November 2018 Grocery Challenge

Chloris

medsdemon wrote: »

But maybe that’s because you do cook everything from scratch and don’t buy cheap ready meals and frozen foods. I’m not sure who this average family is either because atm £300 is just about achievable for us ( 2 adults) and we don’t really do a lot of treats, take own packed lunches to work etc, but mine does include everything ie toiletries, alcohol and household cleaning and you said specifically food. Makes you think !

Will have to pick up a couple of bits I’ve run out of today ( butter, yoghurts etc) unless I do my bigger shop as my cupboards are starting to look bare with no pasta etc left in and I don’t like that!! Will see.

Dinner today will be a curry of some kind, probably prawn as I know they’re in the freezer.

Have a good day everyone.:)

Thank you. You are right, my budget does include toiletries and household. We rarely eat out/have takeaways so this is all our food. I'm just going to keep trying.

I'm going to have to pick up some shower gel today for after swimming this evening. Ds2 managed to leave his at the gym last weekend. Need to make sure he has a wash there as it will save a bath at home :rotfl:

Food will be pasta, frozen sauce, dough balls and broccoli. I'll get some pinto bean stew out of the freezer for me as I am cutting out the wheat for a while (while dreaming of mince pies...)

Hope you are enjoying your day. XX

Highland_Fling

Good morning everyone
has rained so much here in last few days I am thinking of build an ark.
Have a really heavy day at work planned and no meal planned so it might be a "something on toast" night for me. I know by the time I arrive home I will not want to start to cook from scratch.
note to self BE PREPARED!!!!!
Spent £13 in local shop yesterday but still feel as if I am doing ok this month although only a fortnight in. Could all go pear shaped from here on in if I don't do a meal plan for next week.
Good luck to everyone else.
Congrats luck of the Irish on your graduation.

pamsdish

Popped Morries needed to top up my brandy while on offer 2 @ £16, asked butcher to cut 1/2 shoulder of lamb in half again, so £9.36 lamb, sausage, cranberry loaf, 3 reduced orchids £2.70, t.v. mag 57p, total £48.14

DippyHippy86

£206.52 spent so far with x2 shops to go! :eek:

I am hoping to stay on target.

Hubby buying the occasional flapjack or chocolate bar from work is slightly putting a dint in the pot :rotfl:

We are going to try & curb this next month

MrsPoyser

Chloris wrote: »

Hooray!

My daughter came home from food technology class today to inform me that the average family spends £300 per month on food. I could cry with our bill. We barely buy meat and I cook almost everything from scratch. I am a little bit down about it.

Xx

Don't be down at all. For a start, what is the average family? It could be based on toddlers who don't eat much compared to feeding eg ravenous teenage boys, which costs way more. Or it could be the average household, many of which contain only one person. And someone doing physical work needs more calories than an office worker.

We don't buy much meat as I am a veggie, and also cook from scratch; we definitely spend more than £300 on average for mainly just the two of us, plus a part-time DD (at university) (and DS who doesn't live with us, but stops by for breakfasts, cake, etc!).

We average £350 per month through the bank for food/cleaning etc (not much in the way of toiletries) but my husband also buys stuff with cash, which could be another £100 a month or more, but I can't track that as it is from his account. I don't drink so he pays for the alcohol.
I think if you cook from scratch you are probably eating better and more healthily - and homemade cakes and bread might well cost more than the rock-bottom cheapest in a shop, but are probably more sustaining/healthy.

Also, a lower budget might mean more takeaways/eating out, so the overall cost could be more? Or if someone in the house does dirty work, then you could be spending more than average on laundry for a very good reason.

So don't beat yourself up about it - I think it is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' things. There are so many variables, and personal preferences, that spending will vary wildly between families according to personal circumstances.

K9sandFelines

Quick posta as shortly in work, £3.53 spent on Mon in work, and £1.20 today at Morrisons (DD" picked up bread and milk on her way home from school)

So, £4.73 to add on.

[Deleted User]

Doom_and_Gloom - Thanks for the recipe. I'm going to have a try in the next few days.


Spends today of £18.29. Got quite a load, but kind of rubbish really . Lots of half price vegan freezer stuff, which I do like and will use, eg veggie burgers, Linda Mc Sausages, quorn pieces, a few tubs of houmous and some basic veggies and salad stuff. Want potatoes/sweet potatoes, courgettes and burger buns and that is it for a week.

My lodger is just back from Romania and she has bought me back some 'Moonshine' - Tuica!!! I think it's quite strong - I smelt it and nearly fell over. She said to 'shoot it' - no freekin way. I might mix it with pineapple juice - or clean the loo with it lol. Have updated sig.

NeverendingDMP

329pounds of my 433 budget spent with 11 days to go. 104 pounds remaining in the budget but only 107 to my name and money needed for 3 X santa breakfasts at school, some petrol and who knows what else before payday. Bulk of food bought and menu plan done until day before payday. The challenge is on. Tiny tiny top up shops only I feel if I'm going to make it. X well done everyone, keep going.

thriftwizard

Much rootling around in the ONS reports yields the information that the "average" household contains 2.3 people, arrived at by dividing the total number of households by the total number of individuals... it would seem that that's the household spending £60-odd per week on food alone. And I would certainly echo the idea that it costs a LOT more to feed growing or physically-active individuals than, for example, a toddler or my 92 y.o. mother! Or in fact a household of rapidly varying numbers, with wildly-differing diets like ours!

Also, the "average" spends seem to be self-reported, i.e. a random sample of people telling the ONS what they think they're spending on food. I know from having helped a number of friends through sticky divorces or financial crises that people generally have very little idea what they are actually spending on food, unless they're in the habit of recording & analysing it. So I would guess that a fair number of respondents are actually guesstimating their spend.

In "Other News" it's another NSD here today, mainly because I'm now full of scones with cream & quince & raspberry jelly... ham in the slow cooker for tea, which will "do" a couple of main meals for us omnivores, and plenty of veg/beans/halloumi for the herbivores.

Doom_and_Gloom

£13.48 spent today.

Cucumber, 370g sweet potato, 200g spinach, 495g brambly apple (yes one apple), 1 red pepper, 1 orange pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 555g easy peelers, 355g tomatoes, 205g pear, black sesame seeds, yuzu seasoning sauce, 2 jars zhoug yemenite spice paste, 2 packs kinder bueno minis, cookies and cream bar, 800g thick slice bread, 1L organic whole milk and 250g double Gloucester cheese.

Vegetable curry for my dinner tonight.
OH isn't sure what he'll have for dinner. I'm guessing soup or noodles with something.

£111.90/£200.
£88.10 left.