How much do you spend on groceries?

tastyhog

1 adult and averages about £25 a week,  not that I spend £25 religiously, it changes depending on if I stock up the cupboards and freezer,  or if there's offers on things I use.

YoungBlueEyes

2 adults here. We spend around £50 ish a week and that’s for everything. We’re not really drinkers and have no pets. I cook from scratch and freeze portions. I bake cakes and cookies etc (himself has a  sweet tooth) but bread is beyond me ha haa! 

I used to be a Lidler, but we’ve just moved and I now have an Aldi in walking distance. There’s also a Co-op - jeez that’s some price gap eh?! 

Good luck bringing your spend down OP, it can be done 🙂

kimwp

£160-170 a month on organic food for one. I do get takeaways and junk food on top of this, but that's excess to actual need as testified by my growing middle.

I think the first thing you should do is look at how much food gets thrown away and either don't buy those items or make an effort to eat them (if it's healthy stuff).

The second thing is the downshift challenge - though I have the opposite view to Martin MSE and think it's better to go to the cheapest option and work your way up rather than down.

And the third thing is to decide if you are buying things that are actually quite expensive that thinking about it is not worth the money. Eg I often buy myself some treat food when I go shopping, but a pack of olives, some nice bread and cheese adds ten pounds to a £25 bill, so I've started only occasionally doing that.

williewonder

I try and do £35/£40 a week for food items excluding alcohol.

LadyWithAPlan

gerrag said:

Ooooops!!.....I forgot to add that I'm a single adult in London.

That’s great £100 a month 
I am also a Londoner 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6373277/august-2022-grocery-challenge

You might want to try the monthly grocery challenge as above 
I did it last year and it really helped me with accountability plus loads of useful tips 
I am back on it now and 1 suggestion is set a budget for the month but not too extreme and then the following month try to trim it by £10-£20 etc til you get it to where it is tight but reasonable 

I also have now a bulk fund so put away X a month for stores ..some people actually put hundreds  into a bulk pot in January 
 of course with 4 of you you will get through a lot but it means that  when you see a great offer for something you use a lot you can bulk buy and not busy your monthly grocery budget 

Have restaurants, take aways etc in a separate budget so you can see how much is left each month 

Longwalker

TBH I don't know why we are replying

The Op asked the same question 7 years ago , 2 adults, two teens, hubby spending too much on groceries, no comeback and it seems like nothing has changed 

Lisalouise1974

I spend roughly £90 per week for two adults and two cats, which doesn't include alcohol as we rarely drink, does include cleaning materials and toiletries for both of us. We do have the occasional take away and my partner buys lunch most days at work, a sandwich usually. I split this £90 over two weekly deliveries, one from Tesco, one from Sainsbury usually £40 each'ish. Two deliveries per week has actually saved us money, even though it did increase my weekly shop. But I am the type to go to get milk and spend £50, or pop to lidl for butter as it is cheep there only to spend £30 on other things that are bargains...I would love it if the supermarkets dropped the minimum basket to £35, Morrisons don't deliver where I live. I have also stopped buying food stuffs from Amazon and try my absolute hardest to say at the £40 mark..

HelenPetersBeads

Lisalouise1974 said:

...I would love it if the supermarkets dropped the minimum basket to £35….

That’s when I stopped getting deliveries, when Tesco upped their minimum spend from £25 to £40. I had delivery saver and was getting a delivery every 5 days or so, so not quite twice a week. But, yes, it does save money, there’s less waste, if you miss a meal for some reason you can delay one in the next batch, adjust your delivery day or reduce the amount you order next time. Though prices have gone up so that I might manage to get to the £40 now.

we’re 3 adults, one part time adult and a dog household. I bulk buy, batch cook, the younger adult does most of their own shopping, we’re spending close to £400 per month.

Caroby

Trying to spend £180 a month but usually it goes to nearer £200. That's for two adults on a plant-based diet, for everything including cleaning products, toiletries and alcohol. I either cook from scratch or do quick freezer-based meals (depends on how lazy I'm feeling). I do bake things like cakes, soda bread, scones and nut loaves, and make spreads for sandwiches.
No pets sadly since we lost our dear old collie dog, she was such a sweetie, can't bear to replace her.

missalooni

Hi thanks so much for all the replies everyone. Makes me realise that we ought to try to halve our bill to 700 or maybe 800.  Though saying that, we cook everything from scratch, often batch cooking, nor do we drink much at home. Suspect it is all the kids' snacks and ice creams which are mounting up.