How much do you spend on food?

Scorchio

Thanks - GwylimT. I wish I could get to Tesco more frequently but it's a good 40min drive away and I struggle to get there - home delivery slots seem non-existent, always booked up, but they do assure us that they are creating more slots in the future...

I end up shopping at the co-op - prices from today
Courgettes 2 for £1.09
Peppers 2 for £1.19
Onion - 22p
Mushrooms - 89p
Tin of kidney beans - 79p
Tin of cannelloni beans - 79p
Tin of sweetcorn - 50p
2 x tins of tomatoes - 98p
Garlic, chilli powder and cheese to sprinkle on top - 50p
Total - £6.95
This does do one dinner and one lunch meal for the teenager...
Writing it down though does make me realise I could do it a bit cheaper - use passata rather than tinned tomatoes. I guess though decent food does cost more - it just seems rather excessive - £1.19 for two peppers....

Doshwaster

Frozen sliced peppers are about £1 for a kilo and are perfectly fine for use in pasta or on pizzas. Frozen mushrooms and sweetcorn are also good.

System

Official figures suggest somewhere between £50-60 a week is average, but even as a low earner I just can't square this with running a family - for 2 people £60 a week may be £4 per person per day which is reasonable if a bit low, but with more than 2 people you're looking at less than £1 a meal...

Are these figures heavily skewed by one and 2 person households? Is it inaccurate perhaps?

We spend £5 a person a day and theres 3 of us...

System

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/how-does-your-household-food-spend-compare

Clowance

Maybe the government average is over single people to large families, and there are more single people? Personally we spend £109 per week for two of us, this includes everything for the house and 8 pints cheap lager as we are not big drinkers. There is some scope for reductions but we do like a few luxuries.
HTH

PasturesNew

Averages are always nonsense, representing nobody.

I aim for £10/week, but am happy to overspend if/when I specifically choose to do so.

A single person on the dole would have a total income of £72/week, they'd not be spending £50-60! Whatever they are spending would also be part of the fictitional average.

Also, if I were to eat out 7 nights/week, spending £100 doing so, that figure for food wouldn't be included in a weekly supermarket spend of a further £50/week spent on food eaten at home.

enjoyyourshoes

Hi , UK government stats year ending 2016 :-

household expenditure on food and none alcoholic drinks was £56.80 based on household of 2.4 persons (weighted)

Do thats £3.38 per day

£45.10 on restaurants and hotels ! (a lot of that I guess would be eating out. One big way to save on bills , eat in, and then scratch cook ?

Oakdene

My average weekly spend for a household of 2 is £28 if I take the total of last 5 weeks shops & divide by 5.

System

Pastures - £10 a week incredible! I eat a large quantity of cheap food but need some luxury throughout the year after hard graft

What I don't understand is how the "average" person earns quite a bit more than me, spends less than me on food, and saves much less than me (I read the average save 1% of income Vs my 25%) - I think differences in housing costs can only account for so much since we're not a nation that overwhelmingly rents - would average people really starve themselves to afford smartphones, sky TV and package holidays? Or failing to switch utilities and credit cards is leaving people needlessly destitute?

(We don't eat out and don't go on holiday, have cheap phones, freeview, and stooze)

Owain_Moneysaver

I have 20p Value Instant Pasta for dinner several times a week every week.