I spend far too much on groceries! Please help me get it under control!

PandoraTundra

I just did a stock take of all our food and planned our week, with the help of a Jack Monroe book from the library. It looks like I only need to spend £11 and week have breakfast, lunch and tea until Saturday, plus a couple of extra quid on fruit ��

My SO is on side, so let's see if we make it!

Glad

I think it's a great idea to stock take what you have and try to use it up before buying more, that first week of seeing the extra money in your pocket is a great incentive to keep saving
I only cook for myself and pass 4ldi on my way home from work so I tend to shop every other day (I know this isn't feasible for everyone) but I never add extras, I have a shopping app on my phone which I add anything I've run out of and I do stick to it

Spriggan

I've found that we spend a lot less when doing the big shop online. It's easier to directly compare the prices of products, and specifically the relative price by lb. etc. Plus you are less likely to get suckered in by the offers on stuff you hadn't intended to buy. I have a budget for each shop and if I've gone over it then I can easily look back through the list and delete things.

Usually I plan at least a few meals for the week, work out what ingredients I need for them and then have a think about what will be left over. Then I'll use those as the basis of the remaining meals if I can. It's really made me think about how I can avoid throwing things away (aiming for no waste this year!).