Nope we don't bulk out on staples the aim is not to bulk out at all, the simple act of not going to a supermarket saves us a fortune... Portion sizes are normal I have a very physical job and also take part in strenuous exercise yet our budget is enough for me to eat healthy and not go hungry...
If I could get the Mrs to avoid supermarkets altogether we'd save even more money but alas she does pop in on her way home from work for bits and bobs and generally it's really bad value for money and she buys extra stuff we don't need....data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
We are a family of 4 where one of our children eats like an adult at 11 years old and the other eats like a sparrow at 10.
We do online deliveries from Ocado on a Thursday which is £80 and a trip to the butchers on Saturday morning is £25-30.
There are no ready meals and the kids will take a packed lunch to school but may have a school dinner on thursday because its Pizza day.
We may need to top up with a quick meal on a Wednesday night as most of the fresh stuff has been used.
So I reckon our shopping bill is £120.
That's very thorough and quite similar to ourselves!
I'm pretty sure you could save yourslef about £20 per week though if you switched from Ocado to Asda or Tesco??
on average for 2 adults and 2 kids (6 and 2) - we are around £120 a week for us all.
Lots of fresh fruit and veg in there, and very little wastage as we generally pre-plan meals for a week in advance, and 6 year has pack lunch most days when at school.
That is generally shopping at Asda, found for last 2 years usually shopping at Tesco it was pushing £140/£150 a week. Quality of fruit and veg from asda is better I find than that at Tesco.
But is it the same quality? Asda are always 'promising to save you more' but I know with first hand experience that the quality of their stuff is inferior to even Morrisons.
So that's why it's cheaper. For me, if it was a difference between £120 per week at Morrisons or £10 per week at Asda, it might be worth the sacrifice, but to save as little as £5-10 it's not worth the difference in quality.
I did a comparison shop with Tesco for one of our weekly shops and it was £5 cheaper but we had to pay for delivery. We get free delivery from ocado from a Groupon deal.
I don't get what you mean by "bulk out" the staples are essential for a balanced diet. Contrary to popular belief potato's are the food of the gods. More energy derived from a potato. Basically the average diet should contain roughly and this should be per meal too to be "balanced 20% fat (not saturated though) 20% protein (mine is probably 25% due to my training) and 60%.....yes 60% carbohydrates (not simple carbs though like sugar). So as you can see I am not "bulking" on the staples it is essential for a balanced diet. The guy who said he spends £30 on that fish meal every week is not classed as balance, once in a while maybe but every week!!!!! Crazy! I truly believe if people are spending so much on their shopping they are either obese or wasting a hell of a lot.
Educate yourselves on how to eat healthy, in practice it doesn't take much more time and is usually a lot cheaper. My only indulgence for my training is a 1kg bag of Chia seeds once a month to boost my Omega intake. Which is about £20.
We switched to Wait rose instead of ocado. It operates from your local supermarket which is for us about 20minutes away. But only really use them to stock up on dry stuff like serials drinks etc.
I never found one materially more expenses or cheaper than the other. Quality difference and staff attitude most definitely.
I switched from Tesco to Asda at the start of this year as an experiment to see if it was generally cheaper (and also to show the wife that asda can be just as good qualitywise!)
Anyway - I reckon the average weekly shop is approx £20 a week cheaper in Asda and personally the quality of the fruit and veg is better and lasts longer than Tescos.
Thought they all matched each others prices these days.