How much to feed two adults a month?

BitterAndTwisted

I don't eat meat either although I can't call myself a vegetarian because I do eat eggs, dairy and the very occasional fishy thing. Life without eggs and cheese wouldn't be worth living as they're the most versatile foods in the kitchen to me.

I've got a blind-spot where those fake meat foods are concerned so I can't be doing with them but I guess it all depends on why one has chosen to forego meat in the first place. I honestly think if I had a deep and uncontrollable desire to eat meat I'd just eat the real thing and be done with it. I also think that food producers and supermarkets price these things extremely cynically and therefore the retail price bears no relationship to the cost of producing them. I'm not playing that game even if I wanted to.

Hooray for lentils, pulses, beans and carrots! With maybe some tofu on the side...

Alison_Funnell

4 adults and 7 cats - £250/month

That includes the occasional splurge on takeaway of some kind.

Gothicfairy

We are running at about £80 per month now with 2 adults, 3 cats and 2 dogs..

We make everything from scratch and use local stuff as well..I am a big fan of nettles and game that can be bought for about £1- £2 a brace.

I buy meat from our local farm shop that is on offer and they often have things like cows liver for 70p ( about 3 good sized bits in a bag)
I also use my local co-op for their sell by dates deals as I got a 700g tray of ham for 90p and a whole large chicken for £1.30

I am trying this year to only buy things on sale and see how I go, so far we have been very luck but it might not last.

BitterAndTwisted

Gothicfairy: I like your style. I also like that couplet from the poem in your sig very much.

[Deleted User]

Hi. I am tring to get down from £150 to about £120 for 2 adults too. I was trying to stick to £25 per week for grocery shopping after having a chat with a friend from work abdout his budget. It is surprisingly easy to do but you have to keep it up and be quite vigilant. I found taking a notebook to the supermarket helped - I wrote down what I put in the trolley and added up the price as I went.

I fell off the wagon mid-month but am going to start doing this again in Feb. Also, it is worth keeping an eye on where special offers are and bulk buy. If bulk buying I won't stick to the strict £25 per week and average it out over the month. Lidl are still selling milk for £1 for example so I have bought 10 and put them in the freezer.

LittleMissAspie

I couldn't live without dairy either, I put cheese on everything! I would prefer to go organic but got other things to concentrate on at the moment. I don't see real meat as edible but I like the fake stuff but the taste varies a lot by brand. Asda burgers are very nice but their sausages are disgusting, for example. Have you tried turtle beans? They have a great flavour but are hard to find in tins.

Alison_Funnell wrote: »

4 adults and 7 cats - £250/month
That includes the occasional splurge on takeaway of some kind.

Wow that's amazing!

Edit: I'm amazed people are spending low amounts including so many pets! My cat actually has her own budget for everything cat-related

little_sweetie

I can't compete with Gothicfairy ....who is a genius! Our budget is £50 per week for two adults and there is never much left at the end of the week. I don't eat meat but do eat fish, dairy and quorn (the latter of which I only buy on offer). We are both at home most of the day as I am retired and OH self-employed (nothing doing at the moment ) so we need lunch as well as a hot dinner. I find the key is meal planning and making soups for lunch if supplies are running low. If I make a veggie hotpot I double up the quantity to make enough for the next day and I keep a careful eye on use by dates so that nothing is wasted. I forgot to check the eggs the other day and they were 3 days past the 'best before' date but I did the 'float' test which they passed (if they sink in a jug of cold water they are ok to eat) so I boiled them instantly, cooled them off quickly and used them for sandwiches the next day :T I find the budget allows for one bottle of wine costing no more than £5 (at Mr M's good wines are currently half price or less at £3.99) If OH wants beer he has to use his own 'pocket money' :beer:
Having said all this I am also looking to reduce the cost a little so thanks to all you helpful posters

BitterAndTwisted

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

I'm amazed people are spending low amounts including so many pets! My cat actually has her own budget for everything cat-related

My boy Stanley has his own budget of two quid a week: one quidlet for his food and another for his litter as he's an indoors-only chap. I'm lucky because cat-biscuits were the only food he ever knew before I re-homed him and he won't eat wet cat-food of any description, raw or cooked meat (I've tried) or any fish except tinned tuna which I share with him when I have it myself.

I did splash out on a fleece blankie for a pound from a charity-shop once and lined his favourite little cat-bed with it.

Gothicfairy

I am very lucky with where I live as well.

I am miles from a local shop so have to walk and can only carry so much ( that really helps as I can't buy things I don't NEED)
The local farm shop sell their own meat and as such have to reduce it before killing the next animal and I can make out like a bandit when that happens.


I also live on a farm with farms around me so I eat a lot from the hedgerow and make my own beer and wine etc.
I get local grown share cropper veg and as it comes all mud and bugs it goes cheaper for us as the good looking stuff goes to the farmers market.

I pay for everything with cash because it is "real" money and I control it rather then using my card which even though comes out of my money it still feels like plastic money.

I cook and make everything from scratch but again because I am so far away from everything I have little else to do.


I also buy my dog and cat food from a proper feed store and find that a massive sack of both run me to about £27 but last at least 2 months and they all have left overs and the odd road kill rabbit

I make nettle pesto / soup / bread / and try to use as much free food as possible so that really helps the bill too and it is fun.

Sweetie : Try Aldi 's own wine, someone bought me their red for walking their dog and that was about £3 a bottle and didn't taste half bad.
Hubby seems to like their beer as well so that might be a winner

Doom_and_Gloom

We are working to a budget of £1,320 for the year so an average of £110 per month. That is for 2 adults (my partner and I) and 2 chinchillas to include all food (for us and chins), toiletries, cleaning items etc. Partner is an omni and I am vegan.

This is up from last year where we were working on an average of £100/month but with price rises we thought we would give ourselves a slightly higher budget. That said we do use coupons, buy reduced, make the best use of offers etc so we may be able to come in at an average of £100/month this year if we are careful.