Grocery Shopping budget thread

Bob_the_Saver

£13.43 per week (Exactly) per person per week (2012) for all food and no-alcoholic drinks when in our own properties.
Mrs Bob the Saver however can cook (as can I) so there are no 'ready meals' tinned meals, junk food etc, and we do eat very very well.
This does not include tomatoes, chilli and the other odd veg from our garden July-October.

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

£13.43 per week (Exactly) per person per week (2012) for all food and no-alcoholic drinks when in our own properties.
Mrs Bob the Saver however can cook (as can I) so there are 'ready meals' tinned meals, junk food etc, and we do eat very very well.
This does not include tomatoes, chilli and the other odd veg from our garden July-October.

What kind of meals do you have if you don't mind me asking?

I genuinely want to be more MSE this year & will need all the help I can get.

shegirl

If you eat plenty of meat like me and ds that bumps it up.Some eat very cheaply but not in the way many would want to eat and not always healthy either.Some grab lots of reduced stuff.

I used to spend £300-£400 a month on me and ds:o (big meat eaters!)It'll go down quite a bit now as I've started using an online butcher that is much cheaper (first order came today though so need to sample it all first!).I'm saving money on milk too with the Tesco pure (skimmed for us).It's a long life one that lasts 7 days after opening (before use by,obviously) and has a longer date.On offer at the mo at 3 2 litre bottles for £3.50. It's lasting well

Something else I guess we save on is making our own snacks more now,it's become a pretty much constant thing as ds loves baking.

Breakfast is varied but pretty cheap too box or two of cereal for the month (ds only,I don't do breakfast),muffins (usually on offer) bought in bulk and frozen and value (shock horror:eek:) pancakes - 6 for 20p,again frozen and two removed overnight,yoghurt etc.

A lot of people use a lot of rice and pasta as they're cheap,many don't use meat often or buy it reduced.many eat lots of value stuff,bulk meals out with veg,lentils etc.

I think the only time to look at your spending and question it is a.if you can't afford it and/or b. you can eat just as well buying things cheaper (and I mean just as well as in varied,quality,taste and nutrition - why go buy water pumped meat and bulk it out unless you have to?).Food is a pretty important thing!

If you post the kind of things you buy others may be able to help (my limit is the milk and meat deliveries:rotfl:)

Regular shopping bumps up your food shop too!

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

I think we eat well, I buy alot of fruit & veg as well as meat/fish.

I've started doing a weekly meal plan so that I just buy the ingredients needed to make those meals.

The kids eat alot of cereal & drink alot of milk about 9 x 4 pints a week. :eek:

We have things like chilli, cottage pie, pork chops, smoked haddock, roast chicken, chicken curry, sweet & sour chicken.

We have 2 or 3 kinds of veg with each meal too not including spuds.

I'll have a better think about tomorrow & post my shopping list.

shegirl

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

I think we eat well, I buy alot of fruit & veg as well as meat/fish.

I've started doing a weekly meal plan so that I just buy the ingredients needed to make those meals.

The kids eat alot of cereal & drink alot of milk about 9 x 4 pints a week. :eek:

We have things like chilli, cottage pie, pork chops, smoked haddock, roast chicken, chicken curry, sweet & sour chicken.

We have 2 or 3 kinds of veg with each meal too not including spuds.

I'll have a better think about tomorrow & post my shopping list.

Quite similar to mine then which could account for the cost.take a look at https://www.clarebarry.co.uk for meat,you may save a small fortune on it!

Lots of chopped tomatoes too?

Tiglath

BCS - we eat similar meals to you. Since I started monitoring the budget in August, we've settled on £40-45/week for 2 adults. We both take packed lunches into work which is where a lot of the extra spends were going.

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

shegirl wrote: »

Quite similar to mine then which could account for the cost.take a look at www.clarebarry.co.uk for meat,you may save a small fortune on it!

Lots of chopped tomatoes too?

I even put a tin of chopped tomatoes in my cottage pie as it gives the gravy more flavour. :rotfl:

Cheers for that link, I can see that the mince is cheaper straight away. :T

suki1964

I don't think you spend so much to be honest

£200 a week

Minus fuel for the car- tank is £80
Pocket money £20
Nappies etc£20

That only leaves £80 a week and if you are happy with meat and fresh veg, then £20 a head a week is really pretty good

Go look at the meal planning thread or the what are you having for dinner tonight to get an idea of what other people have. They might give you some ideas or they might make you see you aren't doing so bad and you might want to look at making reductions other ways, local farmers markets, local butchers, meal planning, reduced goods, cooking from scratch

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

Tiglath wrote: »

BCS - we eat similar meals to you. Since I started monitoring the budget in August, we've settled on £40-45/week for 2 adults. We both take packed lunches into work which is where a lot of the extra spends were going.

Well I have 2 teenagers that eat me out of house & home so could be classed as adults so what i'm spending doesn't sound too bad considering I have to buy nappies & stuff too. A tub of Aptamil babymilk is nearly £10 & one doesn't last a whole week. :eek:

I've just noticed the grocery challange at the top of the page doh.

I'll start keeping my receipts so I can see what we spend on what. :A

shegirl

Breast_Cancer_Survivor wrote: »

Well I have 2 teenagers that eat me out of house & home so could be classed as adults so what i'm spending doesn't sound too bad considering I have to buy nappies & stuff too. A tub of Aptamil babymilk is nearly £10 & one doesn't last a whole week. :eek:

I've just noticed the grocery challange at the top of the page doh.

I'll start keeping my receipts so I can see what we spend on what. :A

I swear teens (boys in particular) eat as much as one and a half adults:rotfl: I don't know where ds puts it,he' s a little twiggy (with well formed muscles!) lol