How to do a monthly budget food shop?

cleggie

Hi all.
I am going to start shopping monthly instead of weekly, as i think it'll decrease my shopping bills.
I have £200 per month for my food shop (its me, my 11 yr old and 7 yr old).

I am wondering how you would arrange your monthly food shop? Would you do 1 massive shop and spend the whole £200, or do 2 shops of £100 each, or do it another way in order to get the best weekly deals from the supermarkets?
Sorry if its a silly question, but i am not sure which way to do it.

Lynsey

Not a silly question at all and if any tips can help your circumstances, then it has helped you and may help others.
I was doing a £100 food budget (just 2 adults) before Xmas, up until the end of November and I did loads of little shops, a £10+ shop was a BIGGEE for me. Less food waste as very little was thrown out.
Depends on what shops you have available to you (I have loads).
Buying "whoopsies" can certainly help you and if you have a Lidl near you have a look at their "half-price" weekend offers - max up on the good ones. Max up also on offers, genuine BOGOF's etc. and hoard. I found once you have a "stash", you just need to keep topping up.
Have a look at the coupon thread, massive bargains there to be had.
Cutting back on "junk" food, if you buy a lot of "junk" food can help your budget. A £1 packet of crisps could be spent on a carrier bag full of veg when buying reduced items late in supermarkets. It's amazing sometimes what £1 will actually buy!!

Good luck.

Lynsey

cleggie

Thanks for the reply Lynsey.
The supermarkets close to me are:
Tesco
Lidl
Morrisons

There is an Asda not too far away, i could certainly drive there once a month if it would help, and they are the ony supermarket to deliver to my area.
We also have a farmers market every week in my town, but no idea of the prices as i have never been to it before.

Where is the coupon thread, any chance you can give me a link please as i cant seem to find it!

cleggie

Oh, there is a co-op too, forgot about that!

Lynsey

cleggie wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Lynsey.
The supermarkets close to me are:
Tesco
Lidl
Morrisons

There is an Asda not too far away, i could certainly drive there once a month if it would help, and they are the ony supermarket to deliver to my area.
We also have a farmers market every week in my town, but no idea of the prices as i have never been to it before.

Where is the coupon thread, any chance you can give me a link please as i cant seem to find it!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3628257

Farmers markets can be expensive.

Morries late reductions can offer great bargains. Got packs of sausages there the other week for only 25p per pack - "Butchers sausage" from the counter, packed up into approx 500g - nice also and not fatty.
Tesco bargains, there can be some good "whoopsies" at times.

You'll save a fortune though with copuon usage, read up page 1 and ask for help if needed - a great helpful bunch there (most of the time).

Lynsey

cleggie

Thanks so much Lynsey, i will have a read of it now!

maman

If you've time Co-op often do good reductions in the evenings.

I'm not a monthly shopper but if you want to do it I'd suggest you only buy basics and keep some cash for perishables.

cleggie

Thanks maman.
i was thinking about keeping £40 (£10 a week) for bread milk and fruit,and things like that, so that i dont have to freeze it (I hate defrosted bread and mik!!). Thanks for letting me know about co-op evening reductions, any idea what time in the evening is the best time to go?

rising_from_the_ashes

I'd be tempted to go for a big £120 - £140 ish shop and then leave around £15 - £20/week for fresh stuff & to allow for bargains.

We have a co*op too and the times of reductions vary - I finish at lunchtimes on a Weds and often stop on my way home to find lots of chickens, mince etc reduced right down .... but at other times it can be a bit later (a lot of people stop off on their way home from work between 5 and 7). Never actually been just before it shuts (10) as too late for me!

I now run 2 shopping lists - one for fresh/weekly essentials and a 2nd that I note anything that will need replacing when on offer/at the next big shop so I don't forget anything.

For me, the hard part is not being suckered into buying "extras" at the weekly shop - I have to go to Mr A or Mr T as they're the only places that sell "my" milk and it's really easy to be tempted with things that I really don't need! (something I need to work on in 2012!)

HTH

hunter82

I find it easier doing a £100 shop at the beginning of the month, store cupboard, meat, toiletries etc then £25 per week to cover all my fresh items

quintwins

we have a £200 budget i tend to do a biggish shop with all the meat,cheese,butter,frozen veg, bread (which we freeze) and the nice bits usually around £50-£80, then usually a shop every week at the farm shop for fruit, spuds and anything else we need