My shopping bill is huge! Where am I going so wrong?

ohara09

Hi,

Recently myweekly shopping bill has just been going up and up, and I just don’t know howto stop it.

Before Christmasmost weeks I spent £40 - £50, with perhaps one bigger shop of £60 per month.Since Christmas it’s always been at least £60, and the past few weeks topping£70!!

I don’t thinkI’ve changed what I’m buying, so I’m guessing most of this is food price inflation,but I can’t afford to continue paying this amount. The trouble is, I can’t seehow I can reduce it without really compromise on my ethics (I try to only eatfree range/organic/happy meat wherever possible) or cutting down on the fruitand veg we eat?

This is justfor two adults, and I shop in Asda – although it does include household bits aswell. I already meal plan, which we stick to pretty much all the time, alwaystake packed lunches in to work and the only extras I have to buy is the occasionalbag of salad at the end of the week. I don't buy off the list (unless it's a good whoopsy deal which can be frozen). Everything is bought at the supermarket.Everything is homemade, although we do try to avoid eating too many refinedcarbs.

This is whatwe’re eating this week, and is pretty typical:


Breakfasts –either weatabix or all bran (Asda own brand), or home made muslie (cheapestsupermarket oats, bran & nuts bought online) I use the milk bags ratherthan bottles which are cheaper.

Snacks –fruit – always have apples, bananas, oranges & pears, select which everytype though is on offer

Drinks – teaor water (don’t drink any squash or fizzy drinks) alcohol is bought online outof a separate budget

Monday
L - turkeysalad wrap (turkey left over from previous supper)
S - cod fillet(whoopsy buy) with homemade tomato sauceand broccoli

Tuesday
L – tuna &egg salad
S – pork curry& frozen green beans

Wednesday
L – smoked mackerel salad
S – Homemadepizza & salad

Thursday
L –butternut squash & lentil salad
S - omelette

Friday
L –butternut squash & lentil salad
S – at parents

Saturday
L – at parents
S – homemadepizza & salad

Sunday
L – Roast chicken& trimmings
S –something on toast (eggs or cheese)

Because mostof what we buy is fresh, I don’t really know how I can downshift to the nextbrand/level- for fruit and veg I buy the cheapest available, and don’t mindwhat the label is. For processed food I’ve already gone down from branded to generallythe Asda chosen by you range – I have also tried some of the smart pricecereals but the taste has been a marked difference.


I’ve triedto follow as many MSE pointers as possible, but the bill is still going up andup. Can anyone identify where I’m going so wrong?

Many thanks,

ohara

ohara09

Sorry, I should also add that toiletries aren't included in that total, but cleaning products are. I want to reduce my bill down to £250 a month, less than £60 a week.

I used to get fresh fruit & veg from Aldi, as it was cheaper, but found a lot of it didn't last a whole week and so would end up getting chucked & having to buy more, so felt like a false economy.

I also get 5% cashback on all my Asda shopping due to an employee discount scheme I belong to.

Thanks
ohara

rosie383

Grrr! Just wrote a long reply and lost it! Ah well, will make it shorter.

£70 does seem like a lot for what you posted as your menu for 2 people.

Rather than just buying for 1 week, maybe buy larger packs that will last longer. Eg, buy a sack of spuds and bulk many of your meals out with those. Take 1/3 of your fish and make 4-6 fish cakes from it using your spuds, herbs and lemon. That will give you another meal. Or, each time you have fish, keep a wee bit aside and freeze it, then at the end of a few weeks, you will have enough bits to make a fish pie.
Try to find a market near you and get your fruit and veg from there. Buy loose bananas rather than even the packs of smartprice ones. Inevitably works out cheaper.

FairyPrincessk

Hi Ohara,

Your bill does seem a little high to me. We have a two adult household and we spend between 20 and 30 per week with a big 60-70 shop every 2-3 months and a few bits and bobs in the week. That said, this shop doesn't include enough meals for the full week--sometimes we improvise them from the cupboards, other times we end up picking up something for 1 night of the week, and OH is away one night a week so I improvise that night as well.
We do shop at Aldi (hence needing bits and bobs periodically) so perhaps that is the main difference? Recently our shop has crept up a bit, (before Christmas we were running between 17 and 25 per week) so I've tried a couple of new things that have helped. First, when I plan the weekly menu I try to plan it based on what is on the super six offer at Aldi. Since you shop at Asda, perhaps you could check online for fruit and veg prices before you start? I also try to only plan one meal a week that features either meat or cheese. This means being very careful with how our meals are arranged during the week, ensuring that we don't have three soup nights in a row as we tend to get very very hungry and this ends up being reflected in the next week's shopping! I'll usually plan a meaty dish on sunday, a soup on tuesday, something lentil or bean based on Thursday (OH is away on wednesdays) and another soup on thursday. Friday is generally a pasta dish and may include either a meat or a cheese, although not always.

Since both OH and I are pretty active, I've added nuts into our snacks, as well as avocados to help balance out the very light suppers and lunches. This is very very pricey if we do not stick to portion control and may not work for everyone. However, I can generally get two avacados for just over a pound which lasts me four days as I split them in half.

Something else we do differently is that our lunches are almost always what we had the night before for dinner. In the rare instance that we have a single piece of meat or fish etc. that can't be divided I pop some jacket spuds into the oven the night before and we have these with tuna. I also bake something at the weekend, a cake or the like and this is used for our puddings. When it is finished then that is generally our puddings done for the week, but that is more of a health decision as I really like to bake--although it has cut back on how much butter we use and has thus reduced the shopping budget. We two eat value cereals for breakfats--OH usually Aldi wheatbisks and I generally eat a value porridge or fruit.

I have no idea if you will find this helpful, but perhaps the contrast between how we approach it will give you some new ideas.

auntymabel

Changing your cleaning products might make a big saving. Could you post what you currently use so canny Old Stylers can post thrifty alternatves?

GreenSaints

Hi,

I have this problem too, but I've noticed I'm creeping more and more things into my trolley which aren't on my list. There's two of us and I spend between £40-50 a week.

Do you take a list with you? I use mysupermarket.co.uk to pick all my items I want (I shop at Asda too) and instead of using it for an online shop, I print the list instead.

I have noticed though that Asda's prices are increasing on a weekly basis, and it's more than just 10p a time, so maybe it's just that

FairyPrincessk

Also, I should add that we are both students so our budget is necessarily (but hopefully temporarily) very low. Given a slightly higher budget I would switch to more fish and chicken instead of the cheaper sausage/ham/cheese/mince types of proteins. I would also prefer to gradually introduce more whole grains, but between travel times to access them at other super markets, higher cost and longer cooking times that isn't feasible for us right now.

ragz_2

Switch to Aldi for the fruit and veg, it has made a HUGE difference to my food bill, I used to shop in Tesco. I now spend a good £50 a month less at LEAST. You just have to be more flexible. Buy the super 6 and plan around it etc.

Some examples of where my savings are (prices vary, some are a bit vague)

Peppers - Ramiro ones, Tesco £1.69, Aldi £1.19 Normal ones Tesco 68p each, Aldi £1.29 for 3.
Potatoes, don't know prices but I know especially new potatoes are cheaper in aldi.
Apples - Aldi 69-99p a bag, Tesco at least £1.50 a bag.
Clementines - Aldi 99p a bag, Tesco £1.50 min

All fruit and veg are cheaper there, by a LOT. I also buy my milk there as it's £1 for 4 pints. I feel a little bad about this (dairy farmers, but I don't expect Tesco gives them any more money)

Also mince and free range chickens, british bacon and beef chunks all much cheaper.

Lidl is not quite as good for the F&V but still cheaper that Asda/Tesco

BANANAS 68P a kilo in Waitrose, for loose fairtrade ones and they are lovely. Seem to be 20p cheaper than everywhere else and they actually have flavour unlike the other cheap ones. At tesco I was buying the bagged fairtrade ones which were really pricey. I now pop into Waitrose before my evening swims twice a week and get those plus their reduced stuff which is great.

System

Mines going up too. I shop online and with only two of us (and a part time man) i was beginning to have bills of £65-£75.

Its now creeping up to £75-£80 which isnt including the dog food.

ohara09

Rosie383 –sorry you lost your post Lbut thank you for redoing it! Think that’s a great idea for making things likefish go further, I hadn’t thought of that tbh. I sometimes buy in bulk, butfind more often than not I end up throwing some away as it just goes off.

The onlymarket close to me (that I know of) seems to be more expensive. Can anyonesuggest any markets in Bristol which I should look for fruit and veg?

I think whatI find frustrating is I take time to work out what’s the cheapest deal (Asdaare v.bad for their labelling!!) and yet still my bill is going up?

FairPrincessk– I’m impressed with your budgeting skills, I’m feeling very much an overspender seeing you only spend £20-£30 LI hadn’t thought about checking online for prices first – I just always buy thefruit/veg I need, but buy the cheapest in the range – if I checked online Icould base my meals around them – good tip! I used to do leftovers for lunches, but my OHoften doesn’t have access to a microwave at work, and got a bit fed up ofhaving cold soup etc! I think that half our trouble is that because we don’treally go out any more (money saving!) and we’re both keen cooks, we like tohave a good variety of meals to stop us feeling hard done by for not going out!I definitely didn’t eat as well when I was a student – or so expensively!

Auntymabel –I’m not Old Style at all when it comes to cleaning products I’m afraid. At themoment use (Asda own brand) toilet bleach, all purpose cleaner, all purposebleach, cif, washing up liquid, kitchen cleaner spray and bathroom cleanerspray, and limelight.

Green Saints– I take a list with me, but I think you’re idea of using mysupermarket to dothe list could be a good one. At the moment it takes me ages whilst I’m at Asdato work out what the cheapest deal is (for instance, did you know that half thetime organic tinned pulses are cheaper than the standard ones?!) so this couldhelp stop me missing any deals. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is noticingAsda prices are going up L

Ragz – do youfind that the Aldi fruit and veg lasts as well as when you bought in Tesco?That’s why I originally stopped going to Aldi, I found it was going off beforeI could eat it?

Thanks all –keep the tips and ideas coming in!! xx

LittleMissAspie

Vegetables are cheaper than fruit, and if you are trying to avoid refined carbs then you might want to avoid all the sugar in fruit too. Good vegetables to snack on are carrots and celery.

I see a lot of salads - are you buying the bags? It's cheaper to buy lettuce and cut it up.

Edit: For cleaning products try Astonish. They are animal friendly and only £1 from cheapo shops. Also I need to update my sig, it's out of date.