How do I figure out how much to spend on groceries?

plaguedbyfoibles

Are there general rules of thumb, and how do I figure out ingredient ratios for meals etc?

plaguedbyfoibles

How many meals can I get out of 1kg potatoes, say?

Jami74

Can you work backwards? Work out what you've spent on groceries this month and how many meals you made. 

sausage_time

Agreed, how much are you spending currently (per week/month).  How much of that is frozen?  Pre-packaged meals?  Meat products?  Alcohol? Can you see any scope for reducing?  

BridgetTheCat

The nhs Eatwell Guide gives ratios of food groups for a healthy diet https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/the-eatwell-guide/

But other than that there are too many variables to say I’m afraid! Are you male or female? Active or sedentary? Are you trying to lose weight, or bulk up (or stay about the same)? Calorie requirements differ for each of these.

Then there’s the type of food. Can you cook from scratch, or do you need ready meals? Do you like the finer things or are you happy to stick with the basics? Do you eat meat, or are you vegetarian/ vegan? Any other dietary restrictions? 

And what about equipment - do you have access to a full kitchen? An oven and hob? A slow cooker? An air fryer?

Looking for ways to trim back existing spending is all very well unless you’re just starting out, in which case I’d buy a basic cookbook (mine is the Good Housekeeping one) select a few favourite meals and work out how much they cost to make.

Emmia

plaguedbyfoibles said:

How many meals can I get out of 1kg potatoes, say?

Is that potatoes as a main (i e. baked) or as an accompaniment?

Where do you shop, Aldi/Lidl or Waitrose?

Do you buy branded products e.g. Kellogg's cereal or supermarket own brand? Do you buy from standard, basic or luxury supermarket ranges? Heinz baked beans or Tesco value?

Coffee, whole bean, ground, pods, or instant?

What are your portion sizes like? For example I weigh my breakfast cereal, so I get 19 servings from the box, if I just shoved in what I fancy I'd (probably) get fewer servings from the box.

RAS

Google is you friend. Try lovefoodhatewaste.com, the bhf.org.uk website etc. The NHS has an Eatwell guide.

Note that the average calorie requirement for adults is 2000 according to Greggs, 2000 for women and 2500 for men according to the NHS, although sedentary men and woman need less and physically active, labouring type, jobs require up to 3000 calories. The British Heart Foundation suggests 1500 for women and 1800 for men, but that's probably designed to reduce weight.

I've always been taught, dried pasta - 80-100g. Other suggest 75g and the BHF only 65g. Basically a supermarket bag of 500g is 5-6 portions, with possibly a little left over. Or 8 for the BHF. Also, pasta is healthier cooked, cooled and re-heated, or eaten cold in a salad. Doesn't matter if this is cheapest budget spaghetti or premium Italian brands costing 20 times as much.

People are encouraged to think things like juices are healthy. In fact, a small 330ml bottle is twice the daily limit, a large one enough for 3 days and a litre brick almost enough for one adult for a week.

Eat veggies and whole fruit instead. Wonkie is generally nutritionally as good as premium. For things like onions, buy bags of saver/wonkie veg in autumn, remove from plastic and store dry. They'll keep into the spring. Frozen veg is as good as fresh, although texture can be poor. 

Fresh potatoes are a good source of vit C if unpeeled and a kilo is up to 8 portions as a side, 4 as a main. Most supermarket baking potatoes are twice the recommended 180g size. Cut in two to cook quicker. Mashed potato is less healthy.

Wholemeal pasta, rice, bread, tinned or cooked beans and pulses are better for your health than white brands. Again, saver bread loaves, cheap tins and supermarket penne or fusilli are adequate. A tin of beans is two portions.

MynameisMichaelCane

I recently opened a Chase account and I put money into it to use for groceries because it gives cash back on groceries. I am a bit shocked at how much I have been spending on groceries and it has prompted me to look more closely at that spending. The account also gives me an ongoing comparison with how much I spent last month, which I think will be quite quite useful as I try to reduce my grocery spending.

friolento

 Note that the average calorie requirement for adults is 2000 according to Greggs, 2000 for women and 2500 for men according to the NHS, although sedentary men and woman need less and physically active, labouring type, jobs require up to 3000 calories. The British Heart Foundation suggests 1500 for women and 1800 for men, but that's probably designed to reduce weight.

Calorie requirements vary based on age, gender, weight, activity level.

There are a number of free TDEE  calculators available on the web, including explanations what TDEE is and why it’s important 

GeoffTF

friolento said:

 Note that the average calorie requirement for adults is 2000 according to Greggs, 2000 for women and 2500 for men according to the NHS, although sedentary men and woman need less and physically active, labouring type, jobs require up to 3000 calories. The British Heart Foundation suggests 1500 for women and 1800 for men, but that's probably designed to reduce weight.

Calorie requirements vary based on age, gender, weight, activity level.

There are a number of free TDEE  calculators available on the web, including explanations what TDEE is and why it’s important 

I put my numbers into this:

https://tdeecalculator.net

The answer was well short of what I calculate from my food intake using the USDA database numbers:

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

The calorie expenditures usually quoted are derived from people's reported food intake. They are substantially less that the more reliable figures obtained by using double labelled water to measure people's actual calorie consumption. If your weight is increasing, you are consuming more calories than you burn, and vice versa.

Wholemeal flour, rice, oats and beans are cheap and can easily meet your energy, fat and protein requirements. Vegetable oil is an even cheaper source of calories. Aside from that, you just need water, vitamins and minerals.  Here are the BBC, suggestions for budget meals (at £1.60 per single person meal):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/budget

That comes out to £4.80 per day. That is about what I spent on food in the last financial year with an essentially unlimited budget.

plaguedbyfoibles

BridgetTheCat said:

The nhs Eatwell Guide gives ratios of food groups for a healthy diet https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/the-eatwell-guide/

But other than that there are too many variables to say I’m afraid! Are you male or female? Active or sedentary? Are you trying to lose weight, or bulk up (or stay about the same)? Calorie requirements differ for each of these.

Then there’s the type of food. Can you cook from scratch, or do you need ready meals? Do you like the finer things or are you happy to stick with the basics? Do you eat meat, or are you vegetarian/ vegan? Any other dietary restrictions? 

And what about equipment - do you have access to a full kitchen? An oven and hob? A slow cooker? An air fryer?

Looking for ways to trim back existing spending is all very well unless you’re just starting out, in which case I’d buy a basic cookbook (mine is the Good Housekeeping one) select a few favourite meals and work out how much they cost to make.

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. Male, 30, half-English, half Indian, on the spectrum (not sure if that affects what meals I can eat, but I think there is a correlation between being on the spectrum and GI issues), very much sedentary (do a lot of research into obsessions at home). Not sure what my BMI is off the top of my head.

Don't really have much fibre intake at the moment, should improve that. I think I ought to try and lose weight, as I have sleep issues, so wonder if that's diet related (could be related to being on the spectrum too).

2400W five-in-one dual-purpose air fryer / microwave oven (Daewoo), Kenwood dual purpose gas-fired oven and gas cooker / hob, no slow cooker, I eat all meat, but am allergic to fish and all other seafood (yes, I know you get river fish as well), but don't know if I have any food sensitivities as I've never really tested for that.

Happy to stick to the basics, I have many micro obsessions but cooking gourmet isn't one of them. Rely a lot on ready meals at the moment.

Will look into the Good Housekeeping cookbook, thanks!