realistic budget for food shopping?/average food shopping bill?

pinkparrott

Hi I am new to this site and I am trying to money save and set a budget.

I want to know how much i should realisticly be able to spend on food/household shopping a week.

In my house their is 2 adults (1 at work full time, 1 works 4 days a week) A 7 months old baby and 2 visting step children 13 and 15 who come for 2 days a week. And nearly forgot 2 cats!

How much do you think i should be spending each week? or would you mind sharing with me how much you spend? for your family.
My nearest supermarket is Tesco's but dont mind going to other supermarkets, as not loyal to any.
Thanks for any advice / replys :undecided

black-saturn

I spend roughly £12 per week on 1 adult, 2 children and 1 dog.

Rachie_B

we spend on average £40 - £45 every 10 days or so thats 2 adults ,2 children ( aged 10 who can eat for wales !!! and a 4 yr old) & 1 bunny lol
that inc all toiletries / cleaning products etc

i only shop @ tesco.com,dont really buy "junk" / convenience foods and we are meat eaters

HTH

pinkparrott

Hi Black- saturn
can i ask how old your kids are,
does that £12 just include food or some house hold cleaning stuff etc too?
I spend loads more than that at the moment, really want to cut my bills but still eat healthly etc., as i think i could cut quite a bit from what i currently spend!

pinkparrott

Rachie_B wrote:

we spend on average £40 - £45 every 10 days or so thats 2 adults ,2 children ( aged 10 who can eat for wales !!! and a 4 yr old) & 1 bunny lol
that inc all toiletries / cleaning products etc

i only shop @ tesco.com,dont really buy "junk" / convenience foods and we are meat eaters

HTH

Would you be able to give me a rough example of what you might buy as I currently spend at least £75 a week!!!!
I tend to cook most stuff from scratch and dont buy any convienience or ready meals! but think i waste food too. as seam to throw away stuff too (which i feel ashamed to admit)

newlywed

pinkparrott wrote:

I currently spend at least £75 a week!!!!
I tend to cook most stuff from scratch and dont buy any convienience or ready meals! but think i waste food too. as seam to throw away stuff too (which i feel ashamed to admit)

I was spending at least that for 2 adults and 2 stepkids who stay all weekend.

I now spend roughtly that amount one week and then half that the next so it is getting a bit better. That includes cleaning products, toiletries, toothpaste etc etc.

As far as I can work out from the help on this site, the main key to food budget if you already cook from scratch is to plan your week's meals, work out what you already have in the house and then (and this is where I always seriously fail :rolleyes: ) only buy the extra stuff put on your list.

I keep trying, but it's not easy.

black-saturn

My children are aged 12 and 9.

Here's my meal planner threads:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2340412&posted=1#post2340412

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526&highlight=black-saturns+menu

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=237050&highlight=shopping+list

EagerLearner

Hi PinkParrot - if you shop at £0.99 stores it really helps too - especially cleaning stuff, pastas, sauces, tea, coffee, laundry detergent etc - ahve a look locally and you will see that the supermarket overcharge on alot!

Your local butcher and veg market will also be alot cheaper for you.

Rachie_B

pinkparrott wrote:

Would you be able to give me a rough example of what you might buy as I currently spend at least £75 a week!!!!
I tend to cook most stuff from scratch and dont buy any convienience or ready meals! but think i waste food too. as seam to throw away stuff too (which i feel ashamed to admit)

ok for example the meat products i buy each time are large pack of mince ,2 of the chickens ( 2 for £5 ) ,pack of cooking bacon,3 pkts sliced ham

then chilled stuff : cheese,cream cheese,3 x packs of yogurts for kids lunch boxes,greek yog,butter,mascarpone and feta cheeses too

loads of bread stuff pittas,tortillas,sliced bread,freezer pack of rolls for lunches

fruit / veg / salad,quite a lot of

cupboard stuff ,tinned chooped toms,sweetcorn,beans etc
cereal ,usually weetabix
loo roll,kitchen roll,food bags etc

any cooking supplies i might need flour ,nuts ,seeds,choc etc

any cleaning products and toiletries too

i dont buy any branded items its mostly tescos own and some value items too

forgot to say we too used to spend anything between £65 - £80 a week !!! and yet very often there wasnt really anything to make a meal out of !!

now i do a rough meal planner for the week / 10 days so i only ever buy what i need and never "just in case" lol

you can do it,just take baby steps,aim to reduce it my a few £s per week
also try looking in your freezer / cupboards and make meals out of the things yuo already have

bet you be surprised what you actually have in there !

lynzpower

for me and my partner ( mr starving & me, mrs starving) we do about 110 a month. inc all lunches & cleaning.

Kelinik

I'm still new to this too and tbh I think trying to shave small amounts off your weekly spend is likely to be more sucessful than setting yourself a harsh budget that you won't be able to meet. For example I've managed to reduce this months weekly shops by around £5 each from what they were last month. Doesn't sound like much maybe but I've saved £20 without much of a struggle.

Also it is getting easier to meal plan as to begin with I had nothing in my cupboard and didn't bulk buy so needed every ingredient for every meal, where as now I have a lot of the staples in the house already. Am aiming to get another £5 off a week in October, baby steps but all moving in the right direction!