We are 2 adults, 2 DCs (1 toddler, 1 early primary school age). We spend £400-500 per month, which includes all food eaten at home, nappies, and cat food, but not takeaways (maybe monthly) and not eating out (if we want to buy the odd work lunch, we buy that from personal accounts and we don’t often eat out as a couple or a family at the moment).
What works for us is meal planning, batch cooking, online delivery/a weekly shop (with the odd top up for bananas/milk type stuff), balancing cheaper home cooked meals like chilli/bolognese with more expensive convenience meals, and really keeping an eye on things like soft drinks, ice cream bars and so on. As soon as we pop into shops on a daily basis, our bill goes up a lot.
Meal planning is a big one as you plan round what you have and what you need, eg if you only need half a cauliflower, you think of something else that needs half a cauliflower for a second meal (or make double). Sorry, that’s a really random example but you get the idea!
Batch cooking is good if you’re busy as then you can just pull something out to defrost on busy days and all you have to do is cook rice/pasta when you get home. Half my problem is the thinking part of meal planning rather than the doing.
I also keep a note on my phone of what we’ve spent so far that month, which helps to keep things on track.
Cheaper meals that work well here include:
- vegetable curries
- sausages, mash and beans/veg
- pasta anything
- lasagne
- cottage pie
- chilli
- anything with mince
- bacon, cauliflower cheese, fried/roast potatoes and green veg