to think that £500 is far too much to spend on groceries in a month?

[fartlek]

I just totted up what I spent at supermarkets this month and realised that this is why I am £20 away from the end of my overdraft the day before payday. DH has also bought groceries this month so this isn't even our entire bill! We don't share accounts so it gets a bit murky as to who spends how much on what (this is a whole other thread to be started in relationships, we won't go there just now) but I'm pretty sure this is extortionate.
I have never been much of a budgetter when it comes to food shopping, I just buy what we need and try not to go for the most expensive item. What do others spend if I may ask?

OP I would be very happy to get all my groceries for £500 pm, I spend a lot more. But I very much agree with PickaChew saying if it's leaving you short then it is too much.

wayfareresonbaby I couldn't agree more with your posts, I cannot understand how people say they eat well when they spend so little. I also spend at least £30 a week on fruit and veg for 2 adults and 2 dc, I can't see how it can be done cheaper. I would love someone to show me how to feed my family well for under £100 a week.

My local market sells huge buckets of seasonal veg for £1 a bucket. For £10 you could feed your family a fantastic variety of fruit and veg for weeks. I occasionally go there, spend £15, prep and freeze the majority of the veg (as it really doesn't keep) and then I'm sorted for ages. Also, Aldi does their super 5 for 59p - including figs this week(!) You can feed your family 5+ a day on a small budget but you have to be prepared to either eat without much variety (lots of kale/cabbage/sprouts in the winter) or do the legwork to find the cheapest options. Which, to be fair, a lot of people don't have time for. Doesn't mean it's not doable though.

Scrap my earlier comment - it's more like £400 a month, maybe slightly more. That's for two adults, two teenagers and a 7 year old, with dog, guinea pigs and fish as pets. Some pet stuff e.g. bedding and hay is bought separately though.

My local market does £1 buckets too, it is neither local nor seasonal though, it's whatever the import warehouses need to offload after the supermarkets have rejected stuff.

I buy the £1 buckets but you have to either use or freeze quickly as it's usually about to turn.

One adult and 2 dc. 65 pounds a week.

I have spent about £25 a week, over the last 3-4 months - 2 adults, mostly wine . BUT this is because I grow a lot of my own food and summer is consequently really cheap and we live like kings! It is more in the winter.

I don't think modern frozen and canned food is nearly as bad as it used to be in nutritional terms? They freeze things so quickly now. And it can be so very much cheaper.

OP, why not catch the last few episodes of Eat Well For Less on iPlayer? There are so many tips for cutting down on the weekly grocery bill and how to eat well. Well worth watching.

It's quite normal

£260 per month for 2 adults and a toddler. todder eats at Nursery 3 days per week but the £260 includes all groceries (incl alcohol and nappies), not just food.

I spend 75 ish for a toddler and 3 year old one teen and me a oh

Monday pulled pork and sweet Potatoe fries home made
Tuesday salmon , salad and garlic bread
Today stake bake with beans and mash
Thursday were having chilli con Cani. With rice
Friday is pizza nite sanburys to do a massive made in store pizza with hot wings for about £7
Saturday patsa with sun dried toms with flatbread
Sunday a roast

Some examples of my dinners in case any one things really we eat shit from Iceland

It can be done but it takes one to be orgnized and a comptant cook

Op I get a lot of things reduced if fact i often plan my weekly meals around what I can get reduced today I got 24 chocolate cakes for 75p

If you can be arsed you can get some really good stuff you don't have to fight it out with crowd at 7 most shops often discount half price around 2-3

Some of the bits I have gotten my self

We spend £120 a week. That is for all food, household, toiletries and treats for 2 adults, 2 teens, and 3 little ones. Not including lunches for DH and 2 teens. The big teen eats and eats and eats.

I cook most meals from scratch and I make cakes and things maybe twice a week. We have one bottle of wine a week.

If things are not going out of date i usually buy loads

We often eat better then if I have to do a "norma" shop with no discounts

You can freeze the meat I got 17 litres of long life milk 2 months ago for £4 most people walk stright past the bargain bins and pick up exactly the same for full price I even manged to get 64 Nappies for £3 yesterday Somone had opened the pack there were about 2 missing so it was makes down even today I manged to get party bits for 10. Children including invites , hats and parts bag bits for £2.56 from wilko

Most shops will have a reduced section

Around 400 including nappies for two DCs.

That's a lot! But I guess it depends on your lifestyle. With kids, pets, and if you include toiletries, you might also include some homeware and ocassionally clothes if you're browsing those aisles, it's also possible to get stuck down the books & DVD sections...

Strictly food, I budget at £160 (2 adults) a month, but currently come in way under ~£100pm because the other adult doesn't always eat at home, and has had very few meals here recently.
I despise food waste so I often do "cupboard shops" rather than go to the shops, to use up anything that might be nearing the end of its life. I have a lot of vegetable based meals too, I don't always have meat.
Last week, the only item of food that didn't manage to make it into a breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dish or snack was half a broccoli that went yellow before I could use it. That was the only wasted food.
I think being more conscious of what you're bringing in helps. Of course, that does mean relying on the people you live with to be organised and let you know what they're doing so you can plan around everyone. The only time I ever have big waste (for ex. throwing out a pack of gone off meat) is if I've consciously planned to use something on a certain day and then all of a sudden OH throws a spanner in the works and says plans have changed. Not the end of the world but does contribute to waste of food and money.

I make smaller portions these days too and have leftovers. Saves cooking the next day, means I'm eating and consuming less, and spending less.

Could you get your family on board to help you get organised and meal plan more efficiently, to have less uneaten leftovers and less uneaten food in the fridge by the end of the week?

I keep a good stock of oils, spices, and dairy products - all the bits to create a good basis for a meal but always aim to eat all my fresh stuff up, and try to aim to eat dry goods within a reasonable time frame so I don't have pulses, beans and grains languishly at the back of the cupboard if I don't plan to actually use them. More cupboard space, and more money in my pocket!

It's definitely hard to change how you consciously consume, it's an effort you have to get in to the habit of.

By the time our bins are emptied, some fortnights it's barely 1/4 full (others it's closer to half full). It's noticably reduced drastically.

poster bluesbaby Wed 28-Sep-16 14:59:15

Everything you said with bells on

I think people often buy with out doing a list only to discover you already have 5 at home I only buy more of somthing of its on offer if it's a staple

Also buying eating meat everyday can be pricey it can be diffcult to think out of the box with meals

Op what are your children like with grazing we don't allow it so that brings the bill down loads if your simply rebuying everything eveyry couple of days that will be pricey

Woah that's a lot. What are you buying???
We spend £130 on a big shop then about £30 a week on fresh veg and treats. We are vegan though so we don't buy any meat or fish but we do buy organic and vegan treats like nutrional yeast and cheese which is quite expensive. I actually thought we spent loads for two people.

We spend £300 a month for DH, me and the cat. And that's breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week with no alcohol, and we don't buy fruit of any kind. I can't get it any lower or DH just starts buying takeaways at the end of the month.

Classic scenario in our house:

OH looks in fridge, says "There's nothing to eat - I'm going out to buy a burger do you want something?"

Me - "No, I'll cook, do you want the same as me?"

OH - "No, I'll be back in a minute"

30 minutes later... I'm eating a home cooked meal and OH looks jealously at the food. "I didn't know we had that!"

"Did you look in the cupboard?"

"No... but you have [insert item]!"

"Did you look in the freezer?"

"No... but even if I had I didn't know you could make that!"

Me:

No imagination whatsoever... you do need to be creative sometimes to use up existing ingredients.

I am near Edinburgh, family of 5 with pets & we are around £500 per 28 days.

Roughly 60 a week. Me, DP and DD. I shop at Aldi or Lidl. Buy at least 3 different meats, but the bigger packs so I can half them, frozen chicken breasts, and bulk bread, I freeze the loafs too. The colemans/maggie meal kits that come with the bag are fab if youre stuck or feeling lazy. B&M and places like that usually have them for 50p

We spend £80 per week ish - depending on if we have lots of treats on the weekend top up shop (Supposed to only buy bread and milk, but then waffles... etc etc).

This includes nappies, wet wipes, cleaning stuff, shampoo and so on. We are 2 adults and 2,5 year old who eats like a horse.

Depends what you eat and drink. It doesn't sound crazy to me. But, we spend about £700 but have cut down from £1k. Sounds a lot but there is a lot of wine in that and we entertain a lot. There are 2 adults 2 hungry boys and 2 cats. I cook from scratch but we eat a lot of fruit and drink a fair bit of wine.

That sounds like an awful lot to me.
I am a childminder and have 3 children here 5 days a week eating breakfast lunch and tea and one other child having just tea 3 days a week. Then there is me, my partner and our Samoyed dog (on a raw food diet). Our food bill is very rarely over £200 a month including cleaning products and toiletries. It's usually £40 a week-ish. We do shop at Aldi but still, sounds very expensive.