Trying a different tactic to grocery shop ?

YorksLass

Everyone’s circumstances are different depending on how many there are in the household to feed, where/when you shop, cost, how much time you have etc. Our budget, for two retired adults, is £35 pw with another £5 pw for household items like soap powder, toilet rolls, toiletries etc. Any money left over at the end of the week goes into another purse and I find that useful if I spot any good YS bargains. My shopping mantra has changed from “not going over budget” to “spend as little as possible” of it. We sometimes have leftovers but they’re never wasted and are turned into either another meal or a snack/light lunch the next day.

I do an online order for delivery roughly once a month when I have a MOC to use for that (normally £10 off a £50 order). I make this order up from what I need (items I’ve run out of or am getting short of), both non-perishable foods and household items. Sometimes I’ll stretch this to once every six weeks, especially if I haven’t got a MOC. I also look out for staples that are on promotion (eg tins of tomatoes) that I know I use regularly. As we don’t run a car, deliveries are a godsend for the heavy and bulky items. I couldn’t carry these so, even if I have to pay a small delivery charge of £1/£2 that’s still more cost effective than getting a taxi.

On the weeks when we’re not having a delivery then we shop on a Friday at the market for F&V, meat, fish, eggs etc (well, DH does ) and I walk to either Sainsburys or the C!op. (Sadly, these are our only choices locally, no Aldi or Lidl.) I’ll also look out for YS items that will fit into the week’s meal plan or can be frozen for later use.

If it’s a 5-week month then I try to have a no-spend week, using only what we have in already. It gives the brain cells a good work-out!

Other than the above, top-up shops are far and few between. I find, by shopping less often, I have the time to cook from scratch, batch cook, bake etc and this gives me far more more pleasure than shopping. By stretching my cash as far as possible, I know it stays in my purse instead of going into the SM’s till.

Things that might help you are:

Keep a spending diary so you can see where your money is going (you’d be surprised how much goes on not-a-lot)
Get to know what you buy most of and how often (hence the diary suggestion)
Make an inventory of your freezer/cupboards
Meal planning, using the inventories first before shopping for more stuff
Practice portion control and learn to use left-overs

Pollycat

mumofthetwins wrote: »

Hi guys

I have decided to try a new tactic to my shopping .. at the minute I do a large shop once a week then top up as and when during the week .. I end up loosing track of what I have spent and end up with loads of stuff I never really needed .. well that has made me think.

Today I have placed 2 large meat orders which should see us through a good 2-3 month if not longer and I am hoping to do a large online order and stock up on non perishables as I have a discount code ... minimum spend is £40 so hoping to mebbies get a couple of weeks worth.

Plan is to use as much Up this week as possible with no shopping trips this week as my freezer is pretty full .. I have now managed to last the full day with no spends .. and meat deliveries are due next Wednesday so going to try to get the supermarket delivery then as well

i am hoping to clear the cupboards a bit this weekend and donate some of the stuff I know we will never eat ...

Does anyone else do this and can you manage on mebbies 2-3 supermarket deliveries a week ? And when you do any fresh top ups how do you keep it to essentials .. I know this is somewhere I fail miserably

Thanks guys
Lisa x

Make a list of that meat otherwise you'll have no idea what you have in the freezer.
I have 2 lists of what's in my freezer, separated between raw food and ready meals (all home cooked).
I cross stuff off as I take it out.

mumofthetwins

Thanks for all the replies guys .. I much happy to say that today is my 2nd no spend day in a row .. I am actually batch cooking up a curry and had no chillis, normally this would be a quick pop to Tesco that ends up costing around £20 .. nope I just left it out and curry tatstes great ��
In the past I have meal planned but as I work certain nights and do extra shifts when I can, OH makes dinner some nights and he always went off plan so I would end up needing to re buy and again I always spend more than I had hoped. I am planning on the nights when I am at work putting something in the slow cooker as I know he usually goes off plan as he does work until later and ends up just making something quick. He has also been told that if he goes off plan then its tough and the next night will be a right mix up lol
My 1st meat delivery comes tomorrow but that is mainly just chicken ... I am still planning on using up what we have until next week when the bigger meat delivery is due. I have started a list on the fridge of things that we have used the last of so I know what we will need. I am planning on going through the cupboards at the weekend as I have ended up with a hospital appointment and extra work shift on my day off this week ��

I'm looking forward to being a bit more organised ... I am also hoping that the online shop will help with my grocery challenge .. I've tried in the past and all the little top up shops mess me up ...

Lisa x