Weekly Shopping??

smitty2702

Hi

does everyone do a "weekly shop"? or how do you do your shopping and does it make a difference to what you spend???

I have dropped from doing a main shop weekly to minimum of 10 days between supermarkets (often 14) and I supplement from a garage (which is same price bar 2p on milk and bread and is on DH way home so no extra trip) I also now buy most of my meat from a butcher in the next village and im trying the market for veg. can I ask do your market traders look at you like you are mad when you say no I dont want 4 cauliflowers for £2 I just want ONE!!! same goes for other fruit etc... if i buy the quantitiy they try and sell me it costs me less to buy less in supermarket and I dont throw it out.

have discovered a fab egg stall on same market where medium free range are 65p for 6 but you can buy bigger boxes cheaper. they also do undersized eggs at 20p for 6!!


Claire

Softstuff

I've stopped doing my big weekly shop and have instead taken to popping in as and when. Now, this sounds like it would be more expensive, but for me it's working out cheaper... I go in at the end of work to the supermarket in the same shopping centre, and pick up whatever I need and whatever is reduced!! I've found that I'm not buying silly items, but this is mostly because I tend only to buy essentials there anyway, but am ending up with the basics, such as onions and potatoes, at 1/5 of the price. Quite a saving.

helping_hubby

I've actually changed from doing huge twice monthly or every 3 week shops (and then spending loads on topping up in the week) to doing strict weekly shops.

I guess it's what works for you. I'm finding my new way is working very well. Tomorrow will be my 3rd shop and I've kept to budget so far.

I have a spreadsheet with everything I buy and what it costs so I can add a new colum for the week and put the quantity of what I want of each item and see how much it all comes to. Then the best bit is I look over it again and again and end up knocking things off because some of it I really really don't HAVE to have.

For example, the first week I had basics biscuits - didn't need them because I had enough in the cupboard for a week. But had I bought more, we probably would have eaten them because they are there.

And then I was going to buy £1.49 pack of garlic ciabatta bites to go with our homemade pizza - these are absolutely gorgeous, but hubby made a valid point that we didn't need them. So instead I bought a 56p pack of 2 partcook bagettes and made my own garlic bread, and it was yummy.

Things like that. It also helps that I shop at sainsburys using fast track so you can see what you're spending...and I take my list with me and I also have what it should all come to and its great pleasure when it does actually come to what you've estimated

I'm really sad, aren't I?

Shortie

Hi Smitty2702 :wave:

I used to do a big monthly shop and fill in on fresh bits as needed. However we found that this was a really bad idea for us, as we get bored of food quite quickly and by mid-month what we'd bought, we no longer wanted, so our 'top up' shops ended up being a proper food shop!

So, now we go weekly after I've done a weekly menu plan to stock up on what we need. I try and do my plan on a Friday night so that on Saturday I can nip to the local markets to get the meat we want and the £1 per bowl stall for our fruit and veg, and then roll onto Mr T for the rest

We still sometimes do mid-week top ups of milk or bread, but we're finding we're much more disciplined now that we have in for the week what we know we will want to eat

No sure if that's what you were meaning, sorry if I've waffled off topics there!

mah_jong

Being a single and car less I cant really say I do a big shop at all!

I never buy more than I can carry along the road. Though if anyone is coming here and are passing Lidl they get asked to buy some giant washing powder/dishwasher stuff! I just get what I want when I want at the local shops, close to where I work.

I do think ahead, so I know whats for dinner, usually at least a week in advance.

Unless you stick to your list I think any method has its down falls......the huge trolley just waiting to be filled to the temptation of a wee regular shop!

angchris

i tend to look more long term as far as shopping is concerned, i have a large chest freezer in the garage and also a worktop height freezer in the kitchen. We tend to go shopping once a month, i buy bread and milk for the month and freeze it, i always have a big selection of frozens veggies and just pull it out when needed and for the rest of the shopping i bulk buy. we tend to walk around the supermarket and anything that we will use that is on offer i buy loadsss of it we have stockpiles like you wouldnt believe :rotfl: my theory is that there will always be a cheap meal in the freezer that i dont have to pay full price for :j it might not all get used for another 6 months or so but its there if needed. this month for example tescos had ice cream on offer, tubs of carte d`or and twix and milky way ice cream bars were half price so i bulk bought and now we are fully stocked up for the summer :beer: i always check out the reduced section and buy whatever i can freeze. we went food shopping yesterday and i managed to fill the fruitbowl to overflowing with reduced to clear fruit, filled the fridge with reduced to clear fresh stuff (i take no notice of best before dates if it looks and smells ok i eat it!;) ) and then we will live for the rest of the month out of the freezer when that lot has run out. i find my way of shopping means we eat really well very cheaply and with not having to pop out to the shop for another month or so means that i dont spend £20 when all i need is milk :rolleyes:

smitty2702

I think thats kind of my problem Mah_jong, I dont drive and live in a village thus whenever we venture to the supermarket its as a family which means can i have this and can i have that (and thats just DH ) I have done online shopping from Mr T (we live near sainsburys but Mr T is cheaper for us) which isnt too bad but there usually ends up being substitutes or things I NEED missing so we then end up going to sainsburys anyway!!
I guess thats why Im trying to shop more locally (as well as ethical preference) and less often at the main supermarkets anyway, the less temptation there I figure the less ill buy. Ive already reduced food bill a lot. im ashamed to admit it was probably about £400 a month incl nappies and toiletries / cleaning stuff. Im now down to about £250/270 and WILL go lower!! and im starting to grow stuff.

Claire

lil_me

I'm a mixed buyer, I buy in bulk some things, like when I run out of tinned tomatoes, flour, rice, pasta etc I buy a lot to restock, I bought a bulk lot of washing powder off ebay cheaply which will probably last me until Xmas as I use so much less now. I buy fresh fruit and veg weekly as I get it from a lady who delivers with a van locally. Milk is delivered. When I am running the freezer down like now I will then buy a large amount of meats from the farm shop next time I go when it's emptied, but it's only a few miles away so do in between shops aswell.

I tend to work from meal plans when it comes to fresh/frozen, work from what I have and do a list of what I need to buy to go with it. I've managed to reduce spending hugley this way, before we had overstocks over everything, I was spending over £800 a month on groceries, toiletries, cleaning etc. I was finding even tinned items were going out of date as I bought too many 'just incase' things.

I think it comes down to planning better, aswell as not overbuying reduced items, here you're lucky to get 20p off but I would buy it anyway then realise I didn't have room in freezer for it ( still working on moaning enough to get DP to buy me a fridge/freezer) then it would end up going off and being thrown away. Now I am closer to £300 a month if not less. I have spent a lot more early this month but hoping to manage off what we have in for much longer.

Boudica

Hi all

I shop around every 10 days for my family. I have organic milk delivered daily from the milkman. I do this as a point of principle because of the supermarkets treatment of the British dairy farmer. Also it's convenient for us as a family.

I do 10 day meal plans and shop accordingly. I buy meat from my local butcher because all his stuff is produced, slaughtered and transported in the UK only. I buy veg from the local greengrocers cos it's all locally produced in Burscough and the surrounding areas. I buy fruit there too. Cleaning products are bought from the local discount shop.

The supermarket shop is mainly for the pets food, washing powder, rice, pasta etc. I'm thinking of changing the way I do things completely. I have the allotment which, with more effort from me, could provide veg year round. I'm also thinking of having a fruit and veg home delivery box scheme while I get this sorted out, plus locally produced meat. A friend and I are thinking about chipping in and spending about £100 each and buying 6 months worth of meat. Certainly works out cheaper.

I'm interested in the ebay side but am unsure as never done it. Any advice from anyone? I spend about £200 per month on a family of 4 but think I can get it lower.

Kimberley

I don't get a weekly shop from my local waitrose because i find it so expensive there :eek: I spend about £60-£80 a week and it's only me and 3 kids I do waste money, i'm just no good at making items spread over the week.

Yesterday i used a coupon for a Tesco shop online, which saved me the delivery cost. I spent £41 for a weeks shopping, i'm going to see if this Tesco shop lasts the week, if it does i'll shop at Tesco all the time using eCoupons to save on delivery costs Also I can't go into the shop and buy on impulse

I have a slow cooker and tried making meals but the kids won't eat it.

smitty2702

have u tried things like curry or spanish chicken in the slow cooker, mine arent stew mad but will eat that sort of thing!!

Tescos can be good online it just really annoys me when they substitute "value" items for the highest priced alternative known to mankind or when you are planning on having burgers for that night and buy burgers and rolls, they send no rolls cos they r out of stock! surely there must be SOME roll of some description in the shop!!! or if you are planning a roast dinner and they are out of stock of the meat and dont substitute it!! maybe ive just been a bit unlucky!!

Claire