Food shopping for 2 people..

Rachel85

I usually do supermarket shopping alone for myself and OH - I write a list of what we're eating each night and only buy from the list. We eat out once a week and (including food for lunches) spend around £45 each week on food.

Took OH with me this week. Only bought food for Monday-Thursday but spent £65! Seems a lot to me.

What does everyone else think is a reasonable amount? We're not in huge financial difficulties so its not a massive problem if we spend a little bit more to get decent quality food. But we are trying to save and can't really sustain spending this amount.

Also - we tend to cook from scratch each night but as we both work and are out of the house for a good 10 hours a day each, time is of the essence. Any good links to find easy to prepare meals without having to resort to microwave meals (I lived on them as a student and am loathed to go back..)

Ta!

vivaladiva

£65 seems a lot for Mon-Thur, but I can appreciate the problem - taking my DH into a supermarket is worse than taking a hungry toddler!

Could you batch cook and freeze stuff (kind of homemade ready meal) or use a slow cooker (loads of recipes in recipe index)?

calleyw

I budget but don't always spend £100 a month for two adults.

I only buy a few items in the value range being jaffa cakes, butter and choccie biscuits and vanilla icecream but only because I don't eat much of it.

I buy things that are reduced or standard shop level, l branded only when on offer.

As I have said before we eat well.

Yours


Calley

Penny-Pincher!!

I think if you dont have to budget but want to cut back a little, then £30-£35pw is a nice amount for 2 people per week. This would allow you to buy good quality meat/poultry/fish products and not have to scrimp on value stuff (not that theres anything wrong with this).

Do you collect vouchers/coupons? If so, Waitrose accept any amount of these even if you dont buy the products as long as they stock it. I always get at least 50% off. This way you could get your weekly shopping amount down vastly and still have excellent quality products. We spend about £30 pw and theres 3 of us, but mostly all items are from Waitrose. I have had some sarky remarks on here for shopping there, but Im spending less than I would at Asda on value ranges....so whos more silly...me or the person taking the mick...lol.

I would suggest a meal plan and maybe make surplus and freeze it for another day. It can be fun sticking to a budget and watching the pounds add up in my bank account.

Take advantage of special offers on products you would normally purchase. Lidls have their fruit and veg on half price ATM.....make batches of soup with them, freeze them and take for lunches with bread rolls. Do you have a bread maker? Experiment with different seeds and ingredients and see what you like. Make HM cakes and pop them in with your lunch.

Have nice breakfasts on the weekend. Cooked breakie, fresh coffee or fresh fruit with croissants etc etc...treat yourself but just watch the pennies.

What are you saving for? Maybe you could allocate a jar named for the savings, then give yourself a limit each week...whatever is left..put in the jar.

HTH

PP
xx

tawnyowls

Rachel85 wrote:

I usually do supermarket shopping alone for myself and OH - I write a list of what we're eating each night and only buy from the list. We eat out once a week and (including food for lunches) spend around £45 each week on food.
Took OH with me this week. Only bought food for Monday-Thursday but spent £65! Seems a lot to me.
What does everyone else think is a reasonable amount? We're not in huge financial difficulties so its not a massive problem if we spend a little bit more to get decent quality food. But we are trying to save and can't really sustain spending this amount.
Also - we tend to cook from scratch each night but as we both work and are out of the house for a good 10 hours a day each, time is of the essence. Any good links to find easy to prepare meals without having to resort to microwave meals (I lived on them as a student and am loathed to go back..)
Ta!

It is a bit high - you should be able to eat well on £150/month max as a couple.

There are loads of quick and easy meals that can be done in 20 mins or less. Most oriental cooking using stir-frying is really quick. Chilli and pasta dishes too. If you use the oven, try to do a couple of meals as a batch as Bizzimum suggested to fill up the oven and save on energy; eg, a dish of enchiladas and a dish of shepherd's pie - the actual preparation of both is quite quick but the oven-baking takes some time. Once they're done, though, you should have at least 4-6 portions per dish, which you could then freeze as instant (and healthy) ready meals for those days when you really are too tired to cook. The Ready Steady Cook books and the Meals in Minutes books are good, and you might well come across them in charity shops.

Jina

I shop for 2 and spend about £10-£20 per week. We use Tesco credit card and clubcard to collect points and we get Tesco money off vouchers (£4-£12) every month + we use other types coupons as well. I also buy bogof and reduced items. Last week I spent just £4 (bill was about £20) :j

I prepare my DH's lunch every morning and I cook dinner almost everyday. We often have breakfast/early lunch at Ikea for 95p (english breakfast). We rarely eat out except for special occasions and when there's bogof (TGI, wagamama,etc). Ikea used to do £5 for 2 main meals and 2 kids meal (free fruit with each kids meal).

Bambywamby

Myself, OH and DS - approx £40 per week - and two labradors.

Plan meals - its the only way to go.
Dont take men or children shopping - they always want to see that trolley full to overflowing.

Rachel85

Thank you everyone for your suggestions (the thanks button doesn't seem to be working, but I'll be back). I am going to use these ideas as ways to make sure we're not over spending. As Nigella Lawson says "I may seem extravagent but I am never wasteful" - I don't see myself as particularly extravegant, but we often waste food so I would like to get things the other way around!

Its not as though we are getting ourselves into debt by over spending, just that I can see that by not buying 'wisely' we are spending money unnecessarily which could be spent on things we would enjoy more such as meals out or holidays. We are saving for a new home at the moment so every penny does count.

I like the idea of a slow cooker and making more of something and freezing it. This would help at times when we're home at different times too. Sometimes when I get in at 6 after over an hour in the car the last thing I want to do is to start peeling potatoes(!) so it'd be nice to know there was something quick without it having to be a Tesco ready meal. I lived off them as a student and vowed never to go back!

We tend to shop in Tesco and we are saving up clubcard vouchers to treeat ourselves by going away... Hopefully Paris at New Year!

VickyA_2

DH and I spend about £25 to £30 per week. This includes our cleaning products. It also allows for us to have decent quality meat from our butchers, but we don't scrimp on other things. The way that we've achieved this is through planning meals and making packed lunches eat day.