Meal costing - shock tactics!

msb5262

I had a thought last night which will hopefully help me to be much more aware of the cost of what I cook.

It involves a marker pen, a camera and possibly a camera/computer access so not particularly high tech.

Next time I go food shopping, each item is going to be labelled in permanent pen with the cost...so for instance, a 1kg bag of rice @ £1.69 will have £1.69 and 14p/serving written on the bag. (I happen to know that we generally have about 80g rice per person at my house). Biscuits will be labelled similarly with 49p and 3p each. Juice, cordial and milk will be labelled with the cost per glass, stock cubes with the cost per cube, flour and dry goods with the cost per ounce. Fresh meat e.g. chops, chicken thighs etc and also eggs will be labelled with cost per item.

If I can, I'm going to take a quick photo of the shelf labels in the shop so I don't have to work out all the cost per 100g etc myself, but if that's not possible the receipt and the internet can provide prices etc.

I'm hoping that doing this for a month will give me a good idea of how much each meal costs and also will give my kids a reminder that food is far from free...

Any thoughts on this? Anybody done it?

All comments appreciated...

MsB

good_advice

A lot of work involved in home pricing every item. Helps you see how much you are spending or wasting. I keep my shopping receipt for a few days as reference to what I spend.

I think family will only care if they have to pay themselves. I talk through experience.
The same with the electric bill. I am always switching off or unplugging.

Buying yellow sticker food helps with the food bill. Shops own brand or value/smart price.
When going shopping, get in the habit of looking at the lower shelves first. The more costly stuff is at eye level.

msb5262

good_advice wrote: »

A lot of work involved in home pricing every item.

I am currently time rich and cash poor - so that won't be too much of an issue! Also I don't buy everything every week, so am hoping that it will only take a few minutes to price everything as I unpack the shopping.

LameWolf

It's quite a bit of work at the outset, but if it gets the results you want, it'll be worth it, as you say you have the time to do it.

Best of luck!

My trick is to convert back to old money... f'r instance, if an item costs - say - 87p, I'll say, "Good grief, do you realise that's 17 shillings and fivepence?":o Only trouble is, it shows my age.:eek:

Macca83_2

Id be careful taking pictures in the store. Im not sure they're overly keen on that. I remember working on a project for my degree a couple years back and alot of it involved visiting shops to see how they branded/put out merchandise etc. We were told quite clearly to refrain from taking pictures inside the shops as one of the previous students had been removed from a store after trying to take pictures. Times may have changed though.

suki1964

I have a habit of pricing in my head how many working hours it takes me to pay for something (I'm on min wage)

No so useful on food shop maybe, but stops me in my tracks when reaching for something I don't actually need

jackyann

Stores do not like you taking pictures, but you can write everything down in a notebook.......

I think labelling the food is a useful exercise for you - I think gooodadvice is right that the rest of the family may not take too much notice!
However, I do think you can discuss things with them - you don't say how old they are - but I think you can express choices & cost in concrete terms, like:
if you have porridge every day for breakfast, that saves so much over having branded cereal, so we can have ( say, bacon butties on Sunday)
If we have a roast at the weekend, we must have at least one meal from left-overs.
I think that means more to most kids, but some do like adding up the numbers!

auntymabel

Could you get the prices from the website to save having to take photos in the store?

msb5262

auntymabel wrote: »

Could you get the prices from the website to save having to take photos in the store?

Definitely - or I could use the proper OS method and jot it down on my shopping list!

My children are 14, 16 and 18 so definitely capable of doing the sums...but I am a decimal type so can't think in £SD unfortunately!

Thanks all for the comments and ideas, much appreciated.
Any more?

crumblepie

If you use mysupermarket.co.uk it gives you the cost per 100g and the price costing when there are deals - BOGOFS etc which is sometimes difficult to work out in a shop.

eg cheese might be £8 a kilo but BOGOF which works out at £5.50 a kilo that type of thing.

It might help you.

msb5262

crumblepie wrote: »

If you use mysupermarket.co.uk it gives you the cost per 100g and the price costing when there are deals - BOGOFS etc which is sometimes difficult to work out in a shop.

eg cheese might be £8 a kilo but BOGOF which works out at £5.50 a kilo that type of thing.

It might help you.

Great idea - thank you!
I thought mysupermarket was only to tell you which supermarket sold each item at the best price....durrrr....