Reducing our grocery spend!

emilykf

Evening all, I know that a lot of this is probably already covered in other threads but I just wanted to share 'our story'

It's just OH and I, and the cat, but we've always spent £80-90 a week on groceries, and OH has always said we spend far too much! My reaction to that was always that if we could afford it, so what?! Whilst technically we could afford it (we're lucky enough to be mainly debt free and have no children so our money is our own) I realise that it's still a LOT for 2 people. We buy all our meat from the butchers, veg from the market, and everything else from supermarket.

It was only when I was googling looking for ideas for a meal that I came across the 'What are you making for dinner' thread and was fascinated by what everyone else was eating (I'm a nosy so and so ). I then started reading the rest of the Old Style boards, and got completely hooked, and my attitude to what we're spending has completely changed. So thank you :T

The thing was, we were already doing a lot of what's recommended - we grow our own veg, cook everything from scratch, try not to waste any food, and had already dropped a brand on some supermarket buys. But for the last few weeks I've stepped it up a gear, have been 'making one, freezing one', and started going to the L supermarket before the S one (are we allowed to mention names, I'm never sure!!).

When I plan the week's meals and write the shopping list on a Thursday I've written on the list the cost of each item on the S website, then go to L first and compare. Oh my gosh, I can't believe we've never been there before! I've started a spreadsheet and the last 2 weeks we've spent roughly £50 per week (so a saving of £30-40!), and we're still eating really well :j This has included stocking up, for example we bought 3 litres of L washing liquid for less than we'd usually pay for 630ml S brand, and buying extra so we can freeze things. We've got into the routine of every week making extra of one meal to freeze, which has the added bonus of me not having to cook from scratch EVERY SINGLE day. OH is very money conscious so he's majorly happy, and we're intending to try and cut the budget even more going forward.

Part of my spreadsheet is a price comparison between what we would have spent at S and what we ACTUALLY spent at L, and we've saved £27 in the last fortnight. That included the brands we'd usually get in tea bags, peanut butter, butter etc, but there are still a couple of things that we either couldn't get at L or where slightl cheaper at S.

Anyway, apologies for rambling on and on, I just wanted to share our journey, so to speak, and say THANK YOU for everyone's amazing ideas and contributions :T:T

Linda32

Hi,

Yes you can mention names, why ever not? I presume you mean Lidl and Sainsburys. It always takes me a while to work out what is meant by not saying the full names. Mind you, that might be me being abit thick


I do agree with you completely. I use Aldi alot rather than Lidl, only because Aldi is nearer to me the Lidl.

Every now and again I go to Sainsburys/Tesco and sometimes Asda but I'm certain Aldi would always be cheaper.

vanoonoo

generally, the reason the name is not typed out in full or correctly is so that the threads dont appear too high up on search engine results when ppl are looking for info on a supermarket.

also, when discussing loopholes or glitches it gives a bit longer for the info to be circulated and not hunted down by the store.

there is also an element of protection for this site in legal terms, if we dont actually write the name of store then we are less likely to get the site in trouble for discussing the store, if perhaps we are discussing with less than favourable opinion.

all that said - feel free to type them out in full - there are no rules against it!

well done on seeing the light with your shopping budget - I am looking to reduce mine considerably between now and christmas, so I am tracking my spends on the grocery challenge thread - come and join in!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

vanoonoo wrote: »

also, when discussing loopholes or glitches it gives a bit longer for the info to be circulated and not hunted down by the store.

Thanks Vanoonoo... I wondered why some boards had more mysterious supermarket names and others were less cryptic.

Well done emilykf, you've made a significant difference to your grocery bill and, from the sounds of it, enjoyed the process. Our food bill was pretty good but I've signed up to the grocery challenge this month because I think we could do better... and I like to read other's tips on that thread.

maman

That's an interesting exercise actually writing down the S prices so you know what you're saving. Very motivating.

I've been doing what you do: go to A first then just pop into S for anything I couldn't get or like a favourite brand. I just asume A will be cheaper (vinegar was the only thing that caught me out;)).

Most weeks this is all the shopping around I have time for but you can save even more by taking the odd trip to Farmfoods or (in my case) the Asian supermarket where I stock up storecupboard items. I

Owain_Moneysaver

Save £30 a week from now, and you'll be £500 better off by Christmas.