Food budget thread

[caseydog]

My ex-wife was a coupon clipper. We could save decent money, as long as I kept her from buying things we didn't need just because she had a coupon. That is the down side of coupons, people buy things they wouldn't have bought if not for the coupon. Plus, coupons are usually for big name brand products. You have to compare the coupon price of the name brand, to the price of the store brand. Often, the name brand costs more than the store brand, even with the coupon.

My wife was a sucker for name brands. Peanut butter had to be Skippy, paper towels had to be Bounty. We could afford it, so I let her have her way.

Now, at Home Depot, she was just the opposite. "Why do you want this $400 Toro lawnmower when this bargain brand is $150?" I'd have to explain to her that buying a cheap lawnmower every two to three years costs a lot more than buying a good lawnmower every 20 years.

CD

 

[Windigo]

My ex-wife was a coupon clipper. We could save decent money, as long as I kept her from buying things we didn't need just because she had a coupon. That is the down side of coupons, people buy things they wouldn't have bought if not for the coupon. Plus, coupons are usually for big name brand products. You have to compare the coupon price of the name brand, to the price of the store brand. Often, the name brand costs more than the store brand, even with the coupon.

My wife was a sucker for name brands. Peanut butter had to be Skippy, paper towels had to be Bounty. We could afford it, so I let her have her way.

Now, at Home Depot, she was just the opposite. "Why do you want this $400 Toro lawnmower when this bargain brand is $150?" I'd have to explain to her that buying a cheap lawnmower every two to three years costs a lot more than buying a good lawnmower every 20 years.

CD

There used to be an American program called 'extreme couponing' on the TLC channel here. But that's impossible where I live!

There is only one store that gives out coupons in the entire country, and they are always limited to one purchase per person. The ability to get things for free with coupons is also nonexistent. I was amazed at some people on that show not spending money at all by using coupons!
Back in the day I was on disability, so I was quite jealous of the ability to get things for free by just clipping a few coupons. Something like that doesn't even exist for poor people here.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

When I’m shopping for my household I will generally buy whatever I fancy cooking but I regularly check the prices at other supermarkets by online shopping and having at least three supermarket tabs open.

Ocado is by far the priciest, Waitrose slightly less and Morrisons often the cheapest but then once the whole basket is assembled what you save on some items they take back on another and the final prices aren’t that far from each other. Plus the higher end supermarket means only one shop because they stock all the ingredients. What price convenience?

However Ocado are masters of selling the premium high end products and their algorithms are refined and accurate so it’s almost impossible to get through the checkout without those extra Bavarian sausages, or organic smoked salmon popping up at the “ooh yes I do like those, I could make…” moment

But if the basket total is too rich for my tastes that day I will go through the basket and cull it.

The other thing I’ve noticed is the prices sometimes reflect the quality or quantity of the produce. I had two Cos Lettuces from Morrisons. They were comparably inexpensive, then a few days later the Waitrose ones turned up, they were double the size and much better quality for a tiny amount more moola.

 

[Yorky]

We don't have a food budget, however I do plan the week's meals and shop with a list, so we have very little waste. That keeps the money under control, and is better for the environment. I have a work colleague who just fills her trolley in the supermarket with whatever catches her eye, and she ends up with having to spend on take aways because she hasn't bought enough, or throwing stuff out because it us over its date. That would drive me mad.

I'm afraid that I am similar to your work colleague, however, I rarely shop these days. I just give the list (prepared by us both) to my wife who happily goes off to whatever store/supermarket/market she wishes to purchase what's on the list. Should there be a problem she usually rings/messages me for clarification.

Our purchase of a much larger fridge/freezer a couple of years ago helped with quantity over-ordering but as you can imagine there's minimal space left in there now. Today I had problems finding space for the liquidised tomatoes which we were given.

 

[badjak]

I get to the shop about once a month and I buy what I think I need if it is in stock.
If not, I make another plan.
No idea what I spend on food, but it's not that much.
I got a garden, cook what is in season and I normally cook way too much (I am not capable of cooking for one). I portion the remainder and freeze. Sometimes I even remember to label it

Meat is mainly chicken. I but whole ones and portion them. Sometimes pork, sometimes beef.
Currently it seems that there is only stewing beef. Luckily I like curries, stews etc. Been a while since I had steak.

I'll be in the capital city probably once every 3 or 4 months and that's when I buy the extra's (and have a hair cut)

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We shop weekly, but we only get the food we need for that week (fresh stuff mainly). We also do 1 monthly shop and a smaller top up shop in the same month. These two later shops obviously combine with a fresh stuff weekly shop, but the significance of these is that we qualify for 10% discount to a maximum of $50 discount on each shop. So I rig the shopping to buy our monthly stuff on these shops but also base it on what's on offer, maxing out the offers on that shop, so if something is 50% off, I'll get another 10% on top of that. So if something is $10, reduced to $5, I'll get it for $4.50. But it has be something that we're buying in bulk for a month's supply. If it's not on offer, then we'll just get what we need until the next 10% off shop. We also get extra points for all of our shops so 3× points on top of the specials with extra points and the extra for paying via smartphone rather than credit card. It means we save up around $750 of points each year for Christmas food (anytime in December) and get money off fuel as well.

As for buying at the cheapest place, we don't. We're more interested in quality and availability in one location (driving to multiple locations Isn't cheap in Aussie distances and fuel) and when we lived in the UK we only generally shopped in Waitrose. The quality was so much better and the cost wasn't significantly higher, plus their "buy this" stuff usually failed on us because it had to be vegan, so all that end of isle stuff is wasted on us. I don't even look at them anymore, snacks, squashes, so on, wasted on us. I'm allergic to most of them. Yes, I'll buy stuff we normally use if I see it on offer, but that just means I don't buy it again until I need it.

What do we spend? It's hard to compare because shopping for anything is Australia is typically more expensive (except elecriticty it seems). But we don't worry at $1,000-$1,100 (that's £500‐£550) a month for 2 people (this includes anything available in the supermarket including insect repellent, light bulbs and toiletries plus occasional underwear etc). I supplement from the garden as well, but that's free. I preserve the fruit trees and other stuff, again free and we're lucky that my husband's work provides free fruit for all employees in the office (any tea, coffee and other beverages are also included, hubby drinks herbal tea, that's fine, the company pays for it).

 

[JAS_OH1]

There used to be an American program called 'extreme couponing' on the TLC channel here. But that's impossible where I live!

There is only one store that gives out coupons in the entire country, and they are always limited to one purchase per person. The ability to get things for free with coupons is also nonexistent. I was amazed at some people on that show not spending money at all by using coupons!
Back in the day I was on disability, so I was quite jealous of the ability to get things for free by just clipping a few coupons. Something like that doesn't even exist for poor people here.

That show is mostly staged. I have scored good deals a few times where I hot items for free or for a fraction of the cost a few times years ago but now I only use digital coupons and it's rare these days that I use any at all.

I pay attention to sales and stock up. I posted a few months ago about a meat score of certified Black Angus ribeye ($5.99 lb) and strip steak ($7.99 lb) I bought:

We still have some left as we eat red meat only a few times per month.

 

[TastyReuben]

That show is mostly staged. I have scored good deals a few times where I hot items for free or for a fraction of the cost a few times years ago but now I only use digital coupons and it's rare these days that I use any at all.

I pay attention to sales and stock up. I posted a few months ago about a meat score of certified Black Angus ribeye ($5.99 lb) and strip steak ($7.99 lb) I bought:
View attachment 98282View attachment 98283View attachment 98285View attachment 98284
We still have some left as we eat red meat only a few times per month.

Were you trying to assemble your own cow at home?

 

[LissaC]

This is going to freak out caseydog , but I am a super organized person and I have a Google spreadsheet where I keep track of all my spending and in the end of every month I total how much I spent and where. I even have separate columns for separate categories (ie housing, food, clothes, etc) making it easier to calculate each total.

This year I'm spending an average of 160€/month on food. That's my supermarket spending only, not counting eating out, and while I live alone my boyfriend spends 2/3 days every week at my house and since he eats different stuff for breakfast than me he buys his breakfast food but I buy the rest.

I love going to the supermarket, so every week I check each supermarket's flier so I know what's on sale. If any of the foods I buy regularly are cheap, I buy in bulk so I have enough stock to last me awhile (as long as it's non-perishable food or food that can be frozen). When I'm almost running out of that food I start looking for promotions again.

Something very important is to always compare prices in price per kg or price per liter, not just the price that's on the product. Sometimes products seem to be on sale, but when you look at price per kg/liter you realize there are other products that are not on sale that are cheaper.

The biggest issue is fresh produce, which I don't buy in bulk because I'm afraid of it spoiling. Luckily I recently found the tupperware ventsmart line, in my experience I can keep produce fresh for 3 weeks in these boxes. With onions, when they're on sale I buy in bulk, chop them and freeze them. It works really well for stews, which is most of the food I cook.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

That show is mostly staged. I have scored good deals a few times where I hot items for free or for a fraction of the cost a few times years ago but now I only use digital coupons and it's rare these days that I use any at all.

I pay attention to sales and stock up. I posted a few months ago about a meat score of certified Black Angus ribeye ($5.99 lb) and strip steak ($7.99 lb) I bought:
View attachment 98282View attachment 98283View attachment 98285View attachment 98284
We still have some left as we eat red meat only a few times per month.

Holy cow Batman

 

[LissaC]

There used to be an American program called 'extreme couponing' on the TLC channel here. But that's impossible where I live!

There is only one store that gives out coupons in the entire country, and they are always limited to one purchase per person. The ability to get things for free with coupons is also nonexistent. I was amazed at some people on that show not spending money at all by using coupons!
Back in the day I was on disability, so I was quite jealous of the ability to get things for free by just clipping a few coupons. Something like that doesn't even exist for poor people here.

We can't get things for free with coupons here in Portugal, but some of the biggest supermarkets have discount coupons. Some give you an immediate discount on specific products (Lidl does this), other give you something like cashback (like: get 10% cashback on your loyalty card with your next purchase. For example I purchase a total of 20€ and get 2€ back on my loyalty card).

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

This is going to freak out caseydog , but I am a super organized person and I have a Google spreadsheet where I keep track of all my spending and in the end of every month I total how much I spent and where. I even have separate columns for separate categories (ie housing, food, clothes, etc) making it easier to calculate each total.

This year I'm spending an average of 160€/month on food. That's my supermarket spending only, not counting eating out, and while I live alone my boyfriend spends 2/3 days every week at my house and since he eats different stuff from breakfast than me he buys his breakfast food but I buy the rest.

I love going to the supermarket, so every week I check each supermarket's flier so I know what's on sale. If any of the foods I buy regularly are cheap, I buy in bulk so I have enough stock to last me awhile (as long as it's non-perishable food or food that can be frozen). When I'm almost running out of that food I start looking for promotions again.

Something very important is to always compare prices in price per kg or price per liter, not just the price that's on the product. Sometimes products seem to be on sale, but when you look at price per kg/liter you realize there are other products that are not on sale that are cheaper.

The biggest issue is fresh produce, which I don't buy in bulk because I'm afraid of it spoiling. Luckily I recently found the tupperware ventsmart line, in my experience I can keep produce fresh for 3 weeks in these boxes. With onions, when they're on sale I buy in bulk, chop them and freeze them. It works really well for stews, which is most of the food I cook.

Seeing the price per kg or gram is one of my favourite things about online supermarket shopping, some even allow the search to be listed in price per kilo.
Unfortunately doesn’t necessarily translate into quality per kilo but it’s handy to know.

Smoked sea salt was the last one I looked at.
Ocados offering - a whopping £46.33 per 100grams (£6.95 for a tinsy 15grams).

Sainsburys £1.60 per 100grams (£2.00 for 125grams).

Greedy so n so’s!!

 

[LissaC]

Seeing the price per kg or gram is one of my favourite things about online supermarket shopping, some even allow the search to be listed in price per kilo.
Unfortunately doesn’t necessarily translate into quality per kilo but it’s handy to know.

Smoked sea salt was the last one I looked at.
Ocados offering - a whopping £46.33 per 100grams (£6.95 for a tinsy 15grams).

Sainsburys £1.60 per 100grams (£2.00 for 125grams).

Greedy so n so’s!!

Here in Portugal all supermarkets have the price per kg or price per liter listed on the price tag. I'm not sure but I think it's a legal requirement.

I'll admit that I usually buy the cheapest of everything. And I'm so used to this "cheap" foods that I don't think I can tell the differences in quality. The only items where I clearly notice a difference is with fish (fresh water fish tastes nothing like aquaculture fish, but fresh fish is so much more expensive) and also tomato sauce, cheap tomato sauce brands taste horrible to me and even some cheap canned tomatoes are a no-no.

 

[TastyReuben]

With onions, when they're on sale I buy in bulk, chop them and freeze them.

I need to start doing this, because even though I keep them in a dark, cool spot, they still start sprouting after a few days.

Seeing the price per kg or gram is one of my favourite things about online supermarket shopping, some even allow the search to be listed in price per kilo.

Here, the grocery store app I use the most (Kroger) doesn’t show that (as far as I can tell, anyway), but they show it in-store, on the tag that’s on the shelf.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

I need to start doing this, because even though I keep them in a dark, cool spot, they still start sprouting after a few days.



Here, the grocery store app I use the most (Kroger) doesn’t show that (as far as I can tell, anyway), but they show it in-store, on the tag that’s on the shelf.

It’s hidden in a little tab above what you searched for as an option on most sites in the UK.

‘Price Per High to low’ (rather than Low to High) is also a handy shortcut when you’re looking for the absolute best they think have to offer. They always plug their featured items at the top before showing you what you want to know though.

The ‘customer rating‘ can be handy when looking for good reviews, although thats hit and miss It’s good if you’re in a rush.