What is your food spend per person? 9 January 2022 at 6:51PM edited 10 January 2022 at 6:22AM in Old style MoneySaving 31 replies 8.1K views

gorgeousme

The current hike in food prices is really troubling me. I am trying to set a food budget and I would love to hear what everyone is spending each week (per person).

JGB1955

£25....... that includes everything - booze, cleaning materials, loo rolls, dishwasher tablets etc etc

gorgeousme

JGB1955 said:

£25....... that includes everything - booze, cleaning materials, loo rolls, dishwasher tablets etc etc

Wow, that’s impressive! Do you mind sharing what a typical day’s meals may be?

theoretica

£25 too - almost all cooked from raw ingredients and helped that I actually like things like root veg and cabbage... Nearly no waste helps too. 

gorgeousme

theoretica said:

£25 too - almost all cooked from raw ingredients and helped that I actually like things like root veg and cabbage... Nearly no waste helps too. 

I bought some ketchup last week and that was £3.  I, too, cook from scratch and we have the leftovers for lunch normally but I don’t think I could feed my family on £25 pppw. I wonder if we simply eat a lot, we have simple breakfasts and hearty meals for lunch and dinner. Hubby is the only snack eater, he likes biscuits, crisps, and chocolate. We only drink when we have guests so it’s not booze that is pushing up the bill.
our weekly bill for 2 people has been anything from £90 to £120. We eat well but not extravagant and I have a machine load of washing every other day. Where am I leaking money?
I am trying to ascertain what we should be spending plus reviewing what we are giving to our daughter whilst she is away at uni.

Rosa_Damascena

Whilst I feel the OP's pain, this post is much better suited to the o/s board. Mods?

thriftwizard

Ok... I'm feeding, washing for & cleaning up after 5 adults with 2 different diets (3 omnivores, 2 pescatarians) & aiming for £500 or £550 per month, depending on how many Fridays (my main shopping day) per month. That works out at £22-£25 per person, per week BUT it's been increasingly hard to stick to that over the last year, as prices have skyrocketed. We eat well; lots to of locally-sourced ingredients (some home-grown) from our local market & indie shops where possible, and just about all cooked from scratch. The supermarket (W8rose to Co-op, locally) spend is usually under £30 per weeks, mostly dairy products & sliced bread for OH, whose teeth can't cope with "real" bread. I'm self-employed & can generally organise my own time, which helps. Plus two of the three offspring still stuck at home with us are darn good cooks & happy to experiment!

But I don't count pet & livestock food in that, or take-aways, which are a rare treat; both are budgeted for separately, as is alcohol, though we're not great drinkers. We don't eat a huge amount of meat; I generally buy a big joint or bird to roast, and another "main" thing like sausages or mince, and create "leftovers" dishes with anything that doesn't get eaten first time round. So I'd go along with £25 pppw, for what I think is a pretty good & varied diet.

JGB1955

gorgeousme said:

JGB1955 said:

£25....... that includes everything - booze, cleaning materials, loo rolls, dishwasher tablets etc etc

Wow, that’s impressive! Do you mind sharing what a typical day’s meals may be?

We eat meat 6 days out of 7.  Our meat is bought in bulk from local butchers.  I tend to do a weekly shop at Sainsbury's (with Aldi visited once a month to stock up with cheap essentials - flour, noodles, rice, pasta, frozen veg, dishwasher tablets, loo rolls).  I keep an eye out for bargains - Sainsbury's were selling 1.4 kg gammon joints for £3.75 this week - that will make us 3 evening meals and a couple of lunchtime sandwiches.

Typical meals are

• chicken stir fry
• spaghetti bolognaise
• quiche
• fish pie
• pork steaks
• chilli con carne

I always batch cook where possible, and from scratch.  I don't bother with brand names other than Heinz Salad cream.  Although there are only 2 of us, we have 2 freezers in the garage and another one in the kitchen.  They are currently 3/4 full, so a trip to the butchers is on the cards soon.  I like to have at least 2 months worth of meat and dry goods stored. We have recently been the recipients of some excess game, so have a good stock of partridge and pheasant breasts and legs - great for stir fries and casseroles.

C_J

My budget for two adults, a large hungry womble of a dog and an elderly but non-fussy cat works out at £55 per week, but over the past couple of years I have consistently come in at around £50 per week (so £25 per person per week). This is achieved by shopping mainly at Aldi (with occasional top ups elsewhere for the few things Aldi don't stock), meal planning, cooking from scratch, stretching portions, and finding inventive ways to use up leftover bits and bobs - this board is a brilliant source of inspiration for that.

Since last summer I have also visited a nearby weekly community fridge which has proved invaluable - I can't remember the last time I had to buy bread, mushrooms, peppers, onions, potatoes, aubergines, lettuce, tomatoes etc etc. The quality is always excellent, and it's shocking to think that if it hadn't been diverted to the fridge, it would otherwise been destined for landfill. I'm good at eyeing up random ingredients and knowing what I could make from them (it's like my own personal episode of Ready Steady Cook!) and can re-jig my weekly meal plan in my head on the turn of a sixpence.

I also have a plentiful supply of eggs from my own hens, and grow a fair bit of fruit, veg and herbs too.

Slinky

gorgeousme said:

theoretica said:

£25 too - almost all cooked from raw ingredients and helped that I actually like things like root veg and cabbage... Nearly no waste helps too. 

I bought some ketchup last week and that was £3. 

Good god, £3 for ketchup?! I bought a massive Tesco bottle for £1 last week.

newsgroupmonkey_

Wow! I thought we did OK. We cook from fresh, lots of vegetables and fresh meat. Mostly Aldi, although as the wife is gluten free, there's a couple of bits we get from Morrisons along with personal hygiene etc.

2 people and a hamster (who eats fresh food too), £75 per week.

Dog food not included as we order very specialist online. £50 every 6 weeks.

Quite honestly, if it was just me, I'd eat vegetables and cheap chicken cuts / fish every night and could probably manage on the dog's budget