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

PasturesNew

Maybe you could price each meal individually and see if any stand out as a bit pricey - and work on replacing individual meals or parts of them, that cost the most.

Be aware of the cost of each item, each item per 100g, each meal, each day - as well as the weekly count.

ohara09

LittleMissAspie - I usually get the 'living' salad which I find will last the week whereas the
Lettuce or salad bags tend to go off. Hadn’t thought aboutveg as snacks but you’re right it’s much cheaper, and would probably help withthe diet as well!!! Do you know whichshops to try out for Astonish?



PasturesNew – I once tried to cost out meals and found itrather complicated. Is there a spreadsheet or anything which you use which Icould have to use this as a basis?

Idiophreak

Firstly, I'd sit down and do a proper analysis of your shopping and work out exactly *what* you're spending the money on. Collect a month or two or receipts, then divide them into categories: meat and fish, fruit and veg, breakfasts and lunches, drink, dairy, frozen, household, treats and see how much you spend on each. this should identify the areas in which you're spending the most. When we produce a shopping list, we break it down into those categories and have a budget for each bit.

Also analyse your meals and the real costs of them. Add up the cost of *everything* in them and work it out. It sounds stupid, but sometimes I've been surprised that what I thought were quite cost effective meals are actually quite expensive when written out in black and white. Then I try and get a couple of cheaper meals each week.

Finally, I know it's a no-no around here, but don't rule out pre-prepared food altogether. If you shop around and choose sensibly they can work out to be quite cost effective when there's only two people.

Ilona

I think it would be a good idea if people who are struggling to reduce their household/food spending, put their whole shopping list up here, like people put their SOA on the Debt Free board. Then we could all take a look at it and suggest ways of saving money. It's all very well to say fruit and veg are cheaper in such and such store, they might be for that person for that week, but prices vary from week to week and area to area. There isn't one size fits all. One item might be cheaper in Tes&co and the other cheaper in Son of Morris, but have you time to check them all out.

About 90% of what they sell in supermarkets you don't actually need. You can miss out half the aisles and still have a balanced diet and a clean house.

In answer to your question, where am I going wrong, we need to see exactly what you bought and the price it cost.
Ilona

FairyPrincessk

I've been a student for about 10 years now (and still have about two to go) so I've had PLENTY of practice at this. Also, OH and I work in the same department--when I'm not working from home. We have access to a microwave, kettle, toaster, fridge etc. so our lunches aren't nearly as challenging as they could be. On top of that, our diet isn't always fun. I'm so sick of carrot soup it isn't even funny, but carrots are very cheap, the soup is quick and it isn't too unhealthy.

What about trying some marinated salads like you see in deli counters or in supermarkets? I think M and S have a lentil salad and a pasta salad. There are also carrot salads, potato salads etc. If your base ingredient is very cheap and filling and you use similar costly ingredients that you can bulk buy (raisins, oils, vinegar etc.) that might help.

I know what you mean about cooking/not going out. I LOVE to cook. I love trying new exotic ingredients and taking my time even if it is cheaper to buy it. I still struggle with this, although trying 'traditional' recipes and 'peasant food' from around the world has helped me get through this.

Also, re: fruit and veg from Aldi--ours is actually better than the other local supermarkets. However, I think fruit and veg quality varies largely between supermarkets and areas. I know in some areas Aldi is terrible while in our area the Tescos isnt great. Across town, OH's sister finds Sainsbury's is appalling and Tescos is better. I hav eno idea why this is--differences in management? Different customer standards? Different position on the supply chain? Who knows.

ginger_tony

Food costs are getting out of control its scarey we are a family of seven 3 adults and 4 kids and so go through milk cereal and bread and fruit like I dont know what.We just got a chest freezer so this week I said to my hubby im going to bulk buy my months shopping we went to Aldi, Lidls and Farmfoods I spent a £177 this got me breakfast, lunches and 28 dinners(Chicken ,mince,lamb, prawns etc) and snacks.This includes milk, fruit, diluting juice, cereal, biscuits and crisps.I was amazed at how cheap I had gotten all this for and could have cut this down to £150 by not buying snacks stuff. The guy in farmfoods even gave me a £5 voucher which I thought was very kind of him. I could easily spend about £120 a week on shopping so I will be doing this from now on as it can be done and the kids are getting good home cooked meals from scratch. I wont sporadic buy but will get milk, bread and fruit weekly. Maybe by cutting my shopping costs we can get a decent holiday this year.

scaredy_cat

just a word of advice - sometimes buying the value range in veg isn't as cost effective. I bought a big bag of value pots and on every potato i've had to cut out a large chunk of black blemish, so there has been more wastage and i am getting less potato for the money!

Frugal_Housewife

Hi

I haven't had a chance to read all of the replies so please forgive me if i am repeating what others have said.

Our food budget is £80 for 2 people (not including pets but does include all cleaning products and toiletries) this is for 1 month.

Organic/free range meat is extremely expensive and I think one of the first areas i would try to cut back would be to have a few more meat free meals or make your meat stretch further, i.e when we did eat meat i could get a whole roast chicken to make 6 plates of food (so 3 meals for 2 people). We dont eat meat products now and it has helped A LOT! - Im not saying give up meat to be like us, im just saying that if you dont want to give up on the organic and free range meats then you need to experiment using less of it or making it stretch quite a bit more.

I also shop in Asda.

But I buy most of my fruit and veg from the market. Bananas last 2 weeks in the fridge and we get 20 for £1!

There are big savings to be had by getting fruit and veg this way.

Also we tend to do 1 big shop a month where we bulk buy and then top up shops weekly so a big shop for about £50 and the rest we use if we need it and sometimes we dont.

Bulk buy wherever you can but also check the labels, sometimes it might look like you are getting the best deal by buying a bigger bag but check on the tag on the shelf or online to see what is the best value for money size.

We "shop" online first, then print out the list, this way we know exactly how much we have spent first and can check the prices before going to make sure we are getting the best deal, we also then go through the list and cut anything out which is not essential.

Also are you price checking your receipts?

bupster

I'd just add to the others - Ald* changed my life, in part by having a more limited range. I eat mounds of fruit and vegetables - I just don't eat expensive ones. Salads can be horrendously steep - have you thought of investing in a few plastic pots for the windowsill and some compost? It's about £1.50 for a packet of seeds that will give you 'living salad' for the rest of the year! Herbs are the same, and if you've any access to a balcony or small garden you could expand your range to tomatoes and courgettes in the summer etc.

It's a shame your OH doesn't have a microwave because that does make life easier. But if you can grow your own salad in part then you can be a bit more adventurous - one free range chicken as another poster said should easily do two full meals for two adults plus loads of spare meat for salads and sandwiches. I also make enormous pasta bakes, which don't need much meat in at all, if any, but which last all week and are very filling. Hope this helps! (PS a 500g packet of fusilli pasta from Ald*, which makes 6 large helpings of a pasta bake or 8 small, is 55p).

Idiophreak

Frugal_Housewife wrote: »

Also are you price checking your receipts?

Interesting to do if you have the strength. I used to write down what I spent to the penny on a spreadsheet as I went round, then tally it up. Took a little while, but meant I could tell instantly if they'd overcharged me (finding out what item they'd overcharged on still took a minute ). Doing this, around 80% of the time I found I was overcharged. I guess it's what they count on, but eventually I decided that it wasn't worth waiting 15 minutes every week to get my 26p back, so I don't do it any more.