Minimum food budget for two people? £50 reasonable?

ChilliHippo

I was wondering how low people have gone on their food budgets, especially for two adults. Do you think it is reasonable to set a monthly food budget of £50 for two adults?

A bit of background: there are two of us in the household (my partner and I, no pets or children) and finances are quite tight at the moment. My partner is currently looking for a job so we are living off my salary and also have credit card debts to contend with. I have started cutting back on everything, with just bare essentials spends. The underlying stress of money is starting to get to me and I could really use some advice and help!

I am trying to properly meal plan now and also making meals out of what is in the house before I do another shop. We have a Lidl and Costco close by and I have shopped online with Tesco, Asda and Ocado. My partner needs some kind of meat for dinner as he doesn't quite feel ‘full’ without it (I have tried many different veggie dishes!). I'm quite happy to switch to being veggie if that will bring costs down. I have a slow cooker and bread maker (I make my own breads and cakes). And I take HM lunches into work (have access to a microwave)

Current food stocks are as follows (not including herbs and spices which are fairly well stocked):

Freezer:
• Frozen veg x 1 bag
• HM Yorkshire puds x 23
• Chopped yellow pepper
• Chopped fresh ginger ~500g
• Battered cod x 1
• HM Curry x 1 serving
• Wild hare x ~700g
• Hash browns x 12
• Gammon joint ~500g
• Diced goat ~500g
• Sausages x 12
• Bacon x 1 pack

Cupboards:
• Lasagne sheets x 2.5 packs
• Spaghetti x 4 packs
• Pasta x 250g
• Tinned tomatoes 400g x 4
• Baked beans x 2
• Coconut milk x 1
• Eggs x 4
• Jalapeno peppers x 1.5 jars
• Chow mein sauce
• Chilli and garlic stir fry sauce
• Tinned pineapples x 1
• Dried chickpeas
• Dried black beans
• Dried pinto beans
• Tea bags
• Jaffa cakes
• Sugar x 1 kg
• Plain flour x 1 kg

Fridge is pretty much empty, save for margarine.

RAS

Search out "wonderbag" and get your OH to make one so you can cook those dried beans more cheaply. remember that the pintos and black beans must be boled for 10 minutes or toxins will remain.

Menu plan round pasta bakes and bean stews.

You simply cannot afford meat with every meal and OH has to accept this.

Small quantities of gammon, sausage (meatballs?) or gammon for the pasta sauces, goat with the beans? Hare ragu?

Buy porridge oats for breakfast and make some flapjacks?

Soups with beans and pasta, or mixed veggie for lunch?

Boil any bones (gammon,hare) for stock.

Some ideas here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5057052

And a set of useful links here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5043051

mrsdwhite

With your credit card debts go to the debt free wannabe board on here. They are brilliant on there and will help with advice on cutting back and how to live on a tight budget.
Food wise, I'd say go back to basics, drop a brand level if possible, buy reduced items where you can, and cook from scratch where possible.
There are people on here far better than me who can help even more. Wishing you well

merzal

Hi!
I tried to only spend £50 this month for me and my husband and failed but it did make me cut down alot and I realised our weaknesses. I was aiming on just buying fruit and milk etc as our cupboards and chest freezer are full (we have plenty of frozen veg, meat, fish, bread and batch cooked meals, as well as cupboards full of pasta, rice, tomatoes, soup, tea and coffee etc). I found the budget went on icecream (ohs fault!) and me not being able to stop myself buying reduced stuff for the freezer, despite it being pretty full! No exaggeration, I would not have to buy anything (apart from fruit and milk) for the next 2 months and we would still have food left!!
Despite our weaknesses we spend very little on groceries compared to friends and family because we are willing to shop at the time of good reductions and eat around what we buy cheap. For example we got 24 packs of BBQ meat from Mr T for a total of £3.20 and often get fruit & veg reduced to 1p! I then freeze the veg or make soup! I enjoy going bargain hunting and have got my oh on board with this but I realise it's not for everyone and you may not have access to shops which reduce heavily. I'm also very good at freezing left overs so very little goes to waste.
It may help if you posted which shops you have nearby and a typical weeks shopping / meal plan so we can help you see where you may save. We buy a lot of the value ranges but there are also items I cannot downshift on despite trying (gravy granules being one!) I also grow things in the garden (not an awful lot and not always successfully!) but this has made a big difference. Check out the recipe threads on this forum as this will also give you some ideas, there are also some great tips on freezing items too which I have found v useful!
Good luck!

AnnieO1234

Is this per week? If so it's generous! Does it exclude toiletries and cleaning supplies?

First thoughts would be cook from scratch, look at other meats including offal, don't be afraid to investigate meat packs at your local butcher. (Mine is waaaay cheaper and so much better quality than supermarkets!) learn to bulk out food with veg/beans etc. Finally learn to love your leftovers.

Remember you can still have treats sometimes.

Google a girl called jack, get into yellow sticker shopping if time permits and try to buy seasonally too so you're not paying a premium for say asparagus in September!

Xxx

HappyMJ

Wild hare and goat is great as long as you use your own property to find and shoot the hares/rabbits and raise and slaughter the goats yourself. Otherwise they are very expensive meats to purchase. To save money you need to think about switching to more commonly available meats such as chicken, pork and beef. To save even more try and use small portions in a curry filled out with another protein such as lentils. A 3 ounce (85 gram) piece of meat on a plate with a few vegetables on the side does not look very impressive at all so hide it in a sauce and it doesn't look so small any more.

bubbs

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

Is this per week? If so it's generous! Does it exclude toiletries and cleaning supplies?

First thoughts would be cook from scratch, look at other meats including offal, don't be afraid to investigate meat packs at your local butcher. (Mine is waaaay cheaper and so much better quality than supermarkets!) learn to bulk out food with veg/beans etc. Finally learn to love your leftovers.

Remember you can still have treats sometimes.

Google a girl called jack, get into yellow sticker shopping if time permits and try to buy seasonally too so you're not paying a premium for say asparagus in September!

Xxx

No she/he says a month

Do you think it is reasonable to set a monthly food budget of £50 for two adults?
I must admit even though i have very good stocks i couldnt do it:o

honeythewitch

ChilliHippo wrote: »

I was wondering how low people have gone on their food budgets, especially for two adults. Do you think it is reasonable to set a monthly food budget of £50 for two adults?

A bit of background: there are two of us in the household (my partner and I, no pets or children) and finances are quite tight at the moment. My partner is currently looking for a job so we are living off my salary and also have credit card debts to contend with. I have started cutting back on everything, with just bare essentials spends. The underlying stress of money is starting to get to me and I could really use some advice and help!

I am trying to properly meal plan now and also making meals out of what is in the house before I do another shop. We have a Lidl and Costco close by and I have shopped online with Tesco, Asda and Ocado. My partner needs some kind of meat for dinner as he doesn't quite feel ‘full’ without it (I have tried many different veggie dishes!). I'm quite happy to switch to being veggie if that will bring costs down. I have a slow cooker and bread maker (I make my own breads and cakes). And I take HM lunches into work (have access to a microwave)

Current food stocks are as follows (not including herbs and spices which are fairly well stocked):

Freezer:
• Frozen veg x 1 bag
• HM Yorkshire puds x 23
• Chopped yellow pepper
• Chopped fresh ginger ~500g
• Battered cod x 1
• HM Curry x 1 serving
• Wild hare x ~700g
• Hash browns x 12
• Gammon joint ~500g
• Diced goat ~500g
• Sausages x 12
• Bacon x 1 pack

Cupboards:
• Lasagne sheets x 2.5 packs
• Spaghetti x 4 packs
• Pasta x 250g
• Tinned tomatoes 400g x 4
• Baked beans x 2
• Coconut milk x 1
• Eggs x 4
• Jalapeno peppers x 1.5 jars
• Chow mein sauce
• Chilli and garlic stir fry sauce
• Tinned pineapples x 1
• Dried chickpeas
• Dried black beans
• Dried pinto beans
• Tea bags
• Jaffa cakes
• Sugar x 1 kg
• Plain flour x 1 kg

Fridge is pretty much empty, save for margarine.

I am sorry, but although fifty pounds will be plenty as a one off using your stocks, it is not possible long term.
How long do you need to do it for?

pennypusher

Have you thought of going on freecycle to see if anyone has some apples they don't want. Also you could go out blackberrying, I'm told there are a lot around this year.

PasturesNew

If he indoors doesn't feel full without meat... then he needs to spend a bit more time learning to be humble - and to look harder for a job so he can afford to buy it!

What a cheeky s0d.

Towser

I wouldn't do it long term as your health may suffer but if loosing weight it may end up in a better position.

If you had to it I am sure you can. I would start off reducing month by month budget then it wont be so hard and you will hardly notice to. You will eventually get to where you want to be taking baby steps.

Use mysupermarket.com to get the best deal for your money and use the discount supermarket as well as yellow sticker times in certain supermarkets.

Good luck with it