Reasonable amount for weekly food?

amalis

Hi,how much would you say is a reasonable spend for weekly food shopping for a family of 2 adults + 1 elderly lady (my mum, eats small quantities) and a fussy 2 years old. I still buy him lots of biscuits and some toddler meals...We spend about £100 a week, I cook from scratch and my husband thinks its a bit expensive. But I really don't see where I can cut. We need to save for something big, so I was wondering how my grocery bill compares to others?

C_J

It depends what exactly you include in your weekly grocery bill - is it just food, or all household stuff like toiletries and cleaning products too (and maybe baby/toddler products for your litte 'un?)

It also depends where you shop. I found by changing my supermarket from Sainsbury or Tesco to Aldi, I halved my shopping bill instantly.

Maybe it would help if you gave us a list of the sort of things you usually buy, and what sort of meals you have to produce for that. Does it include packed lunches, for example?

When you say you always cook from scratch, do you mean just assembling supermarket ingredients, i.e. ready made sauces, or truly from scratch? because I'm sure some others will be along soon to let you know how you can cook things more cheaply and stretch your meals to get the most for your money. Rubber chicken, anyone?

Although some may disagree, I do think £100 a week is quite steep for a grocery bill. I think you coudl easily get this down to £60 ot £70 if you are tightening your belts to save for something in particular. Good luck

C_J

I know it's a bit of a faff to do, but you might find it useful to just browse through some of the earlier threads on this Old Style forum, as there's lots of useful information about how to cut grocery costs

amalis

CJ, thank you so much for replying.
My weekly grocery includes household cleaning products, but these I don't buy weekly. Hygiene products for a baby would be separate. Just his meals and snacks included.
I am in full time work, so when I cook I use ready made sauces and ingredients. We shop in Morrisons and we don't have Lidl or Aldi near us. I ve heard there are plans on building one in our area, but not yet.
Just as example, for this week I planned and bought :
jackets (x4) and ready made coronation chicken filling;
roast chicken + vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, butternut, cherry tomatoes);
pasta Bolognese (mince, pasta, sauce);
will make vegetable and chicken soup;
chicken noodle stir fry (chicken fillet, noodles, veggies, sauce);
we bought ready frozen lunches (10 packs, for week for 2 working adults).
yoghurts, healthy biscuits for the baby, milk, eggs, cheeses, chicken slices and bread for breakfast, porridge for the baby, ellas kitchen for the baby (these are expensive , but he is very fussy) ,cheeses and fruits for us and the baby, water, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber...Doesn't look like we eat luxurious food, but we still spend a lot.

amalis

C_J wrote: »

I know it's a bit of a faff to do, but you might find it useful to just browse through some of the earlier threads on this Old Style forum, as there's lots of useful information about how to cut grocery costs

of course. In addition to this thread I also browse here. Juts feel a bit confused and lost in all threads

C_J

I know! The amount of information on here can be a bit overwhelming, but people are so lovely and helpful.

From looking at your list above, the first thing I would suggest is using bits of your roast chicken to make the coronation chicken filling for your jacket potatoes, and to go into the vegetable stir fry and the chicken and veg soup. It's amazing how much you can strip off one chicken, and often buying a slightly larger one in order to do this is actually cheaper in the long run as you don't have to buy extra chicken portions for meals.

If I am making a pasta bolognese bake (for example) I would make a slightly larger dish of it and portion some up into plastic tupperware boxes to use as a couple of packed lunches over the next few days. If you do this (and freeze them if you have the freezer space) every time you cook something, it's surprising how quickly you will get 10 adult lunches sorted for very little extra outlay. I do it with curries, chilli and rice, pasta bake - any 'leftovers' really. Today for packed lunches Mister CJ and I both have leftover ham, cheese and leek pancakes which I made on Saturday.

cyantist

If you're buying 10 frozen lunches in that, I'm not surprised it's a bit more than a lot of people here would spend. Could you take home made sandwiches once or twice a week to reduce that? And when you're having a cheap dinner make a bit extra for lunch (though this can be false economy as sometimes I've taken leftovers to work that are actually costing more per portion that I could buy lunch for - so it would be better to have it for dinner a different day instead).

In terms of the above food: buying chicken slices is expensive. Can you buy a bigger chicken and have some left over. You could also use this instead of buying separate chicken fillets for the stir fry. Alternatively chicken thighs (even boned and skinless) are a lot cheaper than breasts.

Also, all pasta sauce is really is tomato with some herbs. We both work full time and I'd never consider buying a jar of sauce. It really takes no longer to open a tin of tomatoes or carton of passata and throw some herbs in there.

Also buying sauce for the stirfry - what are you buying? Most are just a few ingredients that you could throw into the wok to make the same sauce for pennies. Or if you like something more complicated make it when you do have a spare few minutes and freeze into small portions.

PasturesNew

£100/week does leave a LOT of room for you to cut back if you wish to. If your husband feels it could be cut back then he's not wrong. For some, spending £100 is fine - but for those wishing to cut back there's a LOT of savings that could be made.

amalis wrote: »

Just as example, for this week I planned and bought :
jackets (x4) and ready made coronation chicken filling;
roast chicken + vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, butternut, cherry tomatoes);
pasta Bolognese (mince, pasta, sauce);
will make vegetable and chicken soup;
chicken noodle stir fry (chicken fillet, noodles, veggies, sauce);
we bought ready frozen lunches (10 packs, for week for 2 working adults).
yoghurts, healthy biscuits for the baby, milk, eggs, cheeses, chicken slices and bread for breakfast, porridge for the baby, ellas kitchen for the baby (these are expensive , but he is very fussy) ,cheeses and fruits for us and the baby, water, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber...Doesn't look like we eat luxurious food, but we still spend a lot.

You seem to be buying "one new thing" for each meal, rather than using up leftovers. e.g. one roast chicken has the potential to be used in your chicken noodle stir fry without buying a new chicken fillet ... and you can still make the chicken soup from it (it's not clear if you currently use the leftover chicken to do that).

But, also, how big/expensive is that chicken? You could investigate that further and buy smaller/cheaper and still make it stretch.

Babies aren't fussy - mothers are. I'm sure he'll "get over it" if you don't buy expensive/branded foods.

You need to become "ingredient price aware" and "total meal price aware". See which individual items are pricey, see where you can substitute something cheaper, see where you can omit an ingredient.

It's no use saying "I buy cheese" - that could cost £12/Kg, when you could be buying £5/Kg cheese instead.

Once you're price aware, set yourself a daily food budget target. At the moment £100/week is £14/day. Start by reducing that to £10/day. By then you'll be more price aware and dropping lower will come more naturally.

I know my lunch just cost me 41p because I know the cost of everything that went into it ... one toasted muffin, half a tin of beans, scrambled eggs. I'm sure it's just as easy for those ingredients to cost me £2 if I weren't price aware.

You say you used chicken slices for lunches - how much are they? Is it better/cheaper to have two roasted chickens and to use one for that? Or are there alternative pack sizes or brands you could explore?

You say you use tomatoes in lunches - are they the big/cheap tomatoes, or do you buy a nice heritage organic tomato pack? When you look at the 10-20 varieties of tomatoes in the shop, don't look at the tomatoes, look at the price tags, see the £/100g price and choose the "best ones I like the look of from the two cheapest".

Frozen dinners can cost from 75p/pack to £4/pack - which are you buying? Buy cheaper ones. I never spend more than £1 on a frozen/chilled meal for one, unless I am choosing it as a very special treat for a specific reason.

Pollycat

I think £100 per week is expnsive too.

Why are you buying ready frozen lunches?

You can make bolognaise using tinned tomatoes or even passata. And you're not loading up with hidden salt and sugar.

Do you batch-cook?
I do a big batch of bolognaise in the slow cooker, bulk it out with mushrooms. You can also use lentils.
Do you use too much mince just because that is the pack size?
I buy more than one pack and portion it out into what I know is enough for us.
So, instead of using 400gm, I'll portion into 340 gms and the left-over will go towards another 340gm portion or maybe 2 x 4oz burgers.

Yesterday I cooked diced chicken, peppers, mushroom, onion, potato, tinned tomatoes in the slow cooker and added a bit of chorizo towards the end.
Very easy and not expensive.

Today in the slow cooker I have the base for a pie with diced beef, diced potatoes, mushrooms, onions and will add a bit of stilton at the end.
I've upped the quantities and will freeze half for another time.

When you say you bought jackets, do you mean baking potatoes or those frozen ones?

amalis

I don't use leftover, because I usually don't have any leftovers.. somehow. If there are, my mum eats it for lunch the next day (she lives with us and due to health reasons cant cook).
Yes,I don't buy the whole chicken and all the meals I mentioned which includes chicken , these are separate items (drumsticks for the roast, fillet for the stir fry).
I am now thinking that the whole chicken would actually last me for a couple of days. This is the first thing I will change in my shopping :-)
It takes a bout 2 hour in the oven though, no? so that would be Sunday cooking only.

amalis

Pollycat wrote: »

I think £100 per week is expnsive too.

Why are you buying ready frozen lunches?

You can make bolognaise using tinned tomatoes or even passata. And you're not loading up with hidden salt and sugar.

Do you batch-cook?
I do a big batch of bolognaise in the slow cooker, bulk it out with mushrooms. You can also use lentils.
Do you use too much mince just because that is the pack size?
I buy more than one pack and portion it out into what I know is enough for us.
So, instead of using 400gm, I'll portion into 340 gms and the left-over will go towards another 340gm portion or maybe 2 x 4oz burgers.

Yesterday I cooked diced chicken, peppers, mushroom, onion, potato, tinned tomatoes in the slow cooker and added a bit of chorizo towards the end.
Very easy and not expensive.

Today in the slow cooker I have the base for a pie with diced beef, diced potatoes, mushrooms, onions and will add a bit of stilton at the end.
I've upped the quantities and will freeze half for another time.

When you say you bought jackets, do you mean baking potatoes or those frozen ones?

all the questions make me think.
Yes, we buy lunches because we almost never get left overs.
I have to admit that I don't add anything to Bolognese other than mince and carrots. So 400 gr are make probably 4 meals (3 for the evening +1 lunch next day for my mum).
I usually buy the cheaper version of everything, except for tomatoes and cucumbers. I feel that there is a difference in taste.
Jackets aI bought normal potatoes for baking, not half ready