How much do you spend on groceries each month?

notlongnow_2

We went out for a carvery lunch yesterday (We did a car boot sale saturday and sunday so really the meal was free..lol) I overheard the lady in front ask for the turkey carcass, which the chef gave her. I wanted one too so got DH to ask..lol.. chef gladly gave him the carcass. When we got home the turkey was stripped and there are two big bowls of meat. One for the freezer, one for today.. Now THATS good. Cant believe we never asked before..lol.

mama67

I spend approx £150 on all food and toiletries and household for 2 adults 1 teen and 1 preteen, both of whom have hollow leg syndrome.

When in school they also have £2 per day each for lunch, as can get a cooked meal deal and a mid morn snack for this.

The trick i have found is to buy meats etc when reduced and work meals around these.
Also bake cakes, biscuits etc rather than buying.

I have a chest freezer, an upright larder freezer and an under counter freezer all of which are usually fairly full.

I try if possible to double up on recipes for bolg/chilli etc and put half straight into the freezer fo using another day. I can stretch 1½lb mince with 2 handsful of oats and 1 of orange lentils quite easily into 2 meals for the 4 of us, along with extra veggies added in as well.
Most of our meals also have hm bread served with them to help fill the boys up.

Fire_Fox

notlongnow wrote: »

We went out for a carvery lunch yesterday (We did a car boot sale saturday and sunday so really the meal was free..lol) I overheard the lady in front ask for the turkey carcass, which the chef gave her. I wanted one too so got DH to ask..lol.. chef gladly gave him the carcass. When we got home the turkey was stripped and there are two big bowls of meat. One for the freezer, one for today.. Now THATS good. Cant believe we never asked before..lol.

Brilliant idea, thanks for the tip. :beer: Have you made stock with the bones?

augustsmummy

We spend about £200 a month, that's for 2 adults (I'm pregnant with one baby though and eating for about 6! ), a nearly three year old, and 11 rabbits, one of whom is breastfeeding.
I think the rabbits eat up most of that budget!
That also includes toiletries and nappies (for our daughter for over night.)

We were spending £120 a week at Tescos, so we swapped to Aldi / Lidl and Iceland (frozen veg, bread, tuna and crisps much cheaper here) and occasionally home bargains.

foxgloves

We've found thel Co-op is good for meat offers (also sources local meat) The only thing is that there doesn't seem to be any set time when stuff appears on the reduced shelves, so it is pot luck, but I've been in there for something else then gone out with a couple of briskets, big joint of pork, stewing steak, etc, cos they've been reduced to such an extent I've felt I couldn't leave that many days worth of cheap dinners in the shop! I use Aldi & Lidl sometimes too, as well as Waitrose. It just depends what I'm after. I defintely think it's worth doing a 'recce' of Aldi/Lidl to see which things it is worth getting from there. i.e We don't usually buy sparkling water as we have a filter jug, but if we do, we can get 4 big bottles there for 99p, also worth getting things like their red kidney beans, white wine vinegar (I do a lot of preserving), etc. Their cat food is good too (no, I haven't tried it!).....it's 45p for the decent stuff, which compares well with the 65p that some of the posh pet tins are coming in at these days. Our lad certainly scoffs it down with no complaints. Also had decent wine from there for £2.99 a bottle. Our local market is definitely cheapest for fruit & veg and it's great quality. I think that shopping around is a state of mind and once you get into it, you just know where's best for you for all the different stuff you like to buy.

notlongnow_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Brilliant idea, thanks for the tip. :beer: Have you made stock with the bones?

Sadly, no. I didnt have anything to make stock with. I have just returned from asda's with reduced celery, onions and carrots, but im not that desperate to go in the bin to get the carcass out..lol.

easter65

We are a family of 4 adults and 3 children.......Me, Husband, 2 Sons in 20's and 3 Young Girls...Large Dog, 2 Cats and 2 Gerbils.......

We shop at asda and I have it delivered due to the fact I spend more if I go to fetch it but online I know exactly what its going to cost. We spend £90 a week (£360) a month...It includes all food and cleaning stuff...Pet foods except for dog because he has the huge bag of dried Monthly at £10....I also have 3 packed lunches to do..1 For husband for work and 2 girls for school. I make loads of things like Cottage Pies, Casseroles. Bolognese's. I have a Slow Cooker which is huge so make some lovely meals in it for a reasonable price..We eat really healthily and well. I think its just making your own meals thats cheaper and if I bought the frozen meals or ready meals it just wouldn't do all the family so would work out really expensive.

We save a couple of pound each week for christmas shopping on an Asda card and a couple of pounds for uniforms at our local Schoolwear shop.

Lilith1980

I spend about £140 per month - that's for two adults and includes all food, toiletries etc.

I am a bit of a stinge though cos my DH moans that there are never any snacks in the house and he likes his branded items so I've said I'll gladly buy these if he gives me the money for them. I have gluten and dairy intolerances so can't eat the things he wants so don't see why I should pay for them!

debtmuncher

Lilith1980 wrote: »

I spend about £140 per month - that's for two adults and includes all food, toiletries etc.

I am a bit of a stinge though cos my DH moans that there are never any snacks in the house and he likes his branded items so I've said I'll gladly buy these if he gives me the money for them. I have gluten and dairy intolerances so can't eat the things he wants so don't see why I should pay for them!

theres probably more to your background info but to me that seems totally unfair. you are in charge of the shopping list so you get your favourite bits and pieces in but you wont allow your dh any treats. a bit one sided it seems. hes just as entitled to stuff he wants as much as you do regardless of who pays what. reminds me of threads where you get people saying "oh this couple would go out and buy themselves a huge bit of steak but only gave their kiddies value burgers knowing full well the kids would also like some steak too"!!!:p:D you better not be sitting eating your favourite treat in front of your dh!!:p:rotfl:

debtmuncher

we are £480 a month. gotten pretty slack on the food budget so knuckling down now. did a 12 day meal planner yesterday and the tescos online shop came to £76 ...have £150 set aside for the food shopping for that length of time. so probably £110 by the end of the term will have been spent on the shopping hopefully.