Grocery Shopping budget thread

Penelope_Penguin · 23 January 2009 at 10:16AM

Hi there! We're having a lot of threads asking about budgets for grocery shopping. Until now, Pink-winged and I have merged these into the current Grocery Challenge thread. However, I'm aware that they can become lost there, so in future, they'll be added to this thread, so that people who ask about how much others spend on groceries can be directed here.

When talking about your budget, please can you indicate how many (adults, children, pets

) you're catering for, and whether your budget includes "extras" such as wine and cleaning materials.

Thanks, Penny. x

Penny-Pincher!! · 23 January 2009 at 10:48AM

Great idea guys!

There are 3 of us (2 adults + 1 14yr DD) and we allocate £75pw. This includes all food, diesel for the car and cleaning/washing materials. Approx £45 each week on groceries, £25 pw diesel then we go to Makros every 3 months and stock up on loo rolls, washing powder, lenor, nescafe, t-bags, cleaning stuff etc.

We do mealplan. I know if we needed too we could drop this to about £30pw for food but are buying better quailty items and hardly throwing anything away. A coupld of meals each week are very basic Egg & Chips or Soup & Roll etc but this means we can buy a nicer chicken or meat.

I withdraw £300 every 4 weeks and place in a seperate purse and only use that for everything.

Will update when I think of anything else.

HTH

PP
xx

xnatalie81x · 23 January 2009 at 11:18AM

Hi all

My family consists of 2 adults and 3 children under 5 :eek: i budget 240 mth for groceries which is around 60 wk but really only spend about 40 wk. Laundry and cleaning is around £8mth and toiletries £8mth.

I cook all meals os style and make own bread and i am currently holding a sample of soapnuts to try and am now using white vinegar as a fabric conditioner (converted!) so laundry/cleaning should come down a bit

rosieben · 23 January 2009 at 12:29PM

Good idea to have a separate thread for this.

My budget is £80 a month, that's for me, and includes food, cleaning, laundry and toiletries. I have no pets, no car and I don't drink; what an exciting life I lead

. I include my occasional chippy meal in this but not the very occasional Chinese takeout, that's a special treat

I like to keep my cupboards and freezer full, and I'll happily go over budget if I see good offers but this balances out as I'll sometimes have a month when I spend very much less than budget. I keep a list of what I have in the cupboards and rotate my stock. I meal plan and shop to my meal list and this, more than anything else, has helped me to reduce my spending from the old levels of about £50 a week :eek:.

yummymummy05 · 23 January 2009 at 1:23PM

My budget is currently £160 a month that's for me, dh, ds 3, and dd 6months - I would love to get this lower though. This includes all food, toiletries and cleaning products.

I don't include stuff for dd as her nappies,formula,infacol stay pretty much the same - i have about £60 per month for that. I also don't include going out for lunch with ds (unless I've made a packed lunch) as dh and I hardly ever go out it would come out of our entertainment budget

fizzel81 · 23 January 2009 at 1:29PM

my budget is £40pw for myself and 3 children, this is for food shopping etc

i dont need a tolitries budget this year as i have enough washing powder, cleaning stuff, and tolitries for well into 2010, ds2 and ds3 get there tolitries on prescription

i do buy woopsies when i see them for the freezer/store cupboard so dont worry if i go a little over

ds1 also gets a free school dinnner on school days

we eat no ready meals, and have the very occasional takeaway, my freezer mainly consists of meat, bread and frozen veg along with 1 tub of dairy free ice cream

the only thing i dont include in my budget is milkshakes for ds2 and 3 as these are soyal milk ones and required for pre school snack time (in place of normal milk)

purpleivy · 23 January 2009 at 2:53PM

We are three at the moment , Me, DH, DS. My DD isn't here right now, she's vegetarian.

I find that the amount I spend on food doesn't go down when she isn't here, as we eat more meat when she isn't here. WHen she's here, we eat more veggie meals as a family.

Last year was the last year that I kept to a budget. I spent less than £200 per month on Food. Wine and cleaning materials not on this budget. Before the beginning of the year I had no real idea of what I was spending and the £200 was a starting point.

The freezer and cupboards are fuller now than they were at the beginning of last year and more in the cupboards too. I will start on next month's food budget if I can get reduced price or good value items. My original plan was to keep less food in the house, but it seems to me, it's easier to eat low cost if you buy stuff when it's on good price.

We eat happy chicken (but not as often as we used to eat the other stuff), free range eggs, locally farmed lamb.

As the OP says, we have a couple of cheapy meals that are enjoyed by the family (egg, beans and toast or Jacket potatoes with beans, cheese, coleslaw or tuna/sweetcorn.)

BusyGirl · 23 January 2009 at 3:09PM

We are 2 adults and 2 children (12 & 8) and I aim for £200 per month for groceries (food, toiletries, cleaning stuff), although I often spend over that. :rolleyes: I know it seems quite low but it gives me a challenge, which some months I succeed at.

I keep my cupboards and the freezer pretty full, shop for bargains, meal plan and cook most stuff from scratch when I can. I shop at Aldi, Home Bargains, Asda, Tesco and anywhere else that I can bag a bargain.

MrsBartolozzi · 23 January 2009 at 6:16PM

We are 2 adults and 2 boys 16 and 12 - so 4 adult portions then!
I try to keep to a budget of around £250 per month, but I will go over if there are good bargains to stock up on. This covers all food, DS2's school lunches (he just started high school in August and all his new pals have school dinners :rolleyes: ), packed lunches for the others, toiletries and loo rolls, washing powder and cleaning supplies.

Since finding the OS forum I find my freezer is mostly full and I have enough meat, frozen veg and carbs (rice pasta noodles etc) to last us at least 3 weeks although it might get a bit boring after then, but I can't resist a bargain so the stocks rarely go low

.

Changingme · 23 January 2009 at 6:17PM

My budget is for myself,dh,ds1 and ds2 at the moment I'm trying for £240 a month,this is for all food,cleaning stuff and toiletries as you can see not much left but am learning.The food also covers pack ups x3.I don't have very big freezer but do some batch cooking.

annie123 · 23 January 2009 at 10:39PM

My budget is £300 pm
This is for all food, washing powder, cleaning products, toiletries, rabbit food, etc basically anything you can buy in MrsS superstore!

There is me, hubby, DD...18 and 4 out of 7 days DD's BF!!....DS..28 full time student in his own flat and I make home made ready meals and take them to him and basic food items as he has been made redundant from part time job.

Covers packed lunches for 3, dinners for 4-5 and breakfast for 4. All cleaning products for 2 homes.

I could scale down a bit if needed but I'm OK with this level.

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