To ask what you spend on food each month?

[Dovetale]

We're spending on average £280 per month just on food, alcohol & non food groceries are budgeted for separately.

There are 3 of us me, my DH and my DD who is 19 months old.

I'm struggling to know what is a reasonable spend whilst trying to give my DD a healthy balanced diet.

I've tried asking my friends but non of them budget so they don't really know what they spend.

Our limitations are:

We have a tiny kitchen so only 2 wall cupboards for dried goods and an under counter fridge with icebox. This means we can't do a weekly shop at a big supermarket or a lot of bulk cooking but we do have a Tesco within walking distance and a Sainsbury's which I have a discount card for through my DH's work so works out about the same as Tesco. There is a farmers market once a week but it doesn't seem to be any cheaper.

Here's what I've been doing so far:
We always cook from fresh no jars or packet sauces etc.
Buying tinned & frozen fruit, plus cheaper fresh fruit such as bananas and apples.

Always check the price per unit and buy cheapest storage space allowing.

Take advantage of offers, storage space allowing.

Always check what we already have in the fridge/freezer before planning the evening meal to minimise waste.

Having regular vegetarian meals and only buying cheaper meat e.g. minced beef.

Always going with a list.

The only real luxuries I can see are that my husband likes nice bread so £1.40 a loaf (but he does take sandwiches to work instead of having a meal in the canteen) and I like chocolate and in an ideal world would want a treat every other day (sometimes more depending on how many toddler tantrums I have had to soothe!)

Any money saving tips or opinions on what we could be spending would be very helpful.

Around £300 a week here. Me, DH and 3 sport-playing male teenagers plus at least one girlfriend, if not two, an evening. I know we spend way too much but we eat very well and it doesn't cause us any problems financially. DS2 is on a high protein diet for rugby which doesn't help!

Ah Ruebarb I misread your post- thought the £700 figure was everything! Sorry!

On average £80 a week. 2 adults, 2 DC - 22 months.

We very rarely buy alcohol so that saves a lot. 80% of the food is organic.

I don't think it just has to do with buying brands. As I cook all food from fresh my main expenditure is fresh fruit and veg and fish/meat.

5 of us plus 2 cats and we spend around 700 per month. Kids have school dinners so not included in that. Plus we usually have a couple of takeaways a month too. Again not included. But that figure includes household items and booze. We eat pretty well and always cook from scratch.

I think we probably spend about £600-700 per month for me, DH and 3 yr old dd. That includes alcohol and household stuff. We buy a lot of fresh fruit for dd and good quality fish and meat which bumps it up quite a bit.

Surely it depends what you can afford and whether it's a problem?

I imagine we might spend about £400 in total over the month, but I don't know. We are fortunate at the moment that while we aren't rich by an stretch of the imagination, we don't need to budget for food. As one of us is generally at home at least 4 out of 7 days of the week we are lucky to be able to use the butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc so we don't do a 'big shop', we just buy as we need, but it does mean we are able to buy food that is on special offer than day, that sort of thing. We don't buy anything extravagant and will always get deals when they are on, but we equally don't stint on meat.

So it's very difficult comparing with anyone else. You'd need to be in the exact same position as regards income, family, portion sizes, tastes, storage space...

I buy Hello Fresh boxes for me and DP at £49/box, inclusive of postage. That feeds us for 5 nights a week, and we live off our freezer contents for the remaining two nights a week. So all in all £200 - £250/month depending on the number of weeks. We could eat cheaper, but it wouldn't be as varied/waste-free and might result in substantial over-cooking (one of the main reasons we went for them in the first place)

I spend between £140-200 a month on everything (food, nappies, cleaning products etc) for me, dd(2) and two cats. I budget for £200 but try and spend less.

The majority of that money goes on fruit for dd, it used to.be fresh veg as well but I've started buying frozen to save money.

Oh dear. Probably about £1,000 a month for 3 of us plus pet. This includes everything though. Food, cleaning stuff, alcohol, cat food, occasional take-away. Basics are from Sainsburys. Most food from M&S or Waitrose. Pet has expensive taste too.

fish and chip takeaway for 2 for £6? wow! our local van is more like £16.

I think food prices have rocketed in recent years.

Hmm, for three of us (me, DH and DS (10)) we spend around £400 a month
This doesn't really include alcohol and no pet food but does include toiletries and cleaning products. We eat well and this also does packed lunches for DH and DS 5 days a week.

I am rather embarrassed. DH spent £80 on a joint of beef for 6 of us today.

Even the butcher was a bit surprised.

However we will eat all of it and make stock with the bones.

fish and chips for 2 for £6?? Blimey, it's that much each round here, if not more!! even the pensioner/kids portion is £3.80!

If you can afford it, it's fine.

Cheap bread is nasty and not terribly good for you. It's an initial outlay, but it might be worth investing in a good breadmaker, then it'll be more like 50p for a really good loaf.

About £70 a week but sometimes we do "big shops" and spend double that. We buy alcohol once every couple of months. We also have too many takeaways.

How big was the £80 beef? a weeks worth of meals??

I try to do it for 100 a week including everything.

Fucking hell, easily over 1K a month! Family of 5. We too are a family who will buy a big bit of beef for a Sunday roast. Dp takes leftovers for sandwiches, or makes a meal for all of us.
This figure doesn't take into account eating out which happens maybe once a fortnight and comes to maybe £150 (although some of this includes taxis so not all food). We both smoke a little, probably £10-15 a week and drink a fair bit. Bottle of vodka is £35 and I get through a couple of those a month when we've got friends round (well, actually then it's much more than that) and we have people round to eat a lot.
I think a lot of people on this thread can't be adding up top up shops?

Even up here, in the cheapest part of England, fish and chips is £4-5 per person.

Never answered the question itself, btw - anything from £600-800 per month for 2 adults and 2 junior school boys with good appetites, which includes cleaning stuff and booze.

£350 maximum. 4 adults, 1 child.

I buy almost everything on the reduced counter, we are lucky to have a really good tesco for mega bargains and i go twice a week for veg, fruit, bread etc. last night i picked up lots of nice bakery, fruit and veg stuff at 90% off. Finest croissants at 20p for 4, that sort of thing.

I keep my eyes peeled for coupons and will stockpile meats at lidl half price weekends. I also buy lots of fish which is often reduced as people don't know how to cook it