Grocery Shopping budget thread

happycrafter_2

Hi

I budget £250 per month on 2 adults and 2 teenagers (also boys and big appetites) also in our family are 2 dogs and a cat.

we go to a meat wholesale place once a month and spend £70ish (males in the house big meat eaters) I then divide chicken, pork chops, stewing steak and bacon in to portions for the month. I also do a big shop in Aldi approx £100ish that includes cleaning products. I get my toiletries from a savers store as I find that's the best for me where I live.

I then have roughly £70 for weekly milk and bread (local shop always has great offers on) and fresh veg.

Anything left over goes in to my Christmas pot to buy nice things at then end of the year.

the one thing that helps me with hungry teenagers especially when they come in from school/college is I buy a baguettes if they are reduced (best if they are slightly stale) half them length ways then divide in to 3 or 4 depending on length. Make a basic tomato sauce spread over the cut side cover in grated cheese wrap in foil and whack them all in the freezer. Kids then take them out and stick under the grill or in the oven (I have electric so I trust my youngest to do this).

reminds me I need to make some more soon stocks are running out!

rachbc

£250 pm for 4 - 2 adults, a teen boy and 6 yo. This inc 3 breakfasts, packed lucnhes for 3 plus 1 at home, evening meal most toiletries (mine are more £ and come out of my money) and cleaning stuff

Spend about £40 per week in aldi on bread, milk, cereal, pack lunch stuff, tins, fuit and veg etc etc.

Then the rest in reduced stuff in the big SM, bulk buys from Makro/ offers/ asian store.

Eg this week £38 in aldi on sunday, £25 on makro on some reduced beef (enough for 5 meals), big block of mozarella which I grated and froze for hm pizzas, something else I can't remember and a rare treat of 22 bags of crisps for £1.50! Last night I spent £8 on some YS stuff - mainly bread and fresh fruit and veg but also a ES pizza which was cooked and put in lunch boxes today.

Meals this week have been - porridge with fruit, fruit greek yoghurt and seeds, bagels or HM granola for breakfasts, pizza, pasta salads, ham sarnies and left over jambalaya for lunches. Dinners are pasta and meatballs, jambalaya, chicken curry and rice/ naan, hm pizza and salad, lamb pittas with dips, chorizo and chickpea strew with bulgar, oven fried chiekn, slaw and wedges.

Sorry to go on but I hate it when people post 'Oh i spend £20 feeding my family of 8' and don't tell you how!!

All the meat for the main meals has been bought YS or on offer and frozen in portions which then form the basis for the weeks meal plan.

lushlifesaver

We are a household of two; myself (fairly traditional eater) and bf (professional athlete). We eat a lot of meat, pasta/carbs.

We spend approx £45 per week which includes mostly fresh milk, bread rolls, ham as well as more storecupboardy stuff - purchased mostly in Iceland or when on offer.

Once every 6 weeks or so we take a trip to Makro and buy mince (2 packs gives us 12 2person portions) chicken breasts (roughly 25-30 per pack depending on size) and stuff like toilet rolls/fabric conditioner/laundry detergent/pasta if it's on offer. We'll spend maybe £30-60 quid on this.

The only stuff that doesn't come out of our grocery budget is diesel and that's because with bf on GB it tops £400 per month :O so yeah, we don't include that.

Each week bf does get 1 dinner from chippy (£3) 1 KFC lunch box (£3) and we share a takeaway some weeks (£10). I have no doubt I could save more but with a fussy, bottomless bf I'm happy to hover between £45-50 per week. Once I have a job I will set up a storecupboard and do less regular shopping.

Rainbow82

We spend £10 a week for two adults and then an extra £10 a month on freezer or offer items, usually quorn and an emergency bag if frozen veg or extra chopped tomatoes. However we eat vegetarian probably 9 days out of ten (unless there us a really good offer on fish). We tend to eat some sort of vegetable risotto, lasagne and veg (quorn mince bulked out with grated carrot) and veg, toad in the hole, cottage pie and veg, veg curry etc. If we ate meat I don't think it would be possible though to live on this amount if money as at the moment from one bag of 300g quorn mince I can make 3 portions of cottage pie, 4 portions of bolognese and 2-3 good sized portions of lasagne, ie five main meals for two adults. Lunch is usually soup, cooked in batches often from reduced veg.

lilmisskitkat

We are a family of 5 - me, DH, DD1 (11), DS (4) and DD2 (21m). Our food budget is £275 per month. Some months i find it easy to stay in budget, some months it's a struggle. All have healthy appetites except the baby.

We get through a lot of milk, fruit and veg every week, DH is a big meat eater, the rest of us aren't too bothered. DD2 only eats tiny tiny portions (reflux), the other 2 have packed lunches for school. Sometimes there is just me and DD2 at home for lunch, or DH will be here too if he's working from home. Sometimes DH works away so i don't have to feed him for a few days. Kids have tea 2 nights a week at my mam and dad's. Sometimes i am ill (fibromyalgia) and rely on quick ready meals/ready prepped veg ect. Lots and lots of variables!

I'm always looking for ways to cut our budget (or at least stay in it!) but i'm not willing to compromise (sp?) on the way we eat eg by cutting down on fruit/veg, buying value meat, buying cheap cakes/biscuits etc rather than making our own.

I'm starting DD2 potty training next week though so that'll be a fiver a week saved at least, though with the rising cost of food it wont make much difference to the total spend i imagine.

K xx

tina_malteser

I have around £25 per week to buy EVERYTHING for myself and DS,..Im lucky enough to live less than a 10min walk to town centre so i don't rely on supermarkets and taxi to shop, B&m is good for tins, sauces, cereals, jars, we have lidle iceland, poundstretchers, farmfoods,Tesco An Asda awaiting approval and Aldi also awaiting,
I meal plan and only buy the things i need(not want)
Tbh its never a done thing in this house that 3 meals per day will be eaten, but an evening meal is a must, i will drink coffee rather than have breakfast, if i'm peckish in the afternoon it will be a cuppa soup or noodles, ds is up and out most of the day and even then he might not come home for tea(he's 23) and go straight to g/f after footie or that mixed martial arts thingy he does( he buys his own protein drinks):T

winniepooh

we were 120per week but in the lasts few months by changing my shopping habits this is now between 60-80. this is for 3 of us and the dog. this includes breakfasts and packed lunches.

Skint_yet_Again

Hi there, in our home there is only me and DS (17yo) and I spend £40-£45 a week.

I buy most of my weekly shop in Aldi and this includes bread, fruit, veg, meat, potatoes, wraps, pasta, soup, milk, yoghurts, cheese, salad, ham, toilet rolls, shower gel, shampoo, 2in1 clothes washing liquid with conditioner, bleach, bathroom cleaner, liquid soap for bathroom & kitchen, washing up liquid & dishwasher tablets. I buy tinned toms and blitz them in blender & freeze in small portions enough for 1 meal for 2 of us in each tub to use for sauces. Then in asda I get value noodles (snacks for DS about 11p each & add to stir frys), cereal (I've tried cheaper and DS does notice and doesnt like it so false economy for us I'm afraid), frozen chips (for occasional quick dinner from freezer) and deodrant for DS. Toothpaste & kitchen roll in £1 shop.

We eat 3 meals a day, and we have meat at every lunch and dinner. DS is at college and takes a packed lunch but is also snacking when he gets home and in the evening. I take leftovers to work for lunch

FairyPrincessk

Its a bit hard to break it down exactly per week as we do a SM order about three times a year. There are two of us and we are both very big eaters and since we're both approach 30 and are both still in higher education this needs to be sustainable for us, so I try to keep it nutritionally balanced, not too much work in the evenings and tasty. OH has a tendency to get on a cycle of binging and then being super strict, so I'm trying to even him out:rotfl:.

I aim to keep to £35 at our weekly shop at Aldi. This covers toiletries, packed lunch for OH (I work from home or take leftovers to mw) a cooked dinner and a breakfast for both. Last year we increased our meat intake to about 3 times a week. I find it easier to keep us both full on a budget like this--not saying it can't be done cheaper but it works for us right now. Our SM orders run 70-100 pounds each go. I stock up on things like rice, pasta, things not sold at Aldi, whatever toilet roll is the best offer and things that are very difficult to carry. We don't have a car and our travel budget is separate, so that brings it down. I also don't include any wine etc. in that budget as it is supposed to come out of our pocket money.

Most weeks we have 2-3 nights of soups and breads (sometimes with meat--i.e. creamy chicken, noodle and veg) or in summer it will be 2-3 nights of salads many of them warm such as roasted aubergine with goats cheese. The other nights vary a lot more. I usually try to have a look at the supersix when i do the weekly menu. OH is a bit of a sausage fiend and he also tends to choose either chorizo or pepperoni for his sandwiches so I'll be looking to wean him off that this term. I have a penchant for sugar and most of my efforts to cut back have failed. However, I do try to bake once a week, which I enjoy and not buy anything else in. When its gone, its gone! Since OH likes a pud we'll sometimes do a broiled grapefruit or a hot chocolate after dinner if all the baked goods are finished.

Could it be cheaper? Yes. Do we go over sometimes? Yes. It sounds like you're doing a great job to me, but obviously if there are reasons you need to cut back then it has to be done. Maybe try keeping track of your menus for a few weeks and then costing out your most frequent meals. OH was shocked when he costed out his Paella, which he thought was quite economical. He'll now make it with only one of the add ins which helps our bill substantially.

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

I spend about 100 a week for 5 of us including nappies, cleaning And alcohol but not Petrol or pocket money...or baby milk( forgot how expensive that is) how much you spend on petrol?

£20 - £40 depending on how much we use the car. My oh's family live nearly 40 miles away so it costs about £15 just for him to drive there & back.

rachbc wrote: »

£250 pm for 4 - 2 adults, a teen boy and 6 yo. This inc 3 breakfasts, packed lucnhes for 3 plus 1 at home, evening meal most toiletries (mine are more £ and come out of my money) and cleaning stuff

Spend about £40 per week in aldi on bread, milk, cereal, pack lunch stuff, tins, fuit and veg etc etc.

Then the rest in reduced stuff in the big SM, bulk buys from Makro/ offers/ asian store.

Eg this week £38 in aldi on sunday, £25 on makro on some reduced beef (enough for 5 meals), big block of mozarella which I grated and froze for hm pizzas, something else I can't remember and a rare treat of 22 bags of crisps for £1.50! Last night I spent £8 on some YS stuff - mainly bread and fresh fruit and veg but also a ES pizza which was cooked and put in lunch boxes today.

Meals this week have been - porridge with fruit, fruit greek yoghurt and seeds, bagels or HM granola for breakfasts, pizza, pasta salads, ham sarnies and left over jambalaya for lunches. Dinners are pasta and meatballs, jambalaya, chicken curry and rice/ naan, hm pizza and salad, lamb pittas with dips, chorizo and chickpea strew with bulgar, oven fried chiekn, slaw and wedges.

Sorry to go on but I hate it when people post 'Oh i spend £20 feeding my family of 8' and don't tell you how!!

All the meat for the main meals has been bought YS or on offer and frozen in portions which then form the basis for the weeks meal plan.

Sounds like you eat very well & are very organised with your budget.

lilmisskitkat wrote: »

We are a family of 5 - me, DH, DD1 (11), DS (4) and DD2 (21m). Our food budget is £275 per month. Some months i find it easy to stay in budget, some months it's a struggle. All have healthy appetites except the baby.

We get through a lot of milk, fruit and veg every week, DH is a big meat eater, the rest of us aren't too bothered. DD2 only eats tiny tiny portions (reflux), the other 2 have packed lunches for school. Sometimes there is just me and DD2 at home for lunch, or DH will be here too if he's working from home. Sometimes DH works away so i don't have to feed him for a few days. Kids have tea 2 nights a week at my mam and dad's. Sometimes i am ill (fibromyalgia) and rely on quick ready meals/ready prepped veg ect. Lots and lots of variables!

I'm always looking for ways to cut our budget (or at least stay in it!) but i'm not willing to compromise (sp?) on the way we eat eg by cutting down on fruit/veg, buying value meat, buying cheap cakes/biscuits etc rather than making our own.

I'm starting DD2 potty training next week though so that'll be a fiver a week saved at least, though with the rising cost of food it wont make much difference to the total spend i imagine.

K xx

I'm hoping to potty train my 17 month old son pretty soon too so they will save some money.

Thanks so much to everyone who replied, I can see you have to be very prepared & organised to be a good budgeter. xx

I'm going to start working out how much the different meals we eat cost & do a spreadsheet that way i can choose a couple of more expensive meals per week then cheaper ones the other days.

I've been thinking about it more & worked out that we spend about £7 a week on honey. :eek: My oh doesn't drink real tea or coffee & has lemon tea with honey in, he also puts honey in his porridge so that really needs cutting back on.

I can't really stockpile stuff as we only have a small kitchen with 3 wall units & 2 base units so all my food has to fit in 2 wall units including the babymilk/food.

Hopefully if I can save some money I can get a new kitchen with a larder cupboard.

We also have 2 cats so buy cat food too.