What's a realistic food budget for 2 adults?

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

Our food budget at the moment varies wildly between £200 - £300 a month :embarrase and I am desperate to get this figure down. I do a big shop monthly at Morrisons usually, and top up if necessary at Netto or Somerfield (usually just bread, milk and veg).

I'm thinking that after reading the threads here, a realistic budget for 2 adults including washing powder etc, is around £80 - £100 a month. Is this about right?

I'm still a bit of a housekeeping virgin to be honest, I've only lived with the OH for 2 years and have only just learnt to cook proper meals, as my mum worked all hours when we were younger and we lived on things out the freezer.

pawpurrs

I think it depends on how you want to eat i budget about £200 max for the two of us, but I like to eat well (food mad) lots of vegetables, good meat, yogurts, good fish etc and that also covers two dogs and two cats and all cleaning stuff.

I cook from scratch, and try and have a few economical meals ie soups, but will buy organic and free range.

If you buy lots of value stuff, and eat cheaper meat it is possible to do it for a lot less, but I personally wouldnt want to eat that way.

Its a question of choice. :T

rchddap1

It all depends on what you like really. My OH and I spend £100 a month on grocery shopping (and no we don't always eat value stuff) for 2 adults only.

It is still possible to 'eat out of the freezer' and do Old Style. For example, over the weekend I made 4 individual shepherds pies...and froze them, and last night I made a batch of muffins...and froze them. They'll come out of the freezer as and when they are needed. In fact I suspect practically everyone here will say that the freezer is an essential peice of kit.

A good way to start is to look round what you have in the cupboards and make a meal plan. You can also dip into the indexes to find new options and recipes to try. Just take things at your own pace.

Heth_2

We have a budget of 200-225 pounds for two of us, which includes things we buy in the supermarket like loo roll, washing powder and cleaning products, and some toiletries. It also includes wine, and probably 30 pounds of the budget goes on wine.
We eat well, cook from scratch 98% of the time (we buy the odd pizza and breaded fish, but probably less than once a month, and we never have takeawaws). We both have packed lunches with at least 2 pieces of fresh fruit. We also buy loads of fresh veg, juice, and no value products. I love cooking and it is something I enjoy spending money on, if we have friends or family over for dinner, or are planning a special meal at the weekend, then we will spend quite a bit on ingredients. How much you spend is really a personal choice (of course it should depend on your income as well), I wouldn't want to eat lots of the value things people on here rave about, we eat for pleasure really, not just to survive.

comping_cat

What i would do in this situation, is save my food receipts (even the little ones when its just milk!!) for a month, and see how much you are spending, and if there is much there that you are buying and not using. Then the following month you can see about cutting down slightly. Doing it in little steps is much more acheivable than trying to cut back too quickly!!!! Meal planning and store cupboard/fridge/freezer inventories are also a very good idea.