The average UK household is spending nearly £119 per week on food shopping, amounting to more than £6,000 per year. For families with children, the cost can increase to £170 weekly. Rising costs mean that 61 per cent of the people in the UK claim they’ve had to cut back.
In a new series, The i Paper asks families how they manage their weekly food shop. This week, single mother of four Charlene Woracker, a 35-year-old influencer from Sheffield, tells Kia-Elise Green about how she budgets the food shop for her family of five. Her children are 16, 15, eight and three. She shares her parenthood and budgeting journey online @mummybudgets.
I have a very strict meal plan that I stick to in order to keep within my budget of £80 per week. Meal planning is essential to ensure the amount stays the same each week. I’ve found over the past year food has absolutely gone up, it sounds crazy but I could do a food shop cooking from scratch for £50 a week around two years ago, but there’s been such big increases in the supermarket prices.
I started prepping meals three years ago when I had a newborn and I do it to cover at least three days but it always tends to be the same meals. I take minced meat and make chilli con carne, shepherd’s pie and spaghetti Bolognese which is three dinners that I then don’t have to worry about.
I sometimes shop in person, but I prefer to shop online as I feel I have more control with what I’m spending. It’s easier to look around and browse which supermarket has the best deals that week. I mainly use Sainsbury’s as I find they’re good with their Nectar prices. They seem to have the best deals but if they’re not good one week, I move on to a different supermarket and check their prices. I find Aldi and Sainsbury’s the most cost-effective.
M&S has some surprisingly great deals. You can get a packet of chicken thighs for £1.50. I switched from chicken breast to thighs as the price difference was so much between them, but also the flavour in thighs is so much better in comparison.
I’ve cut back on a lot of things for myself and I’ve stopped impulse buying. I shop my clothes second hand or wait for sales, and only buy things I need not just things I like. Coffees out are a treat rather than an everyday thing.
My food shop staples are grains, like pasta and rice and vegetables. Potatoes are vital as you can make so many things out of them and the kids love their chips. I always stick with the supermarket brands, unless a branded item is on a really good deal and then I stockpile it.
Meat has definitely gone up the most. I buy smaller packets of minced beef now and then bulk out all of my meals with things like lentils. The 1kg packs are now almost £10, which is a big spike compared to what it used to be, and it feels like that’s happened within the past year.
For breakfast, my kids like pancakes – it’s a really cheap and cost-effective breakfast for them, it costs pennies and it always goes down well in my house.
I make bread, dough and snacks for the kids from scratch, which is really easy and cost-effective. I make buns in the oven which the kids love as opposed to pre-packaged snacks. I make brownies and cookies. Even cheese: I cut up blocks rather than getting cheese strings. I think with children it’s how you present things, it’s what they’re drawn to. If I can make everything look appealing to them.
The kids also bake with me, my eight-year-old daughter can make an amazing banana bread which is teaching them life skills as well as avoiding additives.
For lunch at home, we often have jacket potato with cheese and beans, and salad, like cucumbers and tomatoes, on the side. In packed lunches, I focus on fresh, salad-type things like fruits, tomatoes, blocks of cheese, sandwiches and a baked cupcake.
I tend to buy peas, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower frozen, along with strawberries and blueberries as there’s a huge price difference. Things like cucumbers that you can’t get frozen I will buy fresh.
I cook dinners from scratch which helps bring down the cost of my weekly shop. We have pizza nights and I make the dough myself which is also pennies. My go-to quick dinners if nothing is fajitas, as it doesn’t take me very long at all to do that.
I avoid takeaways for the costs – it’s very rare we have one. If I’m really stretched on time and have no time to cook we get pizzas at the supermarket.
I tend not to have unexpected food costs due to my tight planning. My forward planning also means I can make time for days out and making memories. I budget so I can give the children special moments and can take them on holiday. We recently did a caravan trip which they loved. I also took my kids to Western Park recently, which is a lovely interactive museum that’s free and they did a little trail. You’d be surprised how many free activities there are, especially in the summer, for children.
I’ve learnt that budgeting isn’t about never spending money, it’s about choosing what’s worth spending it on.
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