How Much Do You Budget For Groceries?

I think location makes a difference to your spend, plus how you categorise it.We are two adults, in a northern city. We meal plan and cook from scratch quite a lot, but are meat heavy (working on reducing that). Our average monthly spend is £165 per month. I don't include pet food, alcoholic drinks at home or household/ cleaning items in that figure. Snacks bought whilst not at home are in our spending money. We get most veg from a local market which is soooooo cheap, and then supermarket on top of that. Boyfriend buys a fair proportion of ready meals when at home, so there's that he slips within grocery budget too. We don't buy much branded stuff, and there's things I'd happily eat more of that we don't because of cost (steak, avocado, smoked salmon ). OTH, food is a priority and I like cooking, so it's important to me to have variety and interest in what we eat.

DrWatson1 wrote: »

I have to say I'm surprised by some of the comments here about Aldi. In my experience, their fruit and veg is fine - better than Asda, and not quite as good as Sainsbury's.

Some of their own brand stuff is a bit hit-and-miss - Nachos and Gold Label coffee are excellent, chocolate digestives....not so much!

But for everyday fruit, veg and meat, I would challenge anyone to "taste the difference" in a blind taste test.

I agree


Used to shop in Asda but when we moved our new town doesn't have an Asda (nearest one is 14 miles away)


So have switched to Aldi and must say so far there's only been one thing where my partner has said "I wouldn't eat that again"


I actually prefer Aldi, I must just be cheap :rotfl:

I spend about £280 a month, we're 2 adults and one child (age 11). I'm happy with this, a year ago we were spending in excess of £400 per month. I do a weekly shop at Aldi with a shopping list - I do look at the meat and veg/fruit offers before I go. I then get any branded foods, toiletries, cleaning stuff from either Home Bargains or Poundland. I've started to buy some toiletries from Aldi, and they have been good even with sensitive skin. I then go to Morrisons for any remaining branded things that I can't get at any of the above!

I don't always cook from scratch, I work full time and I'm often worn out when I get home and want to spend time with the family. We all have packed lunches, sometimes sandwiches, sometimes soup or sometimes leftovers. We have cereals, eggs, porridge for breakfast. Evening meals are a wide variety of fresh meat, veg and we usually have a pudding of some description even if it's just a yoghurt or a peice of fruit. We usually have a treat meal once a week, which is usually a ready meal and usually curry with poppdoms and paratha bread. On payday we usually get a takeaway, this is extra to the amount above.


Well hope that helps.

My DD chomps down on the Aldi and Lidl quaver versions without any complaint, clearly she has no taste... (mind you I knew that already :rotfl:)

Thai sauce - again I don't like Thai, but if I make it I do it from scratch so it's not been a issue for me

Cheese strings... WHO BUYS THESE??? Even my 7 year old won't eat the premium ones! She spat THOSE out LOL She does like babybel though - then again so do I so I guess I can live with that

Seriously though - if you buy Aldi ready food expecting it to taste the same as a ready meal or prepped meal from Sainsbury or Tesco then you will always be disappointed because all things aside they will have different recipes - same as Tesco, Asda, M&S etc don't use the same recipe for their tomato and basil pasta sauce...

Ultimately it's about making savings - if you're going to bin what you buy then it's not saving. However if you want into Aldo or Lidl with the attitude that you want it to taste EXACTLY like x brand then you might as well not bother

We have a lidl that I try to avoid because they have a bakery bit in there and I have NO will power - they also do stollen bites (don't like the Aldi or even posh brand ones...) and frankly it's not good for my diet.
For fruit and veg I do like both, for chicken kievs we love the lidl fresh ones, don't like the frozen version. Fresh meat is good, and their fresh pasta and sauce is fine too. I also stock up on some of their premium stuff when they have offers - like I have a fair few duck breasts hiding in my freezer at the moment - I do love duck!

We are two adults and a cat. I am hyper sensitive with inflammatory conditions, and have to have a mostly unprocessed, fresh cooked balanced variety of food to reduce pain and stiffness and prevent intolerant reactions. I budget £130 a week, to include all household items, toiletries, groceries, snack treats, packed lunches, any lazy day ready meals, and wine (essential for the mind!). Even this is hard to stick to, so I am really surprised at how little you all seem to be able to spend, I buy just what we need on a daily basis. When I need to replace face cream and hair stuff I go for a natural brand that serves me well, but this has to be an additional expense. I guess the wine is roughly £30.00 of our weekly budget, and that's going for the half price and other bargains. And no, we can't give up the wine, that is too sad :rotfl: and I am no angel :A