Ideal monthly cost of food for 2 adults 1 toddler?

bass3k

Been reading through the forum and just wanted a general opinion from those who live and breath the money saving mantras.

In my house there is just me, my wife, our 2 year old daughter, a cocker spaniel and a rabbit.

From your experiences saving money and being focused on shopping 'properly' etc what would you say is the ideal spend of a family our small size? Bare in mind the 2 year old is still on nappies so wipes and nappy bags need to be included. Beyond that we're normal, the dogs food costs £20 a month and the rabbits food barely a fiver so beyond that its just us costing and I need to cut it back.

A friend was telling me his family of 4 spend about 600 a month :eek: when I told him we spent about 150 he said we were mental, but I thought 150 was very high and wanted to cut back!

Is there a way to do it and remain healthy?

happy35

i think £150 is not much at all, I spend about the same as you if not a bit more

I have a teenage son but probably what he eats in extra food is what you are spending on nappies/wipes etc

merlin68

I spend £240, with 2 adults, 2 teenagers and a dog and cat. Couldn't do it any less.

bass3k

Hmm, I was hoping to hear that was high some how haha. I've gone on a diet anyways which ought to help in some way, need to lose about 4 stone to get to my ideal weight so what better excuse than having no money eh?

HappyMJ

bass3k wrote: »

Hmm, I was hoping to hear that was high some how haha. I've gone on a diet anyways which ought to help in some way, need to lose about 4 stone to get to my ideal weight so what better excuse than having no money eh?

You can feed a family of 4 for £100 per month then you need to add the general groceries, pet food and other miscellanous stuff to that so I'd say £150 is quite low.....but as I've been told many times on here there are exceptions if you grow your own, have chickens, good neighbours that you can barter with...etc..

I spend £195 per month (£45 per week) on everything for myself only but that does include a lot of branded and what is considered luxury items.

bass3k

Hmm growing my own could be an option. I'll look into that!

happy35

i buy fruit and veg from a wholesalers and this is much cheaper than the supermarkets

lulupop123

We spend roughly £120 a month on food (2 adults- 1 doing slimming world & a cat) Which i think is quite low, i don't eat meat but my bf does. We try to get as many bargains as we can as £30 a week is about as much as we can afford.

Food has gone up so much recently but buying things we eat regularly when they are on offer & freezing it has helped a lot. We also buy our eggs from a farm shop as they seem to be cheaper.

Keri1988_2

I think that £150 a month on 2 adults and a toddler is very good, i'd love to be able to spend that. we have the same people but we spend about £300 a month.

quintwins

we spent £200 a month (or more recently more but i have been stocking up on offers ect) that for 2 adults and 3 kids one still in nappies,

however we use value/smart price nappies (sainburys 1/3 of makes them 97p per packet on 20 in size 4 and 5) now my DS has quite had exzema but he's completely fine in these and i stock up when the 1/3 off is on (which was this morning, 12 packets of nappies 8 packets of wipes and some nappy bags for £16) however i know this isn't an option for some parents, it took awhile to convice my oh they were completely fine and as good as the well known brand we had been using, in his case he had to see it to beleive it


we have 1 meat free/rationed meat day a week, like quiche with ham or pasta with bacon, i tend to buy of offer/value/reduced meat and our biggest expense is fruit/veg and spuds which we buy in teh farm shop which is alot cheaper

esmer

40.00 a week challenge I do for me and my toddler.

you should join the food shopping challenge, April has still to start - here is March's https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3073142 This helped me LOTs, I was spending WAY too much money on food, and throwing out food as well. That thread really helped me.