I shop and meal plan for me, dh and toddler dd.
Typical shop:
15 Eggs
Butter x 2
Full fat milk (loads of it!)
2 types of fruit - typically satsumas and bananas but sometimes grapes, plums, kiwis - on offer on rotation at 49p in Tesco.
A huge joint of meat - chicken, leg of lamb, whatever's on offer, but pork is by far the cheapest - gammon joint, leg of pork, shoulder of pork is the cheapest of all.
Sausages or bacon
Mince
Onions
Mushrooms
A green veg e.g. Broccoli, cabbage
A red/orange veg e.g. Butternut squash/carrots/peppers
Potatoes - big bag of plain ones
Big carton of plain Greek yoghurt - for desserts /breakfast with honey, dried fruit, nuts.
Bread
Big block of cheddar.
Every fortnight or so - 4x tins chopped toms, multi pack tuna in spring water tins, pasta. Sparkling water.
Every now and then 'cupboard bits' e.g. Honey, nuts, sultanas, noodles, ginger root, garlic, any spices thatve run out, rice, cous cous, lentils, flour, squash.
I roast the joint, then serve some cold,as leftovers, then usually put the rest in a pie. Make own pastry, flour water and butter, short crust isn't hard. Chuck the mushrooms in, they're good with chicken or pork. If we've had lamb or beef as the joint, probably make leftovers into a curry with lentils and green veg instead. So that's three meals.
Sausages with mash, or baked with squash, or pasta - squeeze the,sausage meat out of the skins in bite size pieces not a hot pan, fry, add garlic, onion, whatever veg you've got, tinned toms and chilli. Toss the pasta through. Usually i buy a big pack of sausages so might do two out of those sausage dishes.
The other two nights varies - if there's lots of mushrooms left, mushroom stroganoff. Lots of veg left, stir fry - buy a sachet of sauce for 50p or make one out of chilli, ginger, garlic, soy sauce. Or tuna mayo jacket potatoes.
We do often eat with my mum and dad one day a week though. Also on the 'every now and then' list, a multi pack of fish fingers or chicken dinners for days when you really can't be fucked.
Our budget for shopping weekly is £50 but that's for all groceries, toiletries, loo roll, washing powder. And now and,again we have to buy tea bags, salt, random things like that but they only come up every 4 months or so because i buy the huge sacks of tea bags. On weeks where all the cupboard things run out at once, w spend £50-60. But on other weeks I spend £40. And we could go cheaper by eating less meat (but we don't want to), or by not buying free range. We eat very well imo and large portions.
Tips: Plan every meal and make a list with everything you'll need. Check if you've got something before you put it down and assess if you can substitute - e.g. I dont buy sour cream just to put a spoonful in stroganoff when we've got yoghurt which will do.
I always buy veg in the reduced section or frozen if possible, always look at the price per kg of e.g. Carrots, onions, potatoes. Never buy any brands at all. 'treat' veg like asparagus and anything else that costs a bomb is only for special occasions!
This works for us because I am at home most of the time, like cooking and know how to cook. Also because we're not paid weekly - if i run out of everything at once, I can spend £60 one week and £30 the next and still be fine. It is much much harder if you're on a very low income because you can't make bulk buy savings etc, but it doesn't sound like that's you.
Good luck!