Food Shopping!!

OK, we've been here a month now. Every week so far we've spent £100+ for 3 of us and I still have to run out during the week to buy more. We never came close to spending that much in the States. We don't buy a lot of processed foods. Lots of fresh fruit and veg. We do some shopping at Morrisons and some at our local Aldi and its still unbelievably high in my opinion.
What am I doing wrong???

Switch to a veg box delivery? Like abel and cole or riverford organic.

You may be buying really pricey out of season vegetables, if you're just buying the fruit/veg you're used to like strawberries are available at the moment, they're not in season and are like £4 a box. Ridiculous. You can get a kilo of rhubarb for that at the moment, or a box of oranges at my local fruit/veg place.

http://eattheseasons.co.uk/

Hard to tell without knowing what you're buying and how much you're eating, like 3 people portion size may be enough for more/less depending, but yes, £400 a month seems VERY high.

We spent £70 for two last week and it included a £30 prime rib joint We normally spend about £40-£50 from Ocado.

Yeah, that sounds crazy high, even if you were shopping at Waitrose I'd find it difficult to figure out what you were doing to spend that much! Maybe if you posted a sample shopping list we could offer some tips?

We just moved from london to a nyc suburb, and our grocery bill has dropped by about 15% , so it maybe just be that what you eat is more expensive in the UK.  I shopped at waitrose, sainsbury, costco and lidl in the UK.  Here I go to WholeFoods once a month, but mostly do stopnshop and a&p and costco every week. 

If you are already shopping at Morrisons, you are already getting some of the cheapest prices around.  Maybe try shopping online with a meal plan?  I only have a family of two, but like Cheesebiscuit, we only spend £40-50 week with Ocado (and that usually includes a bottle of wine..or two).   

If you are already shopping at Morrisons, you are already getting some of the cheapest prices around.  Maybe try shopping online with a meal plan?  I only have a family of two, but like Cheesebiscuit, we only spend £40-50 week with Ocado (and that usually includes a bottle of wine..or two).   

A bottle of wine or two may also slip into my shopping, dang those wine elves!

Some of the cost may be from building up your store cupboard/fridge freezer after the move.  If you cook mostly non-processed food, that's going to be an initial investment (and to a lesser extent an ongoing expense) which people who eat the centre of the grocery shop might not be paying for as much.

Honestly, we don't spend all that different from you if you include non-food items (which usually amounts to about £20 per two weeks for things like shower/cat/cleaning products).  We do a £60-100 grocery order for two weeks and top up with Riverford boxes (£15-30) and trips to the shop every few days for milk or other staples.  But that's what we eat.  It includes lunches, and we rarely eat out (maybe once a month if we're lucky).  

I sat down and tried to figure out how to bring it down.  We even did a modified plan from Cheap Family Recipes (didn't last all that long though).  So instead, I decided what I'm willing to sacrifice, and what I am not, and got it down a bit.  In the end, I figured that life was too short to drink bad coffee or eat pork from pigs who have never seen the light of day, but I could probably get by with bottled lemon juice unless it was a special dinner.

Do you make your own bread, even if it's with a machine? If you're big bread eaters, this can bring your bill down a couple pounds a week.  What about growing your own herbs (or even fruit and veg)?

Yeah I don't know what the problem is. We would only spend about 75.00 a week in the states with steak once a week and wine and beer. I used to shop the circulars and clip coupons and would stock up on things like chicken breasts when they were $1.99 a pound. Of course we also had a huge freezer so we could do that.
No sales flyers coming through the doors here every week and no coupons.  
 
Going to have to start meal planning and see how we do that way. Of course that's hard to do when you never know what's on offer at Morrisons until you get there.

Guess I'm just stressing and missing home a bit...and this is just what is setting me off today.

We also mostly cook meals that can be frozen in portions, so we hardly waste food. We also buy for what we are cooking and try to buy on sale geared towards recipes, so we don't overstock on things that may get forgotten in the freezer. Also, we only buy wine within a budget and what's on sale. 

Some ideas here?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping

I'd think that doing a food budget to see where it goes for a few weeks would help me figure out where I feel I could save and where I want to splurge.

So instead, I decided what I'm willing to sacrifice, and what I am not, and got it down a bit.  In the end, I figured that life was too short to drink bad coffee or eat pork from pigs who have never seen the light of day, but I could probably get by with bottled lemon juice unless it was a special dinner.

This.  Minus the pork bit.

Good luck! You will find method(s) that work for you! 

I totally recommend this:

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

It doesn't have Morrison's, but it has Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, and Ocado.  Sainsbury's, Waitrose, and Ocado do free deliveries over a certain amount at certain times(Asda may too, but we don't use them), but sometimes it works out cheaper to use Tesco.  We don't stick with one, but use the one that has what we need at that point in time.

You can buy a stand alone freezer, which might be a big investment at first, but may pay for itself.  It doesn't have to be a huge one, but having the extra storage area really helps, especially with batch cooking.

We do some shopping at Morrisons and some at our local Aldi and its still unbelievably high in my opinion.

Aldi's prices on fresh veg are usually really good... they do a weekly flyer/leaflet thing, so make sure you pick one up next time you are in the shop and it will tell you what's going to be on special offer the following week.

And just to chime in on the average weekly spend thing... we are 2 big greedy people and spend roughly £20 each time we go to the supermarket, which is usually 3 times a week.  I eat leftovers, but HB doesn't, so I take the leftovers for my work lunches.

If you know anyone who has a Makro card, of if you or your DH happen to have your own business, you can get some good food prices. There is a Makro in Stoke. If you don't, and you are interested- we go once a month (right after payday) and you would be welcome to join us and shop on our card.
www.makro.co.uk

We were spending £100 to £120 a week for two of us, when I first moved over. But now it's down to about £50 a week.  Mostly it was because hubby was eating like a real bachelor (from the microwave) before my move and I eat much healthier than that (plus we were stocking the chest freezer).

Our strategy is to get fruit and veg. and other pantry staples from Lidl or Aldi's (mostly Lidl) because their prices are half of what it costs at Tesco's or Morrison's.  I have heard that some Lidl's aren't so great, but luckily ours is.  Even a once a month shopping trip to Lidl's or Aldi's for the bargains can save you considerable money.  Check their websites out first before you go to shop.  See what's on special first.  We now go there when their Cushionelle toilet roll is £6.99, down from £9.99 or their steak mince is £1.49 a pack, down from £2.99.  Tesco's almost always has frozen chicken breasts on special for half price.

If you can find space for it, I recommend a small chest freezer. We keep ours in the cupboard/closet under the staircase. When we find great bargains (half price or BOGO) we throw it in the freezer (especially chicken breasts or ground beef/mince).   

If you have a smart phone, use the calculator app. to keep a running total of your shopping (that is hubby's job, while I throw things in the basket). 

Also, buying personal care items at the grocery store can cost much more than elsewhere. Once or twice a month, we buy those things at Home Bargains (and I am very fussy on personal care items). This past week, I discovered that you can get The Body Shop soaps at 60% off from their outlet shops (woohoo!! I bought 7 and wish I had bought 70).

A few things I do to save money:

 - Shop often and only buy what I know we are going to eat/use in the next few days, so no waste.  (This also gives me something to do before I'm allowed to work, and I get some exercise walking to town 2-3x a week.)

 - Try to buy all my veg and fruit from the market stall in town (cheapest prices I've ever found, especially if you go later in the day and get some 'deals'.)

 - Always hit the clearance bread cart in Morrison's (I get lovely, lovely rolls and artisan type bread for 19 to 49 p!) Take home and freeze. We've eaten these up to 6 weeks later and they were perfectly fresh.  We never pay full price or even "sale" price for bread items.

 - Buy shower gel, deodorant and shampoo at Body Care. (sanitary pads only 69p!)

 - I buy most of our meat from a butcher in town. I swear his prices are cheaper, and I can buy exactly how much I want/need. Plus, it tastes so much better than meat from the grocery store.

(We try to do all these things so we can justify spending £4.25 for a pint of Haagen Dazs, when it's not on sale.  

Hope some of these help.

 - Buy shower gel, deodorant and shampoo at Body Care. (sanitary pads only 69p!)

I second Body Care.  I get my Neutrogena face wash there for £2.49 each, down from £3.99 at Tesco's.  Hubby gets his Benadryl allergy pills there for £1.29 a pack. They have a good selection of shampoos too.