The "Saving Money on Food Shopping" Challenge

pinkpansies

There are 2 of us in this household and I am very ashamed to admit our grocery shopping bill is in the region of £80+ a week when we used to shop at tesco / sainsburys. It is slightly lower at asda and just lately we have been trying fultons freezer center, aldi, B&M & poundland etc to cut the bills down dramatically. Our problem is we both have a sweet tooth. :shhh:

We buy a lot of junk food and I mean a lot although we only ever have a takeaway once in a blue moon (not that we could even afford one now anyway). I work from home and my partner works all day in a busy factory so he takes a lot of chocolate bars, crisps and biscuits with him and the odd packed lunch although he is in a heavy lifing job so often has a hot meal when he's there too. For me sitting on a computer all day, it's all too easy to grab a naughty snack as often as I want with no boss issuing out set breaks. So we both vow to change and eat healthier, especially as our funds are very tight at the moment and will be for the considerable future due to me bringing in a ridiculously low wage.

I am curious if anyone has set themselves a food shopping challenge, to try to spend the lowest possible each week. Unlike many people who top up during the week with an extra shop, we buy all our groceries once a week and live on that for the week.

Now we are vowing to eat healthier and cut back on all the junk and naughty foods, I am realising we don't need much to live on food wise. A little goes a long long way if you cook it right. I think it might be possible for 2 people to live on an absolute maximum of £25 a week for a healthy food shop. What do you think? Do you think it's possible?

A guesstimate of what £25 might buy

4 pack of baked potatoes - approx £1
4 pack of baked beans - approx £1.50
1 loaf of bread - approx £1
a block of cheese - approx £4
a few slices of ham - approx £2
a lettuce - approx £1
a pack of tomatoes - approx £1
butter - £1
2 chicken breasts - £3.50
5 individual packs of noodles - £1
2 packs of frozen veg - £2.50
potatoes - £2
sausages - £2
gravy granules - £1
porridge oats - £1.50

That's £25.50 total but I can see quite a few meals that the above shopping list might buy.

Is anyone the same as us?

Edited because I just forgot the essentials such as milk, other veg and fruit so I'm going to have to be a lot more creative than the above list

lilbert

Have you tried Aldi/Lidl? You could drive down a few of those prices. Loaf of bread - 45p, 4 x baked beans £1.00, large tub of ham trimmings £1.65, cheese £2 block etc, lettuce 50p, Oats 75p, sausages £1.00 etc. And then you could add more veg to your £25 plus tea bags etc £25 for 2 people is very do-able.

pelirocco

have you tried putting a meal plan together using the above?

carlamarie_2

You have both baked potatoes and potatoes on your list, why not buy a big bag of potatoes and save the bigger ones for baked potatoes?
What about fruit? Juice if you drink it?
Will you have a separate budget for cleaning and toiletries supplies?

With the items you listed above, what meals do you plan to make with it?

carlamarie_2

We are on a money saving mission (paying back some debt we have accumulated)
We have gone from £100+ a week to £30 a week shop and a £100 shop once a month to stock the freezer up with meats.

I have just started using aldi instead of morrisons and I have found the meat especially to be good value.
A large chicken in aldi is £4.99 I know its more than you budgeted for your chicken breast but from this chicken I got a roast dinner, chicken to go in wraps and a big chicken pie (plus soup from having too much sauce in my pie, just added water to thin it down) this is for a family of 2adults and. 3 children. I know other people can make the chicken go a lot further. Likewise with other meat.

If you've any farm shops near you it may be worth having a look at their spuds, I get a 25kg bag for £6 these are all round potatoes and can be used for anything. It maybe worth 'investing' in one of these, you've qouted £3 a week for your tattles. This would be more economical and last longer

Because you are big treats people (as am I!) it maybe worth getting in some basic baking supplies so you can make a cheap snack (biscuits or a cake etc) once a week or so, just so you don't give it all up for the sake of a twix. I have stopped buying treats for me and the hubby, but will make a flapjack or banana loaf or something on a Sunday just so there's that little bit of sweetness there.

pinkpansies

I came back to this thread to try to get it deleted as I saw another thread like it so I apologize for starting another one.

I think for now with my above list I was starting off quite basic. I was thinking of meal plans like baked potato with cheese and beans for 1 meal. Porridge for breakfast. A toasted sandwich with ham, cheese, lettuce & tomatoes for a meal. And sausages, veg and mash for another meal.

But looking at my list I realise I need to incorporate more fruit and veg in to it and be more creative. I didn't realise aldi were so cheap as last time we went in there, it was so jam packed that we didn't notice what they sold as much as we should.

pinkpansies

wow carlamarie, you are a true inspiration to me

I have thought about baking all the treats, so if I want something naughty, I have to go to the hassle of baking it. A lot healthier, a lot cheaper and less money given to the evil supermarket.

I don't know of anywhere around us that would sell a big sack of potatoes for that price but it would be worth looking in to.

I think one of my main concerns is my partner and his terribly fussy eating. He is also very stubborn so I have to be doubly creative.

gayleygoo

I find Tesco cheaper than Asda for many things. Asda seems to put a £1 price tag on a lot of things that are cheaper in Tesco!

I applaud your efforts to cut your shopping bill :T but making drastic cuts is often harder than cutting down a little at a time. What does the £80 normally get spent on? Ready meals, treats, toiletries etc? Will that £25 worth of groceries keep you both fed all week? Sometimes you may have to replace items like herbs and spices, condiments, oil, teabags, coffee, milk, butter, sugar etc, so allow for those too. I swear those things are half my budget some weeks!

I'd say it might be easier to reduce your spending by say, £20 for the first week. If you reach that goal, cut it down by £10 next week. Keep going until you get to your target. Smaller, more achievable goals keep you motivated for longer than trying to cut down by a two-thirds in one go. While I kinda have a weekly budget, really I add it up over the month - some weeks I spend more than others when we need coffee or teabags etc.

You don't have any fruit listed on your shopping bill, it's worth spending a few pounds on that - apples, bananas and oranges are cheap. Tinned fruit is good too.

If you can get to a farm shop, you might find big sacks of potatoes (20kg+) for around a fiver. Much cheaper than small bags of potatoes. So called "baking potatoes" are often smaller than some you get in bigger bags and they aren't anything special, just a minimum weight per potato!

Make sure you have some treats - bake them when you can. Even rice krispie buns or fridge-cake will do the trick. If you spend all week with no treats and a craving for sugar you risk going junk-crazy on your next shop!

Ladyluck1

I usually buy (with £25-30 a week) I have stock cupboard and a pretty full freezer of reduced meat.

A whole chicken £3.50ish
Beef mince £2
Broccoli £.59p lidl
Apples £1 lidl
Bananas x 5 around £1 lidl
Carrots £0.60p morries/lidl
Potatoes £1.89 for 2.5kg lidl
Tinned sweetcorn £0.50p
Frozen peas 90p
Cucumber 50p
Cheese around £2.50 worth
Value yogurt 70p
Beans x 4 poundland £1
Buttery spread under £1 lidl
Crisps (any on offer for DS lunchbox) £1
Passata x 2 £0.68p lidl
Value Spaghetti 0.49p
Garlic 50p
Bread flour 0.98p
Dried yeast 0.28p
Eggs x 10 £1.50
Also one loaf of bread and milk but usually buy reduced.
And whatever fruit veg is on special
Some of these carry over to next week too.

This would make:

Roast chicken dinner
Jacket potato and beans cheese
Leftover chicken fried rice, with peas and sweetcorn (I have rice in cupboard)
Homemade pizza with flour and yeast, tom sauce (passata and garlic) cheese and whatever you has to top it.
Egg and homemade chips and peas
Cottage pie with half mince and veggies toppe with mash.
Spaghetti bolognese with other half mince

I also boil the chicken carcass for stock for soup or risotto.
Plus cheese sandwiches and soup for lunches or maybe a jacket potato with cheese. Plus an apple or some yogurt.

Breakfast, toast, eggs or yogurt and fruit.

Snack banana or crisps.

I also make bread x 2.

This isn't a great list as running round after kids!

craftycrafty

Hi if you don't mind I'd like to join you. I decided this morning that our food bill needed to be reduced. Then when looking I found your thread.
There's 2 of us and a westie to feed. On average our shopping is £50~£60 a week. I think it could be about halved and I'm going to give it a good try starting with this week's shop.

killiecat

Hi,


I'm a newbie on MSE but would like to join you all as well.


I'm a singlie ( two pets too) and usually spend £35-£40 per week on shopping at the supermarket which is way too much. I really need to cut down to try and pay more towards debt repayments.


Its just getting the motivation to stop piling the shopping trolley with offers etc.


Here's to the challenge and hope we all do well x