Food Shopping, how much?

SaverSueG

Interesting posts.

There are three of us we spend £50 A WEEK on food/household items.

This breaks down as follows (all rounded as it does vary from week to week depending mainly on what storecupboard items are necessary eg extra vergin olive oil isn't cheap)

- £14 Fresh Fruit and Veg. We eat loads and never throw any away. I cook
veggie meals once or twice a week but my OH likes his meat/fish!
- £10 Meat and Fish. Eg A Free Range Chicken is £4-£5 and does us three
meals (two main night-time meals and one lunch)
- £10 Dairy (Milk, yogurt, cheese, butter)
- £4 Bread (little one likes wraps which aren't cheap)
- £8 Storecupboard - cereals, rice/pasta, olive oil, nuts/seeds etc
- £4 Household - Toilet rolls/cleaning stuff etc

This does three meals a day for all of us. Note no cakes biscuits junk or alcohol. The fruit and veg bill does go down in summer as we grow a lot ourselves.

I appreciate we eat very well on this but we never throw stuff away and none of us are overweight. I could cut down the bill but only by buying poorer quality stuff, or having less variety or (eg) bulk cooking and freezing. We all prefer freshly cooked food. I suppose I could make my own bread, but I already spend enough time in the kitchen!

Well done to all of you who manage better/cheaper. We don't have much spare cash but just buy less consumer goods as to me good food is a health necessity not a luxury.

BTW not trying to preach just think its interesting to break down where the weekly spend is going.

Lisaberry

I'm dying to have a second freeer at home so I can do more batch cooking. I'd also like to be ble to freeze milk/bread etc as I cant help it, when I go to the shops those shiny offers somehow end up in the trolley along with far too many treats or 'something nice for tea'

I'd love to know how people get so many meals out of one piece of meat/a chicken....a whole chicken for us will do 2 adults with a few bits left over for my hubby's sandwich and my son's lunch the next day. I guess though I do tend to eat more chicken to fill me up as I'm not eating the bulky carbs??!!

I live with a husband who has a black hole for a stomach. If I buy crisps for my sons lunch box 18 bags will be gone before the end of the week. A bag of 9 hot cross buns will be eaten by him in 1 evening. He likes mini twister lollies (not cheap at like 1.60 for 8) and he will eat 4 one after another. I'm fighting a losing battle. Easy to say I wont buy any of it anymore but then I just get earache!!

angelicmary85

Lisaberry wrote: »

I'd love to know how people get so many meals out of one piece of meat/a chicken....a whole chicken for us will do 2 adults with a few bits left over for my hubby's sandwich and my son's lunch the next day. I guess though I do tend to eat more chicken to fill me up as I'm not eating the bulky carbs??!!

Adding a handful or 2 of porridge oats or lentils to mince in a slow cooker bulks it out quite significantly!

ceridwen

SaverSueG wrote: »

. We don't have much spare cash but just buy less consumer goods as to me good food is a health necessity not a luxury.

.

..That is the crux of the matter in a nutshell.

To me - any money saved earlier in life by eating the cheapest food available (regardless of whether its actually healthy or no) will only be spent later in life dealing with the resultant health problems and/or losing salary because sick leave has affected the amount of income brought in.

Once one gets to mid-life then you have seen JUST how many people are suffering long-term health problems - and worked out just how high a proportion of those health problems are caused or exacerbated by the poor diet the person concerned has been eating.

Its false economy to be determined to always eat the cheapest food you can get.

We might all of us be in a position temporarily where (due to no fault of our own) we simply do not have enough money for anything - and that includes food - and therefore have to temporarily eat as cheaply as we can during that phase. But it is absolutely stupid to eat as cheaply as possible for the sake of buying extra consumer goods or having other things we cant afford (so decide to use our food money to cover the cost of them).

sebdevine123

Omg i was panicing about only having 100 pounds a month for food, im moving in with my girlfriend in a few months and im working out all the bills, and for food in the begging will be about 100, then when she works also bump it up to 200, but now i read here people living on 100 a month fine, well im sure it will take some getting used on my part and alot of cheap buys but im excited and see it as a challenge. so 100 a month for a couple sounds good?

BOGOF_Queen

It's surprising how you can cut down on the food bills when money is tight. I had a 10% pay cut back at the end of 2007 and obviously some bills are fixed such as the mortgage, council tax etc. So looked at what I was spending on food as was about the only thing I could cut back on. Some things are a luxury and not essential - such as crisps, chocolate bars etc. By cooking EVERYTHING from scratch - no jars of cook in sauces for example, managed to shave quite a bit off the shopping bill. Had my pay put back to its normal level after six months once things picked up at work but continued to shop and cook the same way - am now even able to save a few quid each month as a result. Difficult sometimes to cook from scratch when you get in from a long day at work - what I tend to do is spend a morning at the weekend cooking meals that can then be frozen and then zapped in the microwave - just cook some veggies to go with them. Just like a ready meal but loads cheaper and nutritionally much better for you.

emilyka

To be honest myself and OH eat really well (helps that I like cooking) but we are fed and watered (include at least 4 bottles of vino and 8 bottles of beer :beer:) for never much nore than £140 per month. I order in bulk (especially meat), split packs and freeze into potions for two of us, I batch cook, I go for useful offers etc. This also covers lunches and weekends and includes toiletries etc (excluding OHs razorblades).

Therefore I think your budget is fine however you could cut back further by downgrading on brands, buying in bulk and having meal plans defined or inspired by offers

kittendothroar

There are two of us and we spend around £200 a month on groceries made up usually of two big shops around £70 each and then rest on local stuff from butchers, market etc. This includes a couple of bottles of wine and our household stuff, could probably do less but we have a lot of people over for dinner and that also covers all our meals inc. packed lunches. I tend to make extra for dinner then use leftovers in lunchbox bulked out with salad veg. Often buy bulk packs of meat and fish then freeze in portions. Our freezer is not very big but by using freezer bags I can get a lot in there!

A great way to bulk out leftovers is jamie olivers leftover stew risotto - take one small portion of leftover stew/ casserole etc, turn into risotto for 4 people! This is a regular at home!

funkymonkey849

sarah1972 wrote: »

I spend £80 a week for me and my husband and thats cutting back and buying asda smartprice !

Omg how! I spend between £25 and £30 a week for 2 adults 3 meals a day. I couldn't spend £80 if I tried!

This includes toilitries, household stuff (loo roll, cleaners etc) but doesn't include any booze cos we don't really drink much