Need tips of minimizing out shopping spend

ShinyShoes

Me and DH spend more than we can afford at the supermarket and need to cut back drastically. We normally cook from scratch, and don't throw a lot of unused things away but we still spend loads each month.

Big costs include meat and fish, wine and treats. I wondered how much people spend at the supermarket with a breakdown for groceries, cleaning, alcohol, treats.

Also, any ideas for low cost recipes that taste good?

We are a family of 3 - 2 adults and a baby

HappyMJ

I personally aim for each meal to cost about £1 per person. 50p on a portion of meat or fish and the other 50p on vegetables and rice/pasta etc.

When shopping a 100 gram (3.5 ounce about 1/5th of a pound) portion of meat is sufficient per person and the meat or fish should cost about £5 per kilo to meet that. If the meat you buy costs £10 per kilo then you could use less meat or skip the meat portion every other dinner.

My weekly budget therefore is £25 a week per person. 3 meals a day is 21 meals a week so 20 meals at £1 each and one meal at £5 such as a Sunday roast with all the trimmings or even a takeaway.

Although breakfast can be very cheap such as oats I'll add milk/coffee/tea and fruit to that part have that for morning tea as part of my snacks.

Babies food costs whatever it costs so don't worry about that bit.

Of course the wine and the treats can be skipped to really cut down the spend but I'm sure you know that.

Ken68

I did a spreadsheet in the summer , breaking it down into calories and protein, amazed to find Protein Daily Allowance was twice what it should be.,so huge savings on meat and fish.
Which prompted a hunt for even more info on cheaper nutrition.
Down to 30p a day plus own grown stuff.
Maybe not so do-able with a family.

torbrex

You maybe need to start with looking at your shopping habits.
Can you do with a cheaper cut of meat?
Are you able to change the time of day that you shop so that you can take advantage of the whoopsie's?
Is there an Aldi or Lidl nearby that you can take advantage of their special offers?
Are you able to take advantage of the fact that drinking wine with every meal is not compulsory?

sweetilemon

How much do you usually spend? My husband & I (no kids) spend about £50 per week. This includes most cleaning products, food & toiletries. Asda do good wines around the £4 mark as do the other supermarkets. Meat can usually be found 3 for £10 or reasonable prices at the butcher counters. I generally just look for the best off on everything I buy but think if I really nedded to could cut even more.

bossymoo

Hi come and join us over in old style! We have a monthly grocery challenge thread, it's helped me rein ours in over the last 6 months!

Chris25

ShinyShoes, you need to have a look at the OldStyle board, if you haven't already - loads of tips, good advice, recipes etc http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33



**just seen Bossymoo's post - great minds think alike! **

Lugh_Chronain

Have a look at the Supermarket Shopping Tips guide.

And maybe consider taking the downshift challenge.

You can also get price alerts at mySupermarket on your favourite groceries as well – ideal for stocking up on favourite items that don't go off, and anything else if you know you are going to use up before it goes off, though you could always freeze it if not. Anyway, search for a product, click 'add price alert' after clicking an image and mySupermarket fires off an email as soon as the price drops in one or more stores.

Good luck!

fannyadams

cheap family recipes
and another plug for mysupermarket
can you get a card for the local discounter store? we have a Costco not far from us and the meat there is really good quality so you don't have to use much in a recipe.

Lugh_Chronain

fannyadams wrote: »

can you get a card for the local discounter store? we have a Costco not far from us and the meat there is really good quality so you don't have to use much in a recipe

There's also Makro and/or Bookers. Don't know which is better though.

ShinyShoes

we went to bookers last week with DH's boss' card .... found formula milk for 20p less than the shops as they never do offers on that sort of stuff.

DH is just hopeless with money .... I say lets aim for a budget of £50 for the week and as he likes cooking, he'll pop into Morrisons a few times in the week after work to pick up a few things and come out £20 lighter each time which is on top of our weekly shop. First thing I need to do is take back my credit card and give him cash each week!

I'll take a look at the other boards recommended.

Thank you for all your help it's nice to not feel alone in all of this.