So how much does you weekly food shop cost? (/how much are you planning it to cost)

ultimatedingbat

I spend around £15 a week on food and then on top of that toilieteries when i need them. My initial big shop was £150 but that bought a microwave (seeing as my house didnth ave one) and all my cleaning and grooming.

pig_let_cool

Okay really helpful

Well initial shop is almost (except £5) purely food, and i do tend to cook from scratch as im a veggie, also i cook huge lots of food to freeze so i think it stretches further this way and im not scared of using basicy food...im hoping i can stick to it lol i literally cant afford to spend anymore as i didnt get any grants etc

Toiletries i have (mothers a costco fan so i have enough shampoo to last till christmas at least!) apart from cleaning products i cant see me needing much more...

When did you guys do your initial shops? i dont know whether to go once i move in or what, if i leave it late i may end up on the pub crawl thats planned....

ultimatedingbat

My Mum and Dad helped a little with the inital shop. They brought me back to uni and took me to the supermarket. I paid but they transported. Did that on the day I moved in

rockinrach08

For me, my initial shop was more like £40. I generally spend about £10 (not including eating at uni) on food. When I first started uni I was spending more but then I started experimenting with cheaper brands and working out how to eat cheap but still enjoyable.

My advice is to try and find cheaper alternatives, you don't want to spend too much money on food and not being able to enjoy yourself the rest of the time.

minerva_windsong

When I was at uni I budgeted £25 a week for my food shop and normally spent £15-20 depending on whether or not it was my turn to buy the cleaning products. I'd definitely say if you have a greengrocer nearby make us of them for less exotic fruit and veg, there was one round the corner from my third year house and they were quite a bit cheaper than Asda. I also bought quite a lot of value or own brand stuff and cooked from scratch 90% of the time, mostly batch cooking on a Sunday so I'd have quickish dinners in the week.

I think the initial shop was about £50 but my very generous parents paid for that, and they did buy me a lot of things I only occasionally used and could have got cheaper alternatives to, such as sauce flour. We did that on the first day but didn't buy a lot of perishables due to the fact I had no fridge for the first three weeks (I used to hang milk out of my window in a carrier bag so I could have a brew when I wanted!).