Is £55 a week enough for food for one person?

williewonder

Ordering from Ocado for home delivery. No alcohol or cleaning products in this? I want to get fresh meat and fresh veg, cook two meals that I can save one for next day, like chilli or curry. I want to eat more healthy. Is this doable?

beanielou

I would certainly say so. 

jackieblack

I don’t know how Ocado prices compare to Tesco/Sainsburys, but I manage fine on less than £55

MorningcoffeeIV

You'd be able to do it on far less than that.

Mnoee

I think the challenge when cooking for 1 is always food waste - it's sometimes difficult to use a whole pack of courgettes or sour cream or whatever you've bought for a certain recipe. With home deliveries too, you're often unable to get long use by dates on the things you need to last a while.

It's definitely a large budget for one person, but if you're not already a confident cook with a pantry full of herbs and spices and knowledge of recipes that do use up the odds leftover, I can see it being realistic at the start. 

Try to plan what meals you'll cook before buying the ingredients, look for recipes that use similar ingredients and soon you'll be posting 'what on earth do I buy to get above the £40 minimum for delivery?'. 

MattMattMattUK

You should be aware to yes, unless the meat is steaks and fresh salmon. That being said, as a single person I would find a single weekly shop without frozen food difficult for the reasons others mention, using the whole of thr ingredients up in one go, a bag of spinach or tender stem brocoli has 3-4 days on it, so not enough to get through a week. Depending on what I am cooking I also use frozen ingredients, veg especially, that does not mean the brocoli on the side is frozen for example, but if making a something where the veg is in a sauce, a stir fry, stew, curry etc. then frozen works perfectly well. The same for chicken, buying bags of frozen chicken breasts I can use individually makes far more sense than buying fresh. I tend to portion and freeze mince when I buy it, then I can use what I need, I have tried the pre-frozen mince but it is not as good. 

What I tend to do is one main shop and one top up a week, in person which means I am not hitting a minimum delivery value or fee. All my spending, including home cleaning products, comes in at around £38 per week at the moment. I eat healthily and I cook from scratch. If I were consuming processed food that cost would likely be higher and it would likely increase if I ate more meat, but I do not feel deprived, if I wanted to I could certainly afford more. The only time the budget can get blown easily is entertaining, having family round for a roast dinner can easily cost £15 with chicken, £25 or more with beef or lamb, entertaining in general is expensive. 

Keep_pedalling

Rather than buy pre-packed meat and veg, buy from a local butcher, greengrocer or farm shop (if you have them). You can see what you are buying (especially for meat) and can buy the exact amount you need, less waste, less plastic packaging and you are likely to find it no more expensive. 

MattMattMattUK

Keep_pedalling said:

Rather than buy pre-packed meat and veg, buy from a local butcher, greengrocer or farm shop (if you have them). You can see what you are buying (especially for meat) and can buy the exact amount you need, less waste, less plastic packaging and you are likely to find it no more expensive. 

I would love to regularly buy meat from my local butcher, the quality is exceptional, however it is also more than twice the price of the most premium supermarket offering, often three to four times the price. The farm shops are great for locally produced, seasonal produce, often too cheap I think, they could charge more and still be cheaper than supermarkets, but then they buy in other produce, out of season food etc. that is much more expensive than supermarkets. I try to support them when I can, especially when green veg is in season, but using the local butcher and farm shop on an annual basis would mean I would need to nearly triple my food budget.

jackieblack

I agree that a local butcher might appear more expensive, however it’s far better value because the meat is not pumped full of water and doesn’t shrink like supermarket meat does so I need to buy less in weight/smaller pieces, so I don’t actually spend any more.

dealyboy

Hi @williewonder (OP) ... excellent topic.

I presume we're not counting transport, storage and cooking costs. I would include fish but exclude manufactured (non-healthy) products like cakes, crisps and ice cream. I would exclude herbs and spices which can be grown or obtained very cheaply in bulk.

As we are moneysavingexperts, I think we can assume that we rarely pay full price.

This is my situation.

I regularly buy a few products ... carrots, leeks, celery, spring greens, mushrooms, onions, chopped tomatoes, sardines, cheese, bread, milk, eggs, sausages, baked beans, bacon offcuts, cooked chicken, chicken pieces, mince (various types), pate, nuts, dark chocolate ... I would probably buy most of these in a week ... I estimate about £15.

I occasionally buy frozen peas, frozen green beans, frozen spinach, rice, coffee, kidney beans ... I will add £1.

There are very occasional things plus the things I've forgotten ... I will add £4.

So £20.

I cook casseroles, curries, goulashes and birianis.

I mostly shop at Sainsbury's, but also regularly at B&M, Home Bargains, Iceland, Lidl and Waitrose, I don't buy food at the small shops nor do I shop at the market.

I should emphasize I do treat buying quality food at the best price as a hobby (without loitering by the reduction bays at end of day). I should also point out that I store unused food in the fridge, this can last for days or even weeks. I'm not hung up on BB or UB dates and rarely have to dispose of food.

... This leaves plenty in my wallet for bird food and cat food at about £50 per week, and cider and whisky at about £55 a week.

I have recently had a comprehensive blood test which shows good levels of everything.

Katiehound

I am assuming you have a freezer.

rather than portion up , say mince, to cook at a later date, I will cook the whole packet as 'savoury' mince mixed with onions, carrots, garlic & chopped tomatoes (tinned) or tomato paste. Then I will portion it and freeze- saves time and fuel.

Sometimes a whole chicken is better value than pieces especially if it has a ys! I portioned the last one up, roasted part for eating hot & cold and froze the rest. Some will be cooked in the slow cooker and all the bits that are not very pleasant will make one hound very very happy.

I tend to shop at Aldi- never had a delivery as I would rather see what I am buying and might get the odd item with a 50% reduction if I am lucky!