Grocery Shopping budget thread

HoneyBee83

For myself,DD 4 yrs,two cats and one dog i would say i now spend £150 a month so almost £40 a week.

Sounds a lot i know,im looking at reducing it.
I cook from scratch,in bulk and s-t-r-e-t-c-h meats,cant remember the last time i had a ready meal!! We do have the odd take away but not even once a week,DD much prefers my HM pizzas with HM wedges.
We both have packed lunches through the week which ups the cost a little. We eat alot of fresh fruit and veggies not to mention fresh fish. The pets dont eat the cheap stuff either but i buy the huge bags so i dont get them every month.We get through milk like you wouldnt believe and i admit i like to bulk my salads out with spinach and watercress (not cheap)...not to mention my wine :rotfl:and i do enjoy having friends round for dinners.
Dont get me wrong i dont always buy the brand names, i'll quite happily buy own brand especially when it comes to things like pasta,bread,rice etc This does include Household/cleaning and i like to stock up on offers.
There are loads of ways i could cut back and save,and i will bit by bit,as and when it suits us :o

Lindy_-_Loo

Wow JackieO what an amazing post, I should think before I moan about stuff!

We spend around £285 for 2 adults, 2 children and 3 cats. I am trying to get it lower but food costs rising arent helping and we online shop as we dont live close to a big supermarket and dont have a car.

Its actually cheaper for 2 adults to go in a taxi to our local small sainsburys as is it is to get a bus - the tesco is 7 or 8 miles away. We get alot from netto but I never seem lucky enough to get reductions

Alwaysthebusybee

Hi,

There is 2 adults, 2 dogs and 1 cat in my household and I spend around £200 - £250 per month for food, toiletries and cleaning products.

I am very lucky a live in a town that had numerous green grocers and butchers so organic and free range are the same as the cheap cheap versions in the supermarket.

I tend to buy in bulk most months for meat (sometimes lasts into other month), cleaning, toiletrolls and toiletries - I only tend to buy milk, fruit and vegetables weekly.

I am really lucky in that I have access to all the major supermarkets and all the cheaper ones.

Atbb

arnoldrimmer

moomoomama27 wrote: »

Surely not! a 4 pint milk is £1 at the very cheapest!!

When I was on my own with my daughter (up until she was the age of 3), I used to spend £25 per week on food, and that was over 10 yrs ago, and limiting what I bought, sticking to basics etc.. What sort of things can you get for less than £10 per week to feed 2!?

It's not something I have a choice in!
Normal week will be something like:
Value spaghetti tins 14p each
Value lemonade 2 litre 18p
Milk 2 for £2 at Tesco (buy every other week and freeze one)
Bag of value apples or pears 76p
Bag of value bananas £1.17
Half a cucumber 48p
Value cheese spread 48p (not a weekly purchase)
Value chocolate mousse 4pk £28p
Bag of value frozen sausages £1 (not a weekly purchase)
Bag of value frozen chips £1 (not a weekly purchase)
Value lollies 48p (not a weekly purchase)
Value jar of beetroot 24p
Value tomato soup 17p per tin
Value vegetable soup 17p per tin
Make scones and flapjacks at home with value oats and marge but don't need to buy them weekly.
Then its trips to co-op on the way home from work most days to see whats reduced by large amounts (by the time I get there just before closing often veg/fruit/bread is down to 10p etc) and whack some of it in the freezer to see out the week.
Not the exact same list each week but in that ballpark.
I'm not entitled to tax credits as don't work over 30 hours per week. You have to make do with what you've got. I earn £5000 per year so not much room to manoeuvre! I work in a cafe and it's made £21000 so far this month, depressing to think it'll take me four years to earn that!

patchwork_cat

Rebekah24 wrote: »

This thread has been very useful, I am looking to drive mine down this month

Mine is easily £10- £20 a week - still too much

OH £40 - £60 a week ... he really dosent have much idea how much it costs!! So handed that back to him to sort now, just doing my own shopping

12-15 big pots of greek yoghurts per week really adds up for OH, plus fresh fruit and veg, protein...erk!! I dont have to get much for myself!!

Gonna shoot for £30 for the month for me for may!

Get him to learn to make his own yoghurt.

patchwork_cat

arnoldrimmer wrote: »

It's not something I have a choice in!
Normal week will be something like:
Value spaghetti tins 14p each
Value lemonade 2 litre 18p
Milk 2 for £2 at Tesco (buy every other week and freeze one)
Bag of value apples or pears 76p
Bag of value bananas £1.17
Half a cucumber 48p
Value cheese spread 48p (not a weekly purchase)
Value chocolate mousse 4pk £28p
Bag of value frozen sausages £1 (not a weekly purchase)
Bag of value frozen chips £1 (not a weekly purchase)
Value lollies 48p (not a weekly purchase)
Value jar of beetroot 24p
Value tomato soup 17p per tin
Value vegetable soup 17p per tin
Make scones and flapjacks at home with value oats and marge but don't need to buy them weekly.
Then its trips to co-op on the way home from work most days to see whats reduced by large amounts (by the time I get there just before closing often veg/fruit/bread is down to 10p etc) and whack some of it in the freezer to see out the week.
Not the exact same list each week but in that ballpark.
I'm not entitled to tax credits as don't work over 30 hours per week. You have to make do with what you've got. I earn £5000 per year so not much room to manoeuvre! I work in a cafe and it's made £21000 so far this month, depressing to think it'll take me four years to earn that!

How many hours do you do?

rachbc

arnoldrimmer wrote: »

It's not something I have a choice in!
Not the exact same list each week but in that ballpark.
I'm not entitled to tax credits as don't work over 30 hours per week. You have to make do with what you've got. I earn £5000 per year so not much room to manoeuvre! I work in a cafe and it's made £21000 so far this month, depressing to think it'll take me four years to earn that!

If you work more than 16hrs a week you will be entitled to Childrens and Working Tax Credits as you have a child. Have a look at the entitlement checker on here to make sure you are getting what you should be.

ally18

My budget is £150 per 5 week month. When there is only 4 weeks then I save £25. (£25 per week for food plus £25 for stock up on toiletries, detergent, cleaning etc.

This is for 1 adult and 2 children aged 15 & 12 and includes everything. I use tesco for weekly stuff and farmfoods for freezer, using their vouchers. I use wilkinsons sometimes for toiletries as well.

Memory_Girl

rachbc wrote: »

If you work more than 16hrs a week you will be entitled to Childrens and Working Tax Credits as you have a child. Have a look at the entitlement checker on here to make sure you are getting what you should be.

I second that - I work 22 hours and get Child Tax Cedit ad Working FAmily Tax Credit - it makes such a difference

MG

Gracie_1827

Seen the thread about feeding a family for £50 week but with food costs rising all the time, I was wondering how much people were actually spending to feed each person per week.

I'm spending about £20 a week each, I get my 5 a day and one of my weaknesses is ground coffee in the morning. I'm trying to get the costs down and was wondering how much others spend.