How much do you spend on food?

Icemaiden

I completely agree with what everyone says, we all eat fantastic(even if I say so myself) I spent on average £165 a month and that includes everything for 4 people even the milkman as the more I buy off him the greater discount I get! He supplys my milk, eggs and spuds(25kg bag).

Fay, I find veg from the greengrocer to be of better quality than the supermaket as its not kept under hot lights and stored for ages so keeps longer. Frozen veg is just as good.

tootles_2

We have £100 a month for the two of us to spend on food and manage quite well, we eat OS style, do not buy ready meals...... its easy really.......and we have well stocked cupboards and freezer. I am 62 and my husband is 72 and on a fixed income.

rchddap1

Our budget is £100 per month for food and go shopping every couple of weeks. Cupboards are usually very well stocked with a wide range of grub to choose from. Since we have been sticking to a budget I've also found that we are eating healthier food too. Have always made our own meals....think the 'ready meals' are full of rubbish and don't taste nice either.

Not doing so well at the moment as the cupboards are literally bare, but that's because we have got a huge (well huge for us) delivery from Tesco coming tomorrow afternoon.

jcr16

been reading through every one's post and i have come up with one factor that every one seems to agree on. we all eat very well. and are happy with home made food. so as far as i can see it doesn't matter if u spend £8 a week per person or £50. as long as u are eathing heathy and full up.

i have cut my shopping budget down only because i realised how waste full i was being with money.and how rewarding it is also to make a meal from scratch and see your family enjoy it.

GreenFingers_2

Hello DoraTheExplorer... This is an interesting post…. here’s my little bit…

I’m quoting the facts and figures from my Actual Expenditure spread sheet. For the current year started Jan 1st I have been tracking an amazing 340 items of various sorts which have been bought. The spreadsheet is divided into five major areas of expenditure, Grocery, Household (Internal and External), Personal and Transport. Here’s the numbers….

Grocery – £28.02 per week. This is for any food items. It includes such things as crisps, chocolate bars, biscuits, and occasional take-away and other non-essential food items. The bulk is of course spent on vegetables, fruit and meat from the local butcher. There’s room for improvement here but I think I have just about reached my comfort level. The thought of never having another Pork Pie would make me faint…hee hee.

Household Internal – £86.98 per week. Includes such things as insurance, TV License, house cleaning materials, mortgage, paper and stationery items, kitchen gadgets, furnishings, DIY, bin bags and all those non-food grocery items along with all the utilities - gas, water and electricity.

Personal - £24.15 per week. Includes things just for me such as toiletries, pocket money, clothes, gifts and cards, medical items such as Lemsips and dental costs (annual check-up and polish etc), computing costs, haircuts, trout fishing trips and the odd lottery ticket.

Transport - £10.63 per week. Includes anything and everything to do with travel, petrol, MOT, car servicing and insurance and car park fees. Nothing is owed on the car.

Household - External - £6.81 per week. Includes anything at all spent on the outside such as the garden costs (e.g. plants and fertilisers), lawnmower petrol, painting and maintenance, fences, garden pond and the fish food, garage items and tools.

The above comes to grand total of £156.59 per week. :rolleyes:

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Greenfingers, you've inspired me to complete my MSE budget planner spreadsheet and thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed post.

Black Saturn, yes I did refer to your post in my OP because it was such a very powerful example of what can be achieved.

Ticklemouse, my parents pay £360.00 each for their residential care. I expect the homes to spend more than 3 1/2% of that amount on their food. When older people's appetite is poor than it's extremely important that they are offered food that's tempting and highly nutritious which may by it's nature be more expensive.

Perhaps the key to all this is not how much people spend, but what % of their income they spend on food compared to what they spend on other things: telecoms, holidays, hobbies etc - this is not an exhaustive list. Although I don't imagine Richard Branson eats his way through £500 worth of food every week!

MATH

We are a family of five we eat very well and the three MATHLETTS have bottomless pits as stomachs:rolleyes: We all have (except me who doesn't eat before 6pm) Breakfast, morning snack, packed lunch, afternoon snack, 2 course dinner, supper.

In ordinary weeks (ie not the run up to Christmas) I spend £35-45 per week. This covers all food, toileteries and hair products, household cleaning and laundry stuff. Toilet rolls, kitchen towel, tissues etc . Cat food and the occasional pair of gym shoes/kidz pants/socks that I sling in me trolly on the way round.

At the high end of the budget I am spending a whopping £1.29 per person per day:xmassmile

Alfietinker

I've realised recently that if I plan meals, including all lunches and weekends, the food bill comes in much cheaper. I have a list and stick to it. If I go into a supermarket without knowing exactly what I want then the budget tends to go out the window (see signature )

We spend around £35 a week for 2 adults and 2 cats, which works out to £17.50 each. Minus the cat food/litter, about £4 then £15.50. This does vary depending on whether we bulk-buy the litter etc but a fairly accurate average. This includes toiletries/cleaning stuff but not washing powder which we buy from Makro - £50 a year ish?

We don't eat poorly at all. Plenty of fresh fruit/veg, decent quality meat. Lots of value stuff (except meat - personal choice only). And cats will only eat Whiskers ATM :rolleyes: A couple of bottles of wine a week too.

The minute I don't plan my week, or forget to allow for lunch etc then the cost starts to escalate.

System

I spend between £75-£85 for 4 adults and a 9 year old. If i spend more and i start having to chuck food away.

skystar

Fay wrote:

I was wondering guys, I would love to eat more fresh veg, but I just can't seem to keep it fresh. From the sounds of it most of you buy your veg once a week? However, when I buy it on a saturday it isn't very good by wednesday. I have tried keeping it in a cupboard and in the fridge and doesn't last either way.

This means to eat fresh veg I have to go and get it daily, which is a pain as I work full time and I am trying to write up my PhD So how do you keep yours?

I had the same problem as I work full time and just don't have time or inclination to be going shopping to get fresh stuff every day. I found fruit and veg bags from lakeland plastics company and these keep fruit and veg fresh for at least 1 week.
:xmastree: