How long would this last you? And How?

Tea-and-Cake_3

Every week I go to aldi and sainsburys for our shopping and spend around £100 a week for my family and me (2 adults and 3 young children). And every week I think that despite spending hours reading this forum I never seem to manage to cut my spending. I was hoping that if I post my shopping list, I might get a few replies pointing out where I am going wrong ( as I can't seem to work this out for myself!:o)

I am sure that you could all have managed to feed my family for the week on what I still had in the cupboards before I set off for the shops (porridge, cereals, crackers, bread, long life milk, pasta, rice, semolina, tinned tomatoes, beans, frozen green beans, frozen peppers, frozen mince etc etc). However off I went and bought the following....

baby wipes
rich tea biscuits, chocolate biscuits x 2 packs
kitchen towel, toilet roll, rubber gloves
crackers
quiche
yeast
baby fruit pots (baby wont eat real fruit), baby biscuits
washing up green scourers, cleaning fluid, bin bags, cloths, washing up liquid
eggs
ham x 3 packs
jelly
plums, grapes, raisins, apples, bananas
sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, baby potatoes and normal poatoes!! brocolli, avocados, onions, carrots, celery, peppers, squash, turnip, cauliflower
cereal
individual apple juice cartons and orange juice cartons
milk, cheese
gnocchi x2 packs
6 tins tinned tomatoes, passata, chick peas
lentils
honey
2 tins tuna
crisps
bacon
yogurt
chewing gum

Spent £80 and will probably buy more milk and fruit before next wed.

What are your thoughts please?

RAS

What is your meal plan for those goods?

Sam1984

I have two young children, one nearly teenager, dh, myself and dog to buy for and normally spend about £60ish a week (food only) but some weeks will be more. I found meal planning really helped cut my bill back as then I only brought what we needed although I'm sure plenty of people here could manage it for less!

[Deleted User]

Quite a lot of the items you got in Sainsbugs would cost you much less if you got them at a £1 shop. The baby wipes,washing up liquid (fairy in our 99p shop)kitchen towel, rubber gloves, pan scourers, bin bags, cloths, cleaning fluid and even things like biscuits and tinned veg are available for £1 or 99p on a regular basis, might be worth a look in if you're passing a £ shop perhaps? Lyn xxx.

Own_My_Own

You need to separate the food from the cleaning products. You don't buy rubber gloves every week. This will give you a true food shop cost. I expect you don't buy honey every week either.

Go through your receipt and add up the things you need to buy weekly. Then add on an extra £10 for extras.

When I see something like washing up liquid on offer I buy a couple of them. Then the following week I buy what is on offer that week.

tessie_bear

i would try going just to aldi as i find it cheaper.....do you make a list from a plan of meals and then buy what is on the list ? if you think you could feed your lot from stores do it and you save £100 for next week and use the time you would have been shopping to work out a plan that works for you

good luck

Butterfly_Brain

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

Every week I go to aldi and sainsburys for our shopping and spend around £100 a week for my family and me (2 adults and 3 young children). And every week I think that despite spending hours reading this forum I never seem to manage to cut my spending. I was hoping that if I post my shopping list, I might get a few replies pointing out where I am going wrong ( as I can't seem to work this out for myself!:o)

I am sure that you could all have managed to feed my family for the week on what I still had in the cupboards before I set off for the shops (porridge, cereals, crackers, bread, long life milk, pasta, rice, semolina, tinned tomatoes, beans, frozen green beans, frozen peppers, frozen mince etc etc). However off I went and bought the following....

baby wipes
rich tea biscuits, chocolate biscuits x 2 packs
kitchen towel, toilet roll, rubber gloves Try buying cloths instead of kitchen roll, you just have to soak in bleach overnight
crackers You said you have them in the cupboard so why did you buy more
quiche easy to make your own and HM are much nicer and go further
yeast
baby fruit pots (baby wont eat real fruit), Fruit is not really necessary you are better doing vegetables because they are packed with vitamins and minerals and have less natural sugar
washing up green scourers, cleaning fluid, bin bags, cloths, washing up liquid Separate from food shopping
eggs 15 in Aldi £1.35.........15 Farmfoods £1
ham x 3 packs :eek: ( I take it you need so many because of lunch boxes)Cheaper to buy a joint of gammon and slice it up
jelly
plums, grapes, raisins, apples, bananas
sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, baby potatoes and normal poatoes!! brocolli, avocados, onions, carrots, celery, peppers, squash, turnip, cauliflower
cereal
individual apple juice cartons and orange juice cartons (Lunch box?)Better to buy a large carton and split between small bottles
milk, cheese
gnocchi x2 packs Make your own they are just flour mashed potato and an egg
6 tins tinned tomatoes, passata, chick peas Didn't you say you had some already?
lentils
honey
2 tins tuna Cheapest I hope
crisps Crisps are really not what I would class as a food or necessary
bacon
yogurt
chewing gum

Spent £80 and will probably buy more milk and fruit before next wed.

What are your thoughts please?

Meal planning is a must on a tight budget as is making a list, if you already have the item in your cupboard or freezer then don't buy it.

Always take a shopping list with you, this focuses the mind on what you need so does paying cash and not using the plastic card.

Could you let us know what meals you have in a typical week and your likes and dislikes? Then maybe we could help you with some meal plans

maman

tessie_bear wrote: »

i would try going just to aldi as i find it cheaper.....do you make a list from a plan of meals and then buy what is on the list ? if you think you could feed your lot from stores do it and you save £100 for next week and use the time you would have been shopping to work out a plan that works for you

good luck

It wasn't clear if this was the total shop or just what you bought in Sainsbury's. If it was Sainsbury's then I'd definitely be buying some of the items from Aldi.


As others have said, this week is heavy on cleaning stuff but that will balance out over time.


I did wonder if your were veggie then saw 3 packs of ham. Do you have meat in the freezer?


I'd buy Aldi gammon joint rather than packet ham: tastier and cheaper. You could make a quiche rather than buying one, an easy way is with a mashed potato base so you wouldn't have to make pastry if you didn't want to. Individual packs of juice are invariably dearer than the litre ones. Why buy gnocchi when you can make a pasta dish so much cheaper?


In fact, you don't seem to have much to make meals more like packed lunch stuff.


I'd agree you need to tackle this from a different angle. Write a meal plan for the coming week, including as much as you possibly can from what you've already got in. Make a list of only the extra ingredients you need for the meal plan. Stick to your list unless you see something on offer that you can substitute or keep in store to cut down spending another week.

Gigervamp

A couple of thoughts. As Maman mentioned, buy a gammon joint and slice it instead of 3 packs of ham. The slices can be frozen too.

Instead of individual cartons of juice, buy large cartons and put them into small water bottles. Also, too much fruit juice isn't good for childrens teeth. Water is better.

What are the baby fruit pots? Are they just pureed fruit? If so, you could make those yourself.

poorly_scammo

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

Every week I go to aldi and sainsburys for our shopping and spend around £100 a week for my family and me (2 adults and 3 young children). And every week I think that despite spending hours reading this forum I never seem to manage to cut my spending. I was hoping that if I post my shopping list, I might get a few replies pointing out where I am going wrong ( as I can't seem to work this out for myself!:o)

I am sure that you could all have managed to feed my family for the week on what I still had in the cupboards before I set off for the shops (porridge, cereals, crackers, bread, long life milk, pasta, rice, semolina, tinned tomatoes, beans, frozen green beans, frozen peppers, frozen mince etc etc). However off I went and bought the following....

baby wipes
rich tea biscuits, chocolate biscuits x 2 packs
kitchen towel, toilet roll, rubber gloves
crackers
quiche
yeast
baby fruit pots (baby wont eat real fruit), baby biscuits
washing up green scourers, cleaning fluid, bin bags, cloths, washing up liquid
eggs
ham x 3 packs
jelly
plums, grapes, raisins, apples, bananas
sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, baby potatoes and normal poatoes!! brocolli, avocados, onions, carrots, celery, peppers, squash, turnip, cauliflower
cereal
individual apple juice cartons and orange juice cartons
milk, cheese
gnocchi x2 packs
6 tins tinned tomatoes, passata, chick peas
lentils
honey
2 tins tuna
crisps
bacon
yogurt
chewing gum

Spent £80 and will probably buy more milk and fruit before next wed.

What are your thoughts please?

Quiche - Most quiche that I see in the shops is tiny and tastes rubbish. I'd advise along with others that you bake your own and given that you've included yeast (making your own bread?) in your list, I'd assume that making pastry is well within your capabilities. It freezes brilliantly when raw too.

I cannot comment on baby food as I don't have children but I'd imagine that pureeing veg and any neutral foods like bland risotto would be manageble. If not ignore.

Are you buying new cloths every time you go to the shops? I'm sure you're not but if you are - a slapped wrist, just bung them in the washing machine.

eggs - do you have a farm shop or a farmer's market or even a farm near you? They might be able to do eggs a lot cheaper and less bland that the ones you buy in the supermarket. Worth investigating.

A flask for the juice so you can buy a large carton and decant? Yes, the initial outlay might be a bit more but it'll save you money on the small cartons, I'd think.

Ham x 3 packs - is this thin slicing ham for sandwiches? If so buy a joint from a butcher and make your own. It'll go miles further.

Fruit and veg - Buy in season. Yes I know it's hard to buy some fruits in season at the moment but the veg can certainly be tailored to the seasons and inso doing the price will go down. Some helpful person posted this a few days ago: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/seasonal-calendar/all It's a brilliant list of seasonal produce.
Also, what do you do with the veg? Are they side dishes or do they constitute the main meal? Remember that soup if thickened with cornflour/arrowroot can make a lovely pasta sauce and if you only puree half of the veg you get a veg accompaniment to the pasta and sauce.

Potatoes - I'm a gardener and I grow two types of spud - charlottes for new potatoes and desiree (red skinned variety) for everything else. Unless you're partial to floury spuds or waxy spuds then really one main crop is enough. You only need to buy all baking spuds and cut them up and mash for mash etc or all one kind of maincrop for all your potato uses. The icons on the bags telling you that certain types are only suitable for certain uses is often a load of bollox. Yes, some will dissolve upon boiling but most modern varieties won't.

Gnocchi - Ditch this. Homemade is much nicer and lighter and cheaper. I only use gnocchi for fresh meals i.e. meals that I'm going to eat as soon as they're cooked because for me, gnocchi goes hard if not eaten immediately. I have this with cream and gorgonzola as a treat. The rest of the time, I eat risotto made from cheap pudding rice. Much more versatile.

I'd also ditch the crisps and gum but that's just me. I just brush and floss.

Tea-and-Cake_3

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and tips....

I don't meal plan at the mo, tend to buy the same sort of stuff and repeat a lot of meals eg spag bol, baked potatoes with various toppings, soups etc So I will try to meal plan. Tonight it is the quiche with the baby potatoes and some brussels sprouts I had in the fridge that needed to be used cooked with the bacon bought today.

Most of that list came from aldi, just a few things I prefer came from sainsburys, the quiche is a caramelised onion one from aldi and is so delicious....don't think I could make it that tasty. The yeast is used to make pizza dough...not tried hm bread but would like to (scared I'd end up just eating the lot in one sitting I think).

I buy those blue disposable cloths for cleaning the bathroom, they go straight in the bin after one use, I use cotton cloths in the kitchen and wash those. I do use a fresh pair of rubber gloves each week (sometimes 2) as I always seem to end up with a hole in one of the fingers letting all the water in, does this not happen to other people too? I go through a bottle of washing up liquid a week too:o. I use kitchen roll for the endless messes and spills of young children. The ham is for packed lunches, as is the cheese and crisps and cartons of juice. But good suggestions for all these things so I will try them.