Average food shopping spend?

Cornishpixie_2

Hi, I set myelf a challenge of £70 max per week for 6 of us. 4 primary school children, had to cut it back the last few weeks, to around £60, as didn't want to go overdrawn again:(. Do a lot of cooking from scratch and looked at cheaper options like turkey steaks cheaper than boiled bacon, bake cakes for dessert and biscuits for packs. Don't think I could get it much lower without kids missing out on their fruit and veg. I do find buying only what I need for meals and basic store cupboard from Mr T online, then buying fruit and veg on offer from local greengrocer helps. I don't drive and Mr T only delivery in our area. I wouldn't be any better getting hubby to do shopping:D

MidlandsMum

I budget £10 per day for 2ads, 2 children (11 and 9) for food. I usually spend between 40-60 in the supermarket and the tenner left is for a takeaway once a week. This includes sandwiches and snacks for the kids and myself. I cook as much as poss from scratch and we eat a lot of jacket potatoes to bulk out meals. I always buy free range chicken which is a good £6 but that will make a dinner, sandwiches the next day and then a stew for me and the kids. We don't drink very much at home but usually keep a few cans/a bottle in just in case.

margaretclare

£60 a week approx for 2 retired wrinklies.

We don't buy everything in the supermarket. Meat from a farm which sells its own meat. We thought at first this would be more expensive but in fact it isn't. Fruit and veg from the local greengrocer. He gets it from the London markets, is up there at 4 am for it so we know it's fresh.

In the supermarket, it's easier to say what we don't buy. No ready-meals, no cakes, biscuits, crisps, bottled water. No booze or fags.

Also no take-aways. We like to eat out occasionally, but that's outside the normal grocery budget.

Fruit and veg are important because DH is an insulin-using Type 2 diabetic.

sad_dog_lady

65.00 for family of 2 adults. one 17 lad a 16 yr old daughter and 11 yr old lad
2 large dogs
3 cats
1 rabbit
1 gunea pig. i shop at tescos and farmers markets always use a list and never impulse buy!! i cook it all from scratch including bread.

vivatifosi

We spend £40 per 9 day cycle (has to do with my husband's shift pattern so we don't shop weekly). That's for everything - food, drink, toiletries, cleaning materials etc. Just two adults.

I keep a list of "stock items" that don't go off and that we use regularly. We stock up on them (about 6 months worth) any time they are on a 3 for 2 or BOGOF. So on our stock items list are things like Robinson's Barley Water (don't like other squashes), toilet rolls, shampoo, facial creams, toothpaste, Heinz tomato soups, dried pasta etc... Its a rare day that I have to pay full price for any of these items as sooner or later another offer comes round before I run out.

I also like to try the different value ranges, and have recently discovered that I quite like the value choc mousses from Tesco - 4 for 28p, and the value scones are great from all of the supermarkets.

Fruit and veg I keep an eye to what deals are advertised or shop at the local greengrocers/market as cheaper.

System

megw3 wrote: »

I don't know what our average spend is, but I do know that we waste a great deal. Hubby does most of the shopping and can't resist a BOGOF. Also he buys a large loaf at £1 where a small one at 80p will suffice. It is all very well if you have a home-made sandwich every day and have toast for breakfast, but 3 days a week I buy one at work, and so does he, and we have cereal rather than toast, so half a loaf is wasted almost every week.

before i got a bread maker i would freeze bought bread and only take out as many slices as i needed

firesidemaid

firesidemaid wrote: »

i do think that £10 per person a week is easily
doable for 7 x cereal, 7 x sandwiches and 7 x dinners each.

a fellow poster just pm'd me re. this so i thought i'd try putting it into words/a plan:

breakfasts: 1 x pack value porridge oats with half milk half water (i learnt a trick from someone on here. instead of buying semi-skimmed milk, buy full-fat and water it down, immediately 2 pints for the price of one!

lunches - cheese or ham with tom/cucumber/pickle roll/sandwich with value crisps and value yoghurt/apple/orange.

dinners - visit the old-style board for the best in this, but some examples.

1 x pack vege soya mince - add variants of tin value toms, kidney etc beans, mushrooms, carrots, lentils to make savoury mince, chilli/mex mix, spag bol or cottage pie mix to make 4 portions of these to service with either rice, wedges, jacket pots, value pack spaghetti. serve with seasonal/value fresh or frozen veg.

plus jacket pots + cheese/beans (or value or hm coleslaw), mushrooms/beans on toast and savoury veggie rice.

it all depends what is on offer each week/end of day. be fluid, batch cook and freeze. a lot of the things you buy will last longer than a week, but an example price guide is: oats (50p) milk (42p) bread/rolls (70p) cheese/ham (1.50) crisps (60p) yogs/fruit (80p) potatoes (100p) veg mince (58p) carrots (20p) mushrooms (58p) rice (60p) spaghetti (25p) beans (21p) toms (21p) veg (100p) onions (30p). i make that £9.37.

feel free to comment/slate etc. also if you are shopping in asda (me) or tesco you can use money-off coupons to get a minimum of 10% off your bill - to either save further or use money saved for treats or other items.

but there are loads of great thread on the o/s board for this kind of thing - much better than the above.

mjoyeux

I've managed to limit myself to about £15 a week for food and about £8 for toiletries.

Bags of frozen vegs, potatoes, pasta and rice make up the staple of most of my meals, I bulk buy bread when it's cheap, getting a months worth of bread often for under a pound.

Lunch everyday is something I have bulk cooked and frozen, normally some chilli, curry or soup. A months' worth of soup normally sets me back about £4 and I'll eat that everyday at work.

I get my protein from chicken, fish and mince, all of which can be sought quite cheaply if your prepared to not over eat. I think the major problem with people spending too much on food is when they over eat and put on weight.

I'm eating by myself and I admit that if I was eating with my OH, then I would spend more. Most nights I am happy to just have a plain meal.

Lilith1980

Having done a spreadsheet of my own, I reckon my spending will be about £150 a month for me and my DH.

I buy a lot of own brand or value things, and I only buy as much as I need for each meal rather than surplus. If you plan out your meals for the week this can help you to see how much you are likely to spend.

I'll have to remember to "rotate" the meals though otherwise DH will get bored!

squeakybadger

Spending £70-£90 a week for 2 adults, 2 cats and 2 chinchillas

Missus has to be careful about extra additives in food, so everything has to be fresh, can't have any processed food.

Make my own flatbreads and we take lunches to work, its just the meat that adds up.