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

Penny-Pincher!!

This is a meal plan I did ages ago and Thought Id copy and paste it here for you. Obviously, everyone is different.

Evening

Have just done my last weeks meal plan for you. Here we go....again..LOL

Chicken Curry & Rice-3 large portions + 2 jacket spud sized frozen portions
Spagbol-5 portions
Egg, HM chips, peas, bread and butter
Jacket Spud, salad, beans and cheese
Gammon Roast, roasties, yorkshires, parsnips, carrots, cabbage, peas and gravy
Gammon Curry with rice/jacket spud-3 large portions + 2 jacket spud sized frozen
Lamb Stew & dumplings-6 huge portions-2 given to Out laws..LOL

2 chicken thighs-50p
2/3 bag rice-26p
tin toms x 3-45p
onions x 3-12p
curry powder-5p
baked beans x3-42p
1/2lb mince lamb-50p
pasta-16p
10kg spuds-£1
eggs-£1.16 used for quiches, breakies, lunches etc too
cheddar-£1 used for quiche and sarnies too
gammon joint-reduced £1.50 HUGE 2.5kg
parsnips-20p
flour 1/2 bag-10p
carrots 2kg-49p-market
cabbage-35p-market
peas-1/3 bag frozen-16p
gravy-15p
lamb chump chops-£1.50
suet-15p

Total £10.17

Other stuff for breakfasts (toast, eggs, bacon, OJ, cereal etc) lunches for us and weekends (sarnies, egg/toast, soup, jacket spuds etc) and dd's packed lunch (sarnie, yogurt, apple, banana, raisins, crisps, HM biccie, squash):

Bread x 3-75p
Butter-53p
Ham-£1
OJ x 2-66p
yogurts-90p
apples x 15-75p market
lettuce-45p
cucumber-40p
tomatoes x 4-20p market
bananas x 15-75p market
milk-£1.18
crisps-50p
SR Flour-17p
squash x 2-32p
cheddar above already priced
eggs above already priced
salad cream-33p
cooking marg-33p for HM biccies etc
tuna-35p
Heinz soupx 2 -50p
raisins-35p
mushrooms-35p market for quiche and on toast/pizza
cornflakes-45p
sugar-56p
bacon-£1

Total £12.78

Total for everything £22.95 for 3 people with plenty left for frozen meals and store cupboard leftovers etc. Think ive remembered everything. So thats £7.65 per person per week.

Again, there are items for the store cupboard and some bits i have used that ive already got. We do have our quota daily of fruit and veg though. DD is entitled to free school meals but we've had alot of problems with her only being offered a roll and a desert as they go in last so have started giving her a pack up again. Her sarnies are normally marmite, cheese or ham.

Hope this helps someone.

PP
xx

pinkparrott

Hi thanks for all this,
I have just gone through my cupboards and freezer and they are chocca full, and i think that i am a food shoper holic.
I am going to sit down tonight and try to plan meals using what i have already got in and try to run down my freezer and cupboards and to try to buy the minimum for the next few weeks and go from there.
I am going to stick to own brands and also try not to buy more than i need.
Thanks again

Rachie_B

good luck ,let us know how you get on

and in the meantime keep reading on here you will soon be addicted to saving money lol

janeawej

pinkparrott wrote:

Hi thanks for all this,
I have just gone through my cupboards and freezer and they are chocca full, and i think that i am a food shoper holic.
I am going to sit down tonight and try to plan meals using what i have already got in and try to run down my freezer and cupboards and to try to buy the minimum for the next few weeks and go from there.
I am going to stick to own brands and also try not to buy more than i need.
Thanks again

my neighbour laughs at the amount in my store cupboards and freezers but says it is comforting to know it is there in case of nuclear disaster closing tescos! and is always wanting to borrow stuff!:rotfl:

ChocClare

janeawej wrote:

my neighbour laughs at the amount in my store cupboards and freezers but says it is comforting to know it is there in case of nuclear disaster closing tescos! and is always wanting to borrow stuff!:rotfl:

Mine too!

My grandmother got snowed in in 1947 and never recovered from the shock - when my mum went round there one time her "storecupboard" (ie the floor-to-ceiling cupboard in the spare room, not the common or garden larder :rotfl: ) had 26 - count them, 26 packets of jelly... just in case. Of course the fact that she didn't LIKE jelly was irrelevant...

My old man has a bit of a siege mentality too, but he's also very interested in Peak Oil, and I have to say that when I look at some of the websites - eg the Mormon ones where they recommend that all families should have a year's supply of food in the house at all times - then my storecupboard doesn't look quite so full...

JillD_2

Just to echo what others have said really.

We are 2 adults (me and Hubs, he is 6ft with hollow legs and never stops eating), a 3 year old still in nappies at night and a 2 year old still in nappies full time.
I started trying to save money on food shopping a couple of months ago as we were strapped and I seemed to chuck a far amount of fruit, veg and dairy out all the timje.

This month I did the September Grocery Challenge on here and spent £290 or so for the month plus £50 carried forwards for a Costco shop averaged out, so £340 which is just under the £350 I budet for.
This month I want to bring it in around £300.

I do one shop a week only.
I plan a couple of weeks in advabnce what we will eat and buy accordingly.
I buy Asda Smart Price where possible (providing its not total rubbish).
I try really hard not to throw stuff out and to use up odds and ends.
Lunch is often leftovers.
I always freeze any leftovers.
Good luck!

wishiwasarichgirl

hey pinkparrot, my amounts won't help you much cos theres only skinny me +2 fat cats so i don't spend much, only started the grocery challenge and picked £100 as a random target and doing pretty well so far. will try to reduce it next month maybe. might be an idea to keep a spending diary for one month to see what you actually spend at the min then try to reduce it by say 10% next month?

definately meal plan, never did this before joining this site and always thought it was "normal" to chuck away out-of-date food that i'd never got round to eating, now i just buy what i need (plus the odd little treat of course - don't want too miserable a life:D ) makes my evenings so much easier too cos i come home from work and know what i'm cooking, rather than staring into cupboards crammed full of "stuff" but nothing to actually make a meal out of:rotfl:

twinklybev

Hi,

I'm in the process of trying to establish a monthly budget myself for me, hubbie & 4 week old Daughter. I've started with £200 per month with the aim of getting this down below this by doing more cooknig from scratch & shopping around.

My nearest Supermarket is Tesco (akin to nearly all the population LOL!!) & we have a Lidl about 8 miles away. I went in both last week & compared prices on some products we commonly buy & found some interesting differences. Thought it might help you if I jotted down which I found cheaper & for what products, etc: - ))

Lidl cheaper than Tesco for:-
15 pack of crisps 99p - good flavours like Bacon Rashers, onion rings
Champagne LOL!! but still only £9.99
All fruit & veg VERY cheap
marg 45p Tesco = 59p
Milk £1.07 tesco = £1.11
Fresh soup 89p Tesco = £1.17
Air freshener 55p tesco = 64p
Baby Shampoo 69p (equiv size would be 93p)
PACKET Sauce mixes, cheese, pasta only 25p seemed v.cheap
Garlic baguettes 2 for 48p
4 toilet roll luxury £1.19 tesco = £1.55
Steak mince £1.45 tesco £2.19
Mince Beef £1.79 tesco = £2.40
Toothpaste 48p tesco equiv size would be 80p
Egg mayo made up for sandwiches 99p (Tesco £1.49) probably cheaper to make from scratch but I can't stand the stuff & hubbie hasn't got time to make it up!!!

TESCO cheaper than Lidl for few things on my list:-
500g cooked Ham £1.99 only get 400g at Lidl
Chicken fillets - bigger pack
Baby nappies 46 for £3.85 equiv to 56 for £4.48 Lidl's were £5.29 for 56 but proof would be in trying them both to see which best fit, least leakage, etc.

This works out roughly £15 saving on these items including week or so worth of fruit & veg for us (excluding the saving on the Champagne which we rarely, about once every blue moon !!! buy but it's about £5 less than Tesco own brand just out of interest).

Hope this helps, I'm goona try & stock up at Lidl 2 times a month to limit & also use Tesco.

Good luck with it all hun : -)))

bobsa1

I'm way off a lot of people on here but I spend approx £60 per week for 2 adults a 12yr old, 9 yr old , 2 yr old and a dog. I do packed lunches for 2 at school and 2 adults have lunch at home 3 or 4 times a week.

I must admit that when at work DH and I buy lunch stuff, but as I said I could not be held up as a good example of meal planning etc but still do shop for about £60 so could get it lower

Squidgy

Hi, I always do a meal plan for the week before I go shopping. That way I know if money is tight we can have cheap meals all week (corn beef hash, tuna pasta bake etc) or if the money is flowing a bit better then we can have nicer things (fillet steak, lobster etc!!!) I list everything I need before I go and make sure I stick to it (I do allow myself some leaway for special offers!). That way I know I won't be wasting any fresh food cos I'm only buying what I need and we get a nice variety of meals cos I can see what I've made recently and don't make it again the following week. Don't forget you can bulk your meals out with grains and veggies - my hubby use to eat a pack of eight sausages to himself, now I just buy four from the butchers and that's three for him and one for me. We're happier, healthier and richer!!!

Sorry for rambling
Squidge
PS my shopping today (for one week) cost me just over £40, and that's two adults and two small children