Weekly or monthly budget for food

[JaneBanks]

Looking for some advice/help! Currently on mat leave and about to drop to stat pay so looking to cut our expenses. Please could you tell me your weekly or monthly food expenses? I would just be buying for DH and me, we're going to track it carefully and have at least one or two veggie meals a week too.

What do you need to include? Nappies / formula / food for baby?

Family of four plus dog and spend £400pm.

You will get wildly differing answers here!

£35 per week for DH and me (no kids yet). This is careful shopping at Asda/Lidl and getting Cleaning supplies, cosmetics, shampoo etc. at somewhere like Savers or Poundland.

Family of 4 teens, 1 adult (me), 2 teenies , 1 dog, 1 hamster.

Food and household items (not nappies/wipe etc) £130-£140 per week.

Average Uk food shop for family of 4 is £53.20 per week. If you live in the North East it would be £5 less....not because food costs less but because they shop differently...
This average includes wine. but my shop does not.

Eating veggie only saves money if you use frugal receipes...if you are into posh ingredients it won't help the budget much.

If you have time and like cooking from scratch you will save more...but sometimes convenience is worth it eg if you make your own loaf of white bread from tesco ingredients you can do it for 42p
...but whether it is worth the 7p saving on their budget white bread would depend on your perspective.

why not work out what you will have to spend. Take off your outgoings and see what you have left....put some aside for emergencies and then budget and plan and shop within that budget.

You need to meal plan weekly. Have one delivery of shopping based on your meal plan and any staples and household items you need. Don't do any top ups. Check the back of packets to ensure you're buying the cheapest comparable own brand (for example Tesco cream cheese us £1, Tesco budget cream cheese is 50p, back of pack ingredients are identical). Include lots of cheap meals in your plan such as:

• cheese omelettes, oven chips and peas
• sausage and lentil casserole and rice
• pasta with bacon and broccoli
• Shepherds pie
• Briam and salad

Etc.

Biggest saving trick is to stop buying readymade stuff and big brands.

Family of 3 - Me, DH & DS age 6.

I plan our meals weekly & only buy what I need for those meals.

DS has free school dinners & DH buys lunch at the canteen at work - which comes out of his pocket & not the house / shopping budget.

I also batch cook & freeze leftovers for another day or I might eat leftovers the following day for lunch.

Typical weekly spend is around £60, however about once a month the shop will cost £80 for extras i.e. Toiletries/ cleaning products.

Great, thank you! Was not including baby spends as he's only 3 months and it keeps differing so we're keeping his budget separate! Trying to iron out ours and want to start weekly meal planning but just trying to get an idea of other people's so I can try and set a framework to work within!

We live in Scotland and I like cooking from scratch (within reason). Going to try and start batch cooking on Sundays too but luckily with being off work just now I have the time.

I spend about 50 pound week for me dh and ds from Aldi that's mainly fresh stuff I rarely but frozen apart from chips and peas

Meal planning will be your best friend when it comes to food budgeting!!! You only buy what you need for that week.
I have £350 a month for food shopping and we are 2 adults, 2 children ages 6,3yrs. I shop in Tesco once a month for a bigger shop and then generally shop in Aldi other weeks and just pick up odd bits in Tesco that I can’t get in Aldi.
I am usually in and around budget give a tenner either side!!
I meal plan all evening meals for the week and have a mental note of what lunches are available. X

Oh and the above include food/household and toiletries. X

Slow cookers are useful. I make veg casserole, sausage and lentil casserole. I make quite a bit and freeze the extra in portions. Economical and it means you have an easy dinner for another day

Budget £80 per wk 3 adults inc packed lunch ..Then £60 extra on smellies,pet food and poundland inc afew bottles of wine and beer. 2 teenage boys so loads of milk and ceral .. 😢😢😢😢