How much realistically for 2 adults

theycallmebargainbetty

There are 2 adults, 4 children, 2 cats and 1 dog in our house. I have to budget shop on £80 a week and manage it quite well even if I do say so myself.

The £80 is for food, cleaning supplies, pet food and even nappies. I have taken to couponing and this helps me out quite alot but I do make a meal plan out for the week and just buy what I need in one shop. This also helps out being more organised with running around after 4 kids!

We cook from scratch 5-6 days of the week and most of the stuff I buy is healthy. We have a treat night on a Saturday with chocolate etc but thats about it (thats not our dinner may I add!)

I also plan my shopping out on tesco website so i know i am getting the best bargains then print out my basket and use it as my list. Sounds like alot of work I know but it works for me.

With all the prices going up now though I shall be going to Morries to see if I can get any of it cheaper before I go to tescos to get the rest.

dlusman

As most people have been saying it depends very much where/what you are buying. very easy to rack up big bills by just throwing in "what you fancy" without looking too much at prices - and buying ready meals instead of cooking from scratch also makes a large difference .. People may be able to comment more if you where able to dig out a few receipts and post a list of what you have bought in typical week/weeks ?

LE3

ITGuy1 wrote: »

Edited to add that we don't need to cut back, just I think we are spending a little to much on it when it could be spent on other things.

"Darling, I was thinking that if we could shave £25 off our food bill each month, there would be enough money by Autumn for you to go to a spa for a weekend/us to have a weekend in Edinburgh/you to buy a posh handbag/<insert something that would appeal to her>"

May have more effect than "you are spending too much on food!" & if you don't NEED to save it, it may be a bit of an incentive?

you could even try "of course of we can drop it £50 a month, we could go to Barcelona/Rome/etc in October for a weekend" or similar ...

maisiemog

I spend half that and feed more! We also have two cats as well!!!! I shop around more now, and at cheaper places. I've learnt what cheaper things we like and don't like and there are some areas where I won't co promise and buy cheap! For example I buy branded tea bags but stock up when they are on special offer!

We have had no choice but cut back on what we spend on everything and I can honestly say that we probably either eat better now that I am cooking from scratch and not buying all the rubbish I used to! I have even lost weight without trying which is always a bonus!!!!

Edwardia

LE3 wrote: »

"Darling, I was thinking that if we could shave £25 off our food bill each month, there would be enough money by Autumn for you to go to a spa for a weekend/us to have a weekend in Edinburgh/you to buy a posh handbag/<insert something that would appeal to her>"

May have more effect than "you are spending too much on food!" & if you don't NEED to save it, it may be a bit of an incentive?

you could even try "of course of we can drop it £50 a month, we could go to Barcelona/Rome/etc in October for a weekend" or similar ...

I read this and despair. Is a new handbag really more important than eating good food not rubbish ?

I have diabetes so I would never say I'm lucky, but it certainly taught me that the old adage 'You are what you eat' is true, when I watched my cholesterol, blood pressure, liver enzymes, blood glucose etc normalise just by cutting down on carbs and going organic.

We were pretty broke 1994-1999 and although we cooked from scratch and had an allotment, we ate soya mince 5 nights a week and bulked out meals with pasta, rice and potatoes. I stacked weight on, going from size 14 to eventually size 22. I was diagosed with diabetes in 2007, went low carb in 2010 and organic last year. I'm now down to size 12 without doing any actual dieting.

So when I see people boasting about how little they spend on food and deluding themselves that a diet full of processed food and stuff from animals reared on GM food is healthy, I do wonder what they will be like after 20 years on that kind of diet.

Are handbags worth getting diabetes ?

Tiglath

Aside from the cat stuff (9 cats here), I usually manage to stay under £180/month for 2 adults for food and household stuff. Costco for meat and crisps, Farmfoods for loo roll, and Lidl/Wilkinsons/local market for all other stuff.

LE3

Edwardia wrote: »

I read this and despair. Is a new handbag really more important than eating good food not rubbish ?

Are handbags worth getting diabetes ?

No, I just thought the OP may have some luck getting his wife to think about reducing the food budget a little if she has a goal to work to that is in her favour.
some people value material goods like a new handbag over organic food, others prefer organic food & others like to travel the world ...

Thriftygifty

LE3 wrote: »

No, I just thought the OP may have some luck getting his wife to think about reducing the food budget a little if she has a goal to work to that is in her favour.
some people value material goods like a new handbag over organic food, others prefer organic food & others like to travel the world ...

Totally agree! I would rather spend money on "things" or holidays or savings account than food!

I find food such a waste of money, however I dont compromise either, just because I aim not to spend a fortune on food doesnt mean I eat unhealthy either. Mostly we stick with some fresh meat and veggies. I dont buy crisps etc so save money that way.

tessie_bear

im not dissing anyone here but i find these threads a hoot...an op posts how long is a piece of string then many and various pile in normally adopting a cats backside face with the immortal line...i feed x more people on 6.4% of that budget you mention

unless u shop lift u pay for the food u buy...some food is dearer than others u pays your money and takes your choice some peeps want organic fillet steak some want iceland £1 specials...its a free country

if my husband complained about how much i was spending i would say have ago yourself mydear...if anyone said if u spend less i will get u a handbag i would say shove the bag i want good food

hth

MavisTheMaven

That's food only, not including dog food, cleaning products or alcohol. That's for breakfast lunch and dinner for the two of us. I've got my bill down from about £300 a month - this is my third month of doing this. I'm lucky that Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Costco, Asda and several pound shops are all within 10 mins cycling from my home.
I shop about three times a week.
What we do:
We seldom eat meat - it just costs too much- I live near 3 different Chinese food wholelsalers, I buy tofu and noodles from there (very cheap!) and cook Chinese or Thai quite often.
I don't buy convenience food - it's a rip-off and full of salt. I always cook my main meals from scratch. I often make soup from reduced veg and we eat it with reduced bread rolls. But this week we have some veg samosas and apples for lunch, because that's what I got on offer.
Rather than buy ready meals, I often batch cook a veggie curry and freeze portions for when we CBA to cook.
I never get takeaways - I've learnt to cook those meals (with no MSG, food colouring and less fat), sure it took some effort, especially stuff such as learning how to make fluffy rice but it costs 1/4 of the price and tastes loads better if you do it yourself - I've never come across a Chinese or Indian takeaway that uses freshly ground spices like we do. Just get the ingredients from the wholesalers - buy a cheap spice mill and experiment with your own blends. Enjoy yourself.
I buy as much as I can on yellow stickers, I dispute that this food is always past it's best - I had some rock-hard avocados from Sainsbugs the other day, took a week to ripen after they were supposedly out of code! Ditto the four punnets of cherry toms that I got for 20p each, they were rock hard too!
I always buy reduced bread and freeze it.
I use Costco for booze (for wine its 20-30% cheaper than the supermarkets), washing liquid, snacks (huge jars of nuts - seem expensive but are good value as they last weeks), tinned toms and pasta.
If I can't get it on yellow sticker from Mr T's then I go to the Turkish veg grocer or Lidl.
If I have to run errands locally or visit people I do it to coincide with the markdowns so I don't have to make two journeys.
I'm a creative cook - I'll buy veg on special offer even if I've never eaten it before, then Google a recipe for it.
I meal plan when I'm in the supermarket, I just figure it out from the markdowns that are available.
I keep a storecupboard of herbs, spices oils, grains, pulses, pasta - its not hard to figure out meals if you have those basics in all the time.
We both WFH - I don't know if I'd manage this if I went out to work - it does require some dedication, but we both eat well and I don't find it a hardship. Just don't go mad buying cheap cakes - I think it's only all of my cycling which is preventing me from getting fat doing this!