How one shop a week cut our food bill by £40
The numbers from six months of planning. Less waste, fewer top-up shops, more money at the end of the month.
For most of last year, we were a three-top-up-shops-a-week household. Milk on Monday. Bread and something-for-dinner on Wednesday. A Friday “while I’m in there” shop that turned into £30. It added up.
We switched to one planned shop a week in October. Here are the numbers.
Before
- Average weekly spend: £135
- Shops per week: 3–4
- Bin waste (estimated): £12/week of expired veg, forgotten leftovers, unopened packs
After
- Average weekly spend: £95
- Shops per week: 1 (plus maybe milk)
- Bin waste: ~£3/week
Saving per week: ~£40. Over six months: ~£1,000.
Where the savings came from
1. No impulse buys. Supermarkets are designed to sell you things. Fewer trips = fewer impulse buys.
2. Less waste. When you know what each ingredient is for, you use it. When you buy peppers vaguely “for the week”, they die in the drawer.
3. Bulk on proteins. One trip means buying the bigger chicken, the 500g mince. Cheaper per kilo, no extra trips.
The catch
You still run out of milk sometimes. That’s fine. Top-up shops of 2–3 items don’t break the system. The rule is: don’t let the top-up shop become a dinner shop.