250£/week on groceries for 2 people!

[FrogOnSaturn]

How crazy is it? We buy everything organic and don't have ready meals.
Strictly speaking, we can afford it (i.e. we still can save some money at the end of the month), yet it seems to me quite of a huge amount. Unfortunately it's not something I can control, since she manages the orders. I read that 2 people should spend around 100 a week!
We are in London.
Note: the bill also include shower gel, toilet rolls. etc...

Well, not to get all playground on you, but you quoted me first 🤣

We’ll agree to disagree on the rest.

What the actual....get a grip mate

If you can afford that much every week, then I presume you live in a nice house with an impressive kitchen? If so, why aren't you getting all Nigella and quirky and interesting with cheaper, different, exciting fun options that will take you away from the cliched unimaginative and expensive boxed food con? Are you drones who've given up on life? I've noticed that many wealthy people stop thinking for themselves and unconsciously become the slaves of those they think are theirs.

OP, we spent around £250 a week for 4 but not organic though, so definitely would be more if I do organic only. If you can afford it then it’s ok, but if you want to save for retirement then there are definitely places to cut back. Meals plans and batch cooking, try it, you will be amazed how much you can save. No need to be stressed if it’s affordable, sit down with your DP and make a weekly food budget and only shops ingredients on the meal plan.

Op, compares with others seems pointless as each household has different circumstances, besides London is expensive. Dose this £250 a week including takeaways??

But there's only so much food a person can eat and fairly reliable data as to how much typical household types spend on groceries. £250 pw for a couple is probably comfortably around three times the national average, so a lot of scope to cut back if there's other equally important ways of spending their money (the OP mentions wanting to save for retirement or holidays).

London isn't any more expensive for groceries anyway, in fact it's probably cheaper than a lot of places because there's more choice and more likely to be near the cheaper supermarkets, whereas a lot of rural/remote areas have a Co-op and a Tesco if they're lucky.

@FrogOnSaturn

BTW you can "afford" 250£ a week + rent with around 2500£/month, which is around what 2 people with minimum wage (WITHOUT KIDS) could afford. Obviously they can't save for retirement or have holidays, hence my worries.

OP if as a couple you're unable to save for retirement or holidays or maybe buy a place of your own rather than rent I wonder whether you can afford to pay so much on food. £250/week for only two adults sounds profligate to me (sorry), especially with Cost of Living - especially energy costs - so high currently. What happens if one of you becomes too ill to work - would the other partner be able to manage at the same level of spending on one wage? 🌹

So true.

Probably be cheaper

Not sure if organic food is worth it given you can’t afford anything else, let alone private dentist or retirement in the future😵‍💫

Okay, your partner is a food snob, I get that, but you need to have a conversation about how her high food standards is affecting the rest of your quality of living and saving for your future.

Sometimes it's alright to have beans on toast, even if they have to be organic.

The other really important thing is to not put all your shopping in one basket. Eg:

I only buy my body creams (usually £6) when they are on discount, I get through one a week (v dry skin), I am on six different websites until I see the discount then I order half a year's worth at once

Same with the deodorant my OH needs

Same with shower gel I need

I can tell you which of the main supermarkets does the best quality bin liners at the cheapest price at any one point in time

Same applies to cleaning products

Most of the time, own brand dishwasher tablets, laundry liquid etc are absolutely fine (the exception being fairy liquid) - do you buy big brands for all this stuff?

I don't buy shitty supermarket tin foil anymore, I am very aware of their price rises, I buy massive catering rolls of good quality that will last a year

I can see it's easily possible to spend what you have spent and when the OH and I were in London, we were doing over 1200 a month before I cracked down and now, if I really want to, I can get it below £600.

The devil is in the detail and the planning. Because I never allow myself to run out of anything I always have time to plan to buy lots of whatever that expensive thing is at the lowest possible price. Appreciate that might not be so practical in London with little storage space, but even when I lived there, I would still physically visit 4 to 5 different supermarkets a month to take advantage of discounts of things we need.

It takes time and planning but the effort is well worth it.

I don’t think I could use £250 of food every week if I tried, that seems like a huge amount to spend on fresh produce organic or not. We spend around £120 a week for 3 of us, no ready meals, fruit and veg, organic meat. Do you have a lot of food waste?

Im in Portugal at the moment, but supermarket prices are pretty similar (maybe even more expensive).
I spend about €30 a week, and this includes wine and beer (which are cheaper here than in the UK). Some weeks, when Im more "depleted" it might be 60, but then the next week I might not even go to the supermarket.

I cook from scratch, always take packed lunches (mostly of actual food, not just sandwiches) and rarely order takeaway. This is just for me, but youre spending more than double PER WEEK than I spend in a MONTH!
If I was shopping for 2, it would be about 240 per month! Still less than you spend each week!

@ASGIRC interesting that you stated you actually cook. I always wonder how anybody is managing to spend such large amounts on a food shop unless it's mainly ready meals in the trolley.

@Flowersun6 I mean... I always have some fish fingers and chicken nuggets in the freezer for a lazy day, maybe Ill buy a frozen pizza every once in a while.
But I actually enjoy cooking and its sooooo much cheaper!
Im on my own, but I always batch cook, so it works out pretty cheap!

That’s very high OP.
£100 as you stated would also be high but given the shops you go to and that you buy organic probably about where you should be.
The saving per week of £150 x 50 wks ( allow for splash out for celebrations ) would give you £7500/yr to go on holiday or add to the pension fund. Maybe that figure would encourage your partner to economise on food.

We have 4 adults in our house me, dh and 2 x 19yr olds. Food spend for all meals including lunches is £100/ wk. However we are vegetarian, make our own protein (seitan) , cook from scratch, grow some herbs and veg and shop in Aldi mainly.

As I’ve never shopped in acado, I can’t sleep, and was curious how much a shop might be I just did an online shop. (Not actually buying it )
The things we do for fun eh🫤
I pretended I ate fish ( couldn’t bring myself to put meat in though ), bought all organic and chose stuff I’d never even had before. Shiitake mushrooms, mussels. There’s smashed avocado on bagels and salmon and cream cheese bagels for the weekends. I’ve put in expensive muesli and extra berries and seeds. Lots of organic fruit and veg Oh! just realised I forgot milk but the eggs are really unusual. I put in foil and toilet roll but no toiletries. I added one super expensive bar of organic chocolate. The birds are singing and it’s now 5am which is a good enough excuse for forgetting the odd thing.
The shop came to just less than £200. Which is crazy money, but I can now see how it can be achieved under the criteria which your partner uses.

So I live in a foodie spot in South London (read expensive) and buy everything from our high street butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer, cheese monger and baker. M&S is our high street supermarket. It’s three of us and I think we spend around gbp 120 a week (breakfast, dinner and some lunches)

For veg and fruit, I keep it simple and in season. I never buy fruit that’s out of season for example or expensive tomatoes. For meat, I’d never buy sirloin for example. I’ll buy bavette (skirt). And we always buy a full chicken instead of expensive chicken breasts. Cheese is an occasional treat.

We don’t buy toiletries other than soap bars, shampoo and toothpaste. Toilet paper is from who gives a crap? For cleaning products, we’re sparing and always go for offers.

i think supermarkets make you buy more. You need to switch to a more mindful shopping experience.

Unlikely your partner really can taste the difference on all things. Much more likely she's extremely gullible.

You must live somewhere very different - where I am, organic is in vastly more packaging. I don't buy it for that reason.

Have you seen the receipts? Do you know the 250 a week is all food etc?

My household is 2 adults we spend £120 a month on food so £30pw
Alcohol Is about £50 a month this includes a drink out on occasions