How much is your food shopping bill??

Sanctioned_Parts_List

You're all amazing!

I would love to know what goes into the average £50/week basket... We averaged probably 3 or 4 times that when last we were in the UK :-S

B0B

quackers82 wrote: »

I'm single if i meal plan and stick to it, i can get my weekly shop down to around £10 a week at Asda. If i don't i just chuck anything i want in and end up with a £50 bill.

I did try Aldi last year to see what the fuss was about, NEVER EVER going back, a few times i had my head over the bin spitting the food out it was that vile. If it was something i could tolerate i.e. their version of Monster Munch the flavour was inconsistently spread so one side of the crisp would be to strong and the other side almost plain :mad:

Stick the the normal supermarkets but see how low you can go, like Asda's smart price garlic breads are ok.

What products was that ?

zenshi

This month I have spent £69... That's for me and one cat plus all toiletries, washing products etc etc
I shop in Aldi but then hit tesco at reduced time to get my meats. Meal planning is then dependant iPod what was available

suki1964

Sanctioned_Parts_List wrote: »

You're all amazing!

I would love to know what goes into the average £50/week basket... We averaged probably 3 or 4 times that when last we were in the UK :-S

That's the thing though, I really don't think there's an 'average'


We (3 adults ) don't eat a lot of fruit. We grow our own veg, have egg laying hens, so we don't buy those big food groups - fruit being very expensive. So for me the average basket would be a couple of sources of protein, the Veg we need that's not available to us from our patch, carbs such as pasta and rice and basics like flour, butter, spices etc

I've a lovely stocked larder, full of spices, pulses, grains etc and those are the basis of my meals. I keep on top of the larder, trying never to run out of those ingredients. As long as I have those I can make a tasty meal out of seemingly nothing

Being open to recipes is also very handy in keeping food cost down. I will often start googling recipes in the supermarket if I find a good ys protein source to make sure I'm not buying in ingredients just to make one ys bargain into a meal

No point in buying kidneys at 10p if A) you don't like them and you have no idea what to do with them to make them into a meal the whole family will eat and enjoy

Ellieseleven

Pepperoni wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how YNAB has helped with this? Do you mean as you seen how much you were spending and it shocked you?

I use YNAB and I'm wondering if there's something I should be doing to see exactly what that Grocery spend is spent on. At the moment I just log '£XX at Aldi' etc.

I break my categories down a bit further i.e. Aldi, Market, Quality Save etc. and I found that all the bits and bobs really added up, making me realise that I was in actual fact spending far more than I first thought.

If I set a budget for the month then I try harder to keep within that budget for example if I overspend on one week, I try to reduce the following week.

Ellie x

FBaby

I'm really amazed at how little people here seem to be spending. I spend about £400 for two adults, two teenagers and I can't see how this much reduce. Fair enough, we work full-time and are very active, so not much time for cooking cheap recipes but not buying much ready meals either. We are also a slim family, so no over eating and we don't drink alcohol but including food for lunches, I really can't see how this could be much reduced unless making it a mission to do so.

What surprises me is that when I look at trolleys at the checkouts when I do my shopping at Tesco or Asda and what looks like a week worth of shopping, I rarely see any coming under £50 so not totally convinced posters here are 'average'.

I did try shopping at Lidl for the weekly shopping but when I did, it didn't come out much cheaper, maybe a few ££ but then it was not eating what we like best, so not worth it.

Not an issue for us as we are not desperate to reduce our weekly shopping costs but still amazed how people can do it as such low value if indeed it includes all the other necessities, such as cleaning products, toiletries (especially with teenagers!), items such as socks and underwear, medicines, pet food, and miscellaneous (light bulbs, school accessories, newspaper etc..)

MrsSave

FBaby wrote: »

What surprises me is that when I look at trolleys at the checkouts when I do my shopping at Tesco or Asda and what looks like a week worth of shopping, I rarely see any coming under £50 so not totally convinced posters here are 'average'.

I'm guessing that you're right that the majority of posters here won't be 'average' but then this is a money saving site where a lot of the regular posters (especially on the debt free wannabe board) have had to at some point cut back, or choose to spend less. A few years ago I'd probably have spent far more on groceries (though have also gone through a time where I actually spent far less and budgeted £25 per week as that was what we could afford at the time.

I guess we're lucky at the moment that our son is not quite 3, so doesn't eat us out of house and home! Saying that, though, he does have a healthy appetite. If he fancies a snack, he will automatically ask for a satsuma or an apple, otherwise I'll make him something like crackers and cheese. He rarely eats 'treat' foods such as crisps, so despite us usually having some in the cupboard they don't get restocked every week.

We're not the biggest eaters either, so don't pile our plates up high. We definitely don't go hungry, though, or go without. Our diets are healthy. We buy a mix of value items, supermarket own brand and other labels depending on preference. For breakfast we buy value weetabix and corn flakes as we find these perfectly fine, and often have strawberries or some other berries mixed in. I've this week bought the perfectly imperfect strawberries for the first time. Far cheaper, but taste exactly the same. Bread, on the other hand, we buy supermarket own brand and then pasta bake mix (when we're feeling lazy) is a branded item (but I only buy it when it's half price).

If I'm making a curry, I'll use 2 chicken breasts and not 4. Things can be bulked with veg easily. I also bulk mince dishes with red lentils, and things like grated carrot. My husband always drank a named brand beer, until recently. He tried a supermarket premium brand, and said he couldn't taste any difference. You never know until you try. I love sparkling water, but wouldn't waste 17p on value, I'm not a big fan of the taste. Instead I go up a level to the supermarket own which is lovely.

I think what I'm trying to say is that, No.....the answers here probably won't reflect the national averages, but it is very possible to cut down. We have no waste, we meal plan and buy for those meals. I hope this makes sense

[Deleted User]

You should try using sweet potato instead of chicken in curry, it is Diliclous.

enthusiasticsaver

We spend about £150 on food a month for 2 adults at Lidls (£35-£40 per week). I usually end up shopping at the weekend for meat, basic groceries etc and then do small midweek top up shop for milk and fresh fruit/veg needed.

I find Tescos pretty expensive compared to Lidls and manage usually to get everything we need at Lidls.

gizmorat

FBaby wrote: »

What surprises me is that when I look at trolleys at the checkouts when I do my shopping at Tesco or Asda and what looks like a week worth of shopping, I rarely see any coming under £50 so not totally convinced posters here are 'average'.

The JRF's minimum income standard specifies £122 a week for food for a family of 4 including 2 teens. It's probably closest to what you mean by average.

My supermarket shop is about £100 a week for 4, but I could knock £25 off by cutting out the treats.

I think I can see how you can get it down to the £50 and below levels but it's hard. I appreciate that it's not by choice, but people that can do this have my admiration and respect.