Grocery Shopping budget thread

babyshoes

It does depend a lot on the family - especially as teens are often fussy eaters, though I have seen threads on this board talking about £1 per adult per day (so that would be £35 per week for you). BUT these tend to be short term diets, with little fresh fruit and veg and not much variety either. It wouldn't be easy to eat healthily on that amount in the long term.

I should think that most people could manage a reasonably balanced diet with the odd treat on double that amount, or less if you aren't fussy eaters (e.g. happy to eat vegetarian meals fairly often) and meal plan then shop carefully.

I am sure an 'average' family with an average income (assuming both adults work and earn an 'average' salary) will spend more though, as there are lots of convenience products which make life easier in the kitchen - things like pre-cut veg, frozen mash etc.

meritaten

I shop at Aldi and its just me an OH (but we do feed hungry grandchildren four or five days a week) and our monthly spend is around £250. this includes 'impulse' buys like the £14,99 mini sewing machine I got last week! Perfect! now I dont have to hand sew 'little repair jobs' all the family bring me!

Bluegreen143

It really depends on your own circumstances. I am constantly amazed by how little people on the GC spend, but I think it's easiest to spend little if you get lots of YS stuff.

It's just me and my OH and last month (a 4 week month for us) we spent £217.57. I keep a spreadsheet with details of what we spend, and once you've taken off expenses for toiletries, our cat, household stuff and getting groceries delivered, we spend £165.74 or £21.72 each per week. I only eat free range meat, but only eat meat twice a week and fish once; OH eats an extra couple of meat meals a week.

We eat loads of fresh fruit and veg and I don't eat much processed food. We also spent around £30 last month on unnecessary treats that OH buys - coke, crisps and pot noodles etc. We could save even more money by not buying free range, buying frozen/tinned veg and by going to the supermarket at YS time. So I reckon you could easily eat fairly well and heathily for £14-15 per adult per week if you avoided unnecessary junk food and didn't eat meat every day - which is on par with what babyshoes says above.

tori.k

babyshoes wrote: »

It does depend a lot on the family - especially as teens are often fussy eaters, though I have seen threads on this board talking about £1 per adult per day (so that would be £35 per week for you). BUT these tend to be short term diets, with little fresh fruit and veg and not much variety either. It wouldn't be easy to eat healthily on that amount in the long term.

I should think that most people could manage a reasonably balanced diet with the odd treat on double that amount, or less if you aren't fussy eaters (e.g. happy to eat vegetarian meals fairly often) and meal plan then shop carefully.

I am sure an 'average' family with an average income (assuming both adults work and earn an 'average' salary) will spend more though, as there are lots of convenience products which make life easier in the kitchen - things like pre-cut veg, frozen mash etc.

you can eat well and fresh for very little we balance the cost out over the month, spuds have been poor this year but still a fraction of the cost to buy in bulk then in 2.5kg bags from the supermarket, Is really is a case of getting label happy and working value by weight asda smart price apples pre-packed are £1.26 by the KG same apples loose are £1 KG may not seem a lot but a bag a week over the year just means you have spent over £13 in plastic packaging. smartprice onions are 58p KG loose onions are 90p a KG you may only want half a kilo one week but they can all be cut and frozen for use over the month, with a larger family convenience food often cost more in the bigger picture and is a hassle and you usually need 2 packs and usually end up with the argument over who get the last one tho that might only be my household :rotfl:

pigpen

£600-£700 FOR 10 OF US, 6 CATS, A RABBIT AND 2 FISH. (damn capslock.. sorry)

2 adults, 3 teens (one with diabetes), 3 middle sized girls, a 2 y/o anda 1 y/o.

lollyfin

Hi ellie
it sounds like I have the same sized family as you 2 adults and 3 teenagers, ravenous beasts most of the time. I have started the GC this month with a budget of £300 and I think it is very doable on that amount. I have bought all the meat, tins and dried stuffs to do us the month so really just have fruit, veg, milk and bread to buy and still have quite a bit left of my budget.

valk_scot

Two adults and two kids of 16 & 11 here. The kids are both sporty and eat incredible amounts, no-one has allergies or is vegetarian or is particularly fussy. The kids and OH take packed lunches 95% of the time. I'm a SAHM with time to spend shopping for the best deals and I'm a competant cook, I've got plenty of storage and two freezers. I meal plan, I'm in the supermarket twice per week at YS time, I'm quite organised.

I spend on average about £80 per week on just food, not including toiletries/cleaning materials/cat food etc. I could do it on less but I don't have to atm so I don't, I'm happy just to keep it to that level what with the costs of food continuing to rise. We eat a fair mix of foods including meat and fish four or five times a week. We eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg and very little convenience foods. Any money I have left at the end of the week gets popped into a jar for treats, I can usually manage a takeaway once a month.

So for 2 adults and 3 teenage kids I'd be looking at £100 a week personally. That is more than many folk here would spend but it's only £2.85 pppd.

If you're working and don't have lots of time to shop or cook and if you've got any dietary restrictions or fussy folk then it will get harder and more restrictive every £ you try to cut it down but, of course, if you need to you need to tbh. I personally though would rather look for other areas of the budget to cut back on. It gets easier if you think of it in terms of a take-out coffee is the equivelent of one person's food for the day, or a magazine is 1.5 days worth, or a bottle of wine is two or more, or the treat takeaway/cinema visit for the family could cover the food for two people for the week. It's not just about how cheap you can buy your food for after all, I think good nutrition is a high priority and if that means having to cut out other things from your life to pay for it so be it. I do see a lot of very low weekly food budgets here and sometimes they look quite worrying nutritionally. Once again, needs must but nutritional quality should be a priority.

krlyr

I don't think there's any "should" figure. As much as you're willing and able to spend to get meals of a quality you want - so it's very much an "as long as a piece of string". OH and I have a budget of £60 a month that we find fine for us two adults - we've got it lower than that if we carefully mealplan but we've slipped out of the habit lately. But my mum and stepdad easily spend at least that a week, if not double, for mostly themselves and the odd meal a week for my stepsisters. They tend to shop at more expensive shops than us, they buy more fresh than frozen, more branded items, more pre-prepared (I've started making all my own bolognese sauces etc. lately, my own bread, breadcrumbs, etc) - even the whoopsies prices at their storestend to work out more expensive than the regular price of frozen meat at ours (and we tend to look out for offers and stock up anyway). My stepdad works nights so has to have a lunch that keeps him going, especially as he works in a cold environment. My OH gets a lunch allowance so it's not something we have to factor into our grocery bill. My mum and stepdad enjoy having wine with dinner every once in a while or a few beers at the weekend, OH and I rarely drink. They buy expenses squashes for my stepsisters, like Ribena, we stick to own-brand double concentrate squashes on multibuy offers.
All kinds of different habits amongst two couples, that can make a difference of hundred a month. There are people who probably spend less than us, lots of people who spend more, but there's no "should" about it.

skipsmum

2 adults and 2 teenage [STRIKE]gannets[/STRIKE] boys, 3 cats, one dog, toiletries, household, packed lunches & flasks for us all, etc etc at asda about £360 a month. I only buy free range meat and eggs, and I buy prepacked chopped veggies because I just don't have much time. I rarely buy branded stuff. I do make double and freeze half a lot.
Also MIL cooks for us all on a Sunday so one less meal.
I have done it for much less when things have been tight, and also for much more before I really got into OS.

quintwins

we are 2 adults and 3 kids (6,6,3) however ebcause the kids are still young i go threw an awful lots of mulk and fruit it takes up over half my budget, we spend £200 a month, i cook from scratch 90% of the time, and my biggest saver is not making sunday dinner, we go to my mil or out for the day with a picnic, the roast of a roast is just shocking, if i ever do make a roast it's always pork shoulder done in the slowcooker, as i can't be spending 1/5th of our weekly budget on one meal.

Our budget included atleats one takeaway for me and hubby a month aswell, and usually a happymeal each for the kids.Aswell as cleaning products, toilet roll ect, this means we sometimes go over because we bulk buy and that sometimes we're way under.