Help with an old style weekly shop!

McKneff

I always say, if you are eating healthily, enjoy what you eat, and you can afford it, then why not..........

I tend to eat with my eyes first if you see what I mean and my tummy 2nd. The one thing I dont even mind paying a premium for is nice fresh bread.

Bit like not spending on heating, why go cold if youve got the money in the bank to pay for it. Silly eh. The kids will soon spend it once youve gone, so eenjoy.

Learning2Budget

My shop is around 80 a week. That's for family of four including nappies, cleaning products etc. I meal plan and we eat hone made meals. I used to spend more but have fine tuned ;-)

Farway

epskie wrote: »

We are big meat eaters.

I suspect that is where any "problem" may be.

Meat is very expensive compared to veg options, I am not a militant vegan btw just bog standard omnivore who loves bacon sarnies, but often have veggie meals, as an example salad & cottage cheese

minipenny_2

We are a family of 4 but I guess it depends on age of your kiddies too!

We're £250 a month but trying to get less than that. We have a pre-schooler and baby. However if we had the money we would spend more so if you've got it, as poster above said, spend it and enjoy it

patchwork_cat

It depends £110 is a decent amount for a family of 4, but not extortionate. Do you need to cut back if so it is possible, but contrarily there will be plenty of people easily spending £150 per week, although probably not that many on this board.

Skint_yet_Again

There are 2 of us and just to give you some ideas I spend £40 a week to include toiletries, loo rolls, cleaning stuff. We are also big meat eaters. I mainly shop at @ldi and typical meals would include

breakfasts - crumpets, cereal, egg on toast, bacon sandwich, porridge

lunch - leftovers, sandwiches, soup, cold pizza (mini pizzas 44p add any leftover meat) or left overs from larger pizza, bacon sandwiches, omelettes, noodles.

dinners -
chilli with rice or pasta, beef stew, home made burgers and wedges, mustard pork with mash and veg, pork and mushrooms with pasta in garlic and herb sauce and garlic bread, fajhitas, roast chicken dinner, pizza and wedges, tandoori chicken with wedges or jacket potato and salad, gammon chips pineapple and salad or tinned sweetcorn

Deserts - home made flapjack, home made carrot and apple muffins, tinned rice pudding, ice cream

Snacks - noodles, scotch eggs, fruit, croissants with chocolate spread, crumpets

Cleaning products - bleach, washing up liquid, washing 2-in-1 liquid, dishwasher tablets, anti bac handwash for kitchen and bathroom, bin liners, cling film etc all from @ldi, and stardrops, loo rolls and kitchen roll all from £1 shop.

Toiletries- shampoo, shower gel, face cream from @ldi, deodrant for me from good-deal local store (roll on 89p so less than £1 shop). Son likes lynx deodrant or oldspice so get these from wilko or @sda. Noodles are 11p @sda basics and I get basics hair mousse and hair spray from @sda too.

Possession

I don't think it's ridiculous at all, although I'm sure you could get it cheaper. If you want to, why not start with going a brand down - ie. buying Tesco own if you buy a brand name. Buying less meat would certainly help - there are lots of ideas on here about 'stretching' meat in a meal, eg in a mince dish adding red lentils or porridge oats to bulk it out a bit without being obvious.

bargainbetty

epskie wrote: »

Yes I suppose that would help, haha.

Fresh cooked meals every night including - chicken curry, shepherd's pie, gammon and wedges, roast dinner etc. We are big meat eaters. It did also include breakfast things, fruit and some cleaning products too.

Perhaps the order of things might help too... I would have a roast chicken first, and the chicken curry later in the week, if you see what I mean, so less chicken would be bought for the second meal because you can throw in all the leftovers. Getting in the habit of having portion controls on meat will help you.

Leftover gammon can be chopped small and used in the shepherds pie (I always add bacon anyway, so less mince). Also, pad the curry and pie out with lentils etc. I get mine from an Asian grocer (spices, pulses, lentils etc are much cheaper that way).

I do a Farmer's Pie, which is pretty much any leftover meat with veg in a gravy sauce, with mashed spuds on top. Lovely surprise meal!

What cleaning products do you use? I saved a fortune not buying the branded ones, and genuinely don't notice the difference. I use less washing powder than recommended (half as much is fine) and vinegar rather than softener. My clothes are better than before!

Good luck!

System

£110 is easily done. I would spend that on just the three of us at @sda until hubby decided we would try @ldi which is just a couple of miles away.

He has saved himself a fortune. As fast as i chuck things in the basket, he chucks them out again as he doesnt deem them as 'essentials'.

I have to say, the highlight of the visit is when he does the packing himself as he says i faff around and prefers to do it himself. :rotfl:

lovinituk

epskie wrote: »

I've taken the advice of the posters on here and made a weekly meal plan. I did the shop for it last night and it came to £110.

Is this extortionate for a family of 4 plus dog?

Thanks all

If you can easily afford it then go for it. If you enjoy what you eat and you are not struggling with money then its fine. You only need to budget if you can't afford it or simply want to save. Our spend is roughly the same for family of 4 + 2 cats.