Keep Overspending on food

selement

Me and OH live together with no children or pets, I tried to set a monthly food shop budget of £200 but we constantly exceed this. I notice from looking back it is often about £300 per month and it doesn't feel like we've had luxuries.

We both work full time so I have to admit the food shop is mostly done at nearest supermarket for convenience (Sainsburys). Also I'm trying to follow slimming world so buying lots more fruits than usual.

We like our meat and rarely have vegetarian meals, but I did bulk buy some meat from a butcher that start of the month (£40 for whole month worth, this got us 6 x 1kg packs of different meats which I figured would be better quality than the usual supermarket 3 for £10 on 500g or less packs of meat). We don't buy alcohol that often. I usually do a large monthly shop to cover all meals that month then do small top ups for lunch items (we both have packed lunches every day) and milk etc.

Any tips for keeping the costs down? I notice from reading older posts a lot of people manage on £50 per week... we could afford to go to £250 a month but £300 is leaving us going into our overdraft which is soon to stop being interest free so need to sort this out....

Edited to add that I usually cook from scratch but make leftovers for freezing so feel like I'm already doing something that is supposedly meant to be good for money saving....

jon81uk

How much of that meat are you using per meal? If you bulk buy meat then freeze it in approx 250g portions, that is 125g per person. If buying pork steaks or similar it might not always work out that weight, but freeze them in bags of 2 steaks so you only use the meat you need for one meal.

We used to always do the 3 for £10 at supermarket. Then use the whole 400g pack of mince in one meal, or a pack of 4 or even 6 pork steaks in one go. Since buying big in Costco we have been freezing in small portions and defrosting just what we need for that meal so instead of 400g mince between two, we have 250g, so our meat goes further and we have a healthier, smaller portion size.

We manage on about £50 a week for two I think, hard to say as shopping is split between Costco and Asda/Tesco, but Costco includes a lot of non-food. We also have at least one meal out (only Nando's level of about £25-30 for two people or a KFC or similar).

selement

I think this an area we could improve at - but my OH would probably think 1 pork steak is a bit stingy. For mince we are pretty good I think, normally get 2 meals out of 500g (4 portions) so that works out as you say 125g per person. Some people at work suggested I get quorn for some meals, but if OH found out I don't think he'd be too impressed! I think our problem is I'm a fussy eater only liking certain fruit and veg and he has high standards for what counts as a proper meal for dinner (beans on toast won't cut it, but I'd have that sometimes if it was just me).
We are overspending on takeaway also but I haven't factored that into these calculations (we're meant to be cutting down on this anyway as it is too many slimming world syns!).

dlusman

Lots and lots of similar threads if you look for them - most recently

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5177351

Post #2 on this has a link to a good list of cheap and easy to make meals

( and you should also try the "downshift challenge" )

maman

I do SW too and we easily manage on £50 a week for two of us. That doesn't include alcohol (that's from entertainment budget;)) but does include basic toiletries and cleaning stuff. We almost always have meat at each meal but smallish amounts served with generous amounts of veg and potatoes (or rice, pasta etc).


Do come over to the SW thread and look at peoples menus, it might help you.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5142695


I'd say two things. One is that if you want to save and avoid being overdrawn then your DH needs to be on board. The other is that you need to put in the effort in planning. I know it's not easy when you're working but it really does save time (and money) in the long run. There are heaps of tips like:

• start from using whatever you have in and only buy essential extras to make meals
• make a meal plan for all your evening meals and ingredients for breakfasts and lunches
• make sure the plan fits your lifestyle so that you have things that fit busy days and others (perhaps weekends) when you have a bit more time
• write a shopping list and stick to it (you might want to buy offers and YS things but only if they'll store)
• do one main shop and try not to keep calling in for top-ups as it's easy to fritter money like that
• try to shop around a bit. Start by going to Aldi or Lidl.
• cook your own ready meals and freeze them (chilli, Bolognese, curry etc) so that you spend less and control the ingredients
• don't take this all on yourself, share the load with your DH

I'm sure others will be along with more tips very soon.


Good Luck!

System

£150 each per month is £5 per day each. Not that high but still high (I aim towards the £3.50 mark but everyone is different!)

My advice would be to stock up on deals on things like toilet roll, cereals, frozen goods as they will store for ages.

Linda32

selement wrote: »

I usually do a large monthly shop to cover all meals that month then do small top ups for lunch items (we both have packed lunches every day) and milk etc.

Its usually this thats the killer. Is there any chance you could try fortnightly?

What sort of things do you take for packed lunches? Are they freezable so you could buy packed lunch items in with your normal shopping and freeze it until you need it?

To give you an idea, keep the receipts from the small top up shops and see what you buy then and how much extra it costs over the month. Then see if you can buy this with your regular shopping.

How much milk do you have a week? We only have three bottles so we have a milk man. If we had more then we couldn't justify the extra cost.

selement

Linda32 wrote: »

Its usually this thats the killer. Is there any chance you could try fortnightly?

What sort of things do you take for packed lunches? Are they freezable so you could buy packed lunch items in with your normal shopping and freeze it until you need it?

To give you an idea, keep the receipts from the small top up shops and see what you buy then and how much extra it costs over the month. Then see if you can buy this with your regular shopping.

How much milk do you have a week? We only have three bottles so we have a milk man. If we had more then we couldn't justify the extra cost.

We take sandwich (usually bernard matthews sandwich meat), fruits, muller light. Bread and fruit are probably the main things I wouldn't want to buy in bulk too far in advance as they'd go bad. We don't do a strict weekly shop just when we are running low. Also some recipes need fresh ingredients such as mushrooms so w'ell go get those nearer the time. Milk we get a 2l bottle which probably lasts a week or less. We get it from supermarket.

Unfortunately our freezer isn't big enough to just freeze everything it gets full just from the meats/leftover meals for the first week at least after the big shop.

robin58

Stop buying all your vegetables and fruit at Sainsbury's.

They are one of the most expensive of the main supermarkets for it.

Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl are a lot cheaper. Hell even Tesco is.

selement

robin58 wrote: »

Stop buying all your vegetables and fruit at Sainsbury's.

They are one of the most expensive of the main supermarkets for it.

Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl are a lot cheaper. Hell even Tesco is.

Thanks. Sounds like I need to stop being lazy and drive a bit further to a different supermarket then! I knew Sainsburys wasn't the cheapest but hadn't appreciated it was one of the worst for fruit and veg. It's just so tricky to travel further after a day of work when I just want to get home really knowing there's a supermarket nearer. There's a Morrisons a little further away so perhaps I'll try there.

jenniewb

You've probably already thought of this but I have a very strict budget I need to stick to and the best way I've been able to do that is by only taking out the money I have in cash. If I get to the till and it goes over, I just have to put stuff back and go without. It's still something I struggle with now and I've been doing things this way a while now but it does keep me in check and it's amazing how well you find you just manage to go without- you think you really need stuff, you do eat it all but when push comes to shove, after the initial anxiety and irritation you can find that it is possible to manage on just having less stuff.

And always write a list- and make sure you don't deviate from it!