Food Shopping on a debt budget

Cranny44

Hi

Just wondered what people think is the best way to food shop on a debt budget?

I dont know wether or it is easier to budget weekly and shop weekly or budget monthly and shop monthly.

I spend an average of £200 - £220 for 3 plus dog and daughter and granddaughter who turn up on a regular basis.

If i go monthly i can end up topping up too much on the inbetween times.
If i shop weekly i find i can still over spend.

Thinking of doing a reg ASDA/Tesco delivery type shop to see if this helps and lessens temptation.

Or does anyone just shop as and when required? does this work out cheaper? I would like to try and cut further, and hope to plant more in the garden this year to help.

My DH get paid weekly by cheque (antiquated i know) and i get paid monthly, this in itself plays havoc with budgeting.

Thanks

rugbychick81

Why don't you keep all of your food receipts for a normal month - then you can work out how much is fresh and needs buying frequently, and how much can be stored.

I am bad for buying things like cans, crisps and chocolate when at work at 60p a time!! I could save a LOT of money with some extra planning.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, there is lots of advice about this on the OS Moneysaving Board. Mealplanning would really help you I think. Its quite tricky to begin with but once you get used to it it really saves you money. I find I spend less if I shop less often and shopping online definitely helps you budget.

This is my system:
Once a fortnight I do a mealplan for the next 2 weeks. I list what meal we are going to have each evening and work out exactly what I need to buy to make those meals, taking into account what I already have in the freezer and cupboard. I then work out what we need for breakfasts and lunches and add these to my shopping list.

If we run of out something non-essential in between shops I try and manage without. After a while you get this down to a fine art and I rarely do run out of anything now.

My two online shops every month come in at £120. I allow £60 a month for other food shopping giving me a budget of £300. I usually spend less than this and could cut this budget down if I had to.

Hope this helps.

foxgloves

First, I plan meals for the month, then I do a really detailed list and do a monthly shop for as much of it as I can. I then just have a very small weekly list to pick up the fresh stuff, like going to the local market for fruit & veg as it's a lot cheaper. I take out our monthly food budget in cash & keep it in a separate purse as this keeps me on track of what's left. About 3 or 4 times a year, we budget a big storecupboard shop at Lidl to stock up on tins, bread flour, olive oil, tinned fish, etc. We cook almost all meals from scratch & always take packed lunches to work. Have tried various methods of food budgetting, but this is the one that seems to work the best for us.

Cranny44

foxgloves wrote: »

I take out our monthly food budget in cash & keep it in a separate purse as this keeps me on track of what's left.

This sounds a good idea, I dont do the cooking my other half does it all but i tend to do the buying. I think by keeping it separate then i can def see how much i use.

Thanks also rugbylass and yorkshire chick you have some good ideas too i may try..

I too agree not taking food to work is a budget killer, i do try to get home if i can for lunch and usually have a microwave meal of sorts.

i do think being able to shop at the more local traders/market may make things cheaper too.

BOGOF_Queen

If you have your lunch at work, perhaps make a large pan of soup - takes minutes and is so much cheaper than what the supermarkets offer - keeps in the fridge for several days. A portion of this with a roll is great this time of year - loads of soup recipes on the internet - BBC site is great for recipes. If you have a microwave at work, take in a spud and a bit of cheese - will cost a lot less than popping out and spending £2 or £3 on a sandwich. As others have mentioned, cooking from scratch saves a lot of money - if time is short in the week, do some batch cooking at the weekend (I usually make a double lot of curry and a spag bol or chilli) and then put enough for one meal in the freezer for later in the week/month. Try to stick to your list and don't be tempted by special offers unless or course it is something you were going to buy anyway - hope this helps and good luck.

foxgloves

Yes, batch cooking really does stretch the budget. There are only 2 of us and I try to cook double of lots of meals so I can freeze and then when it's a tighter month, we can eat mostly out of the freezer & still have nice meals. If there's not quite enough for 4 portions, I still find it worthwhile freezing just 1 extra as husband can take it to work to microwave or it'll do for a jacket potato topping.