Grocery Shopping budget thread

lilmisskitkat

Our food budget is £270 per month for 2 adults, DD 8 and DS nearly 2, this includes all toiletries, cleaning stuff and nappies.

I do a big online shop at the beginning of the month, all the tins, bottles, heavy items etc then shop weekly for fresh food at the market and asda.

Kate xxx

rachbc

around £300 a month - inc cat food, 1 nappy a night for dd and cleaning/ laundry/ dishwash. Do a big online supermarket shop once a month then buy from market, butcher, asian shop, poundshop, homebargains, adli/ lidl depending what I need and were is cheapest as I need during the month

Want2BMoneySavvy

Normally between £65 and £70 a week - that's all food, toiletries, cleaning stuff and nappies. It does me, my husband (6ft6 rugby player, never stops guzzling), a 3yr old and a 9 month old baby. Both kids just eat normal food, we don't buy any baby food or different food for them.

Trying to do it for £250 for all of this month.

inkie

I would say that we do £45 for the four of us (2 ad and 14 and 11 yr olds). This includes all pack ups during the week - I cook from scrath and do extra for the evening meal, with spare for the pack-ups for the next day.

Sosh

I spend £50 a week for a family of 4. That includes nappies so will hopefully will go down a bit once ds is potty trained.

snoop2008

About £30.00 for me and my daughter!!

Material_Girl_2

I try to stick to about £20 to £30 a week and that's just for me. I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and fish and nice coffee, so that drives up the cost quite a bit.

Someone on here mentioned spending £15 every fortnight. That's only £7.50 a week! I wonder how that can be done healthily. I can't believe that is actually possible, if you include coffee, tea milk, butter, frui,t vege and then 7 main meals. Even at Lidl's I couldn't buy all the basics for a £7.50.

tyzer2001

Between £30-£50 a week for me, 19yr old DS, 14 yr old DD, two dogs, two cats, and assorted other 19yr olds every weekend when it is open house. I must admit The Assortment tend to bring a bag of junk food with them most weeks but they do make inroads into milk, juice, bread and noodles!

Ds and DD have packed lunches most days, none of us are very 'breakfast'y, but we all eat together most evenings. Takeaway once a week usually.

That includes all toiletries, cleaning products, my personal obsession with having Andrex loo roll (I don't drink, smoke, do drugs or go out much - I d**n well deserve a soft wipe for my bottie :rotfl:) and any extras I pick up whilst wandering the supermarket.

Happydaze

Having read everyones posts I now realise how much money we waste every month shopping (2 adults, 12 yr old & 5 yr old).
£300 is paid into Clubcard plus every month to cover food & about £100 of that is petrol, on top of that we probably spend another £200 a month on shopping and that doesn't include any meals out we may have.
I'm just realising how much it all adds up!! Especially when I open the fridge and realise that stuff has to be thrown away as it's past its best!!!
At the moment we are fortunate that we can afford to shop this way & not have to think to much about what we spend however this is going to change shortly when I'm made redundant meaning our income will drop by 40%. So drastic measures required!!
Where do I start?
How do I form a budget?
DO MSErs do a meal plan pre shopping?
Is online shopping moneysaving compared to trips to supermarkets as you avoid temptation?
Kids are always hungry - inexpensive & filling snacks?
Pack Lunches or school dinners? At the moment we do school dinners as I always seem to spend a fortune buying pack lunch items/drinks (tried sending 5 year old with juice in a bottle but she never manages to close it properly and it ends up everywhere!!)

So many questions but hopefully you can help me in my quest to become a more efficient shopper!!!
:question:xx

randomer

It's kind of boring if you are used to doing your own thing but I find a simple list helps. Write down the days of the week and a meal for each. Use this for your shopping list.

I have a very small low fridge so I have to be organised or things end up at the back of the fridge going off. I throw away very very little....maybe the odd slice of ham or a yoghurt once in a while.

Sad looking veg can be used for soup. Fruit that's a bit bashed can be cooked.