May 2021 Grocery Challenge

Sallyp2

Taken from NimleFins website. Very interesting read and suggests the UK average food shop spend per adult each week is £26.50. Well I'm spending over that and my aim for the next few months is for my weekly food spending to be average. Think our waistlines will end up more average as well lol

Average Food Costs per Week

• Per Person: The average weekly food shop is £26.5 per person in the UK—but clearly caloric needs vary by age and gender. When you add £13.8 spent on food prepared out (e.g., restaurants and takeaways), the average weekly food bill for 1 person is £40.3.
• Average Adult Man: The average adult male spends around £32 on groceries, £17 on food out and £49 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult man: A young, active adult man around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 50% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £60 a week on food (£40 οn groceries and £21 out).
• Average Adult Woman: The average adult female theoretically spends around £25 on groceries, £13 on food out and £37 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult woman: A young, active adult woman around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 13% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £46 a week on food (£30 οn groceries and £16 out).
• 2 Adults: The average weekly food bill for 2 adults would be around £86 in total—£57 spent on the weekly food shop and £29 spent on food out.
• Family of 3: The average weekly food bill for a family of 3 (two adults and one younger child) is around £119—£78 spent on the weekly food shop and £41 spent on food out.
• Family of 4: The typical family of 4 (two adults and 2 younger children) would spend around £151 each week on food—£99 on the weekly shop and £52 on restaurant and takeaway meals.
• Family of 5: Larger families of 5 (two adults and 3 younger children) spend around £121 on the weekly shop and another £63 on food prepared out, bringing the total average food bill for a family of 5 to £183.
• Family of 3 adults: Three adults (or two adults and one older teenager) would spend around £85 on groceries, £44 on food prepared out and £129 altogether on food each week, clearly with budget varying by the age and gender of the family members.

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon all, I'm catching up on the thread where I can. We've gone over for May but I'll calculate and post that later tomorrow. Right now I'm really fuzzy because I had my first shot of the vaccine yesterday and my head is swimming / heavy. I just had a client meeting and I'll spend the next hour or so trying to get some work out to them then crawl back into bed really early. Tomorrow I'll have the energy to run grocery figures, I hope.  

Another update, this weekend we went to OH's hometown to view more apartments and houses and we put in an offer on an apartment with a garden... and it was accepted! It's well within our budget and we're looking forward to saving a bunch of money in the coming year or so living a less expensive life. We're hoping to close around mid to end of July so a cross country move is planned for then. That definitely puts a different spin on what will happen to the food in the freezer this coming June. Okay, back to work so I can rest. Have a good evening everyone! 

Pixiehouse55

Well!! Totally gone over my budget this week. £427.97p!! Yikes what has gone wrong? There were 2 take aways which came to £54,57. My brother has been very poorly and my mind wasn't on the ball with food!! Next month will be back to £325 (fingers and thumbs crossed)  feeling cross with myself x

Sallyp2

Small £8 shop in Asda on way home from town. £120.48 overspend ... still counting 

thriftwizard

Oooh, thank you, @Sallyp2, that's good to know! So basically my aim for £100 per person per month (£25 pp pw) is not at all extravagant, bearing in mind that that includes two young ladies and one young adult male, plus a second most weekends. Though they are 20-somethings (second male a 30-something, but he's an outdoor education instructor, therefore has "high caloric needs") rather than 18 y.o.s. However there are definitely economies of scale, but to balance that, our budget includes cleaning stuff and (basic) toiletries.

In other news - I'm bust again. I was about to declare at £4 under, DS3 having bought milk, bread, rolls & bananas for under £4 yesterday - the yogurt supply is holding out for now - but I had family business Down West today, got caught in a horrendous traffic jam on the way home, and ended up getting home over an hour late when two people had evening commitments, so there was no time to prepare the planned curry... so it was fish & chip time. That was £39, so I'd be £35 over now. Sigh... 

t14cy_t

Sallyp2, i watched the show, thought it was ok, nothing special and tbh wasnt on long enough! 

t14cy_t

community larder today, yipee!!

Sallyp2

t14cy_t said:

Sallyp2, i watched the show, thought it was ok, nothing special and tbh wasnt on long enough! 

Yeah I agree. Was nothing special, was intrigued by the stats they quoted. Didn’t really address food waste and making it work EVERY week
edit - why for instance didn’t they talk about food larders and olio etc

Money_Choices

Hello everyone
SallyP2, thanks for the link to mysuparmarketcompare.co.uk. I've had a quick look at it and am going to find it very useful when I am planning my shopping.
It is offical I've overspent on my budget by £20.38 now my total is £120.30/£100.  I'd  forgotten that May was a 5 week month and made my budget for 4 weeks. I now know to look at the weeks in the month in future budget planning.

Money Choices

2Scratters

Hi All,
My May numbers have not been noted anywhere, yet we have £40 in the purse we use for the food shopping and my month ends on pay day 27th. The left over does get stashed in another purse (not yet spent any of it). When a purchase of "other house stuff" is made I pay for it. I think to make a better informed use of our monthly budget I may need to incorporate say the cleaning and toiletries and see where that takes us. It just may make a better focus on spending. We have been having to spend more on high protein products for DH due to weight loss due to having bad lungs and his body having to work much harder. He has now been identified as needing supplements again(that's another story) to help his weight gain, so this money saving can go towards to help counter the previous deficit.
See you all in next months chat.

2Scratters