What is your food spend per person?

florianatwobob

4 adults (1 gluten free) and we work out at about £25-£30 per person per week (not including personal toiletries) the GF does increase prices a little. 

I flit round the supermarkets and get deliveries from 0cado, S@insbury’s and !celand depending on what is needed. Most of the cooking is done from scratch and food waste really upsets me. 

Lauraebrad

Hi, we spend around £50 p/w for two of us - one grown up (me) and one ravenous 9 year old.  So around the £25 per person mark.

This includes toiletries/cleaning products etc and also packed lunches for school.

I alternate (roughly) Morrisons and Lidl for supermarket shops as they sell different things that I like and are similarly convenient.  Meat from the butchers mostly, fruit and veg from the greengrocers with only a few exceptions and we also use our local unwrapped shop for a lot of 'loose' items - everything from washing liquid to tea to flour, handsoap, spices etc.

I cook from scratch and use herbs and spices to make the most of what we have, also bake (no-knead) bread.  It probably helps that we have a fairly boring diet due to the reluctance of the small one to try new things!  
Also make a lot of use of YS items in the supermarkets, and occasional olio collections, plus growing our own veg in the summer.

Typical meals might include:
HM salami and pepper pizza, macaroni cheese, pot roast chicken and baked cinnamon rice, chickpea curry, paella, HM fish pieces and chips, bacon tomato pasta, spag bol, toad in the hole and mash, HM sausage meatballs, ratatouille and cous cous, HM chicken tikka and aloo gobi, HM veg lasagne, quiche and baked potatoes ....... 

Always make too much and freeze some for those days when there just isn't time to cook

worrywart_3

I spend about £25 a week for three of us, but I do volunteer for a food waste charity so it’s halved my spend at least. 

gorgeousme

I definitely need to scrutinise the cost of my meals. I’m diabetic and have been advised to limit the amount of carbs, I guess we are eating more protein as I am not able to bulk up my meals with rice/pasta/ bread/ potatoes etc. I try to have at least one meat free day a week, I guess I can have more meat free days. 

It’s been a real eye opener reading all the comments, thank you for all your posts.

-taff

lentils or chana dal, or dried peas can be used instead, or beans of any kind..just a thought...

Sandtree

We are probably £40pp exc alcohol which can be very variable and a monthly trip to the local market. They have some exceptional products there, many very "random" because they claim only to have fairly local, organic, perfectly in season etc and always come back with some new variety of citrus or squash etc and some 75 dry aged steaks or such that use for a treat meal or two and sits outside the budget.

Would love to go there more often but would need to be a better cook than I because you need to be able to go "monks fist?" I know exactly what to do with that and sometimes just plain button mushrooms are fine. It would require a massive uplift in budget though. Probably wouldnt do any good to the waistline either given how tasty it all is

jackrabbit123

Most weeks we tend to  spend £50 for three adults a week. I do get a meat delivery £50 every 3 months and this makes up around 50 or so meals depending what I am buying, for example I tend to do chilli tacos, cheap tortilla chips , chilli bulked out with chickpeas, kidney beans, grated carrot, peas or any veg that's lurking at the bottom of the fridge and spices, and cheese grated, I tend to get the mature mousetrap as a little goes a long way! Another meal would be a whole chicken from the butchers that with veg and h/m Yorkshire puds one night, curry or chicken pie with beans or veg, and fajitas the last night, and of course stock from the carcass! The same applies to a roast, but that is so expensive now its a treat!  We are trying to do less meat days so I tend to make Fafels  out of tinned beans and spices, cheap yogurt and mint and pitta bread and hubbys great at making saggy loo ( Saag aloo) and using leftover tatties.   All of the meals are made and put into the freezer for when I need them, so it's only really essentials including washing powder, toiletries etc I am buying each week. I make my tray bakes etc and they also go in the chest freezer if they make it that far...!!

London_1

I live alone and can manage fairly well on a budget of around £60 per month, what ever is left over gets rolled over to the following month This month as I am eating from my freezer and food cupboards I've not yet gone near a shop this year, and looking at my shopping list I can see I have enough at the moment to last out the fresh stuff until next Tuesday.

But then I will need fruit and veg ,and a few other odds and ends so this months budget will have a good bit of left over  cash to roll over to February's £60 .00.

I cook from scratch and I came home from my DDs after Christmas with lots of left over  bits and pieces that were used up.

I had a bit bag of carrots that she only had used about 6 from that she gave me This was turned into spicy carrot and coriander soup that did 7 servings plus four side veg with a dinner.I also had a half bag of brussels that I used up. Nothing is ever wasted in my house, and left overs or stuff she won't use (she buys far too much stuff anyway ) always ends up at my house.

Looking at my list of things needed next week I think I shall manage to get most of it for under £20 hopefully as it really is only stuff I am running a bit low on, plus fruit and veg. I do have a good deal of veg in my freezer to use up and I will probably need more fruit for sure as I only have 4 bananas and three oranges left in the fruit bowl at the moment
But I think I manage pretty well on what I have. I could increase my budget, but as I am doing my best to use stuff up I already have in

I think I am happy to make a good dent in the stocks and as the weather is pretty nippy I am happy to stay indoors and way from the infection that seems to be rife in kent at the moment 

[Deleted User]

Our budget is £100 PCM for an adult and two primary age children. We manage just fine on this.

We eat very little meat, but when we do it’s from the butcher. Fresh fruit and veg is supplemented with frozen veg, and tinned fruit and veg too. We have chickens so lots of egg based meals. We are traditional Yorkshire folk in many ways, eg we always have a Sunday roast but I make a tray of Yorkshire puddings as a starter so we need less meat on the plate as we’ve had a good starter.

Breakfast is porridge or eggs, I soak value oats overnight so they need less milk. In summer we grow basics such as berries, lettuce, courgette etc. 

We used to spend way more but health reasons mean our budget has gone right down and we now have an annual budget of £3,800 for everything excluding mortgage and council tax. This is all we have, so we have to make it work. 

The frugal living thread is a huge source of help and wisdom for those trying to cut back. 

JingsMyBucket

gorgeousme said:

I definitely need to scrutinise the cost of my meals. I’m diabetic and have been advised to limit the amount of carbs, I guess we are eating more protein as I am not able to bulk up my meals with rice/pasta/ bread/ potatoes etc. I try to have at least one meat free day a week, I guess I can have more meat free days. 

It’s been a real eye opener reading all the comments, thank you for all your posts.

@gorgeousme if you’re diabetic then that makes complete sense. So am I and we spend more on protein and lower carb vegetables or fruit like berries. My husband goes through a lot of Greek yoghurt as well. It’s not worth sacrificing your health to save some money. That’s just false economy. We currently aim for £70/week with a bulk fund of £70 each month to stock up on low sugar snack bars, meat, etc. 

Try to see if you can shave it down by £5 a week, just to start. Join us over on the Grocery Challenge thread. We’re a friendly and helpful bunch who help with tons of ideas.