how much do you spend on your weekly/monthly shop?

Dotmatic

We were spending £90+ on a big shop per WEEK :eek: then extras for local shops wihch came to about £10 each week, this has all had to change as we just can't afford it anymore. So I've started the grocery challenge and have so far kept it down. It's not been too bad this last couple of weeks as I've been using up things that were languishing in the back of the freezer/cupboards etc.

I've always cooked from scratch but have realised just how expensive some of the ingredients had become and I was no longer making the cheap and easy old favourites that we I used to make also I've got some excellent ideas of the OS boards, so thanks to everyone for that :beer:

spendaholic

Blimey, I'm quite ashamed.

When I'm part of a couple I can easily spend in excess of £100 per week on everything. Per WEEK. Now I'm single again, I've been spending around £40 - £50 per week, sometimes going up to £60. But this is all on organic stuff - if I can't get it organic I don't buy it (apart from a bottle of fizzy pop and Candarel).

I've just (yesterday) set my budget at £30 per week and that means I'm going to have to start cooking properly and baking again, and freezing portions of food. Saturday's shop was quite hefty because I replenished baking supplies I thought the dates had gone on, and when I came to chuck them all out, the dates were still good. So I'm using up all the in date flour, etc, before I start on the organic ingredients. I'm hoping I can still buy organic within this budget.

My new house only has a small yard but I've got a book coming on container fruit & veg growing for small spaces for beginners. (I had a massive vegetable plot before.) I'm hoping I can replace some of my bought f&v with home grown.

One of my biggest savings already was switching from a milkman to shop bought milk. The organic milk in Tesco is cheaper than the normal milk I was buying off the milkman.

RugbyLisa

Hi Spendaholic

I agree with you, milk from the milkman is very expensive. But, and this is a big BUT - when I buy my organic milk from him it stops me going into the shops to buy milk! and you know what that means Oh at least 20-30 pounds!!
L

spendaholic

Hi back, RugbyLisa.

When I first joined MSE/OS back in 2005, I resisted and resisted giving up my lovely, lovely milkman. After all, I wanted to keep the milkman ethic alive, I enjoyed fresh milk every day, and he'd even come at midnight if he thought the weather would be too bad the following day. I still miss him now. But when I saw how good the dates are on supermarket milk now, and how cheap it is compared to the milkman, I had to give in and relent. So now I go to the supermarket once a week and get enough milk for the whole week. I go armed with list ... and then I might see a nice new milk pan for £15 ... oh dear. [sigh]

RugbyLisa

Hi Spendaholic

I know its hard isn;t it - I know its an area where I can save and really because my spending habits are not as disciplined as they should be for me at the moment it works - any trip that I can avoid to the supermarket then I will - when I am as experienced as you are then its another debate, and its really hard because hes called MR christmas - I know I'm a softie!!

moanymoany

I spend about £200 a month for me, DH and the dawg (Yorkie!) I am an intermittent menu planner and when I do that it is much easier. Trouble is, as soon as I get my pen and paper the old mind goes blank!

However, If I need to I can get the cost waaay down. The meals are not bad and I have done it several times when I want to save quickly. Meals for this read like toad in the hole without the toad!:D

Spendaholic, I buy lots of packs of Moo organic longlife skimmed milk. It is organic and means I don't go to the shop between shops.

lady_fuschia

It varies a lot, because I buy certain things in bulk so they last months (Big 5kg bags of rice, big bags of spices etc) but I reckon evened out probably around £80-100 a month for the two of us - my OH generally eats one meal a day at work, so we're probably a little bit lower than other people because of that, but we do try our hardest to keep it down low as possible. In a way I kind of like the challenge of being economical with food because it makes me a bit more experimental with recipies - some of my favourite meals have been recipies I invented from stuff I found at the back of the cupboard.

saversarn

OMG... its not hard to see why my finances are so rubbish!!!
I have been spending about £150pw for 2 adults & 3 teenagers plus the dog!
I love to cook so don't buy much processed stuff, one child is an athlete and very nutritionally aware other two would eat crap for England if possible!
I really need to sort this out.

Hapless_2

we used to spend £130 a week (6 of us, 1 in dry-nights). but recently I have been cutting back....see sig