Single food shopping budget

Bryando

Hi there,

I have been pondering how much is too much for food shopping per month. Live alone and recently started shopping at Asda. Buying the three meat items for £10.00 so end up with 9 dinners.

Back to living alone myself recently and after years of not having to deal with this I have no idea what should be enough to get through a month. So I was thinking £100 per month with things like toilet roll included?

PasturesNew

That's plenty, including covering those times when you specifically buy things with wild abandon, knowing you're spending more.

Just be "purchase aware" and don't waste anything.

HappyMJ

Bryando wrote: »

Hi there,

I have been pondering how much is too much for food shopping per month. Live alone and recently started shopping at Asda. Buying the three meat items for £10.00 so end up with 9 dinners.

Back to living alone myself recently and after years of not having to deal with this I have no idea what should be enough to get through a month. So I was thinking £100 per month with things like toilet roll included?

Single people tend to spend more per person as you buy smaller pack sizes to waste less but the unit price per 100g or per 100ml is higher. If you can buy larger pack sizes and store the excess in a freezer then you can save, However, my freezer wasn't big enough to store enough so I was limited in what I could buy. If you're making a meal and opening a tin then you need to cook more to use the whole tin. The leftovers need to be frozen...if you've got the space.

In my opinion £100 a month isn't enough...but that's me. I eat 3 good sized meals a day, I purchase some branded items plus all the household cleaning products and personal toiletries and I used to spend closer to £200 just for myself. I was spending £45 a week which also included delivery costs as I shopped online and had my shopping delivered. My shopping also included non-alcoholic drinks such as tea, coffee, fruit juice and squash.

Bryando

Thanks. Is freezing milk something that can happen without the taste being impacted on? I go through a lot of it. Just trying to figure out ways to stop having to visit shops as going for milk ends up a few odds and ends!

curlywurly82

Yes, as another single person I buy milj and freeze all the time. It doesn't affect the taste in any way however I always allow it to defrost naturally

Bryando

do you need to pour away some to allow expansion ? Would I need to use the milk quicker than normal?

dlusman

Bryando wrote: »

Hi there,
Back to living alone myself recently and after years of not having to deal with this I have no idea what should be enough to get through a month. So I was thinking £100 per month with things like toilet roll included?

£100 per month should be more than enough. I probably average £70 and less than £50 in a "good" month . It really is down to you as to how much you can afford/want to spend.
reduce your costs through batch cooking and freezer use.

It is very difficult to compare - as everyone is different and a few high value goods can skew the totals ( For example if you are buying alcohol , it is very easy to add over £30 or more to your bill )

Bryando

Thankfully I no longer drink or smoke.

Big_Graeme

Best tip I can give is visit the oldstyle board in the forums here, lovely people with loads of time.

SailorSam

If your shopping for one a freezer is even more important. I never buy small packs of anything.
I have small 1ltr plastic bottles and split milk into those, leaving a bit of space for any expansion. A tip i read on 'A girl called Jack website', she gets blue-top full cream milk, then fat free powdered milk from Tesco and mixes it. So with each litre of fresh milk she adds a pint of 'free' powdered milk mixed with water. So you're drinking the equivalent of semi-skimmed.

[Deleted User]

I sadly now live alone and it took me ages to find a way to shop .I have now after careful budgetting got my monthly 'food budget' down to £60.00 per month and usually have a bit of left over cash now and again which goes into my holiday fund at the end of each month I menu plan and I am lucky as I really only have to cook four evening meals a week as I have two DDs that I eat with.

I started with around £120.00 plus several years ago and gradually whittled it down.I only ever use cash when I buy food and use Aldi's,Lidl's and if I have a voucher I do one 'big' shop at Waitrose when I get an £8.00 off a £40.00 shop around once every three months or so.This shop gets me some treat and I go when W'rose are reducing their meat etc as their reductions are very good value and quality.I try to have at least two veggie meals a week and spend about a third of my budget on fruit and veg.


I make all my own cakes and biscuits and soups and I don't like or eat 'processed' food. a decent reduced chicken can make for around £3-4
can make a good few meals for the freezer, plus the carcuss will make some decent stock for veggie soup.

I made two litres of celery from a whole celery head that will do 4 or five lunch with cheese and crackers or as a starter before dinner

I don't eat bread so don't buy it, I use UHT milk and its fine and I find I don'thave any wasteage at all and don't have to filly freezer up with frozen milk


Bran flakes for breakfast or porridge or a boiled egg is fine and filling enough for me

I buy a big pot of value yogurt and tart a couple of tablespoons up with chopped fruit as a pudding.If I make a chilli I will make a big potfull and freeze portions up.

The same as if I make a curry. I like vegatable lasagne and try to cut back on red meat if I can, not only for the cost of it but too much red meat isn't necessary.

Like my late Mum I can streeetch a meal or a shilling until it pings :):).growing up with WW2 rationing teaches you a thing or two :):) lots of veg is not only better for you it helps the cash go further.

Buying in season or Y/S stuff is a great way to shop.Lidls where I live do pretty good reductions on quite a bit of meat at times.

I go on the premise that a bit of say steak round the size of the palm of you hand given a hefty whack it the meat mallet will make a decent meal with salad and jacket spud.I got some reduced at around 2.99 for aberdeen angus which is very good quality and cut it in two so I had a tasty steak and salad for under £2.00 all told .thats my treat when I feel like it :):)