food budget

[cosmobrown]

Hi. Can people tell me how much they spend on food please?
Family of 4. Mum, Dad, 18yr old boy, 15 yr old girl.
I'm having to start budgeting for the first time.

Family of 4 (2 adults and 2 hungry boys 12&14) and 2 cats.

We shop at Tesco and at the moment are spending £90-110pw. I'm trying to keep it under £100 as I'm self employed and lost all income so we aren't going mad on treats / alcohol but don't feel like we're going without particularly. I do meal plan lunches and dinners and cook quite a bit from scratch including bread, cakes, batch cook meals etc.

My meal plan isn't set days as such but I do plan and buy for and cook 7 lunches & 7 dinners and we've been picking that morning which we fancy that day. Working very well for us as we have the time to cook same day and saves a lot of waste.

Another vote for Aldi. I love their stuff and have found them much better stocked than all the big supermarkets at the moment. I get the branded tins/cereals/sauces from the B&M next door and spend around £80-£100 a week for three adults, one teen and a fat dog.

It's more than doubled. We spent about £130 this week for two adults and two teenagers.

Only 2 adults and a cat here, but we spend about £50 a week, toiletries included. That's an average over a month. I batch cook so we might buy meat once a month, like a pack of mince, a chicken, chicken thighs and sausages, then those are cooked and eaten over the month, beside vegetarian and pulse based meals. Last night I made a root veg curry with rice, with two portions of curry put into the freezer for next week. We don't buy many treats or non essentials, which helps, and don't drink. There's no right way to budget, we all have different preferences and access to different shops.

Around 60/70 pw for 3 adults and 2 dogs.

Op it's been 3 weeks of lock down and a month before that when people started to lose jobs and business were closing.

Why did you not take action sooner to cut your food bill?

It is the easiest area to cut back in, especially when coming from a place of privilege and high spending. Obviously easier and possible to cut back a £200pw spend as opposed to having to cut down on a £40pw spend.

Anyway let's of tips on here.

just DP and I, no kids. During lockdown I'm doing £100 per fortnight to lessen the trips to supermarket, this is Aldi though, so cheaper. on the second week where I've run out of fresh veg I am using frozen spinach/ green beans/ sweetcorn and dried pulses. I've only had to spend £3 on top up veg. Do you have a big freezer? The good news is it's cheaper to buy in bulk so you can get the biggest blocks of cheese, pots of yoghurt, packs of mince/ sausages etc. Plan meals that use the same ingredients to reduce waste such as chilli/ spag bol/ shepherds pie one big packet of mince bulked out with appropriate veg, for example.

For us, Breakfasts are value porridge with frozen berries or value bran flakes (half the price of the granola we used to buy!) I get one freshly squeezed juice then a few cartons of cheap long life stuff to see us through.

I pre make make smoothie bags from pineapple, kiwis, frozen spinach ballsand freeze them, they make nice slushies mixed with cheap oj and water!

Lunches are something on toast - eggs/ beans/ cheese or home made soup

Dinners are cheap to make things like chicken curry w/ frozen spinach, lentil and spinach dahl, sausage and lentil casserole with mash, quorn chilli, toad in hole w/ frozen green beans..... I'm using lots of dried pulses as much cheaper than canned - black beans, chick peas, quesadillas, etc. It is do-able, you've just got to get into a sort of school dinners mindset to make them!

Also I think Jamie Oliver did a series on cheap family meals - may be worth looking it up!

Family of 4 here including a 19 and 15 yr old.

I meal plan for a week, working out what I need to use up. Since the eldest has been back from Uni it has been roughly £180 each week. Sometimes more, or less. This does include some wine and treats, and food for the cat. Eldest is also veggie, so I am buying extra products for her that I wouldn't normally.

I do also tend to buy extra each weeks, so normally every couple of weeks, my weekly shop may just be a 'top up' shop for £60 odd. This week I am using up odds and ends from the freezer and veg along with a small shop.

Today-Roast Chicken (plus vegetarian snags) Stuffing and gravy, Green Beans, Carrots, Broccoli, corn on the cob and Mash. (DP wont eat the broccoli, and DS won't eat the green beans!)

Tomorrow-Left over chicken and veg in a homemade pie (also veggie version), Frozen peas and roasted sweet potato.

Tuesday-Sausage/Veggie sausages, Quiche, Frozen chips and onion rings and sweetcorn.

Wed-Chilli Con Carne (plus portion of vegetarian chilli I batch cooked and froze last week) Rice and Nachos.

Thursday-Breaded chicken (also plant based soya version) Jacket Pots garlic butter and cheese, mixed salad.

Friday-Take-Away.

I have in the past, had to meal plan each week on a lot less money. I would buy a sack of potatoes and large box of chicken eggs from local farms for a start. Get a 3 for £10 meat deal in a supermarket. A decent selection of veg, herbs and cheap tinned tomatoes, value pasta, block of cheese etc and get inventive.

£200 per week family of 4, 2 teen boys and 2 cats. Used to be £180 every other week. Spending loads more during lockdown including alcohol!

wow. Thanks so much everyone. Really helpful. I will from now on meal plan, batch cook, and buy seasonally. Soups sound good too. I will also be dropping down the brand levels. We have an Aldi, so will go there for most stuff.

@cosmobrown. Good luck! I hope you’ll enjoy being more creative and resourceful with your budget.

2 adults,one 6 year old.£75 per week

We don't set a budget. Two adults, 1 dc. Usually spend between £100 - £150 a week. Cat food for 6 cats is extra.

Literally no offers on anything at the moment which is making things tricky. Normally I'd spend £90 a week at M&S for three of us and be fine. Now it's more like £200 a week at tesco's for bits and M&S for dinners. Can't sustain this much longer so child will be eating what's put in front of it unfortuantely. Am expecting riots

There are 6 in our house and we spend about £200 a week normally and now £250 to £300 a week now.

Family of 5. I aim for £70 a week on a Tesco shop. I have a discount card though and meal plan everything. I have £30 left for the week and use that for extra fruit/bread/milk if/when neeedes and buy alcohol if I fancy some that week.

What do people do if they don’t meal plan? How does shopping and eating work?

I go into the shop, have a look at the meat / fish section and see what looks nice / might be on offer / has long dates / we haven't had for a week or two then think about what veg I might prefer to go with the protein I've bought - so I might buy different veg if doing a casserole with some diced beef, from if I were grilling some fish.
There are some 'standard' items for every week - 'fruit' (though that will vary, depending what is in season and what is on offer or what looks nice); milk; cheese ; eggs; yoghurts; bread; etc
Then, people have written (non-weekly) items on a list which I take with me, as and when they've noticed something running low - flour, tea, dishwasher tablets, etc

Seems to me, that if you are rigid with your meal planning, you miss out on spotting something tasty looking that might not have been in your mind before you shop, but might be on offer when you get there. However, each to their own.

@HalfTermHalfTerm yes I understand that but I objected to the comment about not getting help from the govt because frankly they aren't in NEED of it with that level of regular income.

Assistance from the govt is for the most needy and very much finite.

As it is it's people like me who will be hit hardest when this govt tries to claw back what they're spending now when people like op will be back to work and their regular HIGH level of income.

So I felt that was an offensive comment to be honest.

@Ukholidaysaregreat thank you. I've been living on a tight budget the majority of my adult life yet dd and I always ate healthily and sufficiently. But I'm aware it can be a difficult change to make for those not used to it.

When baking, remember that older recipes tend to be more economical great tip & so true.

If googling preface recipe description with "basic" or "easy" to get the recipes with the least ingredients. A lot of the additional touches can be done without.

Label everything and know what’s in there. even I'm still learning and trying new things. I've bought "nest egg" app as it's just me now and I was struggling to keep on top of expiry dates as fresh is easier to get at the moment than long life stuff. The app lets you create an inventory - including expiry dates! And you get alerts (go into settings to set for how much notice you want, I've mine set at 3 days) when something getting close to date.

@TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 due to a drivers mishap recently I had a load of frozen fruit I wasn't used to using and had little freezer space! The thread I linked earlier the posters on there helped me come up with ideas and gave me the confidence to try new things.

At the grand old age of 47 I've just last week made jam for the first time ever! And it's yummy.

Graphista - then why not cap everyone who earns over £50k? Why just the self employed? I have friends who earn more than me, who have been furloughed, but can claim £2.5k per month. It's not fair. And believe me, we will be paying 40% tax when the income starts up again. (I believe that is more tax than you will be paying.) Some people earning £51k may not have much stashed away, and have a large family to feed.

Anyway, this isn't a political post.
I came on here to learn tips on how to budget my food shopping. Most people have been kind enough to share their wisdom. Thank you.

@ChrissieKeller61

child will be eating what's put in front of it unfortuantely. Am expecting riots

Needs must... and don't think of it as unfortunate... you are in control. I've always done this with my ds who is now 13 as I've always had to run a tight ship... it's extremely rare he doesn't eat the food I put in front of him but he understands I have limitations.
A treat in our house is a pizza night San Carlos pizza for 89p from Aldi which I serve with homemade potato wedges and salad.

You'll be fine

We all have different incomes... and we all have different outgoings... it's all relative to each families circumstance so we should not be judgemental. We are all in this together, in all shapes and forms

@BackforGood

I meal plan but you have also raised a good point in that it can stop you looking at 'deals of the day' etc if you're not careful

@cosmobrown

wow. Thanks so much everyone. Really helpful. I will from now on meal plan, batch cook, and buy seasonally. Soups sound good too. I will also be dropping down the brand levels. We have an Aldi, so will go there for most stuff

Yes, and please try Aldi, I don't think you'll be disappointed

£100 for us. Family of 4 with two teenage boys. Spend more with extra treats and takeaways thrown in usually but obviously not happening at all now. Like people say meal planning is the best thing you can do. I usually shop in Sainsburys and manage a couple of bottle of wine on that amount too.