It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Albermarle

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

michaels said:

zagfles said:

Sea_Shell said:

Do 'high grocery spenders' routinely have puddings/deserts?   We don't.

What about portion sizes?  Do you weigh or measure stuff out?   We do.

Maybe that's the difference?

Does money spent = calories consumed?

There's probably a link - rubbish like crisps and chocolate are very expensive for what they are and of course highly calorific.

The other major thing is probably meat, our kids were veggies at uni because they were too tight to buy meat

Also how much cooking from scratch you do, or do you buy ready made pizzas, pies, sauces etc. Plus do you insist on top brands for stuff like coke, cereals etc or have you tried the supermarket's equivalent which is often far cheaper and quite often unnoticably different.

We are also own brand for crisps and avoid soft drinks where possible too currently do 1 x 19p aldi lemonade and 1 x 63p aldi fanta each week plus 4l long life juice - easy to spend 10x this if you insist on branded carbonated drinks.  Also just own label tea bags and no coffee drinkers helps.  We do spend a lot on green veg (broccoli, beans etc) but save by getting basic cheese and mostly eating chicken.  Pizza?  69p Aldi cheese/pepperoni, 1 between 2

A 70p pizza between two. Presume you have no problems with your weight 

Why? Are you jumping to the conclusion that a cheap pizza will be more calorific?

I couldn't find the cheese/pepperoni one, but comparing Aldi and M&S cheese and tomato:

https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-everyday-essentials-cheese-tomato-pizza-300g/4088600158587

https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-cheese-tomato-pizza-514022011?ds_rl=1290893&ds_rl=1291426&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItsWEhsm__AIVwtvtCh3q0goBEAQYAiABEgIrfvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Per 100g:

Aldi: 266kcal 9.1g fat 

M&S: 268kcal, 9.5g fat

So the M&S one is more calorific and higher in fat. It's a myth that cheaper food is always more calorific.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your point.

Yes you have. I meant that having a relatively small basic cheese and tomato pizza ( 300g) between two people, was probably a good way not to put on weight. 

zagfles

Albermarle said:

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

michaels said:

zagfles said:

Sea_Shell said:

Do 'high grocery spenders' routinely have puddings/deserts?   We don't.

What about portion sizes?  Do you weigh or measure stuff out?   We do.

Maybe that's the difference?

Does money spent = calories consumed?

There's probably a link - rubbish like crisps and chocolate are very expensive for what they are and of course highly calorific.

The other major thing is probably meat, our kids were veggies at uni because they were too tight to buy meat

Also how much cooking from scratch you do, or do you buy ready made pizzas, pies, sauces etc. Plus do you insist on top brands for stuff like coke, cereals etc or have you tried the supermarket's equivalent which is often far cheaper and quite often unnoticably different.

We are also own brand for crisps and avoid soft drinks where possible too currently do 1 x 19p aldi lemonade and 1 x 63p aldi fanta each week plus 4l long life juice - easy to spend 10x this if you insist on branded carbonated drinks.  Also just own label tea bags and no coffee drinkers helps.  We do spend a lot on green veg (broccoli, beans etc) but save by getting basic cheese and mostly eating chicken.  Pizza?  69p Aldi cheese/pepperoni, 1 between 2

A 70p pizza between two. Presume you have no problems with your weight 

Why? Are you jumping to the conclusion that a cheap pizza will be more calorific?

I couldn't find the cheese/pepperoni one, but comparing Aldi and M&S cheese and tomato:

https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-everyday-essentials-cheese-tomato-pizza-300g/4088600158587

https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-cheese-tomato-pizza-514022011?ds_rl=1290893&ds_rl=1291426&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItsWEhsm__AIVwtvtCh3q0goBEAQYAiABEgIrfvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Per 100g:

Aldi: 266kcal 9.1g fat 

M&S: 268kcal, 9.5g fat

So the M&S one is more calorific and higher in fat. It's a myth that cheaper food is always more calorific.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your point.

Yes you have. I meant that having a relatively small basic cheese and tomato pizza ( 300g) between two people, was probably a good way not to put on weight. 

Ah OK apologies then. So you were assuming a correlation between price and quantity, rather than quality. Not sure that's valid either, the Aldi pizza suggests a 135g serving size, so that's under half! Probably wouldn't fill me up though...

quirkydeptless

..........

enthusiasticsaver

We spend around £250 - £300 a month on groceries for 2 people which includes household items and some branded products and alcohol. That is more than you @Sea_Shell but we don't weigh/measure as DH is thin and eats little but often.  I am careful with what I eat as I can put on weight more easily but neither of us have huge portions.  I try not to snack though whereas DH snacks for England. We do have the grandchildren and DD2 and SIL come over quite often so I do buy in stuff for them but equally they cook for us some evenings. DD1 sometimes stays for a long weekend or week about once every six weeks too but she buys the odd shop in then. DH is lactose intolerant and SIL gluten intolerant so that is more expensive to cater for. 

I do buy the mini ice creams for grandchildren and DH but apart from the odd Sunday or when entertaining the only puddings or desserts we have are yogurts or fruit.  Maybe one bottle of wine a  fortnight or a 4-6 pack of beer for DH.  I also buy snacks for DH and grandchildren like chocolate, crisps or biscuits/cake. The shops we use are a mix of Morrisons online delivery or our local Waitrose or Lidl. We are going to try doing vegetarian meals at least twice a week which may bring it down a bit.  I don't tend to use ready meals but we do get the boxes of battered/breaded fish from Lidl/Waitrose as we both like them and it is handy to have something quick in the freezer.  

Anonymous101

I must admit portion control doesn't really exist in our household and we do eat meat or fish most evening meals.

I did have a period a decade or so ago where I was weighing out everything because I was weight training hard and trying to add muscle mass so shooting for 3500-4000 calories. Nowadays I try to follow a Tim Spector type rainbow diet and actively avoid thinking in terms of calories. This isn't a particularly cheap way to eat but as I said we mostly do it for health reasons.

We cook almost every meal from scratch (I really enjoy cooking) so don't find we buy many branded items at all as most of our shop isn't in tins or packets save for things like skyr and cheeses. We don't eat deserts or really drink any soft drinks. We maybe go through a bottle of squash every other month and buy a bulk pack of Coca Cola at Christmas for visitors and that does us most of the year!  

Audaxer

geoffers4 said:

Lifematters said:

Groceries £1764    (not including alcohol, which in the thought experiment could be nil)

I wish I could get our grocery bill that low.  We are spending £4k pa on groceries, although that does include alcohol we don’t drink much.

Aldi is the answer - massively reducing our bills compared to those when we previously lived by a Tesco.
Actually I've now realised this figure is under-stated as we had 2 months in the Canaries (self-catering...using Lidl!) so if we add these groceries plus alcohol it matches Sea_Shell's £2651 pretty much.

That is impressively low. Just wondering, is that just food and alcohol or does it also include non-food supermarket purchases like toilet rolls, kitchen roll, washing powder etc.?

We started doing most of our supermarket shopping at Aldi in July last year and it had certainly reduced our food bill, but we are still spending around £400 per month including the non-food stuff.

atush

Albermarle said:

Are there any parents out there who have older kids who pay for meals out, get the tickets to the game. Does any of it flow back? 
Occasionally a meal will be paid for . Usually when on an expensive holiday, that we have paid for 

We get the odd meal or drinks out paid for,plus this year we got a $150 gift card to our fave FL beach bar, a michelin one star lunch out from one, and a 150quid meal from another as xmas gifts.

Nebulous2

Sea_Shell said:

Do 'high grocery spenders' routinely have puddings/deserts?   We don't.

What about portion sizes?  Do you weigh or measure stuff out?   We do.

Maybe that's the difference?

Does money spent = calories consumed?

I'm not sure where the money goes. In fact I'm not even sure how much goes, but I suspect it would definitely put us in the high grocery spender bracket. The reason I don't know where it goes is it isn't my department, and I dare not interfere. I've been keeping quiet in this discussion so far, to not give myself away. 

We rarely have pudding. I eat a yoghurt most days, but that is the closest we come. 

We eat a lot of fruit, veg and generally healthy food - but portion control may well be an issue. My other half is good at getting a bargain, knows the price of everything, shops in Aldi, Lidl and Home Bargains. We bulk buy when things are cheap. Even some of our children, those who have long fled the nest, will peep in the cupboards sometimes, just to make certain that there really is that much food there. Despite hoarding it, waste is very rare, most things get eaten. 

We use a lot of supermarket own brands, but also some more expensive stuff. Bags of ground coffee, made in a mokka pot for instance, instead of instant. Single source coffee from Lidl usually. 

Meat may well play a part in our high bills. We've been trying to cut down. A veggie friend of mine was impressed when I said I was trying to cut down on meat. She wasn't quite so impressed when I said I was trying to cut down to once a day. I've largely managed to achieve that, by reclassifying fish. It is now in a separate category and doesn't count as meat. I eat salads regularly at lunch and 2-3 times a week will have oily fish to keep up my vitamin D. We also buy a lot of cheese, often soft cheese, brie and camembert, then blue cheese and cheddar. If I decided to have oatcakes, cheese and pickles for lunch, I'd generally have access to 5 different cheeses. 

Olives are another big favourite. I'm the only person in the house who eats them, but I love all sorts of olives. Typical holidays were touring France, and those big barrels of olives in the markets were heaven for me. Eating them transports me back to some of that and it would be rare for a day to go by without me eating olives. 

Sea_Shell

"Are there any parents out there who have older kids who pay for meals out, get the tickets to the game. Does any of it flow back?"

Speaking as an "older kid", well, that depends on if any money ever flowed "out" in the first place 😉

michaels

Albermarle said:

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

michaels said:

zagfles said:

Sea_Shell said:

Do 'high grocery spenders' routinely have puddings/deserts?   We don't.

What about portion sizes?  Do you weigh or measure stuff out?   We do.

Maybe that's the difference?

Does money spent = calories consumed?

There's probably a link - rubbish like crisps and chocolate are very expensive for what they are and of course highly calorific.

The other major thing is probably meat, our kids were veggies at uni because they were too tight to buy meat

Also how much cooking from scratch you do, or do you buy ready made pizzas, pies, sauces etc. Plus do you insist on top brands for stuff like coke, cereals etc or have you tried the supermarket's equivalent which is often far cheaper and quite often unnoticably different.

We are also own brand for crisps and avoid soft drinks where possible too currently do 1 x 19p aldi lemonade and 1 x 63p aldi fanta each week plus 4l long life juice - easy to spend 10x this if you insist on branded carbonated drinks.  Also just own label tea bags and no coffee drinkers helps.  We do spend a lot on green veg (broccoli, beans etc) but save by getting basic cheese and mostly eating chicken.  Pizza?  69p Aldi cheese/pepperoni, 1 between 2

A 70p pizza between two. Presume you have no problems with your weight 

Why? Are you jumping to the conclusion that a cheap pizza will be more calorific?

I couldn't find the cheese/pepperoni one, but comparing Aldi and M&S cheese and tomato:

https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-everyday-essentials-cheese-tomato-pizza-300g/4088600158587

https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-cheese-tomato-pizza-514022011?ds_rl=1290893&ds_rl=1291426&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItsWEhsm__AIVwtvtCh3q0goBEAQYAiABEgIrfvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Per 100g:

Aldi: 266kcal 9.1g fat 

M&S: 268kcal, 9.5g fat

So the M&S one is more calorific and higher in fat. It's a myth that cheaper food is always more calorific.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your point.

Yes you have. I meant that having a relatively small basic cheese and tomato pizza ( 300g) between two people, was probably a good way not to put on weight. 

Probably have a piece of toast with it and a basic salad - something like sweetcorn, lettuce and tomato