Is £35 weekly reasonable for a single person's grocery shop?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Out of interest, as I think prices are continuing to steadily go up. On average I spend £35 - so some weeks less and others more. Includes convenience foods like soups from the chilled section and 'easy' things like prepared trays of veggies as I have chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.

What range would you say is reasonable for a single person's grocery shop?

[RestingBitchFaced]

Is this just food, or does it include shampoo, washing powder, dog food etc?

[Fiveredbricks]

I spend £45 for two adults, an almost 2yr old with hollow legs and a dog.

But reasonable is whatever you can afford.

[Friedspamfritters]

Sounds like you're being fairly frugal to me. You could probably do it a little cheaper but you'd be compromising on quality, health and convenience.

[Lazypuppy]

I used to spend about £15 per wrek whrn i was single.

We spend £40 per week for 2 adults and a 1yo

[DIZZYTIGGER87]

I'd say reasonable. We probably spend about £200 a month with 2 adults, a toddler and a dog.

We are on a tight budget so this covers pretty much everything, wash stuff, cleaning, dog food, food, takeaways, drinks etc.

[GaGaMummy]

Hiya, we are a family of 5 and a weekly shop for us £60-£70 and that includes some cat food and also nappies. Some weeks we spend more depending on what needs replenishing like laundry stuff.
When it was just my ex and I, we would live on £20 a week but that is 10+ years ago now and we didn't really eat a great deal back then.

[AbsentmindedWoman]

It's mainly just food, and things like hand wash or bin liners. I shop at Aldi/ Lidl mostly.

It doesn't include shampoo /conditioner/ shower gel etc.

[NoCardiganWearers]

I spend between £50 and 70 for me, DD aged 3 and a cat but it includes cat litter, nappies, and fresh fruit as DD eats a lot of that.

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I can't figure out how people do it on £15! Is that a lot of pasta or rice?

[Babuchak]

as above, what do you include in there?
If it's food, I don't think it's that much, but if you also buy house essentials, it's very low.

What's reasonable should be healthy food and not spending more than you earn - so someone on minimum wage should spend less than someone on a 6 figure salary.

[SileneOliveira]

Do you need to be frugal? £35 seems low to me, it's just £5 per day.

[Babuchak]

Batch cook and use leftovers you lazy sod.


I am sure you are only being sarcastic, but just in case, £5 A DAY is not much!

It's great to tell people to batch cook, but not every single person has a massive freezer to store all the extra meals.

[Motoko]

I'd say that was more than enough for 1 person. I wouldn't have spent that much if I was single and healthy, but as you need to get ready prepped veggies etc, due to your illness, that will bump the cost up.

Can you afford it, or would you like to get the cost down?

[mummmy2017]

Yes £35 is an easy do.
The £15 wow... How?

[HollowTalk]

@femidom12

I feed a family of 7 for less than that.
Batch cook and use leftovers you lazy sod.

Did you actually read the thread? The OP says she has chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.

I don't know how you feed a family of 7 on less than £5 per week each. I don't think that can be done.

[Motoko]

Batch cook and use leftovers you lazy sod.

Did you miss the bit where OP said she suffers from CFS and fibro? And are you always this rude to people?

[JustAWaferThinMint]

Depends how many decades ago the £15/week was. I probably lived on that as a student 25 years ago.

[BloodyDisgrace]

That seems quite cheap to me ... How would alcohol and meat come into it? That definitely isn't possible in London.

[Babuchak]

I can see how you can survive on next to nothing, if you buy pasta and rice in bulk especially, but the challenge would be to give healthy meals to everyone.

And it must be so time consuming to have to budget for every cent, and plan everything to the last gram, that can't be fun at all.

[ClaudiaWankleman]

I feed a family of 7 for less than that. Batch cook and use leftovers you lazy sod

This website is crazy.

Batch cooking is boring (if you don’t have to, who really wants to eat the same meals over and over again?)

I think it’s reasonable. Two years ago I was spending approx. £25 on myself a week, and things have really risen in price over the last 18 months.

[JustAWaferThinMint]

And I am pretty sure femidom was taking the piss out of the MN competition for who can feed the most on the least e.g. the magic chicken that can feed a family for a week, as long as everyone only eats a teaspoonful at a time, and as long as you don’t count all the other extensive ingredient list you need to enhance that teaspoonful.

[showgirl]

I must do something seriously wrong when I meal plan and food shop. We spend 100 a week on food, household items and toiletries for 2 adults and a 5 year old. At least 30 if not more is just on fruit and vegetables? What am I doing wrong?

[Rubusfruticosus]

I spend about the same for a adult and teen. Not all pasta and rice, fairly balanced with plenty of fruit and veg.

[EssentialHummus]

Fine I think. I find it cheaper to feed more people on less money per person iyswim, because unless you are willing to eat repetitively packaging sizes etc work against you.