I spent 2 hours this morning writing meal plans and comparing the price of every single ingredient across 4 supermarkets. But it took so long that I ended up with a slightly incomplete shopping list which said "some fruit" and "packed lunch stuff". Not that organised. I remember last year working to a 10p a piece rule on the fruit so that was my plan. I felt pretty confident as I walked into Lidl with a couple of quid to play with.
I started unravelling quite quickly when the store assistant told me they "couldn't get lentils in". This was the base of like 80% of my meals. I even found a lentil falafel recipe I was excited to try if I had enough left. Hoping there wasn't a world shortage, I pinned my hopes on getting some in another supermarket. Aldi don't sell them, but Asda had them for the same price. As long as they were in stock!
The fruit was all more expensive than I'd anticipated. Not by much, but I also realised I'd missed baked beans off my calculations, and the biscuits were more than I'd expected. The kids had requested satsumas. But £1.29 was a little steep. I decided to try my luck with the reductions in Asda.
I'd added up at least 3 times. I'd checked the prices of everything on my way round. But the till receipt was more than I thought. So on the packing bench I got out my list and my receipt. Tinned tomatoes which I'd seen online at 25p were actually 29p. I so wanted to say something. We might need that money. I felt myself go red and hot. It was crazy to query 12p. So I left.
In my haste I'd forgotten to log my vehicle reg. So as I went back in I decided to ask about the tomatoes. I explained to an assistant that the price differed from online. She sighed, looked at me with a mixture of confusion and weariness. Then told me how much stock she had to sort before closing time. I felt so ashamed and stupid. 12p was such an insignificant amount. And did I really want to get a manager to argue about a 12p refund?! I decided that no, I did not.
On to Asda, it seems I had timed it badly to get any yellow sticker items. The only things they had left were birthday cake and ranch salad. If only Jo were here to ask! She'd have known the precise times of every mark down!
I found some reasonably priced fruit, the highly sought after lentils, and some smart price snacks for the kids lunches. The biscuits worked out 4p a portion, the crisps 6p. But the fruit, 10p per banana and 8p per satsuma (And that was only because I'd scoured the crate for the bag with the most in it!) Once again I'm frustrated that unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy. That on a very tight budget parents have so much less choice. My kids would love melon or strawberries, but there was no chance of anything so exotic and expensive.
This time when I got to the till I was right on the money.
So after 2 hours planning, 1.5 hours shopping and about 15 rounds with the calculator, we have our starting food which comes in at £18.85.
I really hope I haven't forgotten anything!
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