How much do you spend on food?

Biscuit07

We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 14 yr old and 17 yr old, we spend £500 per month of food - that's just food bought in supermarkets to cooks/eat (excludes takeaways, pets, household stuff, alcohol etc..).

I see so many people on here spending £2-300 per month, I just cant see how we can cut our spend ! please help...

RichT

Biscuit07

Hi, can I ask, when you say £100-150 per month - is that PER PERSON ?
Thanks

OutForBargins

2 Adults
2 Kids (3 & 8)

If i had to guess just on food shopping alone, probably £400 / Month.

Biscuit07 wrote: »

We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 14 yr old and 17 yr old, we spend £500 per month of food - that's just food bought in supermarkets to cooks/eat (excludes takeaways, pets, household stuff, alcohol etc..).



I see so many people on here spending £2-300 per month, I just cant see how we can cut our spend ! please help...

RichT

I've managed to knock about £100 a month off our bill by swapping down to own brand and even basic stuff.


Before we were buying 2 x 400g blocks of cheese for £5, now i get 1kg of full flavour cheddar for £4.30
Philli cheese spread even on offer was about £1.50 a tub (280g) first started buying sainsburys own for £1.35 (300g) which everyone liked, then tried the basics at 75p (300g) no one could tell the difference so i kept buying it.

same goes for Jam, Peanut Butter etc, all as good as the normal stuff.


Along with that when doing the big start of month shop to fill up the chest freezer along with our butchers order i just make seperate lists for Sainsburys / Asda / Tesco / Iceland and get whatever is cheapest from each one, i'm lucky because i have 1 of each store just a few minutes drive from my house.

EssexHebridean

OutForBargins wrote: »

2 Adults
2 Kids (3 & 8)

If i had to guess just on food shopping alone, probably £400 / Month.




I've managed to knock about £100 a month off our bill by swapping down to own brand and even basic stuff.


Before we were buying 2 x 400g blocks of cheese for £5, now i get 1kg of full flavour cheddar for £4.30
Philli cheese spread even on offer was about £1.50 a tub (280g) first started buying sainsburys own for £1.35 (300g) which everyone liked, then tried the basics at 75p (300g) no one could tell the difference so i kept buying it.

same goes for Jam, Peanut Butter etc, all as good as the normal stuff.


Along with that when doing the big start of month shop to fill up the chest freezer along with our butchers order i just make seperate lists for Sainsburys / Asda / Tesco / Iceland and get whatever is cheapest from each one, i'm lucky because i have 1 of each store just a few minutes drive from my house.

Try the Tesco Value one next time you shop there - only 49p and is absolutely fine!

For things like Peanut butter you do need to compare out the sugar content and other ingredients of the cheaper ones.

For those trying to get their spends down, try a "step by step" approach.
- Minimise supermarket trips - all those "popping in for milk" trips add up, and I bet you rarely come out with just the milk you went in for, do you!
- Audit your fridge, freezer, larder and cupboards - so you know what you already have
- using the list you've created in the step above, write a meal plan for the week. Think about options for stretching things - for us (2 adults) for example a 6-pack of sausages does 2 meals - bangers and mash or toad in the hole one day, then something like sausage pasta the next.
- For the first week of doing this, your aim it to "shop from home" as much as you can - make use of what you have.
- From that meal plan, write on a shopping list ONLY the things you need to make those meals, that you don;t already have in.
- Add the essentials like milk, bread
- Shop to the list and don't stray! If having the kids/partner with you introduces temptation of the "can we just have..." line, leave them at home and tel them you'll call when you get back so they can help carry the bags in.

When you're writing your meal plan, prioritise things that need using up - so a box of eggs nearing their date might make tomorrow night's tea omelettes. A Pack of bacon in the freezer that's been there a little too long might give bacon butties for breakfast at the weekend. Tired looking veggies can get turned into roast veg as a side with dinner, or get cooked and blitzed into soup.

A couple of lists stuck to the fridge door can be useful - one for things that you need to buy when "staples" are nearing their end, and another for things you want to use up.

[Deleted User]

As little as possible at the moment this month did well and had just over £19 left from my £60.00 budget but there is only me to feed and I am pretty good at streeetching food.I don't buy take-aways as i prefer to cook my own ,but I do have both the time and inclination which helps I guess.Plus I don't have to cook Sunday dinner as I have it at my Dds and Tuesday nights I get a meal with the quiz night at the pub so its really only five evening meals which I do with lots of bulking out with seasonal veg.I am just as happy making a veggie lasagne as a meat one.and home made soups cost pennies to make with Y/S veg

Ecody1

Me and my partner spend about £60 a week. Sainsburys send us vouchers thought the post with discounts off online deliverys. If you spend £60 they will give us £9 - £12 off. Not bad for a weeks shop.

[Deleted User]

£4.33 Morrisons

ScarletRaven

We budget £40 a week for shopping, which is for all food, toiletries, household/cleaning stuff etc (plus pull-up nappies and wipes for the toddler that refuses to toilet train, grr) and that's for myself and a 3 year old. Though we often only spend £30-35 of it per week.

Vates

I spend £20-£25 per week and that includes all toiletries and cleaning stuff. I tend to spend less when I make a big pan of homemade soup that lasts a few days (cheap and filling!). I want to try and cut down on my spending.

*niptuckfan*

HI All

do you have a set weekly/monthly food budget or just try to keep as low as possible? i see myself as a good shopper, shop around try brands buy reduced etc but do feel there is room for improvement (wanting to save for mortgage deposit)

we are family of 2 adults, 1 15month old and an 11 year old every weekend.

Think i shall start by adding up my recent spends and see what i am actually spending - anyone care to share their family size/weekly spends?