How much do you spend on food?

pumpkin89

As a forum newbie, I'm amazed at how little some people seem to be spending! I spend about £150 a week for myself and my husband, which I appreciate is a lot, but I can't imagine doing it for under £50.

Cornucopia

£30 per adult should be easily achievable, with the only "compromise" being shopping in Lidl and/or Aldi for the majority of things. (It's not really a compromise, but some people seem to find that it takes getting used to).

For that you should have enough for all main meals, perhaps with a modest amount of batch-cooking, for sandwich/salad lunches and a variety of breakfast items.

Even adding a cheap bottle of wine (as we're discussing on another thread) shouldn't bump up the price too much. (Other "tipples" are also available - I quite like the Lidl (Woodgate) Vintage Cider).

Thread: Cheap Red Wine

bopsybunny

Our grocery shop usually adds up to about £300 per month, sometimes up to £70-80 per week, for 2 adults. This is including toiletries, cleaning products, etc. We worked this out a year or so ago when we started 'properly' saving for our house deposit.
Currently cutting back on lots of things for a final savings push so we can buy a house in a few months' time.
By carefully planning meals for the week, intentionally picking recipes that 'go far' or just don't have expensive ingredients - curries/stews/soups but even things like homemade pizza. Buying a lot less meat, by eating more meals that are completely vegetarian or just have a smaller portion of meat/fish. Fresh veggies are so cheap. Also tried shopping in Lidl rather than our normal Tesco - to be honest, not a huge price difference in most items, other than cheaper meat.
The past 3 weeks our weekly shop has come in under £25, with maybe the odd top up of a few £s a week (things I've forgotten to put on shopping list usually!), but we haven't gone over £30 total/week. I'm amazed how much we are saving - we hadn't realised how much we were overspending! If we'd done this a year ago, we could have an extra £2000 in our savings account.
Now I'm actually thinking about the cost of food, I think that if we really pushed we could go under £100 a month.

pumpkin89

Cornucopia wrote: »

£30 per adult should be easily achievable, with the only "compromise" being shopping in Lidl and/or Aldi for the majority of things. (It's not really a compromise, but some people seem to find that it takes getting used to).

Is that really the only compromise? I have shopped at Aldi and Lidl in the past, but found the quality quite a bit worse. Has it improved markedly in the last couple of years? My perception is also that I wouldn't have much choice of premium and organic food there, but again, maybe that's incorrect.

Cornucopia

pumpkin89 wrote: »

Is that really the only compromise? I have shopped at Aldi and Lidl in the past, but found the quality quite a bit worse.

It's a long-running debate on MSE as to whether L&A products are genuinely lower in quality, or whether there is a pyschological effect in place whereby people cannot come to terms with products being essentially the same as other Supermarkets' own brands, but cheaper.

I can only call it as I see it, which is that across a whole range of products, there are easy and uncontroversial savings to be made, without quality compromise. These areas include: Breakfast Cereals, Bread/Bakery/Biscuits, Deli/Dairy, Fresh Meat/Fish, some frozen lines, Alcoholic Drinks, Juice/Soft Drinks, Crisps/Snacks, Chocolate. Also, specifically at Lidl: Nuts, Deluxe Range. Lidl has just introduced a range of High-protein frozen Ready Meals, and Aldi has a range of Frozen Ready Meals similar to the Slimmers' World products.

The main controversy seems to be over fresh Fruit and Veg. Here, Aldi is cheaper, generally, than Lidl, but there appear to be storage issues that vary from store to store. Personally, I think they are better than they used to be, but there are still often stacks of full fruit boxes on the shop floor, which suggests that deliveries may be several days apart.

Has it improved markedly in the last couple of years? My perception is also that I wouldn't have much choice of premium and organic food there, but again, maybe that's incorrect.

Both L & A have premium ranges, but Lidl's is arguably better defined and more diverse. Aldi has things like Torchon Ham and Soft Cheese Roules that are premium products, but not labelled as such. Aldi is also improving its "health food" type products all the time. Both stores now have Gluten-free ranges - again, Lidl's is better defined. Organic products are few and far between, though.

Th3_Ripper

We spend approximately £150 on groceries from a supermarket per week, we don't drink alcohol either. That's for two adults and two children.
We need to do better at controlling lunch costs as well spend a fortune at work and take the kids out on Saturdays and Sundays for lunch or dinner, definitely money to be saved.

[Deleted User]

Th3_Ripper wrote: »

We spend approximately £150 on groceries from a supermarket per week, we don't drink alcohol either. That's for two adults and two children.
We need to do better at controlling lunch costs as well spend a fortune at work and take the kids out on Saturdays and Sundays for lunch or dinner, definitely money to be saved.

So approximately £10000 a year on groceries and eating out? You could easily halve that and save yourself 5 grand a year with a bit of planning.

pumpkin89

So approximately £10000 a year on groceries and eating out? You could easily halve that and save yourself 5 grand a year with a bit of planning.

Under £100 a week for 4 people? That is certainly doable but not if you want to eat out every weekend.

AubreyMac

I too am surprised at how little some of you spend on food. I take it you don't have big appetites?


I live by myself and would say my average spend is £70 per week just on supermarket shopping (half my shop is from Lidl). I also eat out once a week on average.


However, in the past year I have started to eat healthily which does cost more than eating non healthy. Previously it was easy to spend only £25-35 a week on my shop.


I have also started to cut out dairy and am using nut alternatives which isn't cheap either. In the near future I plan to transition to organic when available so I can see my food bill increasing already.


On the other hand I don't have vices or hobbies - I don't smoke, drink or do any sports with a running cost. I live frugally otherwise and don't buy new clothes either.

AubreyMac

pumpkin89 wrote: »

Is that really the only compromise? I have shopped at Aldi and Lidl in the past, but found the quality quite a bit worse. Has it improved markedly in the last couple of years? My perception is also that I wouldn't have much choice of premium and organic food there, but again, maybe that's incorrect.

You just have to try it and decide for yourself.


I don't have an Aldi near me but have 3 Lidls within walking distance of home and office.


I find Lidl's ready meals and seafood cocktail quite sloppy/watery and bland so I don't buy them anymore. Other stuff like their cooked mussels and crisps is very salty.


Their fruit and veg is ok as is their jars of pickled gherkins/onions and their fruit/veg. They don't have variety of sizes though (e.g. their baked beans are just one type and one size which can be annoying for a single person like me).