Food Shopping for a single person??

leolioness1984

Having moved out of home over a year ago I still can't seem to get the hang of budgeting food! Just wondering how much other people spend on food- my budget ranges from 50-120 per month!

piratefairy

yikes!!
for just me, i tend to spend £8-12 / week average. I do a lot of cooking from scratch though, and find that's plenty!

leolioness1984

thats brilliant- what sort of things do you buy?

andrewmp

leolioness1984 wrote: »

Having moved out of home over a year ago I still can't seem to get the hang of budgeting food! Just wondering how much other people spend on food- my budget ranges from 50-120 per month!

I'd say I spend roughly about £15 per week on food, about £5 per week of this is for lunches at work. That leaves about £10 per month, only make meals in the house about 5 times a week though so I guess that's roughly £2 per meal.

To give you an idea, you can get mince for about £1.00-£1.50 or whatever, with this you can make a chilli with some tinned tomatoes, onions, chilli peppers and cumin. Total cost, less than £2, this will do for the main part of three meals, just add rice/chips etc.

luellaaa

Stock up on all the essentials if you do your own cooking. Things like curry power, salt, balsamic vinegar, sugar, chilli papper etc are cupboard staples and even if you spend a lot on them at first, they last a long time. You can also use any left over ingredients from the chilli for spag bol or to put in a baked potato.

FaloolaChong

I tend to spend around £15 a week too, give or take. I find that's easily enough for the most part, though I do have at least one meal out a week...

That covers all meals as well, including lunch, which I make at home and take to work...

The point about cooking from scratch is a good one. You need to shell out on the basics first, absolutely, but then basically just stock up on lots of decent veg- that's how I manage it. Lots of pasta meals with veg and herb type sauces. Though I'm not a vegetarian, I eat a lot of Quorn too- get that when it's on offer and keep it frozen- the bags of Quorn pieces, for example, are often on £1 deals and they'll make a good 3 meals out of them in a pasta type of affair!

As was said earlier, decent mince and stuff for a chilli/bolognaise can be done for under £2 a go and that usually makes 2 meals for me- or at least a lunch and a meal. I'm also finding casseroles and stew type meals can be done that cheaply as well once you get the basic items...

It's harder to do- you have to spend more time cooking from scratch this way- but it's ultimately healthier and cheaper and therefore more rewarding...

el_gringo_3

Buy a bloody big freezer, stock up on everything - especially bread (which is impossible to buy in single person sizes) when its on closing time offers in the supermarket, and buy your fresh veg from the local grocer in very small amounts!

Avoid tinned food, else you'll find yourself on beans for two days followed by sweetcorn for 4

speedy2056

This might shock some people but I only spend roughly just over £30 a month but I buy everything in the tesco value range.

This doesn't include the obligatory milk and bread top ups I do a week, though.

DCFC79

leolioness1984

You can bring it down by only buying food you would actually eat, try the basics/value range of foods,

sarah1972

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1965393

some more tips in the how much do you spend on your shopping thread above.

paulwf

There's nothing wrong with spending £120 a month on food, that averages out at £4 a day. That isn't much in the grand scheme of things, there are a huge number of people that spend more than that on lunch or a couple of coffees a day. Only look to cut down if cashflow is tight.

Having said that make sure you are using the money to enjoy many and varied foods and broaden your culinary horizons now that you have left home, don't get stuck in a rut eating the same as you always did at home. Also as others on here do try and cook from scratch, it is so much healthier than buying ready meals. The greatest food rip off is the ready made lunch market, sandwiches and individual portions of cake and ready prepared fruit have an enormous mark up, making your own lunch will save a huge amount of money.

If money is tight then by all means eat for £10 a week, but if you can afford it don't deprive yourself of all the wonderful food and drink that is available to lift the soul. Live to eat don't eat to live.