weekly foodshop cost?

loopyloouk

Hi all,

Wondered if you could possibly give me some advice....

Every monday i have a DD sent to my own account from our joint account for food shopping, this amount is £80.00 pw but somehow i always end up drawing money out of our joint account as i run out?

Where am i going wrong? surely £80 is enough to feed 2 adults and 2 children. We all take packed lunches to work/school but can't for the life of me see where its going.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

loopy

BitterAndTwisted

For family shopping, although I have no actual proof, I suspect a lot of the budget goes on treats or non-essentials. Crisps, snacks, soft drinks, pre-prepared foods, that kind of thing.

I think £80 a week if you cook from scratch would be plenty but the only way of really knowing where it all goes would be to keep a notbook and write down every single penny that you spend for a month. Going through the receipts with a highlighter-pen noting all the absolute non-essentials can be a real eye-opener. Super-market shopping on autopilot means all sorts of things can find their way into the trolley, so it's easy to underestimate how much goes on toiletires and clothing items rather than actual food.

Ladyluck1

Maybe keep a list of what you buy?
I cook from scratch and mostly shop at lidl, sometimes morrisons as I have a family discount card.
I generally spend around £30-40 a week on food, that includes lots of fruit and veg. Sometimes we do just have jacket potatoes and beans/tuna for dinner and usually have egg and chips or similar once a week too

mummyroysof3

It's surprising when you look how much is on snacks rather than meals. Plan 3 meals a day and a certain ammount of snacks/junk per person then tell them when it's gone that's it till next week. They will learn to make it last.

Laura_and_Eve

Do you follow a meal plan or make a list currently? How much food are you throwing away each week?

loopyloouk

hi thanks for the replies,

i don't do a meal plan at all, its a case of what they like i buy and figure out a meal from that. Think i am going to write a list tonight and start planning as that amount each week seems more than enough.

Do you find it better to pay cash than card at keeping track of money? i.e when the purse is empty then no more buying?

loopy

Happygreen

i keep all my receipts for a few weeks so I can compare at the end what I bought and what I spent. some weeks for 4 people it's £ 60, some more. I'm quite good in knowing where certain foods are cheapest and cook from scratch. I plan meals in my head when shopping and use the freezer for leftovers that can be added later (ratatouille and cooked spinach can be added to pizza toppings, etc.)to sth else. no snacks, sweets or booze and you'll see the difference quickly in price at the till. Worth trying and keeping those as treats, healthier, too. The largest bill I had recently was stocking up for the Easter nests, but the garden hunt is a tradition the teens won't miss....

carlamarie_2

I presume you are drawing more money out for the essentials that don't last a full week, ie bread, milk, fruit etc.
I was recently in a similar predicament! What I started doing was keeping £20 in my purse when doing the weekly shop, this was allowing me to get the essentials when I had ran out. This made me more aware of costs of food when shopping as I trying not to go over what I had allocated without going into the £20
I was spending £100 a week plus the extra buys, I dread t think what it would have been if I added it up.

In our current situation we are trying to save money and the shopping bill was one of our first avenues to look at. I had a freezer and cupboards full of food (because I wasn't meal planning) so we decided to eat what we had in, and I have a budget of £30 a week for fresh items.
We have lived quite happily like this for the past 7weeks and really made a difference in our savings.
Last week I went to aldi to restock the freezer (although there was still a lot left, a lot of it is the same items, so we were getting bored).

Our new plan is £100 once a month to stock up the freezer and £30 a week for essentials. This is for two adults and three kids. I now meal plan and break meat into at least two meals wherever possible. I live by a 'when it's gone, it's gone' rule of thumb to a certain extent now.

I have stopped buying a lot of things which are on offer or really cheap, because I don't need them! And I cook more from scratch than I previously did. It's made me realise how much money we wasted just for the sake of having the fridge looking full and the convienience of just banging something in the oven.

I'd advise that you look at what you have in the house before going shopping, meal plan around that and keep some money back in your purse to last you the week for your milk etc.
don't be afraid to drop brands too, I have made a big saving there too and honestly, something's I have to stay with the top brands (Heinz salad cream, weetabix etc) but the amount of brands I have continued to buy is way outnumbered by the brands I've dropped.

maman

I think you're right OP that you can do it on £80 but you need to get organised!;)


I agree with what's been said about a spending diary, meal plan, eating from the freezer/cupboards and home cooking. Lots of people do put cash in a purse too like you suggested.


What I'd ask is where are you shopping and how much time do you have? I'm a huge Aldi convert, with an (ever decreasing) top up shop from Sainsbury's but I do have the time to go to Farmfoods, Iceland and £ shops and other places where I can get good value and stock up occasionally.

CurlyTop

Hi

I too, used to spend similar amount of money and there was only the two of us. When things changed, I had to change.

I now meal plan once a month. I typed up 28 boxes on a piece of paper and put 28 teas in there. I use from the freezer and cupboards first. Everything else then gets bought. I go to Aldi, Home Bargains for toiletries and toilet roll, bleach, etc. I do Iceland for some of the frozen food and Aldi for the others. I also use local butcher for chicken breasts, sausage and black pudding (mainly cos DH likes theirs and the chicken breasts don't shrink).

I draw out £200 cash for the month. Whats left from buying the above, then gets split into the 4 wks and that becomes the money for milk, spuds, some fruit/ veg if needed (altho tend to get frozen veg) and some cooked meat for work butties.

This has saved us loads of money over the years. I also set myself up a little spreadsheet so I can see how much I spend each month on food. Seeing it in black and white keeps it real somehow. Anal retentive some may say, but it works for me. I'll admit I do still go over some time but nothing like what I used to spend.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Patchwork_Quilt

I agree with all of the above. Meal planning is the way to go.

It also depends on what meals you are making. You can shop for seasonal veg or you can buy mange tout and green beans flown in from Africa. They may cost the same as a cabbage but the cabbage gives you three meals instead of one.

I would plan in one meal with eggs and one veggie meal (such as veggie chilli) per week, as well as meat, to cut down costs.

I would also cut down on the number of cleaning products. You can get a long way with bleach, washing up liquid and flash.

Lastly, I would look at what you are drinking as part of your treats review. Crisps and sweets can be expensive but so is a bottle of wine.

Good luck.