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

Albermarle

Archerychick said:

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Bills	3861.67
Holidays/Ente	3434.29
Car Expenses	1107.91
Groceries	2768.58
Household	1227.21
Health/Beauty	1964.56
Clothes/Shoes	235.44
Fuel	522.77
Gifts/Cards	556.74
Bank/ISA Fees	278.06
Phones/Calls	103.53
	16060.76

As in the past the grocery bill is the one thing that stands out as being very low for two people. Especially with recent rampant food inflation. 

I agree on that! As a household of one even I spent £2,300 for the year. Nice work 

We have been around this loop many times before in this and other threads. We shop at Tesco/Aldi/Costco ( and I have a Tesco plus subscription) and cook nearly all meals from scratch, and often make big amounts and freeze the rest . All the usual cost saving measures, and yet I can not get even close to some of the low grocery bills mentioned by Sea Shell and some others. Not counting any alcohol costs, for two older adults and two younger adults the grocery bill is around £800 a month.

Sea_Shell

Albermarle said:

Archerychick said:

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Bills	3861.67
Holidays/Ente	3434.29
Car Expenses	1107.91
Groceries	2768.58
Household	1227.21
Health/Beauty	1964.56
Clothes/Shoes	235.44
Fuel	522.77
Gifts/Cards	556.74
Bank/ISA Fees	278.06
Phones/Calls	103.53
	16060.76

As in the past the grocery bill is the one thing that stands out as being very low for two people. Especially with recent rampant food inflation. 

I agree on that! As a household of one even I spent £2,300 for the year. Nice work 

We have been around this loop many times before in this and other threads. We shop at Tesco/Aldi/Costco ( and I have a Tesco plus subscription) and cook nearly all meals from scratch, and often make big amounts and freeze the rest . All the usual cost saving measures, and yet I can not get even close to some of the low grocery bills mentioned by Sea Shell and some others. Not counting any alcohol costs, for two older adults and two younger adults the grocery bill is around £800 a month.

Do you have any idea what items you regularly buy that are "budget busters"?

Fresh salmon is one of our regular treats.

Sea_Shell

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

You have made me have a double check  of grocery expenditure and of what might be the 'problem'

Ignoring December, average monthly expenditure minus alcohol is around £675, but taking into account that the two young adults are only here around two thirds of the time, my previous figure of £750 for 4 looks about right.

Even looking at the bills nothing really stands out.
Branded soft drinks - Yes but bought in 24 packs from Costco + cheap fizzy water
Fresh Salmon - Yes also bought in bulk from Costco
Puddings - only a few yoghurts

I think it is a cumulative effect of.
Generally not buying supermarket own label stuff. ( Soup, beans, coffee, tea etc)
Not buying 'Value' ranges for most things
Some experimenting in the kitchen
Use 5% fat mince ( more expensive) and chicken breasts ( not thighs or wings)
Large  supply of all kinds of fruits.
Eating 3 meals a day and rarely eating out or getting takeaways.
A few 'faddy' items ( not for me ) like a certain type of oat milk, different types of seeds
Family weakness for crisps.
Use expensive Persil liquid and cleaners ( not my choice !)
Large free range eggs

We do not waste much food either.

So nothing exotic, and all a bit middle of the road, but it just seems to add up. 

barnstar2077

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

You have made me have a double check  of grocery expenditure and of what might be the 'problem'

Ignoring December, average monthly expenditure minus alcohol is around £675, but taking into account that the two young adults are only here around two thirds of the time, my previous figure of £750 for 4 looks about right.

Even looking at the bills nothing really stands out.
Branded soft drinks - Yes but bought in 24 packs from Costco + cheap fizzy water
Fresh Salmon - Yes also bought in bulk from Costco
Puddings - only a few yoghurts

I think it is a cumulative effect of.
Generally not buying supermarket own label stuff. ( Soup, beans, coffee, tea etc)
Not buying 'Value' ranges for most things
Some experimenting in the kitchen
Use 5% fat mince ( more expensive) and chicken breasts ( not thighs or wings)
Large  supply of all kinds of fruits.
Eating 3 meals a day and rarely eating out or getting takeaways.
A few 'faddy' items ( not for me ) like a certain type of oat milk, different types of seeds
Family weakness for crisps.
Use expensive Persil liquid and cleaners ( not my choice !)
Large free range eggs

We do not waste much food either.

So nothing exotic, and all a bit middle of the road, but it just seems to add up. 

Having seen some footage taken in Costco on TV recently, it made me think that if I bought such massive bottles/boxes of food and drink I would end up consuming far more than I would than if I just bought what I needed!

My annual bill is less that £2k a year, but I do eat lunch out at least once a week, which comes out of my entertainment budget.

Sea_Shell

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

You have made me have a double check  of grocery expenditure and of what might be the 'problem'

Ignoring December, average monthly expenditure minus alcohol is around £675, but taking into account that the two young adults are only here around two thirds of the time, my previous figure of £750 for 4 looks about right.

Even looking at the bills nothing really stands out.
Branded soft drinks - Yes but bought in 24 packs from Costco + cheap fizzy water.  We don't have these, just some Aldi diet lemonade in 2ltr bottles.
Fresh Salmon - Yes also bought in bulk from Costco
Puddings - only a few yoghurts.  Same here, but Aldi "activia".

I think it is a cumulative effect of.
Generally not buying supermarket own label stuff. Soup, beans, coffee, tea etc).   There are very few branded items that we buy.
Not buying 'Value' ranges for most things.  Neither do we, quite a few items are "specially selected".
Some experimenting in the kitchen
Use 5% fat mince ( more expensive).  We use 20% and drain off all the excess as it cooks and chicken breasts ( not thighs or wings).  We have breasts too, kg trays and split 3 ways.
Large  supply of all kinds of fruits.  We mainly have apples, bananas and tinned.
Eating 3 meals a day and rarely eating out or getting takeaways.
A few 'faddy' items ( not for me ) like a certain type of oat milk, different types of seeds
Family weakness for crisps.
Use expensive Persil liquid and cleaners ( not my choice !)
Large free range eggs

We do not waste much food either.

So nothing exotic, and all a bit middle of the road, but it just seems to add up. 

Comments in bold.

How many portions (weight) do you get from mince and chicken?

500g mince does us 4 portions (2 dinners)
1kg of fresh chicken does 6 portions (3 dinners)

Do you weigh out pasta or rice or cereal?

What do you consider a "meal", especially for breakfast and non-main meal (lunch or tea)?

We just have cereal (Aldi) for breakfast, mid morning toast or croissant, main meal at lunch and then a sandwich (2 halves) for tea.   We do have some snacks and biscuits too.  

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

You have made me have a double check  of grocery expenditure and of what might be the 'problem'

Ignoring December, average monthly expenditure minus alcohol is around £675, but taking into account that the two young adults are only here around two thirds of the time, my previous figure of £750 for 4 looks about right.

Even looking at the bills nothing really stands out.
Branded soft drinks - Yes but bought in 24 packs from Costco + cheap fizzy water.  We don't have these, just some Aldi diet lemonade in 2ltr bottles.
Fresh Salmon - Yes also bought in bulk from Costco
Puddings - only a few yoghurts.  Same here, but Aldi "activia".

I think it is a cumulative effect of.
Generally not buying supermarket own label stuff. Soup, beans, coffee, tea etc).   There are very few branded items that we buy.
Not buying 'Value' ranges for most things.  Neither do we, quite a few items are "specially selected".
Some experimenting in the kitchen
Use 5% fat mince ( more expensive).  We use 20% and drain off all the excess as it cooks and chicken breasts ( not thighs or wings).  We have breasts too, kg trays and split 3 ways.
Large  supply of all kinds of fruits.  We mainly have apples, bananas and tinned.
Eating 3 meals a day and rarely eating out or getting takeaways.
A few 'faddy' items ( not for me ) like a certain type of oat milk, different types of seeds
Family weakness for crisps.
Use expensive Persil liquid and cleaners ( not my choice !)
Large free range eggs

We do not waste much food either.

So nothing exotic, and all a bit middle of the road, but it just seems to add up. 

Comments in bold.

How many portions (weight) do you get from mince and chicken?

500g mince does us 4 portions (2 dinners)
1kg of fresh chicken does 6 portions (3 dinners)

Do you weigh out pasta or rice or cereal?

What do you consider a "meal", especially for breakfast and non-main meal (lunch or tea)?

We just have cereal (Aldi) for breakfast, mid morning toast or croissant, main meal at lunch and then a sandwich (2 halves) for tea.   We do have some snacks and biscuits too.  

I could not really answer these questions very well, as we all tend to have something different at each time of day.
I try to keep some sort of order for everyone having the same main meal, but it only works some of the time. Part of the problem maybe.

Sea_Shell

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

The other thing that is possibly a factor, is that we're not big eaters.

What about portion sizes?
Puddings or desserts?
Branded soft drinks?

You have made me have a double check  of grocery expenditure and of what might be the 'problem'

Ignoring December, average monthly expenditure minus alcohol is around £675, but taking into account that the two young adults are only here around two thirds of the time, my previous figure of £750 for 4 looks about right.

Even looking at the bills nothing really stands out.
Branded soft drinks - Yes but bought in 24 packs from Costco + cheap fizzy water.  We don't have these, just some Aldi diet lemonade in 2ltr bottles.
Fresh Salmon - Yes also bought in bulk from Costco
Puddings - only a few yoghurts.  Same here, but Aldi "activia".

I think it is a cumulative effect of.
Generally not buying supermarket own label stuff. Soup, beans, coffee, tea etc).   There are very few branded items that we buy.
Not buying 'Value' ranges for most things.  Neither do we, quite a few items are "specially selected".
Some experimenting in the kitchen
Use 5% fat mince ( more expensive).  We use 20% and drain off all the excess as it cooks and chicken breasts ( not thighs or wings).  We have breasts too, kg trays and split 3 ways.
Large  supply of all kinds of fruits.  We mainly have apples, bananas and tinned.
Eating 3 meals a day and rarely eating out or getting takeaways.
A few 'faddy' items ( not for me ) like a certain type of oat milk, different types of seeds
Family weakness for crisps.
Use expensive Persil liquid and cleaners ( not my choice !)
Large free range eggs

We do not waste much food either.

So nothing exotic, and all a bit middle of the road, but it just seems to add up. 

Comments in bold.

How many portions (weight) do you get from mince and chicken?

500g mince does us 4 portions (2 dinners)
1kg of fresh chicken does 6 portions (3 dinners)

Do you weigh out pasta or rice or cereal?

What do you consider a "meal", especially for breakfast and non-main meal (lunch or tea)?

We just have cereal (Aldi) for breakfast, mid morning toast or croissant, main meal at lunch and then a sandwich (2 halves) for tea.   We do have some snacks and biscuits too.  

I could not really answer these questions very well, as we all tend to have something different at each time of day.
I try to keep some sort of order for everyone having the same main meal, but it only works some of the time. Part of the problem maybe.

Could well be less economical.  Everyone eating different things at different times.  

FIREDreamer

@Sea_Shell when are we getting a year end update?

Be interesting to see your gains this year.

I might start my own thread as I debate with myself when to (early-ish) retire! Before I hit the big 60 in 2024!

Sea_Shell

FIREDreamer said:

@Sea_Shell when are we getting a year end update?

Be interesting to see your gains this year.

I might start my own thread as I debate with myself when to (early-ish) retire! Before I hit the big 60 in 2024!

Well, the markets were open this week, so I should have all the final figures tomorrow, as nothing else will change before Monday.

It's looking good so far😉