How to reduce shopping bill please?

BallerinaGirl

I have decided that my weekly shopping bill needs to improve and are looking for some advice????

Family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children ages 13 and 10.

My weekly shopping bill can be £100-£120.00

I have to make packed lunches for everyone everyday, and then there are evening meals, snacks and household groceries.

I am trying also to provide a much healthier diet which seems to be more expensive??

I currently shop at Tesco as it is just across the road from me.

ANY ADVICE PLEASE? The money saved would go towards another debt to be paid off!!!!

Would bulk shopping be better? Is there any other supermarkets which are cheaper????

Thanks in advance.

immoral_angeluk

Tesco value is your friend
I feed 2 adults, 2 children nearly 3 and nearly 1 both still in nappies) and a kitten on £50 a week. I make meals from scratch, meal plan, and buy the cheapest of everything I can.

Uniscots97

BG, it depends what you are buying too (joints of meat etc). I stick to Tesco Value ranges as IA suggests and my food bill came down dramatically. Is your shop including cost of soap powder and toiletries? Why not get your last shopping list and note everything down here and we'll see what we can come up with. Meal planning also helps you cut down cost.

immoral_angeluk

Forgot to mention that my £50 a week includes all , household stuff, toiletries and baby things..

WaxiesDargle

Spooky

I was just about to start a thread on this subject!

I have just done a check on supermarket (ASDA) spending and so far this month it is £174.45 so that is me spending around £350 a month on me and my two teenage girls (also have school packed lunches)

My problem I think, is that i'm in ASDA every day virtually to get the fresh stuff. I'll have to start using the freezer a bit more cos that is empty!

dancingfairy

Have you tried Martin's downsize challenge? Basically you buy one brand lower than what you normally buy- if you like it great and if not at least you tried it. He reckons it saves about 1/3 I think.
Have you also tried meal planning- I find that has saved loads as we think about having a varied (and cheap) diet and only buy what we need so we waste a lot less fruit and veg.
Can you go to a market? See if their veg is any cheaper?
Can you get hold of a copy of Martin's Old Style book from a friend or the library - good tips for doing things cheaply- especially with regards to fancy cleaning products- you hardly need any. I just clean my cooker with washing up liquid for example - none of this expensive cooker cleaner stuff. Same with surfaces/toilets etc- just one multipurpose should do the job.
BOGOFs- you know if you were going to buy it anyway. Buy one get one free.
Multipacks of things if poss as they can be cheaper ie toilet roll etc.
If you are using Tesco - do you use a clubcard?
Lidl and ALdi are meant to be quite good for some things I think but I just have a Tesco and a Sainsbury's near me so it can be done.


P.S I'm not great and I'm trying to get my food bill down as well. There is 2 of us and we want to spend less than 50 a week on food. This should be doable. I think if you can do it on 20 a person per week that's pretty good going so that's what I want to eventually aim for. Obviously there are people on the Old Style board who can do it for less than this and IA can but I think 20 a week per person is pretty good going. We find it easier to do 3 days shopping at a time as we live fairly near a supermarket and it stops veg going off as we are not organised to do a full week in one go.

OliveOyl_2

The biggest saving I made, was to stop throwing uneaten/gone off food away.
We've learned to deal with leftovers, and not shop "in a dream" where we see and put in the trolley with vague plans for a meal. Rather we now menu plan, freeze leftovers, make soup with tired begetables etc.
We're buying less and wasting none of what we buy.

floss2

Take a look at the Old Style board for menu plan ideas, "what can I do with", etc.

mummum2

Agree with OO, I don't throw any left over food away, pack them into fridge containers and reheat the following day or day after that. Can last for at least a few days in the fridge.

I buy all vegatables from markets, I suppose not everyone has that option, but it works out cheaper than the supermarkets. I buy all juices/water from Aldi again saves a lot. Meat is from butcher and not supermarkets. All cleaning stuff is bought from 99p shop. I have always cooked meals from scratch, but not really meal planned. Since being on here my weekly shop have gone from £160 per week to £70/£80 for a family of 4, still high, but aiming to reduce further this year. All saving goes into a saving pot, under my bed lol:lol, will be counting at end of December.

skylight

Everyone wants to declare what they can do. And unashamadly, I am not different! Family of 6 (one under 1) for about £50-£80 a week (inc a dog)

-Meal Plan. Write a list of eveything you intend to eat and work your shopping list that way. TBH this was difficult to introduce with my family. OH used to go throught he freezer and state he wanted "that" for dinner. Getting them to accept that the freezer is not full of "extra" and they get what they are being given or go hungry is not easy - but our food bill has halfed.
- Do Martins "drop one" challenge. If you have branded, try Shop own. If you already have shop own, try the value. Now, there will be some you may not like when dropping one, but the majority of stuff you will not even notice. And its approx. a third saving. IE biscuits. I buy value biscuits. When our lot have 2 each a day, thats a lot of packets a week. Decant them into a biscuit barrel and they haven't even noticed...
- Do not waste food. I am terrible for meal planning and not using. ie - Spag Bol. Defrost the mince then can't be bothered to cook it..... for days..... mince goes funny ..... DFW cardinal sin......
- Homemade. Yep - its a touch more expensive for the first week (or two) when you have to stock up the store cupboard, but once its there you replace as needed. Homemade is ultimately cheaper, healthier, nicer, get the kids involved...
- You are on the right track with packed lunches, but what are you putting in them? Fruit shoots? Buy cheaper cartons or a bottle to make your own (Amazing price difference here!)
- DO NOT take OH or kids shopping. DO NOT send them on your behalf. It doesn't work. Trust me.......
- take a shopping list and stick to it.

Go to the Old Style Board. Huge selection of ideas/tips/reciepes. Scour goggle for more ideas.

Good luck
xxx

dancingfairy

Bilmey what do you feed them on? Bread and dripping? Seriously though I think we could cut our food bill still more if we didn't buy sweets and treats and things though. We must spend a fortune on those non-essentials. Do you ever feel deprived living on such a tiny budget?