Family of 2 - how much do you spend on food?

[Madmog]

With the cost of living set to rocket, we're looking at trying to make cut backs/be more careful, so we can still have a few treats/save for repairs.
I'm fairly careful, but don't have a food budget - however, I think one would help.

If you're a couple or family of two, how much do you spend on food weekly, and are you careful or just buy what you want/fancy? Just trying to work out what's realistic to stick to.

I think that it varies greatly for me. Some weeks I can still just about manage £45.
Others £70. Much depends on what I need to buy and from where. I also have to do a shop every two months from somewhere like bnm for school lunches etc and those items that are just cheaper there.

I try to budget £40 a week but never make it - it's more like £50-£60. Mainly buying just essentials but sometimes one non-essential goes in the basket

A family of two could vary depending on if that's 2 adults, an adult and growing teen, or an adult and toddler. I'm baffled as to how some people spend as little on food as they claim to, even shopping in Aldi mine comes to more than people claim to spend on a family shop but I eat a lot of veg/salad and a weekly shop covers all my meals as I take lunch to work.

We're sort of a family of two - three adults for dinner every day, but no breakfasts and just one for lunch daily, plus two dogs. I spend €110 on a Tesco click 'n collect, which covers everything including cleaning materials etc. €25 of the spend is on dog stuff, maybe €15 on washing up liquid, washing tabs, shampoo etc. - so I guess around €70 on actual food. It can take a bit of juggling to make sure I have enough for all 7 dinners - but usually come in on or just under budget, and we eat well.

Probably between £50-60 per week, depending on what basics need replenishing. We might have a top up of £10 on occasion.

Just DS and I at home and I spend £200 a month.

That includes toilet roll, bin bags and sometimes toiletries - all the other household stuff you pick up in the supermarket.

£50, we buy what we want but have got by on less which may impact spending habits. Mostly ingredients, very few processed items.

Adult and teen who eats more than me, doesn't include the cats.

@emmathedilemma

A family of two could vary depending on if that's 2 adults, an adult and growing teen, or an adult and toddler. I'm baffled as to how some people spend as little on food as they claim to, even shopping in Aldi mine comes to more than people claim to spend on a family shop but I eat a lot of veg/salad and a weekly shop covers all my meals as I take lunch to work.

I think that grocery costs are impacted by how you eat. So my shopping varies as I don't buy joints of meat weekly and so would batch cook if I had mince in for example, so then use that so this increases my costs one week for lower costs others iyswim?

About £240 pm for two adults. This amount also includes cat food for two, toiletries and lager/wine. Cat food is around £60-65 pm and alcohol £40 pm, so in reality we spend £140 pm on food and toiletries.

@Madmog

With the cost of living set to rocket, we're looking at trying to make cut backs/be more careful, so we can still have a few treats/save for repairs. I'm fairly careful, but don't have a food budget - however, I think one would help.

If you're a couple or family of two, how much do you spend on food weekly, and are you careful or just buy what you want/fancy? Just trying to work out what's realistic to stick to.

There's two of us and I have no idea, because we don't track it and don't shop weekly.

However we waste almost nothing and eat some very cheap meals (I can make a pot of dal and rice and that's my lunch for the week or a pound or two), amongst some less cheap, but we don't eat very much fruit (not sorry) and usually shop in Aldi/Asda and Morrisons so it's probably below average.

However, what's realistic for you isn't necessarily the same as other people because there are so many variables in preferences, priorities, available supermarkets, budget and you just need to look at your overall finances and what you're spending, and see what you could give up in all areas to make the most of your money.

yes definitely @ChoiceMummy! If i go to Aldi i tend to stock up on tinned tomatoes, beans, cereal, snack bars etc and i often batch cook 4 or more portions of something and freeze it so the cost of my shopping varies drastically from one week to the next. Some weeks it's just fresh fruit and veg, other weeks it's a big trolley load.

I would say we average about £70 a week. That's food for 2 adults, cleaning stuff, toilet paper etc and a bottle or two of wine. We meal plan so make a list before we go shopping and virtually nothing gets wasted

We also tend to buy on offer and to keep a stocked storecupboard rather than to a weekly meal plan, so there's a lot of things we rarely pay full price for.

For herbs and spices we have frozen garlic and ginger and packets of Asian brands rather than Schwartz jars etc, far far cheaper.

£240 a month so £60 a week including dog food and dry cat food. I do a big aldi/lidl and Iceland shop spend about £160-£170 then the rest is kept for top ups and fruit, bread and milk

I'm a single parent of one 8 year old.

I spend about £50 a week on groceries, not including alcohol but including toiletries and household cleaning products. I keep a well stocked alcohol cupboard and buy what I need when it runs out. DS also has school dinners which is an additional £11 a week. I do not scrimp on food. I don't snack so I don't buy many snacks but I love raspberries and eat about 3 punnets a week. Takeaways/meal out is extra and we do that once a month.

Around £40-45 per week,including toiletries and cleaning products. Weekly delivery from Asda and we don’t watch what we spend at all, but we are vegan which I guess brings our costs down a little

Thanks for your replies. The £50 mark seems about the average, so I might see how that goes - ie do I feel I'm being a bit more careful but managing.

I've only spent £35 this week, but have a list ready to go for Monday which I reckon will come to £40k and I'll need a top up show towards end of week. The following week will certainly be above £50 as I'm running the freezer down at moment.

I think 40k for this week's shopping might just be a tad over average OP