Shocked at how much I spend on food!

Pepita_2

I'm planning a no-spend week in March where I'm going to make meals only using stuff that's in the freezer and the cupboards.

gregouf

At the end of the day, food is probably the most important part of the budget (not only from a £ consideration) with the housing. Why not try to reduce your budget on other aspects (e.g. phone, TV service, various subscription...)?

Then if you are wasting a lot of food, should be quite straight forward to reduce food expense too. A lot of things can be frozen if you have too much, and the sell-by-date/use-by-date is just an advice. Most of the products are fine long after.

tensandunits_2

I spend a lot on groceries, but I do choose to buy quality items and these tend to cost more. Washing powder, for instance - I buy BioD or Ecover which is better for the environment. When buying tinned tomatoes I get the quality ones which don't have citric acid added to them.

However there's just 2 of us living here so we manage (just!). We wouldn't be able to do it if we were a family of 5!

maman

tensandunits wrote: »

I spend a lot on groceries, but I do choose to buy quality items and these tend to cost more. Washing powder, for instance - I buy BioD or Ecover which is better for the environment. When buying tinned tomatoes I get the quality ones which don't have citric acid added to them.

However there's just 2 of us living here so we manage (just!). We wouldn't be able to do it if we were a family of 5!

That's your choice of course.


Personally I don't find bog standard tomatoes acidic but I only use them in sauces so probably masked by herbs and spices.


All I'd say, if you want to save and haven't done so already, is do try other own brand goods. A higher price doesn't always mean better quality.

RedGoose

Keep trying with the meal planning- sometimes habits take a while to bed in :rotfl:

We do our meal plan once a week (the day before I go shopping). Our planner is a wipeboard which I divide into three columns: Day (including date); Meals; Notes/ events (for example, if one of us is out or knows we'll be in late). The other advantage is that we both know what's for dinner so my OH can make a start on cooking if I'm late in. Before I do the plan I look at what needs using up in the fridge and incorporate that into the meals (mixed veg curries are your friend b;)).

We also keep a rolling shopping list on the fridge so that we know when stuff needs replacing (which I guess saves money as it reduces the number of trips).

We keep an "emergency pizza" in the freezer for days when one of us as been delayed at work or we're laid up with a cold -or just as damage limitation if the other option is a takeaway!


Hope this helps

katecheshire

tensandunits wrote: »

Washing powder, for instance - I buy BioD or Ecover which is better for the environment. .
!

I have to buy sensitive washing powder due to a previous allergic reaction. I used to get Surcare when on offer but not all supermarkets sell it. I tried Waitrose own brand - no problems and it is very much cheaper.

tootallulah

I think the Waitrose own brand non-bio is very good. I got sucked into a non bio Persil offer in January (previous preferred brand) I bought enough for six months and it is NOT as good.

charlies-aunt

A1di have great Super 6 fruit/veg offers and meat offers every week - perhaps a meal plan around what is on special offer?


I work full time and only shop once a week on a Saturday to catch the market - if I forget to buy it on the shopping trip, we make do with what we have or do without until next trip as it a 16 mile round trip into town. I cook from scratch as I find premade meals are expensive for what you get and rammed full of salt/sugar/fat.


I freeze as much as I can on day of purchase (inc bread & milk) and use the fresh stuff/leftovers up first before getting stuff out of the freezer. I slice bread up so I only need to get out what I am going to need. With three large dogs in the house, nothing much is binned