Grocery Shopping budget thread

Allegra

... and how long is a piece of string ?

I thought I'd post though simply because my budget might give you an idea of how othrs with similar families are doing - we are two adults, one 15 year old (only ours is a girl !) and an old poorly cat ! Our budget is 250 p/m, but I squirrel away a part of it (sometimes as little as a fiver, sometimes close to a hundred quid) most months - and I have also built a fearsome storecupboard out the same budget over the last few years !

This budget covers all cat food (about £30pm), veggie food for DD, carnivore food for adults, toiletries and household stuff, and booze (which is mostly homebrew these days, so for "booze" read "vast quantities of sugar" mostly).

I cook from scratch wherever possible, shop around, grow my own and forage to some extent, and stockpile staples when on offer.

Loobeyloop

Thank you for your replies! I will go through my online bank statement as I have an extremely bad habit of just handing over my debit card often having no idea how much I'm spending until it comes up at the till! Will get back on that one. Allegra we are almost mirrored lol my DS was a veggie till recently! I just worry because a trip to the vets is imminent and she needs more meds, I'm sure I'll find it somewhere! Thank you all, be back later!

Loobeyloop

Right, apologies for bumping again...but have just gone through my bank statement....OMG :eek: IT's a right shock I am disgusted with myself! My spending for July, which I have included petrol, which is £99...(I am the sole grocery etc buyer) is............................£500.54!!!!!! Ashamedly on top of that I borrowed £200 as well last month which I haven't included...it was DS's birthday and we went out a couple of times to eat (this is a rarity, we don't even have takeaways anymore)....I am totally out of control :rotfl:
Well it's the 1st of Aug so a good time to start don't you think? Time to super scrimp, thank god for this forum, do you think I can feed etc 3 humans and 1 cat on £200? I'm quite excited about the challenge now! I would be able to have a no spend day but the washer in my tap decided to die yesterday so got to buy one today but that is the only thing I need! Think I better start leaving my debit card at home!
Your views/ideas/wrist slaps are gratefully received!
Hope you are having a good day!
Loobey x

quintwins

We're 2 adults 3 kids and two dogs and we have a budget of £200 normally (having a use up month) but if you spent £700 last month (ours includes takeaways and meals out) thats gonna be a big jump and you will find it hard, i'd try for £350 this month if you came way under great, if you don't it won't seem as bad as being £150 over your budget.

If your a compulsive shopper like me who can't resist a bargain i would suggest shopping online then buying your top ups in a loacla shop or filling station and only bringing enough money to buy what you need.

Good luck keep us updated

Pink.

Hi Loobeyloop,

I've added your thread to our main thread on grocery shopping budgets so that you can see what others spend. If you look at the first couple of posts you'll find lots of links that should help.

As others have said, it would be worth your while joining the Grocery Challenge...sticky thread at the top of the Old Style board...where you'll get lots of help and support.

Good luck in cutting back.

Pink

meg72

Loobeyloop wrote: »

Right, apologies for bumping again...but have just gone through my bank statement....OMG :eek: IT's a right shock I am disgusted with myself! My spending for July, which I have included petrol, which is £99...(I am the sole grocery etc buyer) is............................£500.54!!!!!! Ashamedly on top of that I borrowed £200 as well last month which I haven't included...it was DS's birthday and we went out a couple of times to eat (this is a rarity, we don't even have takeaways anymore)....I am totally out of control :rotfl:
Well it's the 1st of Aug so a good time to start don't you think? Time to super scrimp, thank god for this forum, do you think I can feed etc 3 humans and 1 cat on £200? I'm quite excited about the challenge now! I would be able to have a no spend day but the washer in my tap decided to die yesterday so got to buy one today but that is the only thing I need! Think I better start leaving my debit card at home!
Your views/ideas/wrist slaps are gratefully received!
Hope you are having a good day!
Loobey x

Its a very good idea to leave the cards at home,I only use cash and have noticed a big difference.It does seem a very big drop from700
to 200 , it can be quite off putting if you dont manage your budget,
I would try to go for 200 less this time. Good luck.

emweaver

quintwins wrote: »

We're 2 adults 3 kids and two dogs and we have a budget of £200 normally (having a use up month) but if you spent £700 last month (ours includes takeaways and meals out) thats gonna be a big jump and you will find it hard, i'd try for £350 this month if you came way under great, if you don't it won't seem as bad as being £150 over your budget.

If your a compulsive shopper like me who can't resist a bargain i would suggest shopping online then buying your top ups in a loacla shop or filling station and only bringing enough money to buy what you need.

Good luck keep us updated

How do you manage only £50 a week including takeaways and meals out? Does this include toiletries, cleaning products etc?

elliegirl

Hi, I am just asking out of interest (and hopefully win an argument lol) how much should the average food bill for a family of 5 be a week. 2 adults and 3 teenagers.

mummyyof5

Difficult to answer as everyones budget is so different but we are a family of 8 ..5 adults 1 teen, a very hungry 5 year old and a fussy 2 year old...I aim for no more than £440 per month...its usually far less...have a look at other peoples budgets on the grocery thread for my ideas xx

tori.k

also depends on where you shop too, when im really pulling the belt in (like over the next few months)we use the short dated sites and eat of really simple meals roast dinners, pasta dishes and the likes this can be done for around £100 PM