Whoop Whoop (that was an ironic whoop whoop!) lots of shopping photos but apologies - this is a long post full of lists! I gathered all the shopping photos together and realised it was a looooong post but thought it might be interesting to see what was bought and how much it costs, before prices shoot up again.
First was just a very small quick shop and was actually on the last day of February but I'd already done the February shop post and done the accounts in my book so put it down as March. I went to Diss because my planned change away from the weird ingredients in Pringles, when something with crunch is needed, is a change to nuts. I wanted to compare Aldi to The Grape Tree (No Grape Tree in Stowmarket). Not comparing price as I knew the latter is way more expensive than Aldi but it was more the quality that I wanted to check.
Prunes, carrots and value range cashews from Aldi £4.42 , eggs from the roadside stall have gone up to £1.25 for six and the bigger bag of cashews from The Grape Tree were £4.99.
My proper first shop, a week later was a lot more, everything from Aldi except the tea-bags.
Not pictured as they went straight into the freezer are two Linda McCartney mozzarella veggie burgers, Thankfully British apples and pears are still around. Aldi yeast has gone from 8 sachets in a cardboard box to 6 sachets in a pack wrapped in film for the same price I think. A big cauliflower and leeks - again British. Self Raising Flour, Penne pasta, noodles, a bar of cooking chocolate and choc drops(for the next batch of brownies) and dried prunes. For the fridge... 1 dozen eggs, Cheddar and Stratford Blue cheese, mozzarella ball (which I cut in half and freeze for topping pizzas), 4 pints milk and 250g butter. Salted peanuts (Cheaper than cashews, bought to use as a snack instead of Pringles) and from Asda (have to spend over £5 to get back the £1 car park fee) a huge box of tea-bags - they'll last me most of a year! Junk food from QD was a couple of packs of the Dunkables broken/misshapen chocolate biscuits - the ones I had back in February had a good mix of all sorts of chocolate biscuits.
Total spend £40.31
Another week later
Everything from Aldi again. Vegetables were Salad leaves, purple sprouting broccoli, celery, mini potatoes, baby plum tomatoes. Fruit in season British Apples and pears . Into the fridge Extra mature cheddar, Shropshire blue and 'salad' cheese (aka feta). For the freezer 2 packs of sweet potato fries, petit pois peas and fish in batter. For the store cupboard - wholemeal bread flour, cashews, multi grain crackers, ground coffee, jar of olives and stock cubes. 4 pints of milk also into the freezer. Total spend £30.89
The next week I went to Diss to do a tour of the charity shops and to look at the new B&M. There is one in Stowmarket but it's on the edge of the town centre and I usually can't be bothered to walk right through town and their car park has to be paid for with no way to get the money back, unlike the car park at Asda.
There were a couple of things I needed so did a small shop while in Diss at Aldi and Morrisons.
The only things I got in B&M was the Fray-Bentos steak and gravy pie for £2 to put in the cupboard for when I next wanted a meat meal - been a long time since I had one of these (they are £3 in Morrisons) and some mini easter eggs ready for egg hunts with grandchildren when ED and the two boys are up from Surrey just after Easter. They're not counted in food spending so not in the photo.
From Aldi - veg was a savoy cabbage (cut off the photo by mistake), 2 little gem lettuce and a red pepper. I got 6 more apples as they were one of their specials '6 reduced price' this week.. For the fridge just cheese and a pack of crumpets to go in the freezer. For the store cupboard I bought more ground coffee, didn't need it but apparently it's one of those things that are going to shoot up in price. I would have got de-caf too but they didn't have any. Also peanuts.
Into Morrisons where they have rape seed oil, (which I always hope might be locally grown). Cooking oil is another thing supposedly liable to shoot up in price due to the current ongoing war- Aldi only have sunflower and 'vegetable'(which could be anything). Rapeseed oil is canola in the US and Canada. Carrots that I forgot to get in Aldi, and two lots of plums which were on some sort of extra special offer at 52p punnet. A bargain treat all the way from South Africa.......the opposite of local!
Total spend £18.37
After the car boot sale a couple of weeks ago I went into town for Superdrug and to take some books back to the library and needed to spend £5+ in Asda to get my car park £1 money back again. 3Kg Allinsons bread flour £3.40 and value range drinking chocolate £1.77 to mix with a tub of expensive Divine Drinking Choc that I 'found' in the cupboard - way past it's BBE date and it was discontinued it in 2024 but sealed and still good.
Total £5.17
The only things bought from the boot sale last weekend were these two small boxes of shortbread fingers for 50p each which is way less than shop half price- still well in date too.
£10.66 + £40.31 + £30.89 + £18.37+ £5.17 + £1 = £106 .40
Add £1 for Rhubarb from a house in the village and eggs from roadside stall £1.25 = £108.65
Finally, I called in at Aldi as I wanted something that was advertised as being in the middle aisle for my Sister's birthday. No luck with what I wanted - they were not in until Sunday (and turned out to be unavailable anyway) but they did have just two packs of decaf ground coffee, which I couldn't get from Diss - so I bought both - £2.99 each = £5.98
So March food shop was £108.65 + £5.98 = £114.63, slightly below average (February was even lower at £88)
No doubt that two lower months just means April shopping will be more, and ED and two boys are here for a couple of days so I'll need some extra different things and hopefully will have enough of interest to blog about other than Shopping!
I live in n.w.Italy and although I very seldom comment on the various blogs I follow, I really do enjoy reading about people's various shopping lists. The prices both for fresh & packaged goods is so much cheaper than here, even though we do have low cost supermarkets like Lidl, MD & Ins. We also have no such things as car boot sales due to the intricate and confusing fiscal laws here. Thank you for the listings, it also makes me quite nostalgic for some british foods! (Ro ~ n.w.Italy)
ReplyDeleteWe find prices going up and then realise they are still cheaper than many places
DeleteI note that you use sachets of yeast. Since the autumn I've been using the little tins of yeast, which seems to work out better value, because I'm making 99% of my bread now, so it is all used up whilst fresh. Looking forward to having salad leaves in the garden.
ReplyDeleteAre the tins instant yeast now?. I use 1tsp a week and keep the sachets in the fridge
DeleteI use a packet of Dove instant yeast. I seal it up again and keep it in the fridge once opened. Seems to last just fine.
DeleteThanks for sharing your shopping. Since I downloaded the Yuka App, I have stopped buying things which seemed to be healthy but scored poorly on the App. Plain crisps or lentil chips are the only snacks I have been buying. I also try to buy local(ish) so the veg selection was all British with no imported green beans etc. Catriona
ReplyDeleteAldi do quite well with British veg and fruit in season
DeleteMy shopping is very similar. I buy Aldi British cold pressed rapeseed oil in glass bottles, and their extra virgin olive oil. We don’t use much, I use butter, and lard for some things and save dripping to sautée vegetables.
ReplyDeleteTea bags, oh dear, people have ingested several billion nano and microplastic particles in every one, and now UPF polylactic acid, and paper and glue, a nasty taste, and scum in the tea. We have a nice pot of tea, and top it up with boiling water for a second cup. Sainsbury’s red or gold label loose leaf tea £1.75 and £2 for 250g.
Oh Dear
DeleteIt's always interesting to see what other people buy, though the lists don't seem to vary much from person to person.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment about tea bags! I only keep tea bags for visitors as I don’t drink tea. I had only thought about whether they were compostable or not and not about all the horrid things visitors could be ingesting! Definitely back to loose tea and teapots now.
ReplyDeleteA healthy alternative to Pringles would be Aldi’s salted plain crisps, they are delicious and they don’t have any UPFs.
ReplyDeleteI don't like crisps, I find them too hard - so nuts are my alternative
DeleteAn interesting read and interesting comments too.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
Aren't Asda a bit mean making you spend £5 or over to claim back your parking cost. We are lucky when we park in the Sainsbury's near Mum's care home as the parking is £1 and you only have to spend £1 to get it back ... which of course then feels like a freebie, well in my head it does as Alan pays to park and I get to choose what to buy. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe car park belongs to the council so we are lucky to be able to get anything back! ( It was £2 spend until after a year ago)
DeleteI always find these posts interesting and usually resolve to do a bit more keeping track myself, but several things mitigate against that (in my mind anyway). Husband has a very limited diet medically and always eats the same things, and cost can't really be much of a factor in his situation. For me, once the groceries are hauled in, rescued from the dogs' intense interest, put away....I've lost the energy to track anything.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm just doing it vicariously through you.
Ceci
My oldest son lives with me so, of course, I buy more food than you do. I'm also the house for family gatherings so that adds up sometimes. But I have always been pretty cheap ("frugal" sounds better), so my bills are not too bad.
ReplyDeletewow, good shop!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't read this, Sue! Too much info I don't need! LOL
ReplyDeleteVery true!
DeleteHow much is a gallon of milk there? About 3.8 liters. Here I can drive up to New York state and buy it for $2.68, about half the price of local milk. I buy it 3 gallons at a time. have been experimenting with cheese. Mozzarella is really quite easy, and it is good.
ReplyDeleteI used to make cheese and have made ricotta and mozzarella when I had an LPG hob, can't do it on a induction hob for some reason.
DeleteWe don't have milk in gallons, 6 pints is the biggest - I buy in 4 pint bottles so 2 x £1.65 = £3.30 = $4.36 ish
Prices continue to rise. Last week I went to two grocery stores and did a big shop. The total spent was a bit over $300. I shop for 2 adults and one dog. This was a remarkable first.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine what it costs to feed a family of 5.
Well done. I haven't added up my spend for this month as of yet, and will do so tomorrow. I am hoping to be able to announce that I have been under budget for the month.
ReplyDeleteI plan on having my first shop of April on Wednesday and I know it is going to be a big one.
God bless.
I must admit, I do like seeing what other people are buying and for how much. I hate how much things cost here. Not sure why food prices are so high when the US is such a large country and should be able to grow most of it! I am refusing to buy certain items as the prices they are now.
ReplyDelete