Food / shopping budget per month

katylou6180

I had to comment- I seem to have finally settled to a realistic budget for 3 of us of about £250-300 per month. I tried grocery challenge over on the other board to see if I could get it down to £200 and suceeded a couple of times! If i'm honest though in some ways in some things (so shoot me down if you think i'm wrong) I believe we were compromising on quality, a prime example being mince, I usually buy lean and bulk out using veg, oats etc to make spag bol/shepherds pie, sticking to the harsher budget meant downgrading to cheaper mince which was fattier ( I know you drain it off but some stays in still) and just not as tasty, it may have been cheaper but that didn't work for me- just my opinion. Another gripe of mine was not being able to get enough fruit and veg even buying "value" range or on offer, I work full time and I don't have time to get to a market or anything like that, and to be able to eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg without going "yellow stickering" does get expensive! I do use tinned and frozen veg as well but just struggled, I cook from scratch every night (dinner time in here is 7.30, I finish work at 5) but I think i've struck a balance between frugality and quality- some may say not, but even if you take the budget at £300, (which includes household and toiletries so it's not that much in effect) it works out at roughly £3 per day per person (over 31 days)

LearningToSave.

we are a family of 4...2 adults,2 kids and both of us adults follow slimming world so we are eating lots of fruit,veg,lean meat etc.

our budget is £160 a month,that includes toilettries,cleaning stuff etc......for all those that say oooo but how do you do it that low,its impossible etc....its a matter of neccessity,its all we have so i cant spend more.

it does take time and effort but its fairly easily done.

the bulk of my shopping is done at aldi.now in my local aldi all the bread etc is reduced first thing in morning to half price,its just over the road from school s i pop in and buy my bread products this way.
iceland - again by school- reduces any fresh meat to half price when they open at 9(its already done and out on shelf) so this is how i buy meat...im also lucky enough to find a fair bit in aldi but thats very random with timing.
co -op ...again near school on same row as others...they reduce fruit,veg,meat to half price around 2.30-3 so i pop in just before i pick the kids up from school.
i never pay more than half price for my meat,my freezer is my best friend,lol.

also,when possible,we like to go to morrisons at around 6.30 as they put fruit,veg,salad down to just 9p....last night i had to pick my daughter up from a birthday party at 6.30 from the mcdonald next to morrisons so popped in.i got 3 twin pack packs of bistro salad,tub of jamie oliver carrots,tub of jamie oliver petit pois and lettuce,2 tubs of pomegranite seeds,2 tubs of kiwi,pineapple and grape,2 of those kids snack bags of apple and grapes,2 bags of carrot,cauli,brocolli...all at 9p each.
very little spent on good,healthy food.
we tend to pop in morrisons like that once a week or so and always get something.

also as i said my main staple shop comes from aldi - well at the moment,on the last thursday of every month the daily mirror has a voucher for £5 off 35 spend as well as several other 30% off specific product vouchers....i tend to get a few of these and maximise the use..one shop on day comes out,one a week later on day it runs out.a mixture of my normal weekly shop and a few things that will last over the month.

when you have little and its all you have to learn how to make it work for you.