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Groceries forecast for two people?

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Hi all! Trying to budget for moving out with my GF. How much would you say groceries (ie food and toiletries) would come to for two people each month? Neither drink or smoke, one is vegetarian, both slim and moderate eaters. Would love to hear your thoughts!?
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  • robin58
    robin58 Posts: 2,802 Forumite
    Really depends on your habits.

    Do you eat a lot of takeaways? Do you / will you cook from scratch?

    Will you shop at Aldi or Marks and Spencers.?

    It is a bit open ended

    I have seen on these forums, somebody spending over £100 a week on food / toiletries. That was for 2 people!

    As you can imagine people on hear could not understand that amount of expenditure.

    Best thing I could suggest is look at what you buy now and then extrapolate from that.

    Personally if you are spending more than £50-£60 a week you need to look at what you are buying.

    There is a new TV programme on BBC1 at present called 'Eat well for less' That will give you some idea on what you could be spending and then what you can save by doing the MSE downsize challenge. Look for the link via a forum search.
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  • VfM4meplse
    VfM4meplse Posts: 34,269 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    You're not the first to ask the question! Try looking on the OS board for lots of ideas.
    Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

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  • Mint1955
    Mint1955 Posts: 685 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts I've been Money Tipped!
    Try£20 per person per week. That's food and household bits like toilet rolls and cleaning stuff.
    Living the dream and retired in Cyprus :j

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5105296
  • redfox
    redfox Posts: 15,336 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    we move threads if we think they’ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]
  • Well I budget £10 per day for the two of us but I do keep a well stocked cupboard as regards herbs, spices and baking products (flour, sugar, golden syrup etc)
  • pinkladyvenus
    pinkladyvenus Posts: 379 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 February 2015 at 9:57AM
    We are a couple and spend £30 a week on food/toiletries I am veggie partner is not. On weeks that there is a bit left over it gets saved towards the following week shop. As much as possible is made from scratch and we buy a lot of yellow sticker products when available. A lot depends on where you shop and if you buy branded or budget products, ours is all budget brand apart from coffee.
    Sealed pot challenge member 437
  • comeandgo
    comeandgo Posts: 5,930 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I spend about £70 per week, that's for two adults and one spoilt cat. We don't have an Aldi or any cheap supermarkets and no supermarket delivery vans so food is a bit more expensive.
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,238 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I allow for £220 per calendar month to feed the two of us, which if you want a weekly sum, is: 220 / 30 = 7.33 per day x 7 = £51.33 per week.

    We generally come in under budget at the end of the month.:o So if I was doing weekly, I'd call it £50 a week.;)

    I do it as a monthly figure because we stock up on cheese, eggs, bread flour and honey at the monthly farmers market, so it's £60-£70 spent there, but buying enough of those goods to last the month, iyswim.

    I don't do a regular weekly shop, we just shop at need, using @ldi, T3sco and M0rries; choice of which one to go to depends on what groceries we need at the time.

    I'm veggie; DH isn't but eats veggie at home because I can't cope with meat or fish; I cook from scratch, and we don't have takeaways because we don't like them.:D

    I don't count alcohol in the budget because that's a luxury, not a necessity (I note the OP and GF don't drink in any case).

    HTH - and best of luck to you both.:o
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • maman
    maman Posts: 29,726 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    steveyme wrote: »
    Hi all! Trying to budget for moving out with my GF. How much would you say groceries (ie food and toiletries) would come to for two people each month? Neither drink or smoke, one is vegetarian, both slim and moderate eaters. Would love to hear your thoughts!?


    I'd agree that £50 per week is relatively easy provided you shop wisely and cook for yourselves rather than take aways. Within that you could afford ingredients for packed lunches if you need them for work, it's buying coffees and sandwiches out that always seems to add to expenditure.


    I buy household cleaners and basic toiletries (toothpaste etc.) in that figure but anything that, for example, comes from a cosmetics counter would be a personal spend rather than the household budget. Eating out and booze comes from 'entertainment'.;)
  • Fluff15
    Fluff15 Posts: 1,440 Forumite
    What an open ended question!

    Now I'm on my own, I spend around £20-£25 a week on food and toiletries. When I was with my ex, we'd spend around £80 because he would eat ALOT.

    Then general toiletries, well you may buy those separately as one of you might prefer a branded type.

    If you're both living at home still, how about asking both sets of parents to stop cooking/providing for you for a month, and buying it yourself? You would obviously save money doing it together, but this will give you a good idea.
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