How much is your weekly shop?

19lottie82

Its my DH and I one week, and then we have his 2 x DDs the next week. I generally spend about £60 a week, but when the kids are with us, we give them money for school dinners, usually get a take away one night and DH usually does a top up shop.

That £60 includes a few treats and household (cleaning mostly) supplies as well tho.

We eat quite well from that. I know I could cut it down a lot, if I was forced to.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

FireWyrm wrote: »

...rivals who shall remain nameless...

C'mon. Name names. Share the savings. Help the rest of us. Pretty please.

FireWyrm

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

C'mon. Name names. Share the savings. Help the rest of us. Pretty please.

Aldi, Lidl, Costco, Asian wholesalers...anyone that isnt the big 4 really. Anyone who has been reading my experiences of grocery micro-analysis can take it from me that they beat the socks of everyone else for the basics. Sure, you'll have to go to the big 4 for the odd speciality item (I needed walnuts this month which was £3 for 200g!!!), but essentially, your weekly shop is generally halved by simply not shopping in a big supermarket.

Asian wholesalers are a revelation for sure. You can get big sacks of rice, spices, noodles etc at a fraction of the cost in the big supermarkets. Dont be put off by the language barrier, there is usually someone willing to translate a mysterious label. Costco are a godsend for meat and Aldi fruit and veg are good quality at half the price. If you plan it right, you neednt do more than 2 shops a month if that. I do one major biggie every 3 months or so for dry goods and the rest on and off elsewhere. If you must go into a supermarket, go around the edges, there is nothing in the middle that counts as food anyway.

7roland8

Not being able to get out much I shop online with Tesco and find them great - especially now as oyu can get £1 delivery slots.


I use a Tesco credit card and also like having the vouchers.


I find we only need to shop once every three weeks - for hubby and myself - about a third of the bill is cat food for our 3/4 strays - but the bill is usually £110 every 3 weeks.


Hubby tops up with some fresh veg once a week which is under £5.

so_very_confused

Hi FireWyrn, have you ever considered becoming a savvy saver, shopper personal trainer?! You could move into our house anytime for a week and completely overhaul me. I am sure there are thousands out there that could benefit from your knowledge coupled with a hands on approach. A career awaits! I want to thank you for your straight talking advice.

faithcecilia

I shop monthly online with either Tesco, Sainsburys or Asda, depending on what I am getting and which has the best offers, I then top up essentials weekly in local shops. I also use Approved Food every couple of months. It usually works out around £15-£20 a week. I don't have a local Aldi, we do have a Lidl but my health is currently very very poor and I would need a taxi to get there which would more than wipe out any savings.

PinkPoppies

We are a family of two adults and two children and currently spend about £65 a week in Lidl, and perhaps spend another £5-£10 topping up at another supermarket during the week.

We tend to eat a big roast dinner on Sunday, freeze child size portions with leftovers (for an easy healthy child friendly 'ready meal' later in the week) and then stretch the meat out for another meal or two (stir fry usually- rice). Try and have very cheap meals a couple of nights a week- we all enjoy pasta and pesto, baked potatoes with whatever toppings- tuna and sweetcorn etc. A big batch of chilli padded out with plenty of chopped onions and lentils always provides another meal or two for the freezer. Weekend treat is often homemade pizza with dough made in the breadmaker- so very cheap and so tasty with whatever bits and pieces we have knocking about to stick on it!

Don't think we could go back to shopping at a larger supermarket these days, the cost savings are jaw dropping.

Another eye opener for me is how easy it has been simply not to buy certain things we did before. For example, snacky bits and pieces just disappear in this house within days of doing a shop so I just don't buy them anymore!

greensalad

FireWyrm wrote: »

Aldi, Lidl, Costco, Asian wholesalers...anyone that isnt the big 4 really. Anyone who has been reading my experiences of grocery micro-analysis can take it from me that they beat the socks of everyone else for the basics. Sure, you'll have to go to the big 4 for the odd speciality item (I needed walnuts this month which was £3 for 200g!!!), but essentially, your weekly shop is generally halved by simply not shopping in a big supermarket.

Asian wholesalers are a revelation for sure. You can get big sacks of rice, spices, noodles etc at a fraction of the cost in the big supermarkets. Dont be put off by the language barrier, there is usually someone willing to translate a mysterious label. Costco are a godsend for meat and Aldi fruit and veg are good quality at half the price. If you plan it right, you neednt do more than 2 shops a month if that. I do one major biggie every 3 months or so for dry goods and the rest on and off elsewhere. If you must go into a supermarket, go around the edges, there is nothing in the middle that counts as food anyway.

How to you handle getting to/from Costco and also the storage of bulk purchases? I'd love to shop there more but our nearest is miles away and we wouldn't be able to store much meat in the freezer.

moohound

Ours varies a lot as I stock up on DW tabs, laundry products and loo rolls when they are on offer from the wholesalers, we wait for the flyers with the offers on and plan when to get stocked up.

I also go to Aldi at the beginning of the month and as well as the weekly shop I get enough longer lasting stuff for the month, like butter (£1.79 instead of £3 at Sainsbugs) and ground coffee (£1.49 instead of £3.50) and things in tins and packets like beans, couscous, and porridge and wine (1 bottle a week max), this is my expensive week and I spend £100+

Asian supermarkets are great for staples like noodles, I love Kimchi noodles for lunch with chilli sauce.

The other 3 weeks I just buy pack up stuff, meat, fruit, milk and bread, a lot of our veg comes free from FIL allotment, and I spend £40 to £50. I tend to alternate these shops between Aldi, Morries and Sainsbugs.

I would happily go to Aldi every time, but my Mum likes to go to the others occasionally, mostly to look at clothes, and we always shop together.

I prefer to do it this way as it cuts down on the time spent shopping.

We budget £350 a month for food but we always have a significant surplus which builds over time and pays for beer, wine and treats for both Christmas and our numerous (4 full weeks plus weekends) caravanning trips each year.

I go to Waitrose only to spend my vouchers I get from doing surveys, though I do know people who do all their shopping there or at M and S.

I also know people who spend £150 A WEEK in the big 4 and chuck half of it away!

I am trying to reform them but its not easy.

I soooooo wish we had a Costco near by, the nearest on is 60 miles away

FireWyrm

so_very_confused wrote: »

Hi FireWyrn, have you ever considered becoming a savvy saver, shopper personal trainer?! You could move into our house anytime for a week and completely overhaul me. I am sure there are thousands out there that could benefit from your knowledge coupled with a hands on approach. A career awaits! I want to thank you for your straight talking advice.

Oh my! I couldnt stop laughing. :rotfl:

Seriously though...you all can do exactly the same, it is honestly, money for old rope. I used to mosey around Tesco once or twice a month and not even think about it. In fact, what really happened to me was life. Back when I was a child, my parents were somewhat financially incompetent and so, we were forever in trouble of one sort or another. My mother (for all her faults) was a good housekeeper and taught me all the little tricks, from batch cooking, shopping high or low selves for bargains etc. When I grew up, I had a good income and little need to worry overly. However, as inevitably happens, little mouths appeared and there was a powerful need to squeeze ever more out of a dwindling pot. I just resurrected those skills and added a few more. I'm nowhere near as good as some of the ladies over at the Old Style board, but I do my best as we all do. Everyone could do what I do given a few basic skills.