I'm still spending too much on food.

Scumblepancake

I feel like my food spending has got out of control. If you have any tips, or if I should look on another thread please let me know.

I'm spending way too much on food - last month was £250 on groceries and £180 on eating out. 
I thought I was pretty frugal, I cook everything from scratch, I head for the reduced section first, I take a packed lunch to work and don't get takeaways or deliveries. I work 3 or 4 days a week and on those days I don't buy any food at work. I don't eat junk food. I don't eat after 7pm. The eating out spend was on 2 budget meals with a friend and the rest of it was coffee/beer over the month. I probably need to stop drinking beer!

£430 for one person for a month is far too much (on what I earn anyway!)

I'm not sure where to start to fix this so any help would be appreciated.

born_again

Coffee out can be a big hit, especially if you are getting one a day. As I know all too well 😶‍🌫️

Flask & make at home.

elsien

Ignoring the eating out, which is a different conversation, I seem to shop and cook in the way that you do but don’t spend anywhere near what you do, So I think you need to really narrow down where the money is going in order address it. 

Have you kept a food shopping diary, because if not that would be the starting point. Some people recommend one big shop but that doesn’t work for me however if you’re nipping into a supermarket every couple of days there is a temptation for other items to fall into your basket. 
And it also depends on the quality of food that you buy because even in the reduced section good quality meat is dear.

Although if you like a glass of nice wine of an evening that will contribute as well?

joedenise

Might be worth having a look at the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style Board.  There are lots of budget recipes on there in the first few pages.  It seems to help quite a few people rein in their spending over time.

Don't try to reduce your spending dramatically at any one time.  With spending last month of £250 I think I would aim for reducing that by £20 to start with and when you manage that for a couple of months reduce it down again by another £20.

I try to aim for around £1 - £1.50 per person on the protein element of a meal and then bulk it out with lots of vegetables and a portion of carbs - rice, pasta, potatoes etc whichever seems to the the best one to go with the meal.

It's probably much easier to cut the eating out amount you are spending - set yourself an amount you're happy to spend and then when it's gone it's gone.

Good luck.

Scumblepancake

elsien said:

Although if you like a glass of nice wine of an evening that will contribute as well?

nope, I don't drink wine and I tend not to drink anything during the week. I'm low carb which means I can't bulk out my cooking with pasta and bread but I still don't think it should cost this much. I will keep a diary, good idea.

Scumblepancake

joedenise said:

I try to aim for around £1 - £1.50 per person on the protein element of a meal and then bulk it out with lots of vegetables and a portion of carbs - rice, pasta, potatoes etc whichever seems to the the best one to go with the meal.

It's probably much easier to cut the eating out amount you are spending - set yourself an amount you're happy to spend and then when it's gone it's gone.

Good luck.

really good advice, thank you, and I'll look at the challenge thread. I'm low carb but I can bulk out with leafy green veg that are not expensive. 

Emmia

How often are you buying coffee out? This year I've cut out the takeaway coffee when at work, and I'm saving around £25 a week. 

I feel guilty as the local independent coffee shop, who do fantastic coffee isn't getting my business, but I've concluded I'd rather have the £1,200 a year in my pocket.

Scumblepancake

Emmia said:

How often are you buying coffee out? This year I've cut out the takeaway coffee when at work, and I'm saving around £25 a week. 

I think twice a week, it is just coffee, I don't have cake or anything. But that is still £7

Emmia

Lisacolesavingmoney said:

Emmia said:

How often are you buying coffee out? This year I've cut out the takeaway coffee when at work, and I'm saving around £25 a week. 

I think twice a week, it is just coffee, I don't have cake or anything. But that is still £7

It would be £350 - £400 a year you'd be saving on that spend.

There's a thing about making major changes all at once, and tied to another event is more effective - so I cut out the takeaway coffee when I returned to work in the New Year after the Christmas break.

elsien

You could maybe try cutting that down to one a week? All or nothing just makes it harder to stick to. 

I was going to suggest lentils to bulk some meals out, but that’s not going to work with low-carb is it?
what do you have for breakfast?

Scumblepancake

elsien said:

You could maybe try cutting that down to one a week? All or nothing just makes it harder to stick to. 

I was going to suggest lentils to bulk some meals out, but that’s not going to work with low-carb is it?
what do you have for breakfast?

thank you, breakfast is my carbs for the day - porridge