Your weekly shop

[DCS]

we spend around £80-£100 a month on a big shop. that's food for me, OH, LO, and the dog. with top ups each week around £10. for bread, milk, cheese.
Im a SAHM, and OH doesn't earn alot so we have to be very careful.

I plan all our meals, and if we are having something twice in one month, say a lasagne, ill make 2 and freeze one. saves the veg being wasted, and then going out and buying more. OH takes a pack up to work.
i buy all the meat from the butchers and separate into portions and freeze.
I do the big shop online, using mysupermarket.
now that LO is eating we dont buy junk. trying to lead by example.
and all our meals are home cooked.
We buy LOs nappies in bulk during the events. and alot of his clothes are brought in the sales. i tend to buy ahead. we havnt brought any wipes in months as we stocked up when johnsons were on offer.
it may seem ridiculous to some the way i do things but this way, we always have good food, and money leftover for treats, and days out.

and i send OH in for the top ups as im terrible at getting just what i went in for. the cakes and cookies always jump into my basket.

hth

 

[leahsbabybump]

to save money we buy in bulk from costco so we get like 8 pints of milk for £1.50 2 loafs of warburtons for about £1.70
we buy condiments salt pepper vinegar you get my drify in bulk so we have to buy it like once or twice a year
if stuff we use is on offer and its a mega deal then we will buy loads of it enough to lasts month aslong as they are short dates
we do our frezzer shopping once a month so we stock up both our freezers in like fulton foods or farmfoods for about £50 lasts all month for 3 of us
then each week we just have to get bread and milk and other fresh bits like yoghurt etc
to save money we also only have treats once a month so we dont buy crisps choccies buns ice cream all the time it gets bought once a month once its gone it gone
for lo i buy her fresh veg steam it mash it then freeze it lasts about 3 weeks for £5-£7 worth of veg
nappies and wipes wise we either buy on offer or get wholesale but tbh wholesale not that much cheaper than shops offers
my son eats what we eat so no extra to pay out there
so yeah altogeather each month i say we spend about £170-£200 thats for 4 people and includes nappies wipes baby formula etc etc

to cut back you could bulk make lik e1 night have stew then warm it up the next day or freeze it and have it in a few days time
my nan makes stew/ash/brasing steak/pies/bolognase/curry one night then they eat it the next day whats left over lol same with veggies on sunday they make bubble n squeak my nan is really used to economising were food is conserned cos my grandad was a miner so they whent through strikes etc living with barely any food at all they spend i think £30 a week on shopping thats for 3 people lol they do stick to asda smart price stuff and that though lol

 

[nugget80]

I spend around £75 a week on shopping which doesn't include nappies. That is for 5 of us and the cat. I do it all online otherwise I find things I never even knew I wanted creeping into the trolley!

 

[tardiz]

Ours is £50 per week for three of us and two cats! Today we left sainsburys £120 lighter!! I did get loads of nappies and wipes on sale but still !!

 

[feeble]

We spend around 30 a week on veggies, fruit, bread, milk and cheese

We used to spend around 250 a month on cereals/meat/sauces/seedy bars/butter etc

Now we have gone veggie and are looking at spending around 60 a week in total on everything.

To save money we breastfeed, use cloth nappies (which are miles cheaper despite using a tumble drier we only spend 5 a week on electric, which would not even cover spoies)

We make extra food of an evening and all have it for lunch

Buy from the charter market (very cheap, very good quality)

And eat veggie! It's so so cheap compared to the price of meat.

 

[sequeena]

I do a £60-£70 online shop with Tesco at the beginning of the month. Frozen, cupboard, cleaning stuff etc. then we top up in the week. With formula/nappies it's probably £20-£30 a week extra.

It's me, OH, Thomas, 3 dogs and 2 cats. Dog and cat food a month comes under £20.

 

[Kay_Baby]

We spend about £300 a month. That’s for 2 adults, 2 cats and LO.

We like to eat good food and love to treat ourselves to something pricey every couple of weeks like a whole duck. I do pounce on special offers when I see them, I currently have 6 bags of my cats favourite food in the garage as it was on a really good deal.

I also go to Costco with my mum and we bulk buy some items between us. I also get LO's nappies there. They work out generally 1p a nappy cheaper. That adds up quickly.

My money saving tip sounds odd but I have a veg box delivery every week for a local organic farm. Its cost a little more than buying standard veg (cheaper than organic) from the supermarket but the veg is so fresh and in season it last so much longer. I regularly have veg last weeks so never have any wastage
.

 

[Bex84]

£30 it used to be more, now I am very strict on budget. We buy exactly what we need for meals. I shop online so I dont buy anything we dont need, and will buy value except for LOs stuff. LO has organic stuff which I will cook and freeze at weekend for rest of week so nothing goes off. I plan out meals so I know what we need. Shopping online is my savior, since you dont buy what you dont need. £30 is including all stuff for LO as well. I am breast feeding so is a bit cheeper. I use online to check deals as well it ends up £34.50 with delivery which is a saving of what we would have spent on petrol. We are limited to one luxery a week. That is for me LO, and DH. Oh and that includes pets, except for the bag of dry food which ends up about £12 extra a month. We use tesco or asda

 

[Bex84]

I would highly recomend tescos value baby wipes, they are unpurfumed, perfect for cleaning very messy bums and cost 36p.

 

[Bex84]

I agree with feeble since I'm vegeterian its cheaper, we only buy small amounts of meat for DH since he is fine eating mostly vegeterian, I will cook a bit more meat when LO starts eating it.

 

[XJessicaX]

Anyone else who overspends feel a bit ashamed? I think I will now start planning meals and spending less...maybe even have a budget!

Think of all the shoes we could buy!

 

[XJessicaX]

Ooooh, people who have pets. Try ordering online. We have 6 guinea pigs so used to buy at pet stores which cost a fortune. Now we order off Amazon, SOOOOO much cheaper!

 

[Gemie]

I agree with feeble since I'm vegeterian its cheaper, we only buy small amounts of meat for DH since he is fine eating mostly vegeterian, I will cook a bit more meat when LO starts eating it.

My DH is veggie and we still spend £100+ a week lol I shop online for the 'big shop' too

 

[Hellodoris]

We spend about £45 a week for 3 of us all in, I buy nappies and wipes out of child benefit so we don't include that in our food budget. We scour the shelves for "yellow sticker" items and regularly buy cheap loaves of bread and bung them in the freezer. We cook all of our food from scratch and use "value" products like tinned tomatoes to bulk out currys and pasta dishes. We also buy cheap cuts of meat (shin of beef etc) and use the slow cooker to make stews, we buy whole chickens and butcher them at home and make sure we use bones for stock. We once got 5 dinners plus a jar of stock from one large chicken. I never let food go to waste so use up everything we buy. If something went in the bin last month we don't buy it or buy less the following month. There was a programme on the BBC a couple of years ago called economy gastronomy and we like to try and follow the principles of that. I still think we could cut down as we do treat ourselves once a week to cakes etc. Plus OH can not eat wheat so we have to buy "special" pasta and bread for him which can really add up, he tends to make his own pasta and we eat lots of potatoes. Ohh and we go to our local Asian supermarket and bulk buy herbs, spices and huge bags of rice to make curries and stir fries etc!

 

[Nut_Shake]

Oh lord, I was just thinking about this actually. We spend around £120 a week on the grocery shop, meat from the butchers and toiletries, and that's me being careful! I must budget better, it's getting ridiculous!

 

[Bexxx]

My 'big shop' would be around £35 tops. P/w. But that's just me and LO
Plus I'm vegan so I don't buy meat/cheese etc.

 

[KatieB]

Oh lord, I was just thinking about this actually. We spend around £120 a week on the grocery shop, meat from the butchers and toiletries, and that's me being careful! I must budget better, it's getting ridiculous!

I know what you mean! OH has started to go shopping now when Louis is asleep so I don't go - he always spends much more wisely I've been banned from Waitrose unless for "special" occasions

 

[Green Lady]

Our weekly shop has gone up since I don't really cook anymore. Thank God for Birds-Eye is a phrase around here! I spend about £60 a week on food, plus we usually have take away a couple nights a week which adds on about £20. LO breastfeeds and we already have a stash of cloth nappies so I don't really need to spend much on the baby (not that I let that stop me!). Just maybe a packet of wipes a week is all she really needs. We do have an excellent organic foods co-op near here which sells veggies for cheap, so I can make up her purees without spending much at all.

For saving money I pick up things at Cool Trader or Quality Save, they usually have pretty good deals. For the little things like toothpaste or biscuits I go there first. Most of the shopping is done at Morrisons as they're the supermarket nearest. I used to shop at Asda which is cheaper but it's awkward to get there now, so I only go about once a month and stock up on loo roll.

I often tend to buy what's on offer these days. My freezer is my friend! I just have a wander around the supermarket and pick things out that we might like. Pasta and rice are always staples that I can buy pretty cheaply. I buy supermarket brands on a lot of things, too.

 

[Jchihuahua]

We shop online and spend about £250 a month and then maybe £15 a week on milk/bread/fresh fruit etc. I have 3 dogs, 2 cats and 5 guinea pigs and a HUGE portion of my shopping budget goes on them, especially as one of my dogs needs a special diet. The only baby related stuff I get is nappies, wipes and snack things.

 

[Breezy]

150-200 dollars here. Including formula.