Realistic food budget?

Pepperoni

What do you think is a realistic food budget that I could work to? It's for two adults and one 1.5 year old. Currently spending an embarrassing amount! Thanks

Goldiegirl

We don't know how much your household income is, your other expenditure, your lifestyle, and your likes and dislikes, so the question is almost impossible to answer


You might get opinions based on other peoples lifestyles, but it might not appropriate for you.


The best thing to do, if you want to reduce expenditure in this area is to consider things like cooking from scratch, menu planning, using a shopping list and downshifting from brands.


You can then end up with an expenditure figure that is right for you - it doesn't really matter what other people spend!

MandM90

I'd try cutting down a tenner at a time.

Have you got lots in at the moment? Have you tried doing a "stock take" and thinking of meals you can make with what you have?

I spend between £40 and £50 a week for 2 adults, a 7 year old and cat food and litter for two cats. That includes a bottle of wine but often we do eat one or two meals at our in laws house (who shop at Waitrose and independent delis mmmm)

WantToBeSE

As Goldiegirl said above, it's impossible to say without loads more info.

For some people, £40 a week would be plenty. For others, £100 a week would be not enough.
It really depends on your family, what meals you like, how much you currently spend etc.

wanderingwondering

I would echo the other replies in terms of this being unique to your own situation. If you've realised you're spending too much, are you throwing food away? Do you have overstocks? If so, what? Cut down on buying these things. Do you overeat particular things, buy too many snacks, or use very expensive ingredients? Try making a rough, flexible list of meals your family like to eat and buy ingredients for these if you are not wanting to full meal plan.


I spend around £150/£180 for two adults including a bit of booze, all our lunches, but not including the odd meal out or takeaway. I would guess £200 a month might be about right for you with a small child? My first stage in cutting back is often simply to limit the amount of times I go shopping - once a fortnight with a £10 top-up in between of bread milk fruit and salad is enough for us.

splishsplash

It depends on what you like to eat, how you like to prepare it, what you want to feed your child, what you can afford and where you shop.

So think about what you all like to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, think about what you like to drink, then plan the cheapest way to get those things in a manner you can live with, i.e. free range v caged eggs; organic v non-organic veg; welfare-friendly meat vs not; etc.

Take note of what you have in the house, check online to see what the offers are, then plan your meals and budget. Write a list and stick to it. It's probably a good idea to keep a running total as you go round the shops to track your spending.

If you build up your store-cupboard you can rustle up pretty much anything you fancy with a few additions. I find I never need kits or sauces or jars because I can just make them all at home. It may take a little longer to chop up veg, but it's much healthier and probably cheaper too.

Then, depending on how far you want to go, you could draw up a spreadsheet and note cost per kg/l of everything you buy in the different shops. Very useful exercise, and will definitely open your eyes to the huge range of prices you pay for exactly the same things.

Do you really need to do top up shops? Bread freezes perfectly well, fruit and veg will mostly last a week, the only exceptions I can think of are bananas. So the most you should need for top up shopping is a couple of quid.

If you're spending more than you feel you can afford, then drop the more expensive ingredients and come up with cheaper versions of the same meal or just cheaper meals.

For example, salads and fruit can cost very different amounts depending on what you use, so you need to decide what you're getting for any extra you spend.

Like others have said, I would agree that it's best to limit your shopping trips to once a week at most, with a top up of milk and bananas only during the week.

I also agree with those who say it's pointless looking at what others spend. I know I could spend far less on groceries than I do, but that would mean I wouldn't be happy with the produce I buy or the food I feed my family. So horses for courses, really.

tiredwithtwins

I spend about £50-60 per week for 5 adults ... but I have a ton of food stocked up that never seems to go down ... I could spend much less but that does include toiletries/bathroom/cleaning stuff etc

rising_from_the_ashes

As others have said it really is down to individual circs eg I've just started doing the GC again and have a whopping (to many) budget of £35 / week - just for me!

And I will struggle to keep to that due to various food / other issues eg Milk (lactofree) is £7-8 / week so that's me down to £27-28 before I've really started - add on other food 'issues' (I have Crohn's) and also excema which limits the toiletries I can use etc

Add on that I live in a rural area - nearest small SM are 15 / 16 mile round trips (in different directions!) and decent sized ones are over 40 miles round trip and things like YS aren't really an option!

once you add that all up, it starts to build a picture up of why it's so high (but I'd still like to try to get it down a bit!)


Maybe cut off £5 / week and see how it goes?

suki1964

On;y you know how much is a realistic budget for your family

i notice on your other thread that you throw food away

Perhaps thats where you need to make a start. Plan your meals and aim not to throw anything away

Its an eye opener (when you start doing that) realising how little you do actually need to buy

ladymarmalade

As previously has been stated, it really depends on what your lifestyle is like, your earnings, your expectations etc.

E.g my SIL spends no more than £50 a week for 2 adults and 2 children (9 and 4)

On the other hand, I struggle to keep it under £90 a week for just me and my husband. However, when I struggle, I mean struggle in relation to our current lifesyle which is a diet consisting of all homecooked, no processed food. However, it does involve lots of meat and fish plus beers and wine at the weekend. With two adults earning professional wages this budget is not a problem. However, 5 years ago when I was still at university, we never spend more than £40 a week, so for me a household budget is all relative!

The key to me not spending more is planning. Every week I do a meal plan and as there are two of us I use the ingedients for more than one meal if it is something I have to but in a certain quanitiy. E.g if I make something with feta cheese, it will only be half a pack so over that week i will do two meals containing feta cheese such as lamb, feta and harissa burgers on the weekend and then carrot, cumin and feta fritters in the week!

jackyann

I'd add: think seasonal. Supermarkets discourage this. I don't mean you should never buy out of season or imported, but think about it.
Oranges are imported - but the Spanish ones are good now; English apples are winding down but still available. However, I see "healthy eating" ideas that encourage tasteless out-of-season berries.
Those bags of salad are expensive - but home-made coleslaw is cheap at this time of year.

Also - think "left-overs". You can almost always do a little salad or soup for lunch, or a stir-fry from left-overs.

Don't be too hard on yourself, and accept that things change over time. Learn from mistakes.

It has taken me years to get the balance between menu planning (too strict and you miss bargains, or the chance to invent dishes) and "let's see what there is" (too much impulse buying)

I like to avoid supermarkets which I think are over-priced and encourage poor choices. Think about a monthly "basic" shop, topped up by markets & independent shops, with the odd supermarket foray.

Always keep a back-up meal in the cupboard or freezer. That means that when you have a really bad day, you don't get take-away or ready meals. My basic suggestion is jacket potatoes, baked beans & sausages; others like to have pasta & a sauce.