Weekly shopping Budget how much??

knightswhosaywi

2 adults, 4 children (one in nappies) and a dog and i never spend more than £70 a week. We shop at Tesco and that includes DH's lunch for work and either a nice bottle of wine or a couple bottles of ale:beer:

spidergravy

For one husband, one dog, one 18month old baby and me, I try very, very hard to spend no more than £50 a week at tesco, and have, on occasion, managed to spend about £30. Groceries were the first thing for me to try and cut down on because I have no debts, no credit cards, no mobile phone, nothing other than electricity bills and other essential direct debits to save money on.

I find Tesco terrible to shop in, it's huge, with an upstairs, and I used to get distracted. Instead, I now make a list of what we're going to eat all week, what ingredients I need to do it, and I think about what's in season as it tends to be cheaper. Home-grown beans and tomatoes and apples (from friends and family) all save money if you don't have to buy them, and I never go looking for special offers unless it's for something on the list. For example, I wouldn't buy washing powder this week if I wasn't going to need it until next month, I wouldn't buy cheese if I already had some at home.

The biggest portion of my budget goes on fresh fruit and veg. I will only buy what I need, and because I'm economising, I make a point of not looking at anything else at all, no treats, no "oooh, raspberries are on half price, I can eat those on the way home" and I rarely buy value stuff, I can get by on either own brand stuff, or, in the case of some things, the genuine Heinz varieties!

In Tesco, baby clothes are nearly always on sale two weeks after you first see them, so just wait unless baby is absolutely desperate. I make a rule of nothing more than a fiver for her clothes, and won't even look more than once a month.

I think it's a case of not browsing too much. If you mean to save money, be hard on yourself - say NO! to everything you don't need at all. It's hard at first, but after a while you feel good about it.

As for nappies, I use washable ones, and I've discovered fleece liners which are brilliant, washable and cheap. I always use cotton wool at home rather than wipes, much to my friends' condescending amusement, and only take the wipes when I go out somewhere.

While I'm here, I'd also like to brag that the four of us produce less than a black bin bag of rubbish a fortnight, by composting, recycling and trying to buy things with less packaging.

Oh, and I've found that boots is good for vitamins, but tesco seems to be cheaper for almost everything else. Next stop, thanks to a previous poster, is to try LIDL for next week's shop!

carlih1

smousie wrote: »

I've heard it said that the British spend a lower proportion of their salary on food than people in any other European country. I don't really mind spending a bit more on food and cosmetics, as I think what you fuel your body with and what you put on your skin directly affects your health, and I prefer to have good quality food and cosmetics and cut down in other areas of spending instead.

Hi ya,

Was just interested in what you said about putting things on your skin. Sarah Beeney is doing a program about how many toxin there are in cosmetics that say that are all natrual next thursday on channel four i think. THought it may be of interest to you! x

p.s. Tesco or the other stores own brand like ecover is cheaper too!!

kcmatt79

smousie

You might be interested to know that some market stalls now sell Ecover etc. or you can buy it in bulk from ebay.

raq

There are 2 adults and 3 children in our family. One which I have to buy SMA baby food and nappies.

We eat well but some weeks I do cut back. Yesterday bill was £82.00and I got more than enough. I use to do Tesco every week but found I always spent more. So I buy my nappies at lidl which are fab and cheaper plus the beer for the hubby for the weekend, (9.60in total, bargain ) and the rest in Asda.

Can't complain and all the cupboards are full

autismmum

yes, we are organic and my son has a wheat allergy, this is what costs us. we also buy biodegradable washing products etc and have stray cats and two rescued dogs to care for, when i am budgeting, its awful i could spend 200. per week. so i have had to bite the bullet and stop buying as much meat and stop buying as much organic products, its sad because you are trying to show children how to make ethical and environmental choices but at the same time with three hungry children and a husband who does a lot of physical work they are costing alot to feed, i am now trying to stick to 120.00 per week for all five of us and the dogs. i thought i'd use a delivery service as i am not tempted to buy the wrong foods whilst in the supermarket, and my top up shop is following martins advice about times that shops sticker reduce food, i find that my local tescos is great for that and organic produce too at 9 pm on a thursday.

moanymoany

starlet10 wrote: »

How do you all manage to live on so little? :shocked: I'd be worried about malnutrition and starvation if I cut my grocery shopping any lower.

I find it difficult to spend less than £100 a week on shopping at the supermarkets for a family of five. This amount includes household stuff, toiletries and nappies, but we always seem to run out of food by the end of the week!

During the war people lived on tight rations - not because they chose to, but because they had to. The result was that people were healthy. Have a look at Thriftlady's thread about when she fed her family a wartime diet, it is fascinating.

Now, people who want to get out of debt, not get into debt and have to live on a low income, or like me trying to save, do well to look at the rations and the food people ate then as it is a healthy, balanced diet and not expensive.

So much of what we buy are luxuries. Toiletries beyond soap - luxury toilet paper - disposable nappies - wipes anything baby apart from talc and creams are not strictly necessary. Not that I'm saying they shouldn't be used, but that when push comes to shove, if the cash ain't there, they can be done without.

When I think back to my childhood in the 50's and 60's, clothes for 2 people would fit into one wardrobe! One pair of shoes - never bought toilet paper, soap was for washing hair as well as body, talc was what you got for christmas, food was basic, mostly potatoes and veg. Not what I would want to do now, but the kids were much healthier than kids raised on todays eating habits.

What I'm trying to say - in a longwinded fashion - is that it is choice. It is poossible to live on very little. Fortunately, most of us don't HAVE to, but lots choose to.

Miss_Marple_2

I spend about £15 a week on food for me (I spend around £10 on a Saturday, then £5 throughout the week).

I'm vegetarian, so that helps and I will use value brands where I can

I go past a Morrisons on my way home from work, and the veggies that I have each night are dictated by what they have in their reduced trolley - the closer you are to closing time, the more baragins there are. Morrisons in particular, because they bake a lot of stuff, always have bargains at the end of each day - I noticed 5 sausage rolls for 19p as I was picking up a lovely tikka vegetable pie thing for 14p

mumallboys

Hi, I don't normally post but I just had to reply to this one. We are a family of five with one in nappies and we spend an average of £70 pw on shopping, we cook our meals from scratch, bake our own bread, cakes, biscuits etc, we also make our own crisps when we want them (not just from potatoes either) and we use reusable nappies and reusable sanitary protection. We don't scrimp, we shop wisely and eat like kings as a result. Lidl, reduced food in Scotmid, Tesco, etc and growing our own all contribute as does doing our own home baking (costs about 10p to bake a loaf of bread compared to 80p to buy one), and at this time of year especially food is available for free if you can be bothered to find it (apples, brambles, dandelion leaves for salads; roots for coffee, etc, etc).

HairyHandofDartmoor

speaky wrote: »

I find it interesting that shopping is "top of your list" of things to cut back on. I guess non-essentials should be, but groceries? They'd be the last thing I'd cut back on - you have to eat, don't you./quote]

I have already cut back on everything else! :rotfl:

I am now saving approximately £160 per month on food (that is £1,921.00 per year :eek: ) and we eat better than before because I do more cooking with basic ingredients and we eat less ready meals.