Groceries Budget

stripeyfox

It has occured to me that when people post their budgets on here, regardless of the level of debts involved, the amount of money allowed for "shopping" seems to be lower than my own. Am I spending too much? We allow 50.00 per week for groceries but usually spend more. I buy meat from the market butcher who is much cheaper than the supermarket and fresh fruit and veg from the market also.

My partner and I eat a good meal every night and don't buy take aways usually (once every couple of months or so). I've noticed when discussing this with my friends who'll take delight in saying "oh we only spend about 20.00 - 25.00 per week on food". I don't think we're excessive - we probably drink a couple of bottles of wine a week.

It's not that we can't afford to spend a little more each month, I just wonder how people can shop so cheaply?

rchddap1

Take a look at the old style board and try the grocery challenge. Lots of tips and useful advice on shopping and areducing your grocery bill.

stripeyfox

Thanks. It would seem that may have been a more appropriate place to post it.

Fatboy_NSS

It can depend what sort of tat you're willing to stuff down your throats, and indeed how much of an ardent money saver you are. If you're happy to buy the cheap processed rubbish from Iceland then you could probably get your grocery spending down to £10-15 a week, but you'd have a far less healthy diet.

Tony_H_3

If it's any consilation our shopping budget is usually £60 - £70 weekly. There are some things that we do NOT compromise on & this is probably why our budget is high.

To be truthful I would not consider the shopping budget to be high priority & look to save on other things.

Debt_Free_Chick

stripeyfox wrote:

It's not that we can't afford to spend a little more each month, I just wonder how people can shop so cheaply?

Is your figure definitely just food? Or is there cleaning/household stuff in there too? Wine? Beer?

Do you shop with a list? Or from memory?

Do you shop according to a menu plan or do you "impulse buy" and end up chucking stuff out?

Why not keep track of what you buy for a couple of weeks and make a note as to whether you actually use it or chuck it.

rchddap1

We spend £25 per week on 2 people and we don't buy pre-processed food, but instead make all our meals ourself. We could actually cut our budget further, but for the moment we are content.

carl310166

rchddap1 wrote:

We spend £25 per week on 2 people and we don't buy pre-processed food, but instead make all our meals ourself. We could actually cut our budget further, but for the moment we are content.

Honestly,how do you manage to do that?

Could you give me some idea of the meals you make,and do you have a set thing on a set day,to reduce waste?

I really want to cut back again,but i still spend £60 for the 2 of us.

Curry_Queen

If you pop down to the Old Style board and have a look at some of the threads in there, particularly the sticky's at the top of the page, you'll find a whole host of ways to cut-back and save money on your shopping. I suggest you read the Welcome thread first to give you some ideas and guidelines to work from

calleyw

For food only I spend about £80-£100 a month for two people this month is £95 but I have had a little bit of a stock up.

And no we don't eat rubbish. Not sure where you get that idea from.

The most ready made item in the freezer is Quorn Sausages or fillets.

We eat good plain cooking. We eat steamed veg with either quorn or chicken fillets a couple of times a week. Pasta and sauce or rice and noodles once a week. Maybe scrambled egg or something quick and cheap like that once a week during the week and maybe on saturdays.

This amount includes all the makings for lunches everday as well.

I go shopping once a fortnight and spend about £25-£30. I do top up with fresh fruit and pots once a week. As all my other veg is frozen.

Don't buy a lot of biscuits etc.

A typical menu is

Breakfast:
branflakes/toast and value juice.

Lunch
Me a sandwich and piece of fruit. hubby has left overs and pkt soup, fruit and piece of hm cake, tinned rice pudding.

Tea

Steamed veg and Quorn Sausage. Maybe some icecream. just depends if we have any in.

friday is the only day when we have something different. Like tuna steaks and pot wedges with a creamy dessert as we don't eat like that during the week.

if you can afford it then be it so. But I think we eat heathly. Neither of us get ill very often or get colds.

Also if you want drink then you buy it from your own money and not the food budget.

Also it depends on where you buy your food from. if it is waitrose or sainsburys then it will be more expensive then lidl's or Aldi.

The only thing that I buy value is Juice, Jaffa Cakes, tinned rice pudding And biscuits that hubby has sometimes.

The rest are either branded or normal own label. We don't eat a lot of meat a I just don't really care for it.

Yours

Calley

nh

For two people I usually spend £30 - £35 on a Monday (for the week) but then probably spend another £10-£20 at the weekend (and we always eat at family on a Sunday so we don't have to cook then!)

Meat is expensive, I find that if we have mainly veggie meals we save money. We don't buy much wine, usually one bottle a week, two at the most (so that's a fiver to £10) We cook all out meals fresh from scratch.

I'd say our main meals during the week are about a fiver each night eg. salmon (£3) and fresh vegetables (Brocolli, green beans, carrots) (£1.50-£2)

For lunches I make a big vegetable and lentil stew on a Monday and that lasts till Wed/Thurs, but that costs at least a fiver (onion, peppers, carrots, aubergine, corgette, passatta and lentils). We have that with brown rice but that is quite cheap. Then we have leftovers from various teas for Thurs/Fri lunch. Lunches at the weekend are at least a fiver.

I probably spend about £4 a week on fruit

So even only eating for six days a week that is 6 x £5 plus £5 for lunches, plus £4 fruit, plus £5 wine plus £5 lunches at the weekend = £49 - and that is not including any cleaning products or treats (which we don't have many of actually)! So I definitely don't think £50 is a lot to spend each week!