Keep Overspending on food

A question about : Keep Overspending on food

Me and OH live together with no children or pets, I tried to set a monthly food shop budget of Ј200 but we constantly exceed this. I notice from looking back it is often about Ј300 per month and it doesn't feel like we've had luxuries.

We both work full time so I have to admit the food shop is mostly done at nearest supermarket for convenience (Sainsburys). Also I'm trying to follow slimming world so buying lots more fruits than usual.

We like our meat and rarely have vegetarian meals, but I did bulk buy some meat from a butcher that start of the month (Ј40 for whole month worth, this got us 6 x 1kg packs of different meats which I figured would be better quality than the usual supermarket 3 for Ј10 on 500g or less packs of meat). We don't buy alcohol that often. I usually do a large monthly shop to cover all meals that month then do small top ups for lunch items (we both have packed lunches every day) and milk etc.

Any tips for keeping the costs down? I notice from reading older posts a lot of people manage on Ј50 per week... we could afford to go to Ј250 a month but Ј300 is leaving us going into our overdraft which is soon to stop being interest free so need to sort this out....

Edited to add that I usually cook from scratch but make leftovers for freezing so feel like I'm already doing something that is supposedly meant to be good for money saving....

Best answers:

• How much of that meat are you using per meal? If you bulk buy meat then freeze it in approx 250g portions, that is 125g per person. If buying pork steaks or similar it might not always work out that weight, but freeze them in bags of 2 steaks so you only use the meat you need for one meal.
  We used to always do the 3 for Ј10 at supermarket. Then use the whole 400g pack of mince in one meal, or a pack of 4 or even 6 pork steaks in one go. Since buying big in Costco we have been freezing in small portions and defrosting just what we need for that meal so instead of 400g mince between two, we have 250g, so our meat goes further and we have a healthier, smaller portion size.
  We manage on about Ј50 a week for two I think, hard to say as shopping is split between Costco and Asda/Tesco, but Costco includes a lot of non-food. We also have at least one meal out (only Nando's level of about Ј25-30 for two people or a KFC or similar).
• I think this an area we could improve at - but my OH would probably think 1 pork steak is a bit stingy. For mince we are pretty good I think, normally get 2 meals out of 500g (4 portions) so that works out as you say 125g per person. Some people at work suggested I get quorn for some meals, but if OH found out I don't think he'd be too impressed! I think our problem is I'm a fussy eater only liking certain fruit and veg and he has high standards for what counts as a proper meal for dinner (beans on toast won't cut it, but I'd have that sometimes if it was just me).
  We are overspending on takeaway also but I haven't factored that into these calculations (we're meant to be cutting down on this anyway as it is too many slimming world syns!).
• Lots and lots of similar threads if you look for them - most recently
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=5177351
  Post #2 on this has a link to a good list of cheap and easy to make meals
  ( and you should also try the "downshift challenge" )
• I do SW too and we easily manage on Ј50 a week for two of us. That doesn't include alcohol (that's from entertainment budget) but does include basic toiletries and cleaning stuff. We almost always have meat at each meal but smallish amounts served with generous amounts of veg and potatoes (or rice, pasta etc).
  Do come over to the SW thread and look at peoples menus, it might help you.
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=5142695
  I'd say two things. One is that if you want to save and avoid being overdrawn then your DH needs to be on board. The other is that you need to put in the effort in planning. I know it's not easy when you're working but it really does save time (and money) in the long run. There are heaps of tips like:
• start from using whatever you have in and only buy essential extras to make meals
• make a meal plan for all your evening meals and ingredients for breakfasts and lunches
• make sure the plan fits your lifestyle so that you have things that fit busy days and others (perhaps weekends) when you have a bit more time
• write a shopping list and stick to it (you might want to buy offers and YS things but only if they'll store)
• do one main shop and try not to keep calling in for top-ups as it's easy to fritter money like that
• try to shop around a bit. Start by going to Aldi or Lidl.
• cook your own ready meals and freeze them (chilli, Bolognese, curry etc) so that you spend less and control the ingredients
• don't take this all on yourself, share the load with your DH

I'm sure others will be along with more tips very soon.
Good Luck!

• Ј150 each per month is Ј5 per day each. Not that high but still high (I aim towards the Ј3.50 mark but everyone is different!)
  My advice would be to stock up on deals on things like toilet roll, cereals, frozen goods as they will store for ages.
• Stop buying all your vegetables and fruit at Sainsbury's.
  They are one of the most expensive of the main supermarkets for it.
  Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl are a lot cheaper. Hell even Tesco is.
• You've probably already thought of this but I have a very strict budget I need to stick to and the best way I've been able to do that is by only taking out the money I have in cash. If I get to the till and it goes over, I just have to put stuff back and go without. It's still something I struggle with now and I've been doing things this way a while now but it does keep me in check and it's amazing how well you find you just manage to go without- you think you really need stuff, you do eat it all but when push comes to shove, after the initial anxiety and irritation you can find that it is possible to manage on just having less stuff.
  And always write a list- and make sure you don't deviate from it!
• What fruit are you eating and how much. Some of my colleagues are on slimming world and they must eat a tenner's worth of fruit a week each just in the office as snacks.
  Could you buy cheaper fruit or frozen berries rather than fresh? I like carrot sticks as an alternative to fruit sometimes.
  Meat is the other problem - if your OH expects a meal to contain a big portion of meat it is never going to be cheap.
  What does he think about the situation? Does he understand that you cannot afford to eat this way? Are there other areas that you can cut back on, or what about stews with cheaper cuts of meat such as stewing steak rather than pork chops. The addition of pearl barley, veg and dumplings often means you can get away with less meat.
• Echoing what the previous poster has said. You can stretch your mince further too. I add a can of baked beans and kidney beans to my mince. I get 8 portions out of 500g of mince. I'm doing SW too. You don't need to spend a fortune on fruit, plenty of cheaper options out there.
• My biggest money saver was moving from Asda to Aldi. And i nearly have a heart attack over the price of fresh fuit and veg in Sainsburys if I ever go in - honestly, it is ridiculously priced compared to Aldi or even Asda.
  If this was a long term thing and you had the space I would be advocating getting more freezer space. Mine is rammed full of homemade soups for lunch. And I cleared out Aldi the other day because they were selling off LowLow readymeals for 69p each - perfect for lunches at work and you can't make a butty for that price.
  Good luck
• I have found bizarrely that I spend less when I shop online, compared to instore. Don't know if it helps me see alternative products, or if its because I stick to the list better. I tend to look at whats on offer and then plan meals around that.
  Before shopping online I was averaging Ј150 a week, now its around Ј85, there's me the wife and a baby, so although thats a lot to some, its been a big saving to us.
  Though the wife complained last week that I'd missed a couple of items, so decided she would do the shop this week, she never got round to ordering it, so she just went into the shop and spent Ј100 on her way home from work. She wants to try the SW meals this week from iceland, and didn't get any of them, so I can see us spending another Ј50 at least.
  Maybe its her not being involved rather than internet shopping that's helped reduce the bill.
• I find doing my weekly shop in a smaller supermarket helps massively - nearly halved my spend by swapping from Tesco to Waitrose. If only my self-control was better!
• Shop online and do a monthly shop then just do top ups of milk and veg.
  What are you spending all the extra on?
  Me and teen ds eat meat every day and,despite his huge appetite,if I don't keep picking up extra bits our monthly food shop is under Ј200.
  I've just had my meat delivery from Clare Barry today (online butcher shop for Angels Butchers up the line) with 20 good sized chicken breasts,20 chicken legs,8 chicken portions,1.6kilos of diced chicken (ds is a chicken fiend!!),2 kilos of steak mince,4 chilli burgers (for a lazy lunch) and 4 800g rolls of brisket for Ј79.
  That will last a while.
  Potatoes,I get 7.5 kilo sacks from farm food for around Ј3. Other veg I get on offer and tend to blanch and freeze (swede and parsnip being ds faves there)
  Cereal,breakfast muffins etc tend to be on offer and muffins can be frozen.
  Herbs and spices are topped up as and when.
  My monthly tesco shop is done for cereal,muffins,flour,butter,eggs,tinned tomatoes,yoghurt,the Pure milk which stays fresh for 7 days once open and is always on offer (lasts ages before opened),bacon medallions (always on offer),sausages,a few snacks and just mainly ingredients. Most snacks are home made so it's things like honey,porridge oats etc for flap jacks,the flour is value and only 45p kilo which is used to make cakes,biscuits,pastry. Fruit is done weekly.
  A bit of planning and building up a cupboard of ingredients is a good way to go about it.
  Pasta and rice can be bought cheaply in large quantities aswell.
• I already do some of the things people have suggested - I tried the getting cash out strategy, it worked back when OH was unemployed but now it might be either one of us that goes to the shop straight after work and would be annoying if the other had the cash so that sadly is no longer convenient. We do cash for our personal spends to try to control that more though.
  Talked to OH he's willing to try less meat or have quorn sometimes instead.
  I usually do main big shop online I too find it helps with controlling spending a little. Admittedly I didn't this month though.
  Do people usually buy a months worth of fruit and freeze it? I think that's the main thing it'd be nice to not have to keep fetching.
  Soup maker is actually on my wish list currently so maybe I'll try to do more soups in the future I make them occasionally but I reckon I'd do it more with a soup maker.
  shegirl I have no idea what we're spending the extra on, perhaps it is as simple as Sainsburys not being very cheap as we don't even really buy snacks anymore. Following Slimming World so don't buy many bread or snack products now (just get wholemeal loafs), trying to snack on fruit or muller lights (any cheaper syn free brands anyone?). We do buy a lot of bacon but always stuff that's on offer (medallions would be fine but I usually find the normal back bacon packs are on a better offer).
  I do plan meals in advance, usually having a rough guide for the month so I can do the monthly shop then I have to think ahead every few days to make sure the correct meats are defrosted.
  I think my cupboards are fairly well stocked? Things like chopped tomatoes I seem to get through like wildfire but I always buy the basics ones. Part of the issue may be that I'm following a lot of recipes lately so perhaps I'm buying extra ingredients I wouldn't normally use? I also find that my local Sainsburys doesn't do particularly large bags of pasta or rice so perhaps also sourcing bigger bags of this from elsewhere would be better.
  Thanks everyone, I think the main thing I'll take from this is to get even more if possible in monthly shop to prevent the smaller shops, do it online as cheaply as possible, and go to Morrisons or Aldi for the smaller shops especially for fruits even though they are further away (to get to Aldi after work means going through lots more traffic too so I can see that not happening, but the slight bit further to Morrisons isn't unreasonable though).
  Also will definitely look at some of those cheap recipes mentioned near top of thread
• Don't waste money on a soupmaker, a saucepan and cheap stick blender (you can get one for about a fiver) will do the same job.
  Shop at Aldi, you'll save loads. I get all my fruit and veg there, their mushrooms last a week in my fridge, the salad stuff lasts too. I think Aldi fruit and veg beats Morrisons every time.