How do you organise your food shopping please?

When DH was alive we spent a lot on food. He liked to go to the independent greengrocer and local Co-op once a week. We had a delivery from our butcher about every three weeks- expensive but good quality. We had a supermarket delivery every three weeks, and top up bits and bobs from Aldi.
Now I usually just pop across the road to Aldi twice a week. I don’t eat very adventurously.
I did a supermarket big shop a few weeks ago and spent £100 on next to nothing, it seemed.
However a new farm shop has opened so I am going to see what it is like.

I am on my own. Tbh, I can’t tell you off hand how much I spend on food. I will have to check with my Diary (always kept one). I usually write down what I have spent each day - Cash and I circle what I spend with my CC. I don’t budget anymore - too old for that.

I buy all my household stuff once a month and have two online shops during the month (never more than £60 for two weeks - it was £40 until a couple of years ago). I also use a foodshare scheme and pick up all sorts of fruit, veg and bread (which I don't eat, but my partner does). I clear out the fridge once a week and make soup or freeze casserole ingredients. Although I plan a week's meals, I'm flexible about what I have for my evening meal and either have frozen meal I've previously batch cooked, a huge salad or I knock something up from whatever is available. Breakfasts and lunches are usually quite similar every week.

I'm not at all organised at the moment.
I really need to sort something out, because I'm sure I'm wasting money on bits and bobs of shopping.

We have a delivery every three or four weeks when I follow my list and am not tempted, but do order heavy or bulky stuff and cleaning products, trying to buy those on offer.

Then we shop towards the end of the week in the weeks we don't have deliveries, for fresh foods.
DH picks up anything we might have forgotten (invariably) on Saturdays when he goes to fetch his Saturday paper.

sodapop

I tell my husband what I would like to eat and he takes it from there. Works for me.

Works for me too soda pop!

Golly, you are all so organised! I shop when there is nothing I fancy in the fridge or freezer. Local top ups of veg. I am better in the winter when fruit and veg doesn't suddenly go off, and any wonky carrots etc can go in a huge pot of soup.

I meal plan for a week and then shop accordingly.
I do Waitrose and Lidl, my husband does the butcher, I will pop to the market for fish and veg.
We waste nothing.

I do a home bargain shop about every 6 weeks... toiletries, toilet roll, cleaning stuff, bin bags, craft stuff for the GC, drinks, paracetamol etc, tissue, foods that are cheaper than the supermarkets.....so comes to around £80 ......then my DP shops daily or when needed to Aldi, Morrisons, M&S foodhall ( all 3 within 10 min walk of home) .....these are the only food shops we have in our small town ......sometimes I go to asda or tesco in the city I work in to pick up lunch and may pick up other bits I see .....all veg is bought on the day we use it.

We do most shopping at Lidl, is our nearest supermarket and cheaper than anywhere else we have tried. They put orange stickers on reduced goods and sell £2 veg boxes, I don't buy these but is a good idea for those on a strict budget.

I make a quite detailed menu list for ten days, and add everything to the shopping list I might need. Usually comes to around £110. Sometimes I have to buy more fruit or bread. Sunday and weekly papers are extra.

Bear in mind that some of any supermarket bill may well be not food, but cleaning materials, shampoo and soap and so on.
These can add significantly to the total.

Never know what I m having so just buy things I like and know I ll cook, I spend about £40 a week including cleaning stuff sometimes I go weekly sometimes fortnightly I already have stuff in my cupboard that I back up now and then
I don’t eat meat or fish and grow some of my own vegis

I buy staple foods such as coffee, flour, butter, eggs, cat-food and other necessities such as toilet paper and cleaning agents at the start of every month when I receive my pension.

In the course of the month I top up with perishable items such as cream and milk. I know exactly how much this household expenditure will amount to, and only withdraw that amount from the bank when I go shopping, after having transferred money into my direct debit account, plus putting a little aside for repairs etc.

I have never been so well off that I could afford not to keep a strict account of how much money I use every month.

I restock the freezer when necessary by buying meat, fish and vegetables when there are cheap offers.

Mines expensive at the moment because I'm trying a diet plan that includes figs,smoked salmon,avocado etc which I would not normally buy.

I do a mix, usually getting vegetables from the market, where I know they are very fresh and can buy the amount I want, which varies as I live alone. I take advantage of any good offers on meat or things that I usually buy and when I am feeling ok try to cook up a double amount so that I have something for the freezer for when I am having trouble with my back. But I dont have a set menu as I can change my mind on the day depending on lots of things from the weather to how I am feeling. Try not to waste anything though and try to have the balance between having enough in to choose from , and not too much. One of my best things is I have a wok and usually have chicken thighs in so that I can make a good stir fry from whatever I have available.

I plan menus a week in advance based on using up anything that needs finishing. These plans are quite flexible, hence food still in the fridge at the end of the week.

I then draw up the week's shopping list. Go to the market on Wednesday and supermarket on Thursday.

Once every five weeks I do a 'big shop and restock all the staples.The weekly shop is just for fresh food and so on.

Meat is ordered roughly every 3 months from a butcher who supplies meat from 'Pasture for life' animals. Unfortunately most of the farm shops I used to use have closed down recently. The victims of illness and retirement.

I always batch cook and have about 20 or more home made ready meals in my upright freezer. i keep a list by date of the contents and have no problem making sure they are consumed because they are regulalry topped up. A portion of seafood curry went into the freezer today, as a new recipe, for 2 produced twice as much as we wanted.

We plan a weekly menu and shop twice a week always with a list. Our lovely greengrocer does deliveries and we have milk and bread delivered from the local dairy. We bulk cook too so there is always something in the freezers for days when we don't feel like cooking from scratch. It works for us.

I shop around when I can.
That saves some money.

I tell my husband what I would like to eat and he takes it from there. Works for me.

kittylester I have just cooked kilos of chili-con-carne, bolognaise ragu and bubble & squeak for the freezer.

I have been on Granny duty the last two days (and another two days to go) DH asked what was for dinner, I replied no idea he went to the Turkish butchers for marinated chicken.

I totally forgot I had been cooking at the weekend 🤣🤣🤣

no hope for me really🤷‍♀️

I have a weekly Sainsbury's delivery, go to the butcher most weeks and buy my fruit and veg from Waitrose.

I operate a stock cupboard system for 'staples'so add those to my list as I take them out of stock.

I then plan meals for the following week and fill in the gaps.

My problem is that I find it hard to eat batch cooked meals from the freezer in case they are needed in an emergency - like a nuclear winter.

Oh its easily done! Were you in waitrose by any chance?
I can spend £30,£40 in Tesco just going in for 3 or 4 items.
I order online each week comes to £70 or so. That's for DH and myself and half the time DD and 2 DG .
And DH buys stuff himself for work.
Am now seriously trying to cut it down.

Astitchintime

We always take a list to the supermarket and do try to stick to it. However, if there are any special offers that are genuinely good buys we will tend to stock up. £70+ at the supermarket sounds about right really to be honest.

We visit a proper butcher once a month to six weeks. What we buy depends on what's on offer and we have a wet fish man that would come weekly but we don't have an order that often.

The 70 was to help out a family member with a few bits and pieces and something nice to eat on Sunday. Madness.

I shop weekly and have a list which I try to stick to. I used what is in the fridge and try to have it used up before I shop. I live alone but have my grandsons two days a week so I shop for their breakfast and lunch too. I spend approx £30/40 a week, sometimes more if store cupboard items have run out.