Grocery Shopping budget thread

Raspberry_beret

Our food budget is £200 a month for just DH and me. It includes all cleaning products and some toiletries. DH does low-ish carb though so I can't bulk out meals with starchy carbs - we eat a lot of meat and veg. I do nearly all shopping at Lidl, just get odd bits from the butcher or 99p shop. I try and bulk cook HM soup for lunch. I think I need to meal plan a bit more, I'm not very inspired when I get back from work. DH would like to eat more fish but it seems expensive for the portion I'd need to feed him!

Spidergirl76

For a family of 5: 2 adults, one 13 year old, one 7 year old and a 2 year old. The 13 year old eats adult portions.

We don't currently vastly overspend, I'd say I spend around £90 most weeks, so say £360 ish per month but I'd like to get this down if possible. I usually shop at Tesco, but I pop to our local Asda every couple of days in the evening and buy most of our fruit from the reduced section.

I'm unsure of what would be a realistic budget for us to spend each month. It would need to include packed lunch stuff for the 7 year old and for DH, and lunches for the 2 year old and I; the 13 year old has hot lunches at school each day.

camNolliesMUMMY

2 adults and 1 child aged 4 and 1 cat £150 a month including food & toiletries i make my own cleaning stuff so hardy buy anything for this. does not include petrol, if i can start getting below this i will try and include it.

BitterAndTwisted

What is realistic to one family is not to another. £90 a week for a family of your size doesn't sound excessive to me. Everything depends on how much time and what kind of cooking-skills you have. There would be no point in telling you that you can run your home on half of what you spend now if you're working full-time, your partner is idle and no-one taught you to cook.

Have you had a look at the cheap-family-recipes.org website for guidance?

Spidergirl76

No, I've never heard of that website before, Bitter, thanks, will have a look.

I don't work currently, DH is bone idle in the kitchen, and I'd say my cooking skills are fairly good. I do like to cook meals from scratch but when I get in a meals rut I get lazy. Must take a look at that site and get some inspiration for new meals!

Spidergirl76

There are 5 of us; me, DH, DD aged 13, DD aged 7 and DS aged 2. I'd say we currently spend around £90 per week but I'd like to trim this down if possible, by cooking from scratch more, and by wasting less things than we currently do. We have pets but we budget for their food separately

HappyMJ

I always say £20 a week for the first adult, £15 a week for the second adult and anyone else who eats adult sized portions and £10 a week for any children. I think that a good starting point. So your family would be £70 a week. You can spend a bit less or a bit more if you want. The cheap family recipes web site referenced earlier can do a family of 2 adults and 2 children for £100 per month if really needed. I did it for a while it is extremely difficult but certainly possible.

Spidergirl76

Thank you HappyMJ, £70 sounds a good amount to aim for to start with, that's over £1000 saved per year so it's got to be a good thing.

Do you guys on here shop weekly or monthly? I currently do weekly but am thinking of switching to monthly.

BitterAndTwisted

If you can cook (and a frighteningly large number can't) meal-plans, shopping-lists with an eye out for keen prices/reductions and batch-cooking. That's how get the housekeeping down. Less expensive lean meat, more cheaper cuts and more meat-free meals. maybe a couple of times a week. I can't remember who it was now but someone on this forum serves a home-made soup with fresh bread followed by a proper pudding once a week. Clever.

squeaky

Hi

Take a look here:- Grocery Shopping budget thread

You'll find help and ideas for a number of different family sizes in there that should prompt some inspiration. (I'll add your query to this thread later)

More browsing.... budget threads here on Old Style MoneySaving and also budgeting threads here on Old Style MoneySaving