Food Budget

mary1201

Hi everyone.

Just wondered what you think a realistic food budget for one adult and one child (age 5) should be per month. I currently allow £200 purely for food shopping (incl washing powder etc) but am hopefully looking to cut this down; Im starting to think since browsing these boards that my current budget is a little extravagant.

Someone on another board reckoned I could make it around £100 mark, I'll certainly give it a good go. Is it feasible do you think?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

taplady

Hi! I would take it in small steps if I was you such as a fiver a week to start with until you get used to it then educe it by a bit more rather that half it straight away. You could try and keep a spending diary or keep your receipts to see where the money goes and then you might see where you can cut back.
I am doing this at the moment, last month we averaged out at £66 a week for 4 of us( 2 big teenage boys) this was everything including cleaning stuff. i would like to get it to £60 a week then lower it eventually.

angchris

i normally go to the market at the end of the day, you can pick up great bargains from the fruit/veg sellers as they dont want to take it home as it will go off, i got punnets of strawberrys for 10p bags of ripe pears etc for next to nothing. i also pay a flying visit to the local fruit/veg wholesaler and pick up very cheap sacks of spuds, huge trays off mushrooms for £2 etc.
if you can buy in bulk and freeze in portions what you are not going to use in the next few days this really does save you money.
do batch cooking and portion it off for the 2 of you and freeze, i have stopped buying biscuits and cakes and bread/pizzas and make my own, i am finding my shopping bill has gone right down as ds would raid the cupboards till they were empty then leave nothing for the end of the month he doesn`t however raid my bags of flour :rotfl: .
if you haven`t already got one i`d strongly recommend getting a panasonic breadmaker, it just takes a few mins to lob all the ingredients in and for about 30/35p you have the makings of fresh bread/rolls and pizza doughs and you can also make cake and jam in it, this will pay for itself within months of buying it :j
good luck with trying to cut down...angchris

Scarlett1

I do a big shop every other week and spend around £30 on tins, freezer food, meat, toiletries, washing powder etc, and then £10 per week on little things like bread, milk, juice and chocolate, so thats £100 per month for me and my 6 year old (who eats as much as me)

LJM

i used to spend between £250-£300 a month for 2 adults and 2 kids,but since joining here ive managed to get it to under £200 a month,some months better than others.i usually go once week and in the evening by myself which makes it a lot easier as nothing else gets thrown in trolley,apart from what i need