuff because you can easily spend £20 when you pop into Tesco for a pint of milk and a loaf. :eek:

2. Cook in bulk and freeze so that you've always got a good meal available and you are not tempted to pop into Tesco on the way home to find "something for dinner". For example if you cook mince you can make shepherds pie, chilli con carne and also serve it with jacket potatoes and salad.

3. Keep a spending diary for a month and be really strict with yourselves - record everything you spend in cash, debit and credit cards regardless how small. After a month you will easily see where you are wasting money.

4. I stopped buying newspapers and magazines and saved about £30 a month, which for me personally paid for a week's worth of petrol. I get my news and gossip/fashion fixes from the internet now.

5. Try using "own" brands which are usually a lot cheaper than the popular brands. Some will be fine and you can stick with them and some you will not like and go back to the main brands. Personally I must have Heinz baked beans, no other brand will do. But I'm happy using Sainsbury's own brand of laundry powder which is almost half the price of Ariel.

6. Take packed lunches to work. Canteen or coffee shop snacks and lunches can really add up over the month.

7. If you food-shop on-line be careful to not just re-order your "favourites" list for convenience. My ex sister in law (:mad::mad:) used to do that and always had multiple packs and tins of stuff in her cupboards that were just wasted.


Linda :beer:

littlemissmoneypenny

Thanks for your replies, I wasn't sure if I'd posted in the correct area.

I will definately sign up for the Sept grocery challenge and see if I can reduce my expenditure and get some tips from others along the way.

We have already down shifted on some items. In the past I have always bought branded foods but shifted to own brands and recently have been trying value and discount brands and with some I haven't noticed much difference or prefer the cheaper option, which is great! I did try aldi's but found that I couldn't get everything I need there so have to top up at bigger supermarkets and don't really have time for that. We have also switched from pampers active fit to either tesco or asda equivalent and find they are just as good.

Meal planning is something I am really trying to get to grips with. I start of with great intentions and a freezer full of supplies, but keep forgetting to take something out for dinner so end up at the local shop, takeaway or going out for dinner I have a slow cooker and intend on utilising it as much as possible.

Thanks again

littlemissmoneypenny

Thanks nuttybabe. How much would you estimate you send in a month on groceries? I think I will try to do a big monthly shop and then top-ups next month and see how it works out for us.

Eric's mum, great idea, I will try and keep a note of what we spend, I think it will make terrifying reading though!

nuttybabe

It depends. I would rather not say as last time I did I got slated for not feeding my kids properly and harming them and accused of eating healthy myself and giving my kids **** which I dont!! But I batch cook (bulking out with veg, lentils and oats!!) and buy whoopsies or I did! netto reduce their stuff to half price first thing in morning so can get a large chicken for £2.00 which does 3 meals. BUT they have stopped doing that so not sure how next month will be!

Also I dont work so I have the time to research where is cheap and who has what offers and we have all the supermarkets except tesco (who I usually do on line order with) within walking distance. I also look in homebargains and pound shops for stuff. I use stardrops for cleaning and I make my own washing gloop so it costs less than £1 for a months worth of washing 'gloop'! and either water down fabric conditioner or i use vinegar (normal brown as white now too expensive!!! :P) And as from now I no longer buy nappies!!! yay!!! I have about 6 weeks supply for night times and then he wont be using them!!!!

Keep reading old style boards. You will pick up lots of tips like instead of buying handwash for £1 you can buy own brand bubble bath for 30p and that will do 3 refills of the handwash bottle and if you kids are like mine, you get through ALOT of handwash! Look at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2426287 for a few more ideas on where you can cut back.

also check out http://weezl.wordpress.com/
and
http://thirty-quid.blogspot.com/ for some ideas on cheap meals. They may not all appeal to you but some might.

I hope that helps.

msgnomey

The biggest thing I found was to meal plan

I now shop almost exclusively at Aldi mainly by having a look at what was there, not going with a rigid preconceived idae and being prepared to try things!

BUT I do still go elsewhere for my Muller light yoghurt lol

esmf73

I too will be doing this in September. Was meant to do cupboard and freezer lists yesterday but DS2 and I weren't well, so that got shelved. We have Tesco nearest us, Morrisons a car drive away and a huge Asda Hypermarket an hour away. I'm thinking that I will do a huge shop once a month - or as needed, and then with meal plans and using the local market, hopefully manage to stay away from the supermarkets in the meantime!

Off to look at my calendar and think about meal planning !

flipperOSN

Hi, I though I'd share my experiences, although there are lots of good threads linked to. It's still fresh in my head as I started this in earnest earlier this year. I also have a family of four, one still in nappies. Now I spend around £400 (that's everything food, nappies, washing liquid etc.) - you may well be able to do better and I already know there are things I can chip away at. For example butchering my own chicken more often. But it's well down from the 600-700 I was at before. (Also I know there's a good website which shows how to feed for only £20 a week.)

Meal planning was the most important thing for me when I started. I started with a list of meals I knew we had often (chilli, spag, curry, roast, chops, something with mash and beans, stew, fajitas, burgers etc.) and I put them together on a rotating three/four week plan to avoid getting bored. Your family may not care that much and you can do a simpler plan. List what you need for those. Don't forget on your shopping list extras like bread, sandwiches fillings, fruit, shower gel etc.

For the first couple of months I then stuck to the meal plan buying and shopping list once a week and I mainly managed it. Already my spending improved drastically.

Then I realised (light bulb!) that since I actually had a good idea for the next four weeks what I needed, that I could do a big shop for all the store cupboard items and some bulk buying on freezable stuff e.g. mince, sausages, other on offer meat. The next few weeks were only small top ups for veg etc and very small spends. That was this month so I can't give you a budget just yet!

It is incredibly liberating to get to that point BUT from my experience do it slowly. Don't suddenly try and change everything. I actually first tried 18 months back and didn't do it properly, ended up trying to change my entire cooking habits and getting miserable and tired. I'm lucky in that I was brought up by parents who hated food waste and I lived very frugally as a student so I already had a good idea how to make leftovers stretch but I lacked the organisation skills to do it for a family of four start off with.