How much do you spend on food?

jcr16 · 12 December 2005 at 11:54PM

i spend £200 a month for 4, 2 adults 2 kids. that includes nappies and formula milk. so i guess that is £12.50 a person. we eat very well and never hungary.
i not proud i do buy value , but i make alot from scratch and bulk cook , so i can freeze down for days when i dont feel like cooking. my monthly food budget money also includes toiletrees , cleaning etc.
it is amazing how little u can live off when u set your mind to it. and it doesn't need to be hard going either.

Ticklemouse · 13 December 2005 at 12:00AM

That's an interesting thought, Dora.

I have been keeping a note of how much I'm spending on groceries and am averaging £300 pcm. This feeds 2 adults (1 over-eater - him, 1 comfort-eater - me) 2 kids and provides up to 14 extra meals per week (small adult sized) This cost also includes nappies, some toiletries (when bought at Tesco) and laundry products, but any booze is kept separate. I've also been stocking up bits and pieces for Xmas for the past couple of months too, as Mr TM's family are coming here for the week.

It's a bit hard to say how much each one of us costs, but around £70 per week for the lot of us. We eat very well, lots of meat, fresh fruit and veg, puddings, cakes and bikkies, dairy products etc. My cupboards are currently stuffed to capacity (I'm a bulk buyer) I don't buy many value products, except mainly fruit juice but do eat own brands on the whole.

I manage this by shopping at Aldi/Lidl and using Tesco for items the others don't do or for their loss leaders. I buy my meat from local butchers (very good quality and very cheap) eg a whole lamb, less than £60, 5 lb lean mince for £5. I also use the markets for fruit and veg, if Aldi/Lidl don't have it. I cook from scratch.

I could cut down if money was tight (er) eg cheaper cereals - we have our faves, more OBs or value ranges. However, I am able to afford this (although I am sure Mr TM's eyes will be opened by the size of the booze budget, which will have to be lessened) so will carry on eating as I am. As someone has said, it's cheaper to buy and cook in bulk.

[Deleted User] · 13 December 2005 at 12:40AM

Hello ,
it is possible to eat fairly well, and it won't cost you a fortune. I am a widow, living on O.A.P. pension.I can eat meat if I want to most days. I was brought up on war-time rationing and it makes you appreciate the value of home-cooked food.
I don't eat fast-food as I have more than enough time on my hands to cook 'proper' meals.
I sometimes look at the young Mums in the supermarkets with their loaded trollys of 'instant meals' and wonder what they do with all the time they have saved. My grandchildren loved to eat 'real chicken' and not nuggets as their friends do. But it's a case of 'different strokes for different folks'
Those that want to keep Tesco's and Sainsburys tills full, then good luck to them, me, I go to my local butcher & 'wet'fish market in Whitstable, and greengrocer, and buy my spuds with a bit of dirt on them and my cucumbers that have a bend in the middle.
Supermarkets have their place, but not in my life, as there is nothing nicer than decent home-cooked nourishing food.
Why does the food have to be covered in plastic all the time. Hygenic no doubt ,but tasteless.
With all of the cookery programmes on T.V. it's not rocket science to be able to cook even a simple meal of pasta
My average food bill for a week is around £15-20 sometime more sometimes less.But budgeting can easily cut it down if I am saving for something to about £12.00.
Porage or cereal for breakfast. 1.5.kg about 45p more than enough for me for a weeks breakfasts.
Lunch; meat and fresh veg at the most I can budget it out at about 75p x7days =£5.25
Tea; about 6.00p.m. usually a sandwich or something on toast about 50p in total =£3.50
So, Breakfast = .45p
Lunch = £5.25
Tea = £3.50
Total food bill around £9.20, plus cleaning bits about £1.00 per week.
Biscuits and cake I cook myself,I probably spend the most on veggies and fresh fruit

So even if I allowed myself £15.00 per week I can save on that amount.

It is just making the commitment to save that is the hardest.

I enjoy the challenge of finding things to cook that are tasty and inexpensive. Those that have the cash to waste then let them do it .This site has changed many people's outlook on life, and is great for making folk realise that you don't have to spend a fortune to enjoy yourself and to eat healthily.More power to your elbow M/Savers
Keep up the good work

Zziggi · 13 December 2005 at 12:59AM

I allow £60p.w. for 2 adults and 2 pre-schoolers for food and toiletries/nappies and all the bits i buy from tesco/asda. However i can often spend quite a bit less than that (maybe £30 before using coupons). However i still allow £60 incase it is a "bad" week. Any savings we do make go in the kitty *meow* :snow_grin

I will buy smartprice tinned toms, spaghetti, beans, sultanas, S.R. flour, plain flour etc etc. Some things i buy branded e.g ketchup, salad cream.

I make almost everything from scratch now and i use basic ingrediants + fresh fruit/veg. I have found this is cheaper and usually tastes nicer. i does take me more time but with careful planning it isn;t too time consuming.

Our way of shopping, eating and living has so radically changed since finding this site. Changed for the better!!

CheeseOnToast · 13 December 2005 at 6:25AM

See my debts are very high, 5 figures, I am only 22 but the debt is coming down, I have paid off thousands this year alone.

When we and my girlfriend first moved into our place we were very strict £35 per week for food, then baby milk/nappies etc on top.

Now it creeps up a bit. I tend to do a shop at the beginning of the month for around £90 which is restocking the freezer with some meat and quorn (as im a vege, which is pricey) getting in a months supply of washing up tablets, toiletries, olive oil etc etc.

Problem is we both love fruit etc which I find pricey, and veg too! To top it off I am a bodybuilder and I eat no less than 4000 cals a day, sometimes 5000 - for this reason I eat 6 meals a day, sometimes I may consume 5 or 6 pints of milk a day and I tend to eat at least 20 eggs a week.. this I find a bit of a pain.

I also buy £30 of whey protein for shakes (as it's cheaper and easier than real food) for around 5/6 weeks supply.

Any other weight lifters who can help as eaten aint cheap!

Penny-Pincher!! · 13 December 2005 at 7:49AM

Hi

We spend about £30 a week on 2 adults and 1x11yr old. We eat very well.

Breakfasts:cereal/porridge/egg on toast/toast/fruit juice/sometimes a full english

Lunch: DD gets free school dinner when at school. OH & I have either leftovers from meal night before, jacket spud with cheese/tuna/coleslaw etc. Soup and bread, HM Pizza, sandwhich/roll.

Dinner:Meat, 2 veg and spuds/Roasts/chilli con carne/curry & rice/ spagbol/stew and dumplings/shepards pie/toad in hole/HM lasagna/something & chips.

All dinners served with fresh veg/salad, roast/boiled/mashed/jacket spuds. Rarely have puddings, but always have in yogurts and ice cream, but do do a pudding on a sunday with roast. Everything is cooked from scratch.

I am trying to put on weight and always have in biscuits,tinned soup, cheese, ham, crisps etc to make a snack up (toasted sarnie or tea and biscuits etc). We make the pizza dough in the BM every week and cook one pizza up, then other 2 bases are frozen. Always have milk in too and drink loads of value squash.

All tinned items (baked beans, kidney beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, spageti, tuna), I now buy from Aldis. Also have been buying their bread as its lovely and only 25p a loaf. Lidls we buy our ham/cheese/milk/mozzarella/veg when on half price. Everything else is bought at either Asda/Tesco. I wont scrimp on ketchup and prefer some of the more expensive soups but get these when on offer. Meat/Fish/Poultry is normally bought frozen once a month and kept in freezer, then just need topping up weekly with fruit/veg/fridge stuff.

Will not compromise on coffee, tea, washing powder, lenor, toilet rolls and kitchen roll-so these are bought from Makros when on specials and these are included in the £30pw.

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

Fay · 13 December 2005 at 8:54AM

I was wondering guys, I would love to eat more fresh veg, but I just can't seem to keep it fresh. From the sounds of it most of you buy your veg once a week? However, when I buy it on a saturday it isn't very good by wednesday. I have tried keeping it in a cupboard and in the fridge and doesn't last either way.

This means to eat fresh veg I have to go and get it daily, which is a pain as I work full time and I am trying to write up my PhD

So how do you keep yours?

Dora_the_Explorer_5 · 13 December 2005 at 10:51AM

Hello Arkonite Babe, I don't actually need any advice on budgetting but posted my question on the Silver Savers board as I wondered what the over 50's spend per head on food each week. My query was aimed at them, not all age groups and I see now I should have made that clear in my OP - apologies.

black-saturn · 13 December 2005 at 11:08AM

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

Hello Arkonite Babe, I don't actually need any advice on budgetting but posted my question on the Silver Savers board as I wondered what the over 50's spend per head on food each week. My query was aimed at them, not all age groups and I see now I should have made that clear in my OP - apologies.

Well it wasnt really because you used me as an example and I'm not over 50 thankyou.

Ticklemouse · 13 December 2005 at 11:10AM

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

I think if the nursing homes that my elderly parents are in told me they spend as little as £12.50 a week on their food I'd be having a very serious word with the coulcil's nursing and residential homes inspector.

I've just been reading this thread again, and I have to say I think £12.50 would provide enough good quality food for each resident. I know that everyone has different sized appetites, but when my grandma was in a home, she ate next to nothing, so this would effectively have enabled a person with a larger appetite to eat more.

Also, if I spend on average £70 per week, for 2 adults, 2 kids and provide 14 extra meals for the after-schoolers, it's equivalent to feeding 5. I do buy expensive items - shop bought 'baby' yoghurts are hellish expensive, but DS2 won't eat HM yogs and as he has a very limited range of food, I let him. Some of our cereals are nearly £3 per box and the boys love them, (Tesco Special flakes with red berries) but these probably aren't on the shopping list in a home for the elderly. I'm also still buying nappies/pull ups. So, 70 / 5 is £14 pp/pwk. And I'm known for the wonderful fare I put on my table each week

We eat a very healthy and well-balanced dietbut have enough 'treats'. Also, despite my bulk buying, I'm sure a larger home will have even greater economies of scale.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

How much do you spend on food?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free