Monthly shopping bill
Discussion
We are in the process of moving home and I'm taking the opportunity to look at finances and see where we could make some savings, or at least understand where our money is going each month. All of it makes sense to me except the amount of money we seem to be spending in supermarkets - last month it was over £500 which seems a bit much to me.
For context, my wife and 3yo daughter are at home, and I work from home 3 days a week. We are probably far too disorganised as it would appear that in August there were about 15 trips to the supermarket! Now a few of those were for unplanned events (eg a random BBQ requiring beer/BBQ stuff) but I want to get to a stage where we do a "big shop" at the start of the month and only need extra trips for bread/milk/fruit etc.
What are we doing wrong? Or is £500 a month for a family of 3 in any way normal? It can't be can it...?
For context, my wife and 3yo daughter are at home, and I work from home 3 days a week. We are probably far too disorganised as it would appear that in August there were about 15 trips to the supermarket! Now a few of those were for unplanned events (eg a random BBQ requiring beer/BBQ stuff) but I want to get to a stage where we do a "big shop" at the start of the month and only need extra trips for bread/milk/fruit etc.
What are we doing wrong? Or is £500 a month for a family of 3 in any way normal? It can't be can it...?
Plan it!
It sounds as though you need to structure it to save money. Draw up a meal planner, maybe just the evenings to start with, and stick to it.
Mon- Spag Bol
Tue- Chicken N Chips
Wed- Roast
Etc
Etc
It sounds boring but you can vary it each week. The key is to buy only what you need. You can keep the leftovers for snacks.
At the weekend have what you want.
It sounds as though you need to structure it to save money. Draw up a meal planner, maybe just the evenings to start with, and stick to it.
Mon- Spag Bol
Tue- Chicken N Chips
Wed- Roast
Etc
Etc
It sounds boring but you can vary it each week. The key is to buy only what you need. You can keep the leftovers for snacks.
At the weekend have what you want.
5 of us at home and I budget £700, that is me, wife and three sons, aged 17,19 and 20, so £500 for two of you plus a small child is quite a lot.
Generally shop at Aldi which keeps it down, middle one going back to Uni and eldest will only be there two days a week as is on an apprenticeship so can feed himself the rest of the time, so, hopefully the bill will drop under £500 for the months they are away.
I did a thread on it last year that people gave some good time in.
Generally shop at Aldi which keeps it down, middle one going back to Uni and eldest will only be there two days a week as is on an apprenticeship so can feed himself the rest of the time, so, hopefully the bill will drop under £500 for the months they are away.
I did a thread on it last year that people gave some good time in.
Family of 4 here (inc. a 14mth old with a requirement for nappies and a 6 year old boy who likes to eat us out of house and home)
Normally spend around £400 p/mth (no booze) on food/household essentials + the milk bill @ £25 p/mth.
Planning meals seems to help us a lot. Eg. Roast chicken on a Sunday and then have the leftovers in a pie on the Mon/Tues. Or boiled bacon joint (£8) will normally feed the four of us for 3 or 4 nights.
We've been trying to avoid just popping in for a couple of bits here and there as that normally adds £20 a week to the shopping bill.
ETA. Try watching a couple of episodes of Eat Well For Less - quite eye opening to be honest
Normally spend around £400 p/mth (no booze) on food/household essentials + the milk bill @ £25 p/mth.
Planning meals seems to help us a lot. Eg. Roast chicken on a Sunday and then have the leftovers in a pie on the Mon/Tues. Or boiled bacon joint (£8) will normally feed the four of us for 3 or 4 nights.
We've been trying to avoid just popping in for a couple of bits here and there as that normally adds £20 a week to the shopping bill.
ETA. Try watching a couple of episodes of Eat Well For Less - quite eye opening to be honest
I live alone and over the last seven months my shopping bill has averaged £264.63 per month (roughly! 
)
I don't eat or drink extravagantly, but I don't buy anything 'own brand' and that includes booze so I could certainly do it cheaper if I wanted/needed to.
So your figure doesn't sound far out to me.
)I don't eat or drink extravagantly, but I don't buy anything 'own brand' and that includes booze so I could certainly do it cheaper if I wanted/needed to.
So your figure doesn't sound far out to me.
Im clearly doing it wrong - Me and the Mrs and live with our 18 and 16 year old boys - we get through about £300 a week* from Tesco. I think a fair proportion of that goes straight into the bin though as my Mrs is one of those people who just picks up something because its in a shiny packet but then never eats it.
Or buys loads of salad because its healthy but again it just gets binned.
Having said that, teenage boys are like locusts, any food that comes into the house that is even remotely like normal food (i.e. not the stuff in the shiny packets my mrs buys) just vanishes.
'*Not including wine, fags and other treats
ETA: Oh I forgot, also probably £100 a week on top of that split between butchers and waitrose
Or buys loads of salad because its healthy but again it just gets binned.
Having said that, teenage boys are like locusts, any food that comes into the house that is even remotely like normal food (i.e. not the stuff in the shiny packets my mrs buys) just vanishes.
'*Not including wine, fags and other treats
ETA: Oh I forgot, also probably £100 a week on top of that split between butchers and waitrose
Edited by Dodsy on Wednesday 31st August 12:02
Try Aldi or Lidl, really! A new Aldi opened near us so I went in for a laugh, we now do most of our shopping there! There is an adjustment period where you need to get used to different names and logos but it's worth persevering. I now much prefer Seals to Penguins!
We find we still need to go to Tesco for a few bits, we often end up spending as much in there on odds and ends as a full shop in Aldi, I don't know how we afforded a full Tesco shop now.
We find we still need to go to Tesco for a few bits, we often end up spending as much in there on odds and ends as a full shop in Aldi, I don't know how we afforded a full Tesco shop now.
You'll probably find a big chunk is non-food. I try and avoid looking as it just annoys me, but stuff like washing powder/liquid is pretty dear.
There's just two of us at home now, but my wife will often pick up stuff that she thinks our daughters / granddaughters will like. She does a main shop once a week which seems to be nudging ever closer to £200 a time and will "pop into" Costco to get a roast chicken and will spend £50 or the farm shop to get their special bread and will do the same.
She also seems to think if she uses different cards in different places then it doesn't cost as much.
There's just two of us at home now, but my wife will often pick up stuff that she thinks our daughters / granddaughters will like. She does a main shop once a week which seems to be nudging ever closer to £200 a time and will "pop into" Costco to get a roast chicken and will spend £50 or the farm shop to get their special bread and will do the same.
She also seems to think if she uses different cards in different places then it doesn't cost as much.
Thanks for the responses so far, seems we have some planning to do. We used to be much better at planning meals and making batches of chilli/curry/casseroles etc but a few life complications have become an excuse for a bit of laziness I guess. Our bill included 1 Lidl shop and the rest was Tesco or Asda (only because it's closest - I hate the place and will never buy food from there except bread/milk). It does also include beer/spirits but not wine (that's an additional cost at Majestic!).
Going to head to our nearest farm shop later to get our meat for the month like we used to - the food is better than the supermarket stuff and seems to go further.
Thanks for confirming I should be able to get this down a bit with a bit of planning.
Going to head to our nearest farm shop later to get our meat for the month like we used to - the food is better than the supermarket stuff and seems to go further.
Thanks for confirming I should be able to get this down a bit with a bit of planning.
nerd alert: 4 years ago I kept all our shopping receipts and put them on excel for 12 mths.
we'd moved house, bills were larger, wife on maternity leave and it was just something to monitor.
shopping habits changed: so we did major shopping at Aldi. shopping at Asda for branded stuff: eg nappies, baby formula and a 4 weekly shop to a farm shop for meat. My wife won't be stingy here, its all prime stuff and their meat/veg is way better than any supermarket.
so for 2 adults, 2 children (one 3, one a baby) with wine, beer, all baby stuff, really decent meat, medicines like calpol and so on: we were at £78.50 a week on average.
my wife cooks properly, plans ahead- there is no frozen meals/microwave stuff. any sauce for a meal is going to be made from scratch, as oppose to from a jar. we seem to eat and drink really well to be honest. I do have an allotment in the garden, but it's contribution to the food supply is going to be very marginal.
That eat well for less programme is utterley hilarious: I simply don't get people !
we'd moved house, bills were larger, wife on maternity leave and it was just something to monitor.
shopping habits changed: so we did major shopping at Aldi. shopping at Asda for branded stuff: eg nappies, baby formula and a 4 weekly shop to a farm shop for meat. My wife won't be stingy here, its all prime stuff and their meat/veg is way better than any supermarket.
so for 2 adults, 2 children (one 3, one a baby) with wine, beer, all baby stuff, really decent meat, medicines like calpol and so on: we were at £78.50 a week on average.
my wife cooks properly, plans ahead- there is no frozen meals/microwave stuff. any sauce for a meal is going to be made from scratch, as oppose to from a jar. we seem to eat and drink really well to be honest. I do have an allotment in the garden, but it's contribution to the food supply is going to be very marginal.
That eat well for less programme is utterley hilarious: I simply don't get people !
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff