Cheapest Way to Food Shop

[Mummabear]

Hi gals (& guys),

I was wondering if anyone has actually worked out what the cheapest way to do the food shopping is? I usually do a big shop once a week, but often find that I'm back at the shops during the week getting more stuff and stretching the budget. Has anyone found it cheaper to forgoe the weekly shop and visit the shops each day to get what you need for that and/or the next day? Or is this a more expensive option?

What other sorts of things do you do to save money?

I'm attempting to switch to cloth nappies to save some $$$ - can't afford the fancy new nappies that are fitted so have to go old school style, so we'll see how that goes, lol :eek:

Any money saving tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Larissa

[tickle]

The big once a week shop is definately cheaper for us. If I go day to day, there's the petrol to start with, and there is more opportunity to impulse buy. Even if you go once a week and have to go back a couple of times, that's still less opportunity than going every day.IYKWIM.
Not that you will save money, but I also get all our bills direct debited from our account weekly so we never have a big bill.
I also get a few things from ALDI that are much cheaper than the other supermarkets.
Good luck!

[Mummabear]

Thanks! I've heard great stuff about Aldi, but we don't have one here. I wish they would hurry up and put one near us, lol.

[aardvark]

I tend to do supermarket shopping once per fortnight, sometimes less frequently, and buy fresh food once per week. And I plan menus for the fortnight so I know what I need before I get there.

I never buy fresh food at the supermarket, the lack of quality for the cost is appalling. I prefer to shop at the market for meat, fruit and veg. The cost of meat is even better if you buy an entire lamb, and have the butcher cut it to suit your needs - a saving of around 25%.

I grow my own lettuce and parsley all year around, and usually have a full veggie patch in summer (pregnancy is slowing me down this year).

[Biene]

I always keep an eye out for specials, its much easier to do this when I shop without DF, as he's hooked on certain brands and if there is a really good discount, then I will buy at least 2 of them.

[Nickster]

We usually plan the meals we are having for the week, and buy accordingly.

We buy our meat at Patton's butchers - at Kuraby - and save plenty of $$$. Never ever buy meat from the supermarket - it is always so much more expensive there. DH goes along once a month and does a big shop there, and we then freeze our month's supply of meat. Of course he is then sometimes naughty and buys salmon steaks from Coles as well!(gotta love him, though!):D

I think the key is to be strict with yourself. Plan what you are going to eat and buy and stick to the plan. Maybe allow yourself one treat each shop - for eg, I bought some yummy gourmet yoghurt for myself last week, and DH bought some prawns - but that's it. Very hard when you LOVE food like we do...:)

[summer]

First of all I have a budget and I TRY hard to stick to it.:rolleyes:

I usually do a weekly menu plan. And shop weekly. That way if I have forgotten anything or have run out during the week I can usually make do or hang out until the next shopping day.I buy all my fruit and veg at the fruit and veg shop and all my meat at the supermarket.
Buy bread and milk for the week and freeze them (this helps with not needing to pop down the shop for them, eliminating the temptation to impulse buy). You can usually pick up bread and milk cheaper at the fruit and veg market.
Also check out your supermarket brochures in the mail and stock up on what is on special when you can afford to. And definately buy generic if it tastes good!
Woolies sells a home brand disposable nappy pack of 72 Large for $19.95. Grip Tabs with a cute blue whale picture on them which are just as good as the top brands. Haven't had one leak on me yet, day or night! And they pack lasts a fortnight.
I write a list and do my best to stick to it and don't shop hungry or with hubby.

Hope this helps:)

[Mamaduke]

Oh and just thought of this, DONT TAKE HUSBAND WITH YOU, They tend to throw things in the trolley that you dont need.
My DH does the weekly shopping! He sticks to the list soooo much that I always comment "if his hair was on fire he wouldn't grab a bottle of water to put it out because IT'S NOT ON THE LIST!!!";)

[meglet]

Ooooh! I love saving $$$! We do a weekly shop because if I do daily I spend HEAPS more and buy exotic and unneccesary things.

I also do my shopping at the fruit and veg markets at Paddy's, it's disgustingly cheap and they have fish markets there too! Then I go to the cheap butchers in Marrickville and all up spend $50 - $70 per week. I'm lucky though, I live in a really good place for cheap shopping! Of course I still need to go to the supermarket for other stuff but it's heaps cheaper when you already have the bulk of the fook yk.

I couldn't agree more with you about not taking the husband with you. They are BADLY BEHAVED at the shops and they spend ridiculous amounts of $$$ on ridiculous things! At xmas, my larger half INSISTED on buying a ham so big we nearly had to hire a semi trailer to get it home :rolleyes: And he buys cat food like they won't be stocking it in the next millenium! (he LOVES the cat)

Carly... Perhaps your husband could do a 6 week course at TAFE for all the men out there who can't shop!

[Mamaduke]

Carly... Perhaps your husband could do a 6 week course at TAFE for all the men out there who can't shop!
He would love that!
You should see how happy he is if he comes home from the supermarket with 3 litres of milk (close to useby) for $1.00!!! It makes his day!
Once he got 3 litres for 40c...he didn't stop talking about it for weeks:p
**let me just add that the 40c milk was okay, it wasn't past it's use by date! Our family loves milk so it's gone in a day or so!

[Mummabear]

DH THINKS he's a great shopper and knows best - I beg to differ! lol

There just always seems to be something that boosts the cost of the shopping way up each week. Did the shopping yesterday and it was $225 (that's for 1 week :eek: ). I'm hoping that my recent (yesterday, lol) switch to cloth nappies will help with the budget.

[the_queen]

The one time my DH did the shopping, he came home with no milk, no bread, plenty of marinated oysters, sardines, pickled octopus (he's the only one that eats them!) and some new BBQ utensils......... :rolleyes: Spent double the fortnightly budget and I had to go shopping the next day to get the essentials!!!

[melfunction]

I met a lady in the supermarket at christmas and she was devastated at having to go shopping. She swears by doing her groceries over the internet (can't remember web site, but it will come to me :o ) She said she saves so much money because she can't impulse buy..might try it myself...

[Jaileth]

The coles site is great - had a go at it - but they don't deliver in my area yet :( The best thing about the site is that you can sort by different things - but they haven't always entered in the right 'Unit Price' right - so if you sort by that, make sure to go to the end of the list.

Woolies also has a great site - but you don't seem to be able to 'sort' stuff like you can on the Coles site.

I've only checked out those two cause they're in my area - but neither deliever in the area yet :(


Definatly (sp?) doing the weekly/fortnightly shop is cheaper. I was constantly broke and out of food trying to shop daily. If you can, meal plan and only buy what you need for those meals. Take a list and stick too it - or, if you have trouble with sticking to the list, allow either 1 item as a treat, or up to a certian amount as a treat ($5 - $20 or what ever). Do try out the home brand stuff, because some of it is really good. The best cleaning product I ever found was the Franklins No Frills Hand Wash (the pump pack soap stuff) It could clean ANYTHING!

Also, remember that stuff like Windex is just metho with colouring. So doing little things like buying metho instead and putting it into an old windex bottle is a whole heap cheaper than buying the windex.

And if you use herbs, buy some seeds and pots from one of the $2 shops - It's a cheap start up and will last for ages. The Warehouse has some really good bargins for cleaning & household stuff - and if you do google "Cleaning without chemicals" it will give you a whole heap of sites that can show you how to save money on cleaning products.

Hope that this helps! :)

[Mummabear]

Wow! Thanks girls. I used to plan meals and then got slack. But I'm definately going back to it - will help with the budget and also with the diet, lol. Will check out some of the discount stores BEFORE doing shopping too (not after like I usually do, lol).

thanks again!

[cupcakemafia]

I have a few simple rules when shopping:

1. NEVER shop at Woolies or Coles. They are WAY too expensive. Cheaper options are Bi-Lo, Action, Aldi etc. Aldi seems to be the cheapest, but Action is closer to my home so I tend to go there more often.

2. Always take a shopping list. As soon as I don't take a list, whether I'm hungry or not I ALWAYS seem to spend at least $20 more than I intended to.

3. Spend 10 minutes planning dinners for the week. Sounds very 50s-housewife, but I sit down in front of the TV each Wednesday night and plan 7 dinners for the coming week (I shop every Thursday morning). My husband occasionally puts in a request, but most of the time I don't ask his opinion at all - and he ends up loving the "suprise" of whats for dinner. And it doesn't have to be fancy - I've had weeks that looked like 1. Chops & Veg, 2. Spag Bol, 3. Steak & Salad, 4. Chicken kebabs, 5. Nachos etc etc etc. Once you've figured out what dinners you want that week, write down what ingredients you need for those dinners on your list. Make sure you don't double up on ingredients you already have.

4. Don't forget there are other meals other than dinner. Make sure you don't forget that there are also lunches, breakfast etc to think of. So once you have dinners sorted out, make sure you get essentials for breakfast and lunches. The easiest lunch in the world is leftovers or sandwiches (I just buy basic sandwich ingredients + a couple different meats (ham, tuna, chicken etc)).

I just follow those rules and I always end up being within budget and have plenty of food to feed us all each week. Oh, I almost forgot - stay away from fast food joints!! They SUCK for budget-conscious people. If you're going to have a "lazy" week just plan "lazy week dinners". C'mon, you can't get more simpler than nachos for dinner!!

[Mummabear]

Hey Emma,

What a great wealth of info - Trainee Mum my bum!!! You're great!

Thanks for all that. You've inspired me to get organised :D (well, try to anyway, lol)

[Jaileth]

Just a note too - if you do have to shop at Coles or Woollies (like I do) - Woollies is the cheaper one!

Also check out the junk mail - but only AFTER you do up your list, otherwise your wants and not your needs tend to get put on first. And only use the store if it's on your way somewhere.

Another tip that a friend told me about is keep $10 - $20 spare each week, and if there is a sale on something you usually get (say for example, Kirks soft drink, which can get down to something like 70cents for a 1.25L), use the $10 - $20 to stock up on it and that way you won't have to buy it for a while. He sets aside $20 and can usually last until the next sale on it.

And if you don't use your 'stock up moeny' (as he calls it) either bank it or put it away for next week/fortnight.

[tpham]

You all seem so organised! i wished i could do that. I have to go to woolies everyday because i just dont know what to make for dinner that night. Its know its bad but i cant help it. Ive tried to stick to my weekly dinner plans but they NEVEr seem to work! Ive planned to make lasagne one night, then that day, i just dont feel like eating lasagne so i buy a steak or something. And i have heaps of frozen meat in the fridge that i dont even bother taking out to see what they are because i want them fresh.

How long can you keep meat in the freezer for anyway? ive always wanted to know that. And im an impulse buyer as well. It doesnt help that DH is also one. Not good at all!!! He came home with a $899 suit the other day and i just flipped!
He said it was on sale!! yeah right. prob from $1899!! still i wouldnt buy it.

Anyway i need help seiously! We dont even budget at all! i try to but DH said everything works itself out in the end. He got a new job and pays monthly now and thats even worse. But he is on very good salary but i still want to have savings in our account for emergencies! We just got his dads car registered and costed us $1300 all up for pink slip, green slip, fixing the car and rego. Tomorrow we have to register our own car which will cost more money!

Help!!!!!

[einalem]

We do a major shop fortnightly and a catch up shop weekly (for things that don't last a fortnight or you don't buy regularly) We generally spend 100 - 120 a week on groceries.

What we do are...

1. Sit down together and decide what we want to eat for a week (we usually flip through a cookbook - at the moment it is the CSIRO cook book)
2. I make all meals for 4 people and freeze half so I have a week of not cooking
3. We always buy our veggies at the weekend markets if it isn't raining or a a fruit and veg shop if it is.
4. Meat is brought at the butcher
5. grocery items used to be at coles as they have a nice array of Gluten free products for me and goats milk for bubba. Now that franklins has a similar range we go there. We buy homebrand where we can.

Tim is a real pain for sticking to the list, so I have to be good.

For cleaning the bathroom and stubborn mess (like ground in spaghetti on carpets)we brought a steam dream, I love it, but it gets a bit hot in summer.
For cleaning general grease and grime I make my own spray with detergent (a really good squirt), water and disinfectant and a few drops of orange oil (I figure if it is good enough for the dishes it is good enough for the cupboards).

We buy laundry powder in bulk boxes (20kg packs for $30 from Big W or Kmart)

I have a bread machine, so I make our own bread. We buy a bulk bag of wholemeal bakers flour and a bag of LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond mix), so we have yummy fresh seedy low GI bread in the morning.

[jembelina]

Once a week is definately cheaper than every day or two - in my experience!! Each week i write out a menu and a thorough shopping list and STICK TO IT!!! I also go through the supermarket catalogues and write down things that are on special that i would normally buy (coles and bilo are in the same centre and safeway is on the way home so that makes it easier). Alot of staples are usually on special somewhere every week. I try not to buy things just because they are on special unless it's on the list anyway. I also put $ aside for the extra milk,etc we always seem to need mid week. I go by myself after bub is in bed, otherwise i just can't concentrate!

[Mum2Lucas]

my mum always buys a few things of margarine if they're on special and freezes them too

[stilldreaming]

You guys are so lucky to be able to buy fruit and veg at the markets. I live in a country town (not small) but we don't have many options only the standard coles, woolies and dewsons.

I always check the catalgues before I go so I know where I am shopping and sometimes go to 2 different shops if there is some bargains....petrol isn't an issue for me as they are all very close to us.

I think one of the best ways I save money is by buying home brand white vinegar for my cleaning. I use it for the floors and dusting etc. Saves heaps.....also I get my dishwashing detergent and some toiletries from cheap as chips or red dot.
Hope this helps....


Trish 29
DH 31
Cooper 17m

[BlessedWithBlue]

We usually buy Bi-Lo Brand.
Always make a shopping list and take a calculator, We buy nappies in bulk form Big W every fortnight so it works out that each kid gets a box of nappies per month. We only do a big shop every month, and just pick up what we need every week which is only usually milk. We buy bread in bulk and freeze it.
We buy all our meats and some veg from Our local Asian Grocery or Central Markets. Asian groceries are very cheap, we usually get 3 kilos of chicken drumsticks for $5!!!!
I am a major impulse shopper and having df go shopping with me is a good thing 'cause he tends to be stricter on the budget than i am lol.
Df works afternoon shift so there's only me and the kids for dinner, so i usually make dinner early and df takes it for dinner to work so he doesn't have to buy food. I make yds dinners myself and freeze them, that's what he eats if we are having something he can't eat.

[JnA]

eat before you shop.

[Marissa]

The cheapest way I've found about food shopping.... Is for once a week, make sure you have a complete list written with everything that you require for that week.
Stick to it (unless you require bubs things) and don't give in and alter to it. Its something sadly you have to be cruel to be kind.
Another thing to help save is buy your fruit/vegies at a vegie store and get your meat at the butcher. Its much cheaper that way too.

I've had to do that a number of times when things have been tight with the budget.

[Ana Gram]

Everyone has great ideas!

We shop at Bi-Lo once a week and rarely spend more than $100. We have a constant shopping list going so if I think of something we need, I can write it down straight away. We bulk buy as much as we can including meat. A bulk buy if chicken breast for example, you can get about 5 for around the same price as 2. I freeze them individually, then only use 1 breast between two adults. I flatten it and then halve it. Not only are we eating less meat which is good for the diet but good for the budget!
Also I buy home brand almost everything and if we do splurge on something not homebrand, it must be on sale!
Also remember that the cheaper prices are not on the middle shelves. They put the more expensive items there as that is where people look first. Look at the top and bottom of the shelves for better prices!

[WeThree]

Having 4 kids, I have started doing a BIG fortnightly shop at ALDI for all my basics, I find if you only buy a few things there you dont really save that much, but the more you buy, the more you seem to save, iykwim? I then go to the butchers for my meat, and i shop weekly for my fruit and veg. i plan my shopping list by going through all my recipe books and writing down the ingredients of all the meals i plan to cook. then i write another list of everything in order ie fruit and veg, pantry etc, i make sure i buy EXACTLY what i need, eg, if i need 5 tomatoes for various recipes, i buy 5 tomatoes, this way nothing goes to waste. i then add to the list essentials such as dishwashing liquid, nappies and stuff. :)

[lizzymcfizzy]

Everyone has great ideas!
Also remember that the cheaper prices are not on the middle shelves. They put the more expensive items there as that is where people look first. Look at the top and bottom of the shelves for better prices!

Exactly what I was going to say! I also never go shopping hungry or everything looks good! And bulk buy.

[TeenyT]

Previous tips are all soooo helpful in saving money such as freezing bulk stuff and checking out brochures in advance for specials. In addition, I usually try to plan a few meals I can cook for the week using as many items on special, then work out what other meals I can cook using ingredients already required so that nothing is wasted and I am not buying excess items. So for example, if BBQ chicken and bacon are on special you could make curried chicken, chicken caesar salad, quiche lorraine etc.

And the no 1 golden rule is DONT SHOP HUNGRY!!! :D

[blayzesmum]

i go to my local fruit market at tugun once a week which has a reward system, buy $10 worth of fruit n veg get a stamp on your card, once 10 are stamped get $10 worth of fruit n veg free. Not only are the produce cheaper much better quality and great service. Look locally maybe your area has something similar, its so worth it.
:o me24
:rolleyes: him27
:D bubba 15 months