Spending on Groceries and Household Items

Ben75

I am wondering how much I should be spending on groceries per month. I live alone and seem to be spending about £250, which from reading other posts seems to be very high. I tend to shop at Sainsbury's and don't eat very healthily, though I am trying to change that - which would seem to add more onto my bill. Do you think reducing to £150 would be achievable and still have a healthy lifestyle? There is a big ALDI not too far from where I live.

dirtycredit

Are you throwing gone off or left over food away every month?

I used to be a right brands snob because when I was younger the supermarket own brands tasted pretty horrible. When I realised how much debt i was in I had no choice but to switch but was surprised by how much better they had got. Stuff like tinned soup, beans and mayonnaise are just as good from the cheapo own brands section these days- Asd4 Sm4rtprice stuff is actually really decent and unbelievably cheap.

I live alone and spend £100 a month that includes food for my dog as well. £150 is definitely achievable.

I try to buy frozen so that I don't end up throwing loads of gone off fresh food away. I can just save what's left until i need it. And I make big meals, portion them out and and freeze them - stuff like lasagne, thai curries etc. Get one out the night before to defrost and have it for lunch at work.

DC x

chelseablue

£150 should be achievable, I shop at Aldi and last month spent £187


That is for 2 adults and 1 child, including nappies

HelleBelle

I do £250 per month on 2 adults and 2 kids. Mixture of Sainsburys (which always ends up much more expensive, even when shopping with a list), Tesco & Aldi.

suki1964

I spend £150 max a month for 3 adults

Keep a diary of what you are buying, and how much goes in the bin. That will show you where you are wasting money

Aldi and lidl are great places to shop, esp lidl, as there is just not the choice to be thinking " that looks good" and chucking in the trolley

I get all my shopping in lidl and use a wheeled basket so I don't go mental filling it up. I can't carry a normal basket so if I do have to shop in tesco or sainsburys I put a basket in a low trolley. Once the basket is full, that's it, I'm done

spadoosh

Make meals from scratch and you will see a big drop in your food shopping bills.

Build up a good cupboard for staples.

Split down packets of meat (for things like bolgnaise me and the good lady only use 125g of mince for the two of us, just chuck in plenty of mushrooms onions etc.)

And you should notice a fairly big difference just by going to aldi instead of sainsburys.

MoneyMission2015

We're a family of 4 and our grocery bill used to be shockingly high, but I've been working on it over the last year and I now spend around £300 a month for the 4 of us and we eat really well, lots of fruit and veg, lots of meat.


I'd say £150 for you is definitely achievable. A few tips that helped me are:


Buy in bulk. I save loads by doing this. I buy meat when its on offer and freeze it. Also things like shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. I don't stick to one particular brand, I just check the offers and buy the best deal. You might find that this shop ends up quite high, but then you wont need to buy the stuff again until you run out, so your following shops should be just top up shops.


One massive thing that I find helps is check the price per unit/per kg etc. Often you will find that you go for the cheapest packet, but actually if you check the price per unit, it's more cost effective to buy a different pack. The other pack might cost more as a whole, but is more cost effective. For example, coca cola pack of 8 cans is £3.47 which is 13.1p per 100ml, but if you spend £7.00 on the pack of 30 the price per 100ml is only 7.1p, so almost half the price (or 43p per can, compared to 23p per can). This is just an example, it really does make a difference on lots of things.


Don't get sucked in to buying more than you need. You know those items that are £2 but on offer 2 for £3, so you end up buying 2 even though you only needed one then a week later you throw the second one away because it's past it's use by date. The exception to the rule here is if the items are freezable, because you can just put the extra in the freezer and defrost at a later date.


Make a shopping list and don't stray from it. I find I have got a lot better with my grocery budget since I've been doing my shopping online and getting it delivered. It worked out for me because our nearest @sda is a 20 minute drive away so uses up diesel and it's also a hassle taking the kids shopping with me, so I bought a delivery pass for £30 and now have 'free' delivery for the year. I've already gained that money back because the amount of deliveries I've had would have cost me loads more than £30 if I'd paid for it per delivery.


Don't shop when you're hungry :rotfl:


Find out when your local supermarket reduces that days stock. You can get some massive discounts off items that the store need to sell off that day due to the use by dates etc. I once popped in to our local T*sco and by chance came across a crowd of people in one of the fridge aisles. I was being nosey, wanting to know what they were doing and noticed they were scouring a cabinet that had loads of reduced stock in it. I picked up fish pies, chicken kievs, chocolate microwaveable desserts, a joint of ham and some other bits that had been reduced by 50% plus. I grabbed a load of the stuff and put it all in my freezer.


Buy frozen veg. I used to be so fussy and only buy fresh but now I buy a mixture. If I know I've got a roast dinner on my meal plan I buy fresh the day before, but for our normal week day meals I just have a stock of frozen veg which can be cooked in just a few minutes.

MoneyMission2015

Sorry for that long post! Hope it help.


I also forgot to say to split your packs of meat into smaller portions. I used to use a whole pack of mince to make a spagbol and then we'd always have leftovers which would get thrown away. So now as soon as I get my mince, I split it into portions of 250g and freeze it. Then depending on how many people I'm cooking for, I will use either 1 or 2 packs. Lentils are also good for bulking out a meal but make sure you cook them for long enough.

tori.k

Why not pop over to the old style board the run a grocery challenge each month. keep your receipts over the next month, my son complained about how much he spent on shopping, after wrestling the receipts off him over a couple of weeks gave him a real eye opener with just the cost of ready made sandwiches, energy drinks and ready sliced fruit pots and the odd DVD/magazine or three...he takes a pack lunch to work nowadays

nomorecreditcards1973

It's definitely possible to get this down by even under half that amount. Use that Aldi and buy loads of their weekly offer fruit/veg/salads. Plan your meals and take a shopping list and make packed lunches too. I aim for £80 a month and that's for me, £100 max. Avoiding processed foods and making meals from scratch doesn't have to be expensive. Potatoes, pasta and rice are cheap filling staple foods. If you can buy it in bulk even better e.g in large sacks. Watch 'Eat well for less' on BBC1 for ideas. Usually these are brand loyal shoppers buying processed foods, supermarket deals, and not spending much time in the kitchen. ;-)

HappyMJ

tori.k wrote: »

Why not pop over to the old style board the run a grocery challenge each month. keep your receipts over the next month, my son complained about how much he spent on shopping, after wrestling the receipts off him over a couple of weeks gave him a real eye opener with just the cost of ready made sandwiches, energy drinks and ready sliced fruit pots and the odd DVD/magazine or three...he takes a pack lunch to work nowadays

The odd ready made sandwich is okay when you're out and about and can't carry a home made sandwich with you.

I personally don't see the point in energy drinks unless the person drinking them really "needs" them such as an athlete. It takes a lot of effort to burn the calories of one drink off.

Ready sliced fruit pots are just a waste of money when you can pick up a single piece of fruit for 15 pence.

I would put DVD's and magazines under Entertainment and Newspapers/Magazines in a budget. Sometimes they are necessary...sometimes not. I use the mobile/computer to catch up on news and watch DVD's for free over the internet but that doesn't support the creator of the content so is frowned upon by many.

I personally spend about £25-£30 per person per week on food alone. I get a lot of money back from deals/vouchers and getting free things from an app on the phone called CheckoutSmart. The money that comes back to me I spend on Entertainment and don't include that as an expense.