How much do you spend a week on shopping?

Muzikmaster

A total of 2 adults and 1 child live in my home. Each week I find myself spending about £70 per week on shopping. I do look every week on Mysupermarket but I'm just finding my shopping bill is going up and up.I visit mainly Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys for what's best on offer.

Monday I visited Tesco and purchased 4 cans of Tuna Chunks, on special offer for only £2.99 and I thought I'd got an ok deal. To be honest I've not purchased tinned tuna for a while because it's just become too expensive. After my trip to Tesco I then went to H&Bargin only to find Tuna Flakes (not sure the difference between flakes and chunks but I'm sure it's not much) for only 39p per tin. This really annoys the life out of me. Now I'm going to make sure I visit H&B first every week.

For my meat, I tend to visit Costco round about every 6 weeks and purchase a bulk and freeze it. Mainly chicken thighs, pork steaks and salmon. I'm happy with my purchases from Costco but if I can get better quality for a cheaper price then I'm up for that.

I have done a few weeks of just shopping for minimal basics and make sure I use up what we have in the home. Maybe I should be doing this more frequently.

Your thought on this lot would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

whamfanuk

way to much, prob in the regional for £150 for 2 adults, 2 teens and a large dog

flippin36

If you are happy to do the leg work and shop around I would certainly recommend Aldi too. I saved £9 on my usuals (compared to Morrisons), so certainly worth a little extra petrol getting there. I was also very impressed with the quality of food too.

With regards to Tuna, we are happy with flakes if it is for making tuna mayo sandwhiches, but for something like a tuna salad, tuna pasta type meals we splash out and get chunks. 55p in Aldi and decent quality. We also rate sainsburys basics tuna chunks which were 45p the last we looked, but haven't been for a while.

Homebargains is brilliant for discounted branded food - they sometimes do cheap free range eggs too, and washing powder and cleaning stuff/loo rolls are often cheaper than supermarkets. The problem is whether it is worth the savings in terms of petrol and time. For me it is.

We spend between £65-£70 but that is for two older children, a dog and the odd bottle of wine.

Good luck in getting your groceries down.

quintwins

we are a family of 5 (me, oh , two 5 year olds and a 2 year old- who eats more than the twins) now i only have lunches for me and DS3 and we don't make sunday dinner, we soend £40-£50 a week, i buy alot of value items, i buy tuna in poundland but hubby doesn't really like it, i buy alot fo meat from makro and rely on my freezer alot, i use loads of frozen veg but fresh fruit the exception of frozen strawberrys when out of season for milkshakes and tinned pineapple as back up, i buy reduced items when i can but i havent really wnet looking for awhile as my freezers to full, we don't drink and our budget includes takeaways which take up alot of it is i'm honest

i buy value cleaning products, lidl toilet roll (10 rolls for £1.49) and i buy my laundry liquid in bulk in makro when it's on bogof i get 4 bottles and that lasts me a year til the new deal comes round so costs me about £20 a year, i sometimes by fairy washin up liquid off amazon when on offer they do fab offers it's always worth checking every once in awhile, and i use value or lidl dishwasher tablets and tesco own salt and daisy rinse, i don't use fabric softener because i find the liquid i use is strong enough, i buy about one bottle a year for bedding and only when on offer

freyasmum

I actually don't know how much I spend per week because I don't ever do an actual weekly shop. Instead, I buy stuff that I like when I see it on offer - best example is fairy washing powder. It's my absolute favourite, I adore the smell - expecially bed sheets washed in it and then line dried :drool: Sainsburys usually sells the BIG boxes for £20. However, every year they sell it for half price, so that (minus discount of 20% last time) means that I can buy enough to last over a year for £16.

I buy my meat from the farm shop, or agricultural college (10 huge free range chicken legs for £3, usually BOGOF). They had an offer a little while ago - a pack of ten breasts, two packs of legs and 30 free range eggs for £11. Or if I see any offers elsewhere, again, I'll buy and freeze. Meat for sandwiches is bought, cooked, sliced, and frozen - that is an unbelievable saving right there! Butter and cheese are frozen as well.

Tesco had beans 12 cans for £2.49 which is less than 20p each, so I bought a few of those. They still have 500g packs of wholewheat pasta for 22p.

So one week I may spend £40, the other, £5, the next £100. It just depends. It's all about finding a system that works for you.


btw - the chunks are big pieces of tuna, the flakes are just that - small, flaked pieces. As mentioned further up in the thread, the chunks are nicer if eating as part of a salad.

Ilona

You literally do have to shop around, cherry pick the best prices from all the shops. You also need to have a computer in your head to remember all the prices, and a calculator to work out the best buys. Over a period of weeks you start to remember how much things are. When I get my shopping home I write the price on each item in a black marker pen, so I remember for next time, has it gone up, is it on special offer, is it cheaper in another store.

Tesco Value tuna chunks were 45p and were very good, now they seem to have disappeared and Value flakes have gone up in price to 45p, not so good, too much water. Some you win some you lose.
Ilona

PS I am working at getting my food only spend down to £10 a week (single person household)

DUKE

I personally wouldn't do a big shop at Tesco, Asda, or Sainsbury, as although they all have their offers (as do most places), I find them too expensive. If you have the time try shopping (every few days if possible to benefit from most bargains) at some of the smaller shops like Heron, Farmfoods, B&M. Do give Lidl a whirl too if there's one in your area.

We spend £50 a week & there's 2 of us, although I can get it down to £40 if I have to, & of course if my husband wasn't such a greedy pig I could go a lot lower.

meg72

I really would recommend you join the Grocery Challenge, lovely helpful people loads of advice and support.

Muzikmaster

I've not been using this forum for very long. I'm learning how important voucher are to reducing my weekly spending. I'm now going to start looking more in Lidl, Aldi and Iceland. I think a few trips to Poundland wouldn't go a miss. I really do like to cook good food from scratch but spending is just going up and up.

For the past week I can honesty say I've found glitching very addictive, I've visited supermarkets almost ever day and I know I've already saved myself a few quid. I've been cutting out newspaper vouchers for freebies.

How often does everybody look on this site? I must have done it about 4 times a day in the last week and I'm found it most inspiring to a part of this forum.

Thank you everybody.

caeler

On average I'm spending £30 a week, some weeks less (if I have lots of veg left over, etc) or some weeks more (if I need the big stuff). This is just for me. I'm really into the Sainsbury's basic's range, I'm trying Basic Ketchup this week (possibly a step too far?!?). I shop mainly in Sainsburys but supplemented with Lidl for specific items. Every few weeks I have a 'use it up' week, where I manage entirely from the freezer. I batch cook curry's, etc so it's usually a pretty good week!

RhiBi

I used to do a weekly shop, but haven't in a while now. What I do is have a vague plan in that I know in a month I will make spag bol 3 times, cawl (welsh stew) once, stir fry twice etc (I cover 25 meals as weekends are a bit different) from this I buy all the non perishable or freezer foods. Throughout the month then I just buy bread , milk and fresh fruit for packed lunches. Since doing this, I spend around £300 for a family of 6 plus a cat!