How I Spend Less Than £13 On My Cheap Weekly Food Shop At Aldi

Last Updated on 8th May 2024

This post about my cheap weekly food shop contains affiliate links.

I’m not gonna lie, after the unbelievably overwhelming response that I received on this tweet, I’m actually a little nervous to write this post… Talking about how much I spend on my weekly food shop may not seem like the most interesting topic but I hope it inspires you guys to cut back somewhat and save money for more exciting things in your life!

When I asked on Twitter if anyone would like to read about how Matt and I spend an average of £13 a week on our food shop, I never, ever imagined that over a thousand people would respond with a resounding ‘yes’; clearly my budget-saving habit had resonated with a lot of people who wanted to learn how to cut back on their weekly expenditure.

For me, this blog is all about sharing my travel adventures and helping you guys to achieve your travel dreams and make them a reality as soon, and as often, as possible. That’s the only reason why Matt and I have been spending so little on food every week.

If you’re looking for the top ways to do your weekly food shop on a budget, I’ve got you covered in this ultimate guide about how to do your grocery shop for cheap!

***Please note this post was originally written in January 2019 so all prices featured in this guide were accurate at that time***

Weekly food shop on a budget

I just want to make this clear now before I get started – this post is in no way sponsored by Aldi but it does involve a lot of raving and praise of Aldi since that’s where my incredibly affordable shopping occurs!

Ever since my collaboration with Aldi in autumn last year, I’ve had a total and utter obsession with shopping there. It was never somewhere that I’d ever thought to shop at; but since my very first trip there, I’ve been hooked.

At the start of January, Matt and I knew we really had to knuckle down when it came to saving for our trip around the world which is now just over three months away! I’d also just started freelancing full time and every single penny I earned from that (aside from rent and food and stuff) needed to go towards travelling so I was determined to be as frugal as possible when it came to the likes of shopping.

We also had a plan in place to start eating much healthier in a bid to become more healthier within ourselves as I was fed up of eating bad food and doing very little (read: no) exercise.

With that in mind, we devised a meal plan that would last us around 5-6 days each week (with the intention of having a sort of day off when it came to frugalness and healthy eating).

I think I’ll write our exact meal plans and recipes that we use every week in a separate blog post if you’re looking for more inspiration with meal plans and how to create different and affordable recipes. Let me know in the comments or on Twitter if that’s something you’d like to see!

If you’re wondering how much is a weekly food shop or you want to know how to do a food shop on a budget in the UK, check out my top tips below!

What our cheap weekly food shop consists of

It’s important to bear in mind that all the food we eat is intended for a vegetarian lifestyle. Even though Matt and I aren’t actually vegetarian, we’ve found ourselves saving so much money on our weekly food shop by purchasing mainly veggie-friendly food.

Breakfast

Our breakfast food largely consists of two slices of brown bread, accompanied by two eggs cooked as either fried, scrambled, poached or ‘dippy’ eggs. We also add salt, pepper and brown sauce if we’re feeling particularly fancy…

So simple, so effective and SO cheap.

Total weekly cost (for 6 days) – £1.68 (or 84p each)

Carton of 15 eggs – £1.18

Wholemeal loaf of bread – 50p

Lunch

For lunch, we’ve been opting for Quorn Southern Fried Chicken wraps with mixed salad.

Total weekly cost (for 6 days) – £5.96 (or £2.98 each)

Quorn chicken nuggets (2 packs) – £1.59 each

Tortilla wraps (pack of 8 – 2 packs) – 79p each

Mixed salad leaves (2 bags) – 60p each

Dinner

We took a while deliberating what we should have for our dinner option; we wanted something healthy, nutritious and of course; cheap.

We settled on a veggie sausage and sweet potato tikka massala curry which I was incredibly apprehensive about at first as I’m not really a curry or a sweet potato person.

Having had it for the last few weeks however, I can safely say that it’s absolutely bloody delicious and I would seriously recommend it to anyone! If you’d like me to include this in a recipe post in the future for budget-friendly recipes, let me know!

Total weekly cost (for 6 days) – £7.94 (or £3.97 each)

Quorn sausages (2 bags of 8 sausages) – £1.59 each

Tikka curry sauce (2 jars) – 59p each

Sweet potatoes (1 bag) – 89p

Peppers (pack of 3) – £1.25

Onions (pack of 3) – 54p

Wholegrain rice (2 packs) – 45p each

Snacks

As well as our main three meals, we also buy a couple of (healthy) snacks which are also all incredibly reasonably priced – and still fit within the £13 weekly shop budget!

Total weekly cost (for 6 days) – £7.78 (or £3.89 each)

Cucumber (4 “sticks”) – 58p each

Yoghurt drink (pack of 12) – £1.69

Red apples (pack of 6) – £2.89

Bananas (pack of 5) – 88p

Extras

This week, we had to purchase a few extra items such as toiletries and a few condiments as we were out of them. Of course, if we didn’t need any of these then our weekly food shop would have been even cheaper. But it’s important to remember to factor in buying the likes of toiletries, cleaning products and any unanticipated purchases as well.

Total cost – £2.57 (or £1.28 each)

Mouthwash – 42p

Brown sauce – 47p

Milk (1 pint) – 49p

Pepper – £1.19

Total cost for the weekly shop on a budget (each) – £12.96

So that’s how I spend less than £13 on my weekly food shop! Naturally, when we have to buy things like toilet paper, toothpaste, bleach and kitchen roll, our weekly cost will be slightly more.

However, over the course of one month (4 weeks), Matt and I each spend significantly less than £60 each on shopping as a whole; that includes every bit of food, condiments we’ve run out of, toiletries and any cleaning products.

And honestly? That’s all thanks to shopping at Aldi. The quality of food there is fantastic, it’s so bloody affordable and it’s honestly just such an enjoyable place to shop. As I said – this isn’t sponsored at all, but I really couldn’t rave about shopping there more.

I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post and that it’s given you some inspiration on how to reduce your weekly food shop expenditure. It takes a little practice to find cheaper alternatives to your favourite brands. But once you do, you’ll be amazed at how little you can actually spend on your food shop but still get all your meals for the week!

Related posts:

• 6 Top Tips To Save Money For Travelling
• 9 Ways To Stretch Your Travel Budget Further
• 11 Cheap, Easy and Healthy Meals To Make On A Budget
• How We Spent Just £20.50 a Day Travelling New Zealand for 3 Months
• Project 2020 Vision Ebook – Tips On Saving Money, Budgeting and Travel!

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Would you like to read more posts like these about how we’re saving money to go travelling? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.