Example of a weekly/monthly food shop for 2 people

louisaL

Hi Everyone,

I would like to get into a grocery routine this year. I have written on an excel sheet all the food/toiletries/cleaning products we use or could use for meals we like but would like to compare with another experienced MSE couple who are on a budget and have been doing theirs like this for some time and have got into 'the know' of what they use.
if possible knowing how many tins of tomatoes you go through a week/month or any useful tips etc

some things i do at the moment to save is get things when on offer milk/bread/butter etc and put in the freezer and make meals from scratch.
We get value foil, cling film, sandwich bags, tins, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner for me, ketchup, soft cream cheese, eggs, cheese, chicken roll sandwich filler, mayo, squash/juice or pop.
Not value (but the next one up) on deodrant, sanitary towels, anti dandruff shampoo for DH
Toilet roll, 4pt milk, kingsmill bread from farmfoods
And tend to go to the market for fruit and veg.
My aim is to price all this up on a compare shopping site and hopefully do this once and month and get it delivered and also cut down on takeaways!!

we have also just been given a slim line dishwasher from my aunt and would like to know where the best quality of dishwasher salt/tablets are at a 'cheap' price. i have already said we are not going to use it unnessarily as picking up a dishcloth and turning the tap on for the 2 of us is much more affordable but it will be quite useful when we have guests over.

hope i have explained this ok, thank you for your time

Ches

If its any help this is what I do. I firstly made a 5 weeks menu plan for main meals feeding me and a very fussy OH. Takeaway night was incoporated twice in this 5 week menu to save us getting bored with cooking. I then made a list of all the things I needed to keep in stock to enable me to make these meals. When i make a weekly shopping list I run down the stock list and note the amounts of anything needed to bring stocks up to this basic level. I do the same for cleaning stuff and toiletries that I use on a regular basis. I then add fruit, veg etc to the list and I don't buy anything else. It means I shop for the things I have used the previous week so I always have a cupboard/freezer stockpiled for the whole 5 weeks but everything gets used in rotation IYSWIM.

louisaL

thats great advice thanks ches x

Pitlanepiglet

Hi Louisa, why don't you take a wander over to the Old Style Board - there's a monthly Grocery Challenge thread there where you can find people with the same family size and similar budget to you. There are also meal planning threads that will help you see what others do.

I suspect you'll get a much better response to this over there.

lch_2

It sounds like you're doing it right and saving where you can. Just a couple of things that i do differently;

Ditch the cling film and sandwich bags - i bought a set of click lid tupperware from Asda really cheap, so we now have a lunch box each. Mine is just the right size for a sandwich cut in half, so no bags needed.

I use Tesco value sanitary towels - had to switch after always decided to change to a new and improved version, which did not suit me at all. I honestly think the tesco value ones are the best.

I have quite sensitive skin so have to stick to products that work - i use a Nivea shower creme which i always is cheapest in the 99p store.

We used to get the chicken roll for my husband's sandwiches, but upon closer inspection, its hardly any actual chicken, has been pumped full of water and additives. I gave up the fight on that one and bought two packs of what seem to be proper ham slices for i think £3. They last two weeks worth of sandwiches and seem far better quality.

As for eggs, i will only buy free range or barn out of principle, but every now and then my Mum gets some from a local farm shop and sends some my way for free. :-)

Oh i also only ever kitchen roll from the 99p or pound shops. I usually get 6 rolls from the 99p shop, but over Christmas the most i could get was 4. Still far cheaper than a supermarket.

I don't have time to go to the market for veggies, so use lidl and aldi a lot. I have also recently been using tesco frozen mixed veg, which is £1 a bag and i've been really impressed so far.

Since having my son, i've found online shopping really helps. I've been picking the special offer items like bread as i don't mind what brand i get, then if its out of stock they upgrade you for free, well Tesco do. This only works on single items and not multibuys though. For the baby food, i haven't a replacement item yet, but i've always put in the notes that i'll accept any other item in the multi buy offer.

Good luck!

Rainy-Days

Hi Louisal in response to your question about dishwasher products well I can tell Lidl win hands down. Sadly though for two days I think it was 3rd and 4th January they had their dishwasher tablets on for half price - 84pence per box of 30 tablets. I bought 10 boxes - total outlay £8.40 as this will last me 18 months or more. Usual price for Fairy on offer is around £4.99 for 42 tablets so you can clearly see here what your costs savings are straight away. What I will say is that Lidl's dishwasher tablets were voted by Which? magazine as a best buy and performance is really good. I switched from using Finish and Fairy tablets a while ago when Which? recommended Lidl. Another thing is that Lidl do their own dishwasher rinse aid in a big one litre bottle for £1.99 and it is brilliant, it will last you ages! Tesco's own dishwasher rinse aid comes in at around £1.69 for half a litre so you can see the savings are considerable. If you want to clean your dishwasher every three months or so, you can either run a mug full of white vinegar through on an empty load, which removes limescale and debris or Tesco do their own dishwasher cleaner for two bottles which is still considerably cheaper than Finish. Dishwasher salt is pretty much comparable throughout on price so sometimes I will pick up own brand Tesco/Sainsbury's salt or Lidls. The 99p store did the Calgon (but with the foreign version but hey it's still the same) in a box too.

louisaL

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I'm sorry I wasn't quite sure which forum to put it in I just went with the closest title lol

Thank you for the dishwasher help. I've never had my own dishwasher before and the ones i've used in the past have had Finish Tablets which i dont think your'll be finding in my house lol

I was fortunate enough to inherit some dishwasher salt so hopefully that will last a bit.

uolypool

I usually buy my dishwasher tablets from a seller on ebay, hundreds of brokens ones for I think it was £6 last time I bought them which was last summer and I still have about another 6/7 months worth.Failing that, my sister uses Lidls own ones and she is a parttime labels snob;) but says these are the best she has tried.She wouldnt dream of buying broken ones even though she breaks the lidls ones in half;)

eva16006159

Just so you know, a modern dishwasher is more energy efficent (and so cheaper) when filled than doing seperate washes so you may want to reconsider your stance on washing up instead.

louisaL

oo thats worth knowing thanks guys x

alfsmum

Very interested to hear praise for Lidl's dishwasher tabs - will try them next time I need to buy some.