What's your weekly grocery spend?

clairek6

Hollister11 wrote: »

I can't eat some of the own brand products anymore. My mum still buys them, but I can't eat them there horrible imo.

I need Brennans bread. Lidl/Aldi alternative is grand, but you can't compete the two.

Its the same with teabags and milk. I need Lyons and Avonmore. The alternative are so much worse.

You do realise the 'alternatives' are the exact same most of the time just in different packaging?

Hollister11

Hollister11 wrote: »

I can't eat some of the own brand products anymore. My mum still buys them, but I can't eat them there horrible imo.

I need Brennans bread. Lidl/Aldi alternative is grand, but you can't compete the two.

Its the same with teabags and milk. I need Lyons and Avonmore. The alternative are so much worse.

How are the bread and milk different?! Do avonmore have premium cows or something!

Water John

Milk and butter are def, the same. Own brand milk comes from the same processors. Generally, Aurivo, Donegal, Arrabawn, Glanbia, Strathroy. all these milks are homogenised. The only taste diff would be if you can get a milk that is not homogenised, ie fat not broken into small globules and dispersed through the milk.
Butter price diff can be 50% dearer, just for the brand.

Hollister11

Avonmore taste creamier than lidl own brand.
The bread smells fresher and taste nicer.

I know this forum is for frugal spenders who believe it's the same, but it'd not. There's a clear difference.

Hollister11

Hollister11 wrote: »

Avonmore taste creamier than lidl own brand.
The bread smells fresher and taste nicer.

I know this forum is for frugal spenders who believe it's the same, but it'd not. There's a clear difference.

We will agree to disagree! When you are buying your own rather than your mum doing the shopping you many be less picky (I was fussy when I lived at home too now I'm more objective).

clairek6

Hollister11 wrote: »

Avonmore taste creamier than lidl own brand.
The bread smells fresher and taste nicer.

I know this forum is for frugal spenders who believe it's the same, but it'd not. There's a clear difference.

Aldi milk is arrabawn milk, I'm not sure who supplies Lidl but it's definitely a well known brand under a different label.

Water John

Lidl used to be Strathroy, not sure if its Aurivo ATM. There often would be two suppliers. This is the standard practice of Aldi, any way.

gizmo81

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes mcgraths it's really lovely. Also saw on supershoppers the last day that Aldi's washing up liquid is better than fairy - we would have also bought fairy liquid thinking it would last longer but apparently magnum (in the grey bottle) is better and much cheaper.

No Lidl's Fallon's Tea all the way.

Quackster

Hollister11 wrote: »

Avonmore taste creamier than lidl own brand.
The bread smells fresher and taste nicer.

I know this forum is for frugal spenders who believe it's the same, but it'd not. There's a clear difference.

Absolute nonsense as to there being any difference in taste between Avonmore milk and the supermarket brands. All full-fat milk has about 3.5% fat and so has the same creaminess. The only possible taste difference is between milk from plastic cartons and from tetrapak.

Same with butter. Producers often wrap the exact same butter in three different wrappers; their own, Kerrygold and whatever supermarket(s) they're supplying. Zero difference!

As for Brennan's, it's the same mediocre muck as any other mass-produced 'bread'!

L1011

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Off the top of my head just now, (1) Weetabix, the gang here tried the cheaper alternatives but still came back to it, (2) Brennan's Bread, again the cheaper alternatives have been rejected, and (3) Lyons Tea, we found some of the cheaper brands are very weak and we didn't like the flavour.

Most of the own-brand versions of Weetabix are made by Weetabix - look at the factory address on the Marshalls one for instance. Internal packaging is also identical, batch codes the same format etc.

However I think this is one of the cases where they do use different recipes as we found that one of the German's versions was even better at turning in to ceramic cement if left dry...


The remaining products I buy branded are:
1: Milk - I've a milkman and anyway I have a severe, logical hatred of plastic milk cartons. Tetrapaks were invented for insulative and UV blocking properties, a thin plastic carton has neither.
2: Heinz ketchup and beans, I prefer the taste. I know Heinz ketchup is probably the worst on the market in terms of ingredients etc these days but I've tried others and don't like them.
3: Nearly all toiletries as I've found issues with the own-brands on most stuff. Some are dirt cheap if you only buy on sale. Going to reconsider shampoo and razor blades though as those have mostly stopped ever being on offer. I use own-brand hand soap, toilet roll etc though.

Other than that it's a few random brands of biscuits and stuff that aren't even common purchases. Fruit and veg from a greengrocer; meat from a butcher so all inherently unbranded anyway.

RoisinClare6

Varies between €30-€60 depending on the week. 2 Adults (25+30)

I go to the butchers every second week and get the €20 meal deal which we generally get 10 dinners or so. I cook from scratch and we have very little convince foods.

I go to centra and get the half price fruit snack tubs first thing in the morning, they are cheap and I get what I need so no waste. Himself goes through x2 loaves of bread a week, bless him he has ham and cheese sandwiches everyday! He loves coffee as well so I get him the €2.99 tub of millicano in Mr price, its €6.79 in the local Supervalu.

Toiletries, cleaning products, bin liners are dealz or Mr price. Get the washing powder large boxes when they are on sale.

As for milk, we used to go through a 3L a week! I went to low fat and he stayed on full fat, I get us a carton each and we pretty much get through the week, so no idea where the other litre was going.

I meal plan, do up my list and then head to the tesco website. Check up all my items and see what's on special etc and jot down my prices beside the item on the list. This way I know how much ill spend before I go.

Generally go between 7-8 in the morning. Can't bring himself when I go because he is a serious heavy hand with treats and things. A couple of times I have brought him its been €120+

draiochtanois

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Jellybaby1

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Absolutely! Main groceries they have would be dry-goods, cans, jars, stuff that doesn't go off too soon. You should find bargains there as I have. I was surprised that they do a small dairy section too.

1huge1

1 adult, generally switch between Aldi and Lidl, currently in a Lidl phase.

I'd say on average my weekly spend is around €35 with the odd top up. Heading to the shop to get a roll for lunch every now and again when I was too lazy to prepare anything.

I've gotten better at freezing food lately, I'm sorry to say I was bad for food wastage up until relatively recently but have made a big effort to change this. All those ads eventually sunk in.

Very interesting thread, got a lot of good ideas from posters.

tevey08

For 2 adults and 1 infant we vary to about 80.00 per week including nappies and wipes and formula/baby food. On the week where we have enough nappies and wipes and formula we would spend 40euro. We shop in dunnes which give you 10euro off when you spend 50. Really worth shopping there compared to lidl or aldi!

dmm82

tevey08 wrote: »

For 2 adults and 1 infant we vary to about 80.00 per week including nappies and wipes and formula/baby food. On the week where we have enough nappies and wipes and formula we would spend 40euro. We shop in dunnes which give you 10euro off when you spend 50. Really worth shopping there compared to lidl or aldi!

Would dunnes really work out cheaper than aldi/ lidl? I've never done a full weekly shop in dunnes

tevey08

dmm82 wrote: »

Would dunnes really work out cheaper than aldi/ lidl? I've never done a full weekly shop in dunnes

Honestly we tried one week to see if aldi would be cheaper but with the 10 off every 50 spent in dunnes it was no comparison. Some of the Aldi brands just didn't compare to the Dunnes brands. The likes of sweetcorn were awful from Aldi.

Jellybaby1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Off the top of my head just now, (1) Weetabix, the gang here tried the cheaper alternatives but still came back to it, (2) Brennan's Bread, again the cheaper alternatives have been rejected, and (3) Lyons Tea, we found some of the cheaper brands are very weak and we didn't like the flavour.

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes mcgraths it's really lovely. Also saw on supershoppers the last day that Aldi's washing up liquid is better than fairy - we would have also bought fairy liquid thinking it would last longer but apparently magnum (in the grey bottle) is better and much cheaper.

Alrighty, I've tried the McGrath's Reserve Blend tea and also the Magnum grey bottle washing liquid, and the final decision has been made, I'm going back to Lyons and Fairy. McGrath's is a weaker tea and needs longer 'drawing' time, and the Magnum liquid is more of a gel than a liquid and it clogged up the bottle, had to get a pin to unclog it, and it doesn't really cut through grease like Fairy does. Pity about that.

L1011

Can't taste a difference between McGraths and Lyons; use Lidl's washing up liquid instead which hasn't clogged. Cheap stuff often does clog though.

However I mostly use the dishwasher and Aldi's dishwasher tablets are massively better than Finish - I suspect whoever makes Finish has been happy with 20 years of being on top and has done bog all to improve the product.


Would have to drive too far to a Mr Price to make it worth my while for the few items worth buying there; ditto Dealz.

Jellybaby1

Earlier in this thread I said we (2 adults) spend €30-€40 approx for groceries each week excluding meat and fish. Looking at my credit card bills over the last few months I am going to have to revise that figure as it looks a lot more for some reason, can't figure that out at all.

LincolnHawk

2 adults, 2 kids. 200 a week

madmaggie

Two adults, average 100 euro per week. I'm coeliac, so that pushes the bill up a fair bit. Also I buy organic meat and fruit.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

madmaggie

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Are you claiming tax back on coeliac food?

https://www.coeliac.ie/live-gluten-free/financial-support/[/quote]
Oh yes, always have!

Hollister11

There is differences between branded and own brand products. Sometimes the own brands are nice, other times not.

For example, in our family, we have tried a lot of other tea bags, but the only ones we truly enjoy are Lyons/Pg Tips. We buy lidl beans over Bachelors/Heinz, not much of a difference there.

Quackster

Hollister11 wrote: »

For example, in our family, we have tried a lot of other tea bags, but the only ones we truly enjoy are Lyons/Pg Tips. We buy lidl beans over Bachelors/Heinz, not much of a difference there.

I've tried all the own-brand beans and the Dunnes MFF are IMO by far the best. Identical in taste and texture to Heinz. The cans even have the ring-pulls; I think they're the only 29c own-brand beans to have them.

As for tea-bags, the SuperValu Fairtrade do it for me. €1.49 for 80.

micks_address

Two adults and two teens here. I reckon on average we spending 800 a month on groceries. I think it's to much but always seems pretty consistent

26going80

jellybellyelly wrote: »

Around 40 euro per week on average for one adult. I buy organic on certain items so it could be cheaper but it works fine for me. I eat much healthier than I used to now so although I spend more at the supermarket I spend nothing on fast food, takeaways etc.

yes i am the same, 35-50 for me,
Every week: 2 packs of turkey/chicken: breast steaks/mince 1 pack of salmon or mackeral,1 pack of lean mince/round steak and eggs.
sweet potato, baby potatoe, bread, nuts, fruit and veg

not every week: olive oil, coconut oil, spices, coconut milk, curry powder(dunnes/tesco), coffee, tea, milk, cheese,dog food, house stuff, sweet stuff,

Unless guests come to the house and i lose the run of myself i dont go over 50 euro...

mirrorwall14

60-75 for two adults and one child. Does not include lunches for Dad. The rest is included apart from the odd sandwich for me or takeaway for the house

vectorvictor

Have been following this thread and decided to register to contribute. Single bloke in 30's. Huge change in circumstances drove frugality, things improving now but staying frugal! Now keeping myself and household essentials going on approx €20 per week

My shopping is always done on a Wednesday evening in Dunnes - good day for the reduced meats that can be bagged and frozen. Was often put off doing this before but I haven't gotten ill yet and they're fine once frozen straight away!

This week:
3x454g lean mince - €1 each, 2x chicken mini fillet packs - €0.94 each, 2 x lamb burgers - €1 each, 12 Sausages - €1.09, Frozen Roasties - 79c, Frozen Veg - €1.09, Pasta Sauces/Stir in sauces/noodles and pasta - approx €4

Thats me covered for most lunches and dinners for €11, an extra €5 or so on things like rolls, biscuits etc...

Then once a month about €15 on toothpaste,toilet rolls,bleach,shower gel, washing powder etc...