Food

Energised

I'm sure there must be a thread for this but I couldn't find it

Just curious as to what people spend on food. I'm planning on moving into a house share in March. I always shop at Tesco but if I were living on my own I'd probably switch to Lidl.

Could you possibly tell me what you spend per month on food?

Rent 300
LV Loan 171
Food 200 ???
Petrol 50
Phone 30
Gym 27
778

That's all the out going I can think of at the moment which would leave me with about £222 spare a month.

Does anyone else live within a similar budget?

Just for the record, I'd be in a house share where I rent a room and all bills are included so that's why no utilities etc:).

Many thanks

Energised.

lynzpower

Hi energised.

If its just you, then Id aim for 50 a month, as we do 100 a month for 2.

However, having lived in houseshares myself over many years, I have found that you simply dont get as much freezer space as youd ever need, which can be a bit of a nightmare in terms of food prep and storage ( ie making a meal and freezing one for later)

AndyR_3

lynzpower wrote:

However, having lived in houseshares myself over many years, I have found that you simply dont get as much freezer space as youd ever need, which can be a bit of a nightmare in terms of food prep and storage ( ie making a meal and freezing one for later)

I have a lodger and find I spend less on food than when I lived alone. We go shopping together (he doesn't have a car so it's easier for him to get a lift with me). We take 3 baskets - my stuff, his stuff (which we each pay for) and house stuff (like toilet roll, butter, milk, tea bags, cleaning stuff) which we pay half each for. Before he moved in, I always used to be throwing half-used loaves of bread away because they'd gone dry. Now we share them so they get used before they go off. We can also buy bigger packs to save money and split the contents, or the same with BOGOFs.

And housemate's not a moneysaver so he lets me get all his Clubcard points too

saubryn

My husband and I spend around 100 pounds a month on groceries - thats 20 quid a week big shop, and a fiver on stuff like milk / bread that we're forever running out of throughout the week.

The really scary thing is that 25 quid a week total seems like a massive luxury for us in that we can eat breakfast, a small lunch, and then tea every day. When we were unemployed, we got messed around by the benefit office so much that we were eating a plate of chips a day and that was all (but thats another rant entirely).

sgx.saint

Between me and my OH we spend £90 a month.

Luna69

There are 5 of us.. me, OH, and 3 kids.. we spend on average £60 a week, although each week is different, some weeks less, some a bit more, but I do shop online and that is usually more than just food, it includes household goods and sometimes gifts, so bit difficult to say on just food alone.

I spend more if I go in the store as I usually end up buying clothes when I'm there, which I can't do online!

Yvonne

furndire

I have just sent the below thread to my daughter, and daughter-in-law, I'm going to use some of the ideas in 2007. It may be of interest in budgeting for food.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=326929&highlight=pea+%26amp%3B+ham+soup

sgx.saint

A good thread here which will drastically cut your food bills:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=326929

JoJo_Sparkly

There are 3 of us -Me and the 2 children - baby means nappies and milk which is expensive but I can gt everything for around £30 per week - groceries have really reduced since I started looking at the Old Style Board - - I've cut the cleaning budget by 80% and beginning to make my own meals rather than ready meals which we used to live off. Once I get more confident, I reckon I can get it down to £20 a week without losing any quality.

Jojo

doodah

we try and stick to £25 a week for 2 of us. never thought it could be done before finding this website though!!

david_hellier

For the purpose of budgetting I always regard food as a luxury item. This is because the amount people spend on it varies tremendously, particularly if you include takaways and eating out, school dinners etc. Realistically, if you do all your own cooking you should get by with about a minimum of £10 to £15 per week for an adult and up to £30 to £40 per week to eat very well. I think its best to prioritise your debts first and then work out how much is left for food, then clothes, then socialising.

Some perole come on here with debts so high they cannot afford to eat, but are clearly eating and getting further into debt. So it could be argued that eating is getting them further into debt.