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

Also to note, we have had our £40 pw budget for years & haven't found that food price increases have really affected us. BUT we dont really buy meat or fish unless it is significantly reduced or occ pork @ £3/kg. So, using a little meat wisely or bulking out is def the way to go. Cooking bacon is great for this, and when I found large packs for 49p I bought several to split & freeze.

I spend about 350 including everything. It just me. I don't want to compromise too much on what I like, so I don't. If it easier to up ur budget instead of having to scrutinise everything then I would if you can afford it.

Prioritise the budget enough that you’re still able to make healthy choices, I think we are obsessed with making food as cheaply as possible, with little consideration of the wider impacts. But then be realistic with what you can afford of course. I’ve personally stopped feeling guilty (or angry) about what I spend on food, it’s important.

I buy Aldi own brand most of the time, only branded where it isn’t available. Also use the offers on fruit and veg but strawberries I refuse to give up, it’s my equivalent of a glass of wine! It’s such a short season for them

£280 a month is less than £10 a day. That’s not bad for all supermarket shopping and 3 meals a day.

I used to do €150 a week for 3 people but since January I’ve increased the budget to 175, purely because of price increases and having to spend precious time peeling potatoes, marinading tough meat and soaking beans to get more from the basic ingredients I “could” afford.

It became an exercise in self denial and since we’re not on the breadline I bought myself back some pleasure in cooking!

I do wish I could do this but going anywhere after work is impossible - our traffic from 4-6pm basically blocks up the whole city so popping to say Asda (3 miles away) turns into a 45 min round trip
I have Sainsbury’s fairly close and use their offers as my gas and electric is with them so the nectar card is handy

Lidl do reductions first thing. For me ive saved the most money by buying things i use alot in bulk and/or on sale. Yellow sticker items. Using beans, tofu and mushrooms as a meat alternative.
Cutting down booze dramatically. Staying away from non food items in the supermarket. Using olio, growing some food and using the freezer.
Im still spending more than i did pre covid. But my diet is better healthier and better for the planet.

I only shop for myself and probably also spend around £60 a week. Tbh I don't really budget it. My view is that it costs what it costs. I'm not rolling in money but I'm not on the breadline either.

I am a meat eater and that's expensive but I don't have it every night. I also batch cook things like bolognaise and chilli. Some nights I'm not that hungry and might just have egg on toast or something. So it kind of balances out.

Do you need to cut down for budget reasons? Personally, I don't think there's much that's more important than what we put inside and fuel our bodies with, so I'm willing to spend more money on groceries to get good quality food, meat from the butcher, non-UPF alternatives to things. I'm lucky to be able to afford to do so, and it's not somewhere I really want to make cutbacks if I don't need. I don't think £280 a month is bad at all anyway if it's good, nourishing food that you enjoy.

Oh and yes berry season makes our bill shoot up too, but we all love good quality strawberries and raspberries and get through several punnets a week. It's one of the joys of summer!

This is amazing, loads of great advice, but I think it also comes down to that decision we need to make so much in life: time v money. I would rather save the time and spend the £400. But others would rather use their time like this and save the money. So I think it's just one of those things you have to weigh up with your own priorities.

Raspberries are one of the easiest things to grow, they take care of themselves and replicate. I planted 3 canes about 10 years ago and now have 20, must have had at least 6 kilos off them last year which I wash and freeze the surplus. Make jams and cordials (other fruit bushes too but raspberries are easiest, strawberries the slugs always get).

I can’t grow anything in my garden sadly. It’s an apartment with a private garden but it’s maintained by the management company

I do weekly shop online which helps on meal planning/ budget.

Tried a LIDL shop last week & ….. spent pretty much the same & ended up with random items I didn’t need / wouldn’t otherwise have bothered with

We spend about £150 a week but that is for a family of 4, including all cleaning supplies, toiletries, maybe occasional alcohol if Dh wants some (I don’t drink). We shop at Tesco and occasionally at Lidl for kids snacks.

I think you could certainly spend less than £70 a week if you are just feeding yourself. Why not trial a week of simpler meals, batch cooking, changing how you pack lunches, what breakfasts you have, etc?

I do batch cook already but not generally in warmer weather

today was more simple but I don’t feel it’s as well as i usually eat

breakfast - all bran, nuts mix, banana
lunch - egg mayo roll, snack a jacks, yoghurt, apple
tea - beans on toast

i would have usually gone for a salad bowl for tea with maybe taco mince, salad, cucumber, cottage cheese, pitta bread type thing with strawberries and yoghurt for after but was aware of the budget
I might start not having breakfast and see if that knocks some off so I can still have the variety in the evening

Honestly OP if you can afford to pay the extra I would just accept that the cost has gone up and increase the food budget.

Ours has increased too and while there are definitely things we could do to cut it back we have come to the decision that actually we don’t want to be swapping to meals we don’t like as much, sacrificing certain snacks/fruit/breakfast for the sake of it. I do appreciate that we are very lucky that financially it isn’t an issue for us and we can afford it, if we couldn’t afford it then we could make changes and cut the cost, but I think if you can afford it why make things more miserable by skipping meals or substituting things for a worse option.

Unless you're trying to lose weight or something, I don't think skipping breakfast to try and mean you can have nicer things for tea is good idea, if you have other choices.

Have you considered doing a monthly online food shop to buy non-perishable things in bulk? That's what I used to do when I lived on my own.

Spending say £150 on an online shop would get you loads of your store cupboard stuff.......big bags of pasta and rice, tinned beans, frozen berries and other fruit and veg, oats, nuts etc and fridge items that have long dates on them like feta, halloumi, tofu, salami etc. Meat in bulk that you could portion and freeze.

Then you'd have £25 a week to spend in Aldi or wherever to just top up with fresh stuff for milk, bread, fresh fruit and veg etc.

You can also use the Jam Doughnut app to buy supermarket vouchers which get you cashback. I earn about £10 a month in rewards just for using it. So if I know I've spent £100 at a particular supermarket I buy a voucher in the app for that amount which usually earns me £2 in rewards and pay for my shopping with the voucher. It's really easy and money for nothing!