Getting Weekly Shop Down

KatrinaC_2

greytdog wrote:

ooh keeping an eye on this one! - we used to spend about £800 to £1000 on groceries (ok i have seen the error of my ways) pre our lightbulb moment for a family of 5 a month. I have now got it down to about £500 - any tips would be gratefully received. I already use Aldi's and Asda and use their value ranges. For info there are 4 of us that need packed lunches most days. Heres hoping for some cunning plans!

Was that a typo?! Just out of nosyness, what do/did you buy for all that money?

1) Get over to The MS Old Style Boards and look at their recipes
2) Plan your meals in advance and only buy what you need for those meals.
3) Work out what you normally buy and then figure out a cheaper alternative (e.g. make pasta sauce rather than buying it, white vinegar rather than fabric softner, veg rather than meat, Stardrops rather than Cif and Ajax and Windowlene and...)

Kat

poorbutrich

Somebody once posted on MSE that you're likely to buy less if you start at the "wrong" end of the store, and do your shopping backwards! I found this to be brilliant advice - it works for me - plus I always have something to eat before I go shopping so I shop with my wallet, not with my eyes and stomach!

dumpy

Also your fruit and veg end up at the top of the trolley not squashed at the bottom with the heavy stuff on top.

Lists. That's the way to go. I cut our £50 a week weekly shop (and we still didn't seem to have any food for Monday, so had to buy extra) to 20-25 a week by making a menu plan of what we are going to eat and ONLY buying the ingredients for that. Make a list and stick to it.

I write my list in the order of the layout of the shop (untill the B******S change it all round) Then I only visit aisles I need to and don't browse for stuff I don't need.

If you see a couple wandering around saying "if it's not on the list we can't have it, that'll be Mr D and I!"

Debt_Free_Chick

You need some storage place to do what I do, but this is it ....

Dry goods (flour, sugar etc), tins, paper (loo roll, kitchen roll, tissues), cleaning stuff .... all non-perishable stuff. I go to Lidl every 3 or 4 months and stock up. So I don't need to do a "weekly shop" for that stuff.

I never buy meat, fish, fruit or veg in any supermarket (butcher, direct from the boat, farm shop, greengrocer or market). So I don't have to do a "weekly shop" for that stuff.

Milk - I get delivered.

Bread - I make or occasionally buy from the village shop.

I find the problem with supermarkets is that they spend millions of pounds to tempt you in to buying stuff that you really don't need.

So, I second what others say about lists & menu planners. But try to cut out the "need" to do a "weekly shop at the supermarket". You may pay a bit extra for meat, for example, but you save a fortune on all that other "unnecessary stuff" that the supermarkets foist on you.

HTH

lilac_lady

Try Lidls first and then top up with BOGOF offers from the supermarket for the rest of your shopping. I find that items like teabags and toilet rolls are on offer in cycles so stock up when the best price is available. Once you're aware of how much your shopping costs it gets easier to just buy less.

chicken-noodle

I have also recently made an effort to sort out our shop using all the tips on here.
For 2 of us we used to spend around £50 a week, but last week I spent less than £7 and we are still doing fine. By planning the meals (and sticking plan to fridge) we are probably eating healthier as well as cheaper. And Im enjoying cooking different stuff from normal.
The thing that is making the biggest difference though is a tip I saw on here to make rolls for lunches and freeze them for the week - this has caused a small miracle in my home as I no longer get grumpy about having to make lunches the eve before and it means lunch doest get forgotton and then we spend.
Good luck with getting your shopping costs down- will be watching your progress.

mum2many

Very interested in this as we spend around £75 a week for 2 adults and 4 children(2 of which eat like adults and are "always hungry")
I'd like to cut the bill down but have to do packed lunches for hubby and the 3 eldest kids too.
we do buy value on some products like tomatoes, kidney beans, uht milk, tommy sauce. Mainly do online tesco shop to get the points for days out in the holidays and always use codes.
also trying to do weight watchers so help for cheap ww meals would help as i am following a recipe book and finding come stuff costs £££.

Storm

I do one biggish shop at the beginning of the month for basics (pasta, rice, frozen stuff etc) which comes to about £20 - then each week I buy milk, bread, fruit & veg as & when I need it. However, all the 'extras' through the month come out of my weekly spending budget, so I'm motivated to keep the cost down if I want to go out for a beer later in the week!

I am just cooking for myself though, so I think it's easier in some ways as I've no-one else to try and convince that we don't need luxury biscuits etc, and I'm happy to eat veggie for most of the week too

Wannabesaver_4

Mum to many - HI! I Could really relate to your post as i too am a WW member. i am at gold but find it is expensive to healthy shop (although others may diasgree with me being a newbie here). WW meals are great and are £1 in morrisons at the moment. But i love fresh meat and veg and do find it expensive but spurred on my all the replies i am going to start to be better.

I follow the Core plan but have started to eat WW meals again because their cheap and yummy.

My £75 shop last night - if i can make this last to the 1st of feb i would be very proud - that will be my challenge!

shoe1206

I'm new to this too, but have probably halved our shopping bill this month :j . Really just by following the advice that everyone has written here. eg No branded stuff. Follow a list. Make a food plan. Buy in bulk where possible. No unnecessary top up shops. Using vouchers. Less convenience food. Not shopping when hungry. Don't take kids to supermarket.

mum2many wrote:

also trying to do weight watchers so help for cheap ww meals would help as i am following a recipe book and finding come stuff costs £££.

Hi mum2many, i've just started doing ww too. (for about the 5th time :rotfl:)

Porridge for breakfast is only 2 points if made with skimmed milk - and cheap too (only 1.5 if made with water if you can stomach it!)

Baked beans 5 points per tin (6 points on toast - v. cheap meal)

Scrambled eggs 1.5 per egg (bulk out with extra egg white 0 points)

plenty of wholemeal pasta and rice if doing no count.

frozen veg is cheap (asda value is about 50p bag for cauliflower) - 0 points.

also frozen fish fillets (coley is good) are only 1.5 points.

If I think of any good cheap recipes I'll post.

Good luck