Up my food budget or cut down?

[magicpotiontime]

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense! I’m finding I’m spending more on food and wondering if others have noticed increases recently or if I’m not being as careful as I should
my budget is £240pm for me - including cleaning products, bin bags type stuff
doesn't include washing powder or cat food as bought in bulk

I have been spending about £280pm and thinking do I increase my budget to that or have I just got a bit lazy!

I don’t eat ready meals except for my once a week pizza, don’t drink alcohol and don’t tend to eat out. The odd takeaway on deliveroo if it’s 50% off

Can you afford it?

Food inflation is phenomenal just now and has been for a while…have you been shopping differently which might explain you spending more or is it pretty much the same?

It’s a stretch but if it’s just that everything has gone up, I’ll have to if you see what I mean
maybe I should try a month of being really careful and see if I can get it back down again. I do add up as I shop but I’m not always exact at it!

I’m definitely buying way more strawberries as it’s the season and I love them (I don’t eat them out of season!)
possibly been a little bit too much of “oh that looks nice”

If you can up your budget, then why not. I’m on my own too and spend similar, and can’t afford to increase my spending, but I’m finding it really hard every week trying to make sure that I feed myself well. I’m vegetarian and my biggest spend seems to be fruit and veg, and that’s with trying to eat in season, and picking up plenty of the reduced fresh produce. I dread to think how bad it’s going to be in 6 months time when prices have increased even more!

Are you already shopping at a cheaper supermarket? Our shop was about £100 a week elsewhere but it’s £50-60 at Aldi.

We are a family of 4 and shop in Asda with top ups from aldi. I recently upped the food budget because it just wasn't enough to cover what we were buying. We already meal plan, cook from scratch and waste is at a minimum so there wasn't much to cut back on

Yes, mostly Aldi with the odd Sainsburys trip if I have a voucher and then I stock up on the things I can’t get at Aldi

It’s crazy. My mortgage is going up £100, my car insurance has doubled

Doesnt sound like you overdo it at the supermarket if you dont buy ready meals or UPFs. What would you cut back on exactly?

Ask ChatGPT to menu plan for you. I use a prompt like, ‘Give me a menu plan for a week. I like (insert foods you especially like) and dislike (insert foods you don’t like). Make it healthy, cost effective, and easy to cook. Make enough for leftovers for lunches. Happy to reuse ingredients. Give me the costs for the menu at Aldi and Sainsbury’s’. For three of us it usually provides a good menu for a week for about £60-£70, and then by the time we’ve added on a bottle of wine, bread, eggs, milk, fruit, cleaning products, toilet roll, etc. (we don’t include all every week) it’s about £90. As there’s one of you and you don’t drink it should be a lot less.

I do buy some UPFs - lentil crisps, cereal, lemon curd, bread rolls, squash are some I can think of off hand
think it’s gone up as I’ve been trying to eat more fibre, fruit and veg

my meals usually are

breakfast - cereal, milled nuts/seeds, milk and fruit or a protein shake if I’m running late
lunch - sandwich, lentil crisps, yoghurt or one of those mini moser roth bars
tea - anything really from pasta bake to savoury yoghurt bowls, lasagne, salad, cottage pie, beef stew

snacks tend to be boiled eggs, yoghurt and berries, rice cakes with cottage cheese, apple with peanut butter, grapes
I drink squash, tea, water and maybe 1-2 cans of something fizzy a week

In case you’re interested - I used the prompt I mentioned above and got this menu:

7-Day Menu Plan
Monday
Chicken & Vegetable Traybake

• Chicken thighs
• Potatoes, carrots, peppers, onions
• Garlic and herbs

Lunch next day: Leftover chicken and roasted vegetables

Tuesday
Beef & Lentil Bolognese

• Minced beef
• Red lentils
• Tomatoes, carrots, onions
• Wholewheat spaghetti

Lunch next day: Leftover bolognese pasta

Wednesday
Salmon, New Potatoes & Greens

• Salmon fillets
• Broccoli
• Peas or green beans
• Lemon

Lunch next day: Salmon potato salad

Thursday
Vegetable & Chickpea Curry

• Chickpeas
• Peppers, spinach, onions
• Coconut milk
• Rice

Lunch next day: Curry and rice

Friday
Chicken Fajita Bowls

• Remaining chicken
• Peppers, onions
• Rice
• Salsa and yoghurt

Lunch next day: Fajita rice bowls

Saturday
Beef Chilli

• Minced beef
• Kidney beans
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Rice

Lunch next day: Chilli baked potatoes

Sunday
Vegetable & Chicken Paella

• Chicken
• Peppers
• Peas
• Rice
• Smoked paprika

Lunch next day: Leftover paella

Reused Ingredients
This keeps costs down by reusing:

• Chicken across 3 meals
• Minced beef across 2 meals
• Rice across 4 meals
• Peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli throughout the week
• Tinned tomatoes in multiple recipes

Estimated Shopping Cost

Shop
Estimated Total
Aldi £52-£58
Sainsbury’s £68-£78

I dont think thats overly excessive in terms of packaged foods though, I wouldnt even count something like lemon curd as UPF really, or excessively processed and therefore pricey. Nor squash. People go on about bread but I dont think thats too pricey either.

When I mention UPF Im talking in terms of price given the title of your thread, not 'health'.

Not sure what you would cut down on

You can get this down. We spend £40 per week for 2 people. Think of it as 7 x breakfasts, lunches & dinners. Know your prices. Always buy on offer / cheapest reduced etc. Plus use loyalty schemes, money-off vouchers & discounted gift cards.

Mainly vegetarian, bulk out with veg, beans & pulses. Buy meat & fish when 50% off or greater. Buy good quality bread @ 10-40p per loaf / pack & freeze. Use porridge oats for breakfasts & making snacks also. Buy fruit & veg seasonally, reduced or frozen. I buy cheap bananas at their worst & freeze I use them to make (protein) flapjacks, pancakes & granola.

Use Farmfoods, Heron foods & Home Bargains to stock up on some very cheap quality items.

Yeah I get you

thinking about it, I reckon summer must be more expensive for me as I’m eating stuff like feta, goats cheese, nice salad bits, berries
winter I tend to cook more stews and stuff and batch cook that gets bulked out with cheap veg like carrots, onions, peas etc so that could be why I’ve noticed recently

All I can say is try and buy food ingredients and cook from scratch/batch cooking etc. I've certainly upped that over the years and you can get most basics ingredients in Aldi now.

Feta is 85p in most supermarkets- I actually prefer it to the dearer ones.

Lovely frozen fruit in Farmfoods- 6 bags for £10 @ 400g - 600g bags. The blueberries, raspberries, mixed berries, mangos and peaches are all amazing. Then you can use a £2 off a £25 spend voucher plus buy discounted giftcards to use, another 4% off. That works out at £1.44 for 600g of blueberries & Mangos!

About the same for me, cat food including, eco cleaning in bulk, eating more veggie

Where are you finding bread for 10p a loaf? And how are you covering everything for 95p per meal?

This is the bit I struggle with
I want to eat nice/good food, I work FT and I only shop once a week as I don’t have time to do it more often. I do prep food and batch cook on a Sunday in winter

so I feel bad and like I should spend less but then I think I can’t get it down to £40 a week
more musing than anything

Tbh I think that’s normal and not overspending. That’s around £60 a week. We spend around £150-200 a week on three of us depending on what we buy each week ( so £50-65 ish per person), and I couldn’t go much lower regularly without compromising a lot.
We grow our own a lot in summer and eat very little pre packaged

Either my nearest sainsburys or a morrisons local (they do 90% off). Or I just keep my eyes peeled / have got to know the times & places for reductions - I pop by after work 2-3 times a week.

Weekly I clock the supermarket special offers emails & maximise these using the apps & discounts / vouchers. I meal plan loosely around these. I waste nothing. I am not loyal. Sometimes they are literally paying me to buy stuff. Sainsburys price match Aldi & then give further offers ON TOP.

Spend time on MSE or hotukdeals sites for the heads-up on deals etc. Look out for the £2 fruit & veg boxes in Lidl and sainsburys. Stock up on xmas & Easter veg when it is 8p! I still have loads of broccoli left. Don't waste the stalks. Get your tins of toms, various beans & bags of lentils in farmfoods, actual butter is 99p, cheddar is 99p for 350g - tbh I think the store is great value.

I make bread pudding, flapjacks & pancakes a lot (and freeze). I always halve the sugar in my recipes - I pay max 80p for sugar bag.

Typical day is overnight oats or hm granola with yoghurt & defrosted frozen fruit. Lunch is a sandwich or salad / leftovers and seasonal fruit. Dinner is anything from fish pie with veg to lentil & veg bolognase, stirfrys with tofu.

Everything is on offer or discounted. It's a hobby / way of life. I 'save' all the money I make using loyalty vouchers or discounted gift vouchers, and it's been £400 over the last 6 months - that doesn't include all the freebies and other deals. Pick blackberries and take the offers of free apples from neighbours etc & freeze.

I also always take advantage of offers like 3 for 2 on baking (I buy 3 of the value mixed dried fruit or sultana bags) in Morrisons, or the 4 for for 3 on sauces in Tesco (I get 4 x pesto) or their 25% off cleaning and I'll get all the staples that are the same normal price elsewhere.

Know your prices, and literally every little does help & adds up.

If that's for one, I'd say you should easily be able to manage on that (that's probably what we spend on two - £300pm covers us (food, toiletries, household), alcohol, cats, presents that we can buy from supermarket. Maybe look at what are the cheaper options for each meal/snack and eat them more. Fruit wise, look at the weekly offers on ends for fruit and veg - that'd be cheaper than buying grapes/strawberries - or if not you'll often find packs of apples on offer anyway. Also, make the most of any anything on offer you use, and buy in bulk. Get to know your prices in whichever supermarkets you use, and buy whatever is cheaper. Also, think shop's own brand.