If you eat very healthily, fresh unprocessed food, what's your weekly grocery budget?

[Anotherlifeaway]

We shop at Ocado, and always cook from scratch, plenty of fresh vegetables, Mediterranean diet with added pulses. We try to eat a wide range of plants (followers of Zoe). Fish and a small amount of fresh meat. One or two bottles of wine a week and the shop also includes things like laundry & dishwasher tablets etc, the usual weekly shop.

I know Ocado isn't the cheapest but I thought it was better value than, say, Waitrose which is where I'd love to shop. Tbh I've tried ASDA, Sainsbury's and Tesco and wasn't very pleased either the quality, selection and delivery process. So we've gone with Ocado and I do like their ease of ordering systems.

However, I'm find I'm spending £150-£200 per week and there's only 3 of us (2 adults 1, 4 year old). I feel I must be spending loads but wondered what anyone else with similar diet spends?

I take note of the Zoe diet too. Still need to add more nuts plus seeds. Not quite at 30 plant foods weekly but working on it! Ds is not interested or our shop wd cost even more.

I eat probably 40 plant foods per week but not because of Zoe! Because its how I have always eaten. Even veggies becoming expensive though.

I think your budget is very normal for a healthy ocado 2 adults and a 4 year old. Good food is expensive but this is your health, its worth it. Good health affects everything from your teeth to your skin to your energy levels to longevity... cut costs elsewhere but not on the expense of healthy food. And dont feel guilty about!

@arethereanyleftatall chicken nugget noodle queen 😂

Cook from scratch, 2 adults 2 kids (18 & 15) £95 average a week.

Using fruit and veg that is in season helps keep down costs.
Don't discount frozen veg, fine green beans. peas, leeks etc

I mostly shop in Lidl

We are a family of 5 and I guess spend about 900-1000 per month. It has sometimes crept up to 1200 and I do try to pull things back a it.

I have to add that healthy will look differently to people some will say porridge, baked beans on toast, cows milk and pasta with tinned tomato or tuna mayo with peas and bananas is healthy others ideas of health is keto or vegan or all organic, kale, borcolli, organic chicken, expensive low carb or keto ingredients...

About £10 per day for me, I eat a lot of fruit and veg.

food budget is 500/month for 2 adults 2 kids, crept up from 260 8 years ago, most of it in the last couple of years. We’re eating the same foods. Fairly healthy but not 40 different plants per week and includes some processed food. 2 vegetarians in the household and 2 eat meat a few times per week. Cook from scratch 4-5 nights per week. I think Ocado is expensive. We occasionally shop there but it is more expensive than Waitrose or other supermarkets for the same stuff. Waitrose essentials is high quality and surprisingly not expensive, we get a lot of our food from that range. Oddbox is good and fairly good value with very little plastic which we like.

Yes around €150 a week. 2 adults and 3 year old. We don’t drink alcohol and don’t buy toiletries in food shop either.

Spent €20 just on soft snacks tbh to bribe sick Ds to eat. Did include things like raspberries which are expensive, and a
mini pots Hagen daz ice cream..

I'm very similar to you and @AttillaThePlum - Riverford box weekly with veg and fruit, fish from Pesky Fish or the Cornish Fishmonger, the rest either Ocado or an in-store shop at Waitrose or Sainsburys. Added all up, that's £22.45 + £30 of fish + £100 -120 from Ocado and we're in the same territory of £150-200 as you are for a family of 4 with little to no UPFs, pescatarian at home (also following Zoe at the moment and trying to do better on gut health!)

2 adults, £50 a week from M&S. Maybe stretching to £60 sometimes. We also follow Zoe guidelines, sometimes don’t quite get the 30 but usually at least 27 a week. Includes breakfast, lunch, dinners and snacks although we’ll usually be out for dinner around once a week. We do meal plan and follow it quite strictly to meet that budget, could easily spend a lot more!

£70-90 per week for two people (weeks where we're topping up on bulk items like rice/pasta etc, are more expensive). It's all veg/pulses/grains and mostly organic. We do hit 30+ plants a week.

We eat everything from scratch and organic from waitrose, abel and cole and aldi. I make my own bread and cakes. It me, dh and DC. Coats just under £100 a week including wine but we don't ear meat or fish.

£150 a week for two adults (inc toiletries and cleaning products. No alcohol). We eat no UPFs and eat 40-50 plant based foods a week, but it’s not cheap. It’s a bugbear of mine when people say it’s cheaper to cook from scratch. Unless you’re eating really basic, boring meals it absolutely isn’t.

@Definitelynotem proof that you can eat quality food on quite a strict budget- . I've managed it when times have been tight- I just plan- turn into Queen of the yellow stickers and freeze and don't buy cakes, biscuits, snacks (other than fruit, crumpets and yoghurts) - and I always get a really big quality chicken when in that situation and make Sunday dinner, a ramen and a stir fry from it

Go British seasonal a couple of days a week. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, swede, turnips, beetroot. Oats and wheat, potatoes.

Mediterranean style produce is out of season and unnecessarily expensive. You are enjoying a lighter Mediterranean style but even those who live in Southern Europe go hearty in the deep midwinter.
Look at more peasant/bistro dishes. You can definitely save a bit by using your skills on less expensive produce.

I was going to say exactly this. Lots of veg but I avoid buying lots of fresh things that are completely out of season/flown in from forever away.
We are 2 adults + 2 kids under 4, also Ocado shoppers, says we have spent £450 so far this year. We buy bread separately at bakery and were away for 3-4 days but still averaging a bit less than you.

Around £120-40 per week. 5 people (3 huge sporty teens and 2 adults)
90% fresh food, Zoe (ISH) plan around 30 veg a week, plus some lean meat (mainly free-rang⁷e chicken), 8000 eggs, nuts, berries, NAT yoghurt, porridge. Some biscuits/snacks but not much. No alcohol or toiletries included.
Buy huge bags of brown rice/lentils/pulses from organic shop. Eat lots and lots of beans/chickpeas/dhal etc
Rest double yellow stickers from M&S/Tesco and main shop Aldi

Ocado is much more expensive but more convenient than tesco. End of

Family of 4 (pre teens). Spend around £90 per week in ocado, £50 in abel and cole plus maybe £40 top up elsewhere so £180 in total.

Buy around 75% organic including meat which pushes the price up a lot, plus I like wild salmon.

I also have a monthly grapetree nut/whole food order of around £50 and quarterly olive oil order of a similar value.

DH eats out a lot at work too which reduces it. Thinking about it it is mainly my expensive tastes at fault but I prioritise food and don't spend much elsewhere and drive an old banger.

Same family set up as you but spend about £90 per week max.

Probably eat about 50% organic, own chickens, make our own bread, bake once a week. Husband and I do intermittent fasting so only eat 2 meals a day.

i bulk buy organic bread flour, rice, pasta, pulses, bulgar maybe £50 every quarter.

we split our shop between Aldi, Ocado and Sainsbury’s. It’s definitely cheaper to get basics and basic organic stuff at Aldi then get the better quality fruit, veg, meat from Sainsbury’s than it is to do the full shop from Ocado but it takes way more time going to two shops.

4 of us here, sometimes 5 when dd1 is home from uni.
spend around £200-£250 per week. As much proper cooking as possible, meat bought from the butchers and fish from the fishmongers.

I think to eat whole foods on a budget you need to rely more on frozen and tinned items. Fresh produce is expensive.

We’ve never been able to eat fresh food all year round, even in the Mediterranean. It’s always been a case of feast and famine and relying on preserved and stored items. I’m don’t really know why the idea of eating a massively varied diet is somehow being linked to a golden age in the past which absolutely never existed.

We eat well and we cook a lot. Five people mostly adult sized.

I shop for food every day and amounts vary, I usually spend about £13-20 a day, the overall amount is probably around £140 a week. I don’t tend to use supermarkets but will if they are there.

I don’t meal plan because we shop daily.