Do I spend too much on food?

Suffolk_lass

Hi tigercubx,

The first thing is that your shopping list looks well balanced and varied. If you decided to reduce the cost you could cook some things from scratch (curry for example) but it is your choice based on the time you have available.

For example, I sometimes use a curry sauce from a jar but I usually add my own ingredients to it but on a weekday evening, it is what is needed after 14 hours out of the house.

Other options - You could down-shift a brand, incorporate coupons, compare on mysupermarket to find the cheapest place to buy your stuff or be selective about what organic items you buy but it is your balance between your time (ethical position) and your money. If you want to see a thread where everyone is trying to reduce grocery shopping costs here is a link to this month's grocery challenge. There are lots of different reasons - worth a look

I have been there throughout 2012 and it's generally full of nice people offering tips and advice (or just supporting each other in our shopping and life challenges). I spend more than you but about £250-£300 less each month than I was doing in 2011 and whether I can afford it or not, that is a lot of money that I now have for other things (cleared my credit card balances now eg).

Whatever you decide, it's for you.
SL

Sophie4120

Bear in mind that fruit and veg can actually be quite expensive in supermarkets - though i see you buy mostly organic, have you compared the prices to the organic veg boxes that get delivered (e.g. Riverford)?

For those fruit and veg that you don't buy organic, I would recommend trying your local greengrocer and see how the price compares? Alternatively, get yourself down to Aldi! It was only when I started shopping there that I truly appreciated the mark up that other supermarkets have on fruit and veg.
For example, punnet of grapes ~£1.50 at Aldi, more like £2.80 in T's?

Aldi is much much cheaper for other things like tuna (64p per tin), and honestly, the quality is no different from other supermarkets. You could probably even afford to stretch to free range chicken I buy their whole 1.5kg free range chicken for £4.99 - bargainous, but also good proper meat which hasn't been pumped full of water!

Anyway, I could go on and on about all the things that you could buy cheaper in Aldi for similar quality (or even better), but I would be here all day. Though the main things Aldi doesn't have is chickpeas (I eat loads of these!) and annoyingly they have just stopped doing plain porridge oats.

Oops, i've just realised that you weren't asking for tips on saving, just whether it was too much - well, i'd say that you could definitely be buying the same things for less money, but it sounds about right for a shop at T's?

wortblossom

Your doing great ,we spend over a £100 per week. We are a family of 5 but it still is alot to me. I have tried to do it cheaper -simply cant.

hilstep2000

If you post on the Old Style board, you'll find posts about food spending, so you can compare/