Why is my grocery bill so high?

WoodsboroHigh

Hi, newbie here and wondering if anyone can help me out.

I currently live alone and am a guy in his 20s. I do my grocery shopping online weekly with Sainsburys (there is no Aldi, etc, in reasonable/economic distance, nearest place is an understocked and overpriced CoOp and Waitrose). I've used Asda, but they never have my foods in stock or have sloppy delivery services and Tesco online works out as either the same as or more than Sainsburys, so I stuck with Sainsburys them as they have pretty much everything in stock all the time.

Problem is my food bill is coming in at £400 per month and this seems to be pretty high to me (it's becoming unaffordable!). I buy a lot of fresh and frozen and very few ready meals. Try to buy supermarket own brand where possible and organic as much as possible.

Is this usually high for a single guy and if so, does anyone have any ideas?

FWIW, I eat 6-7 meals per day but they are not "meals" as such

rockm87

Wow! thats...er....alot! we average at half that for two people and two cats including cleaning stuff and household essentials. maybe we're lucky we live near a lidl.

Do you meal plan? or do you just buy everything?

Definately have a look at the old style money saving boards, to check out healthy cheap meals, also maybe take part in the grocery challenge.

have you thought about taking a stock of what you have, and what you buy? you may be just filling your cupboard and never actually eating nay of it?

amy26

I am a single lady in my 20's and I spend absolute maximum £40 a week (and thats being generous). I am very health concious and buy a lot of fruit and veg.

I am also vegetarian which I guess keeps the price down a bit I guess as meat is expensive.

I try my best to plan yummy, healthy meals but at least twice a week I will have a really cheap meal such as pasta with a homemade tomato sauce or make a batch of chilli etc so a few days a month I eat very cheaply.

Do you buy a lot of alcohol? That's very pricey. Fruit and veg doesn't have to be expensive.. exotic fruits like mangos and papayas etc cost a lot but bananas, courgettes sweet potatos etc don't break the bank.

I've only shopped in Sainsburys once and I found that quite pricey. I use Ocado which is supposed to be a bit posh but they do a lot of their own brand bits.where possible I pop to Aldis to take advantage of their fruit and veg deals but theres not one in my area so thats not too often.

Without seeing what youre buying its hard to tell why its so much money- thats A LOT of money on food in my opinion. hope you manage to figure something out.

dlusman

WoodsboroHigh wrote: »

FWIW, I eat 6-7 meals per day but they are not "meals" as such

I am still trying to work out what you mean by this !

best thing to do for a single person is to "batch cook" and freeze the extra portions.
Are you buying lots of alcohol , branded fizzy drinks , bottled water ?

PasturesNew

The only way to tell is to analyse every penny you buy. Group it into:

a] Actual basic food
b] Treats and nice foods I fancied, but wouldn't really think I needed
c] Booze
d] Other tat I pick up without thinking - non-food items they sell, like hiking socks, or a jacket, a fleecy blanket ...and all that tat.

Then add it up again. See how much is really food and how much is "the rest".

Next.... make sure you NEVER waste any of it. None.

Next... look at what you're making and analyse each individual ingredient to see if you can [a] buy a cheaper version go without it. e.g. (I always use a chilli example), if making a chilli, are you using prime/organic mince, or the cheap stuff; do you add pricey peppers, or can do without; is there some wine involved as it's not needed. Are you padding portions out with fillers (e.g. grated carrot, or an extra tin of kidney beans), then serving it with big portions of rice - or are you loading up a big bowl just with meaty goodness and scoffing it without any side dishes.

Then - you'll be able to see for yourself what you're spending on food and decide what you're prepared to give up or compromise on.

If the real problem is you're simply eating a LOT more food than many other people manage on, then you're pretty much stuck with it

PasturesNew

dlusman wrote: »

I am still trying to work out what you mean by this !

Grazing. e.g. instead of making a "meal" of egg and chips with a slice of bread on the side, he probably would eat a bowl of chips, then two hours later make a fried egg sandwich.

Although he probably eats better than that. Maybe he has organic hand-cut wedges and a free-range egg sandwich made with posh organic bread

WoodsboroHigh

Thanks for the replies and advice. I'm going to make a proper list and work out what can be changed. If only there was an Aldi near me I bet I could be better off and not have to use an overdraft all the time!

@PasturesNew I am not that bad. I only buy organic fruit and milk, eggs, meat (where possible).

It could be something to do with my bodybuilding type diet. Typical breakfast will include 5-6 eggs and that can be most days of the week

Can easily get through 4-5 bags of nuts a week, etc...

dlusman

WoodsboroHigh wrote: »

It could be something to do with my bodybuilding type diet. Typical breakfast will include 5-6 eggs and that can be most days of the week
..

well thats the first thing where you are spending more than most of us. if you are buying organic eggs , thats over £2 per day on breakfast alone. I can get a box of cereal and some milk for the same cost and it will last a full week,

enjoyyourshoes

Family 6 £80-90 pw


Meal plan
take stock food before you produce shopping list
Scratch cook
Freeze mains, desserts and sarnies for lunch for the week
Freeze milk and bread avoid going shops mid week
Use soya protein as enhancer to mince for lasagnes etc
have list and only buy off list
use web for recipe suggestions
don't buy brands or trade down
have ideas to use fresh food before it goes off (v ripe bananas = banana cake etc)

rockm87

I don't know what your situation is, have you checked local markets/farms?

local markets offer good quality eggs for cheaper than the supermarket, and farms too.

Also, not meaning to be controversial just asking, have you done your homework on organic? or are you just looking for the label because you think it's better?

Whats the difference between organic or free range eggs?

sarah1972

enjoyyourshoes wrote: »

Family 6 £80-90 pw


Meal plan
take stock food before you produce shopping list
Scratch cook
Freeze mains, desserts and sarnies for lunch for the week
Freeze milk and bread avoid going shops mid week
Use soya protein as enhancer to mince for lasagnes etc
have list and only buy off list
use web for recipe suggestions
don't buy brands or trade down
have ideas to use fresh food before it goes off (v ripe bananas = banana cake etc)

To be fair, I do most of things that you have mentioned above but I still spend easily £100-£120 a week for 2 of us.

I think there is no right or wrong, we all buy different things i.e. organic, non organic, branded, non branded, cleaning products etc etc
as long as people can afford what they are paying and not getting into debt then thats ok.