Groceries - what do you spend / what do you eat?

[FagotsAndPeas]

There are plenty of threads on how much people spend but I thought it would be interesting to see what sort of things people eat in a week.
I keep a recored of all my grocery expenditure, in the last 4 months my average works out at £100 a week. Most of what we eat is cooked from scratch, I can make bread but usually buy it, the same for pasta!

My family consists of me and dh who both WFH, ds in uni but living at home and dd 18 with severe learng difficulties also at home but attends a special college. Our groceries budget covers 3 meals a day as both dc take packed lunches and me and dh eat lunch at home.

Weekday breakfast is usually porridge / shredded wheat with fruit and seeds.
Weekends it depends who is doing what......we might have a bacon sandwich, eggs on toast etc.

Lunch for me and dh is usually some sort of soup, a sandwich or jacket potato. Dd likes to take a salad to college, it will depend on what is leftover in the fridge.....ie meat leftover from a roast or something like chicken tikka that I've made specifically for lunches and I always cook extra rice and pasta so there is something available to mix with salad. Occasionaly she will take a sandwich. DS also likes to take a salad but as he has access to a microwave he often takes leftovers such as chilli / curry / pasta dishes / stews / soup. He often goes training straight from uni so needs plenty of fuel!

Dinners this past week have been
chicken and mixed bean chilli
bolognese
fagots and peas
lasagne (using some of the bolognese sauce)
beef stew
cauliflower and lentil curry with flatbread
roast pork

We snack on fruit, nuts and I sometimes make muffins and cookies. We rarely have crisps and have switched from buying flavoured yogurt to having natural yogurt with honey and fruit. We don't often have dessert, it might be pancakes, cheesecake, icecream or crumble and custard.

I shop mostly at Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons and Asda.

Ds17 & me. £60 a week. I order wholewheat flour from a mill & make our bread.

Breakfast - toast, butter and jam or porridge, with fruit. Coffee/water
Lunch - home made soup & wholemeal bread. Ds - school lunch.
Supper- various including risottos, wholemeal pasta with tomato/meatballs or salmon/cream, cassoulet, stuffed peppers & garlic bread, 5 spice duck with noodles, chilli & brown rice etc.

I try to eat 30 different fruit & veg a week to optimise my immune system.
Shop at Tesco/butcher/mill.

usually its around £1,000 a month. This month it was £500, and boy did I struggle!

family of 4. 4 cats.1 person with specific dietary needs and 1 with AFRID.

3 adults at home, other is at uni.

All eat roughly the same

Breakfast is yogurt fruit and granola/cereal mixed in (adult son has multiple bowls of this a day)
Lunch is egg/ham/mackerel salad, or soup, sometimes crumpets, fruit (we all eat alot of berries, apples, bananas, oranges)
Adult son takes peanut butter sandwiches and bananas to work as well, sometime leftovers.
Dinner is chicken and veg/curry with veg/bolognese with veg/pork steaks with veg. I don't eat pasta or rice, we rarely have potatoes, just got out of the habit.
Snack on nuts, hard boiled eggs, crackers
Drink wine most nights, a glass usually, more at weekends

I spend between £150 and £200 per week in Lidl

2 adults and 2 primary school aged children. We spend £80 a week on average.

Breakfast is either Weetabix, Shredded Wheat, porridge or plain yoghurt with fruit.

Lunches tend to be something on toast, a sandwich or soup. I tend to have toast with scrambled egg, tinned tomatoes, beans or fried mushrooms or in summer it is avocado, cottage cheese or hummus.

The only snacks we tend to buy are fruit and crackers. We'll usually have a bag of Maltesers or something like that on a Saturday evening.

Dinners are normal stuff. Omelettes, jacket potatoes, stir fries, curries, pasta etc. We eat mainly vegetarian meals but I'll buy meat if it's on a yellow sticker and put it in the freezer.

Not eating a lot of meat, being happy with very simple meals and mainly cooking from scratch definitely keeps our shopping bill down.

We spend £80 to £100 a week at ASDA

2 x adults, 1 x 14 year old who eats adult portions, (1 cat)
Cook from scratch
This covers breakfast, snacks and evening meals for all 3 of us plus lunch for DH and me (teen has school dinners)

Breakfasts over the week include
Toast and marmalade, all bran, weetabix, fruity bread toast, cornflakes, porridge, smoothies made from frozen berries

Snacks
Rice cakes, chocolate moose, cashew nuts, malt loaf, dry cereal, kiwi, apples, banana, walnuts

Lunch
Usually a picky bit plate consisting of a few of the following: apple, peanut butter, walnuts, dates, banana, maltloaf, melon, toast

This week for tea we're having
Shepherds pie with carrots, broccoli, cabbage and peas
Jambalaya
Salmon and chorizo pasta with salad
Korean ground beef with broccoli and sugar snap peas
Chicken curry with rice, aloo gobi and vegetable samosas
Special fried rice with sugar snap peas and broccoli
Scilian fish soup and garlic bread

We don't normally eat puddings, but planning a rice pudding on Tuesday because we fancy one

Thanks to those who responded .....I may pinch some of your meal ideas😁

£150 per week. 4 adults 1 child.
dh and I eat porridge for breakfast ds has toast and fruit. It’s salad with chicken, salmon or tuna or jp or eggs for lunches. For tea we do curry/soup /stew/omelette/pasta. The other two adults tend to cook for themselves usually pasta/pizza / curry /jp or freezer food. It also includes alcohol, toiletries and cleaning products.

My food shopping isn’t primarily based on supermarkets.

I don’t eat meat, so focus on wholefoods, fruit and vegetables and fish.

Most cooked meals centre on something from

Hodmedods

and I buy dried beans, peas, quinoa, oats, etc, in bulk as far as possible, for the sake of economy and the secure feeling of having a well stocked larder. I like one pot meals best and don’t really have much interest in ‘sides’ or sauces.

Fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices I largely order from:

Riverford

partly so I get things in season, but equally because everything keeps a million times better than supermarket produce.

I never buy supermarket fish. I generally have a small store of fresh / frozen fish ordered from an online fishmonger, and I buy a fair amount from:

The Tinned Fish Company

in a bulk order every month. It’s not cheap but it’s hugely enjoyable, and I can economise in other areas of life.

I live close to a stupendous bakery, so place an order every week and walk to their shop on Sunday mornings to pick up loaves and buns.

Coffee beans arrive via a weekly subscription. (I would starve or die before giving that up.)

Hmm … what else? Oil, yoghurt, preserves, tea, etc, come either from Ocado (or occasionally Waitrose, or M&S) or from one of the suppliers above.

I generally order wine online, though sometimes dive into a great local wine shop if I’m passing.

I cook from scratch (I love cooking and find it easy and relaxing), bake enthusiastically for myself and non-resident family and friends, and almost never waste anything.(I actually feel ashamed if something has to be thrown away because it’s escaped my attention). So I definitely feel I’m getting full value for the money I spend on food.

2 adults and 2 children here.
Spend approx £100 a week.
Shop almost solely at Aldi.

Breakfast is usually shredded wheat, weetabix, granola, fruit & yogurt
Lunch tends to be sandwiches, wraps, omelette, something on toast
Dinner is things like stir fry, pasta, curries, pizza, chilli
Snacks are fruit, veg, crackers, nuts, dark chocolate. Sometimes have crisps and biscuits but try not to.

Don't have loads of meat. Trying to cut down on red / processed meat and increase fish (easier said than done Im finding!).

4 adults at home, however DD and her bf pay their own food.

I don’t keep tabs on what I spend so I will do this as I go along…

Meat 7 packs lasts 6 days for £20
3 packs of frozen mixed veg £3
3 packs frozen broccoli £3
Frozen mash £2.50
microwave rice £3
jars and spices £5

Yogurts £3
Fruit £15

So just under £55 a week

DH doesn’t eat lunch however will have fruit when he comes in,

I stock pile at work for each half term,

cup of soups, 6 boxes £6
low cal crisps (30) £6
I take fruit daily
babybel for work £6.50 for 36
corn cakes for breakfast £2
Peanut butter £2

£22.50 per half term, call it £4 per week?

snacks at home
babybel again £6.50 for a month?
nuts £10 a month?
salt and pepper crackers £2 week.

say £6 week

drinks.

coffee £5 a week, milk £3 a week, tea bags £8 for a huge bag that lasts 2 months so £1 a week, we rarely buy bread, butter lasts and age and to be fair DD usually buys it.

We have cut down loads just recently but I think this sums up out weekly spend, not including cleaning and toiletries and anything extra like ketchup etc.

Call it £80 per week..

I average £125-£150 a week but that includes cleaning and toiletries
2 adults, 2DC (8 and 4). One adult is gluten free so I've noticed that adds a little.

This weeks dinners are:
Sunday Roast
Spag Bol
Chicken and Chorizo Paella
Chicken Curry
Pizzas
Beef Stew

Lunches are
left overs for DH
Homemade quiche and salad for me
pack lunch for DS - one carb element (sandwiches, filled croissant, pesto pasta, pin wheels, one crisps / mini cheddars, one protein element, one fruit element and one treat element.
DD gets food supplied at nursery

Snacks - fruit mainly.
I also bake once a week.

I usually do 1 week a month where we use up left overs from the freezer or whatever half bags are left/ whatever is left in the cupboards. I put any left overs in the freezer if DH doesn't have them for lunch.

There’s 4 of us, Dh and I, 1 teen and 1 primary school aged. We shop at Tesco and usually spend £80-120 a week, plus pick up a few extras throughout the week (apples, bananas, cheese, something random that got left off the list) so maybe an extra £20-30, so maybe £120-150 a week. That includes things like cleaning supplies, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet roll. No alcohol because I don’t drink, but dh will stop and buy himself any alcohol if he wants it.

Breakfast - cereal, porridge, eggs with toast, yoghurt with fruit, occasionally pastries.

Lunch - kids eat school lunches, Dh and I have stir fried noodles, homemade soup with bread/butter, salad or cheese on toast or leftovers from night before.

Dinners -
Roast - we often have a roast that lasts us two nights, or something that uses a big joint (pulled pork on rolls).
Salmon with stir fried noodles and broccoli
Jackets with beans and cheese (kids) or tuna mayo (Dh and I), plus veg and salad
Another meal that will last us two nights - bolognese with pasta and garlic bread and some sort of green veg, or chicken chilli with cheese, soured cream, various toppings and tortilla chips
We also eat lots of salad with all of the above.

We raise pigs so usually one meal a week is pork based and from the freezer - pork joint with all the usual roast sides or pulled pork or pork chops with mash and veg or sausages in rolls, etc. Or we trade some pork to some other local farmer so might have some lamb joints. So that might do us 1-2 meals a week but we aren’t ‘buying’ those ingredients, not at retail prices anyway, costs have already been absorbed. That definitely makes a difference.

Breeding / growing your own food is a fairly ideal solution. In my own family history I’ve lived with or kept goats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, quail - as well as growing all manner of fruit and veg in temperate and tropical climates. Have also lived with the odd farmer and (in my previous carnivorous days) feasted on their own beef and lamb. As well as making cider from their apple orchards.

For anyone interested in expanding their range of food sources this site below is transformative. I have no connection to them at all, but finding it really changed the way I shop and eat. It’s a completely free database of food producers - bread, cheese, meat, vegetables, fruit, oil, coffee, tea, honey, dairy … Scroll past anything asking for donations; click straight to the database and view on a wide screen.

https://farmstofeedus.org/