Weekly food shop

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At the minute I am attempting to work out a food budget for DP and myself. We are planning on moving in together in May or June and money will be tight so I want to have a good idea of our outgoings to make sure we will be able to cover them.

At present we havn't found anywhere yet but as we will be spending a fair amount on rent (due to the area) I want to atleast try to keep money down elsewhere!

We are both currently living with family and just pay housekeep and although we have both lived alone/with flatmates before we probably had a bit more disposable income then so budgeting was not a big concern. I know I used to eat out a lot and buy food I didn't use.

So basically I don't really have a realistic view of what a 'normal' spend is for food for 2 and would love to hear other peoples. Also not sure how/if I should menu plan? Does this help people to keep costs down?

I just heard on Superscrimpers that the average weekly household food shop is £53!!

For a family of 3 we usually spend between £65 and £100 (depending if I shop at Aldi/Lidl or Asda/Sainsburys) but that includes toiletries and other household stuff as well. Am going to try to whittle it down to the average over the next few weeks and see how I get on!

I find that a flexible kind of menu planning works best for us - I will plan for about 4 dinners a week and the other evenings will fall into place either eating leftovers or rustling up something snacky from what we've got. If you plan 7 meals you will undoubtedly end up not eating some and then wasting the food you've bought. But if you don't plan at all then it's just chaotic and ends up with lots of midweek top up shopping trips which all adds up

Aldi/Lidl will save you tons as you don't get tempted by all the extras. I am on a money saving kick atm and have pledged no more Asda or Sainsbury's except for extras I can't get in Aldi

We spend around £20-£30 per week on shopping and eat a well balanced healthy diet with lots of variety. The majority of meals I cook from scratch and treats are often purchased in larger quantities when they are on special offer. I work part time and can afford to spend time going to different supermarkets and cooking home made dinners. My Sister spends anything from £50-£75 shopping for two and doesn't have the time to do this. They eat much the same every week and shop in the one supermarket.

Aldi I have recently frequented and been pleased with the quality of most items and find a considerable price difference.

Asda and Tesco do the price comparison online voucher systems and I have been lucky a few times with this.

It takes effort to have a low shopping cost but it can be done and doesnt need to be on budget meals.

You need to do a meal plan every week.

I do mine on a Thursday to shop on a Friday, I look through the cupboards, fridge & freezers to work out what I already have and then shop around that.

I have a list of regular meals that I cok through the week and pick off that depending on what I already have.

sharond101 that is amazingly low - where am I going wrong? I cook everything from scratch, I don't buy many treats, and we don't have much meat. my weekly food shop does all our meals including all breakfasts and lunches (which are mainly leftovers).

How do you manage to keep your spend so low?

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the info and suggestions.

I am going to try to keep food budget and the budget for household stuff/toletries seperate as this will probably change considerably come August when we will need nappies etc! Also because I find things like cotton pads, baby wipes etc are much cheaper if bought in places like Home Bargains; so might try to do that part of the shopping seperately if time allows.

Looking at weekly meal plans now for inspiration. Think a rough plan like Bibbo suggests will work quite well for us as we will probably spend some evenings at parents/friends or won't eat together due to work etc so a rigid 7 day plan would probably lead to waste.

Ave £50 per week for family of 3 (DS is 8), approx 70% of which is organic. I used to spend more (about £65), but since going organic I've been more careful about what I buy, getting seasonal fresh produce as its much cheaper, and meal planning so avoiding so much waste. I also tend to buy the cheaper cuts of meat, and make a lot of use of my slow cooker and freezer (bulk buy things when on offer). We're on limited income at moment, so for me the easiest way to make sure I don't go over budget is to take the cash out at the start of the month - I'm far less likely to just throw things in the trolley if I know I've only got a set amount of cash with me!

zippy that's really encouraging that you manage to buy so much organic on a budget.

Think taking money out may help me too, I have a bad habit of spending any which way if I am using a card as it doesn't feel like 'real money'

Other top tip is always going shopping without DH - he chucks random things in the trolley and I only find them at the checkout!

I can just imagine DP being the same! We nipped into Tesco last week for a packet of pasta and he came out with an actual feast. Ice cream, m&m's and diet come were amongst the more sensible choices!

And by diet come I obviously meant coke! Oops!

Bibbo, I have an eye for a good offer! In the supermarket I know where the sections are where stock is marked down to clear. Often this is because it is approaching its use by date, they have an excess or the packaging is in some way damaged. I find this saves lots of money and means we eat high quality meals for a fraction of the normal cost. I work a few evenings each week and straight afterwards pop into the the supermarket which seems to be a good time for the final markdowns. The other night I got 4 uncooked chicken breasts (bashed packet) for 50p, 250g braising steak (next day expiry) for 60p, 10 uncooked chicken thighs (bashed packet) for 50p, 2 cooked chickens (excess stock) for 99p each, 2 slices whiting (excess stock) 45p and a packet of duck spring rolls for 45p. Also got 2 french bread sticks for 15p each, packet of 4 baguettes 25p and some mini bread batons 29p for 6. DH loves rice which is economical, I prefer bread to potatoes and a much adored dish is pasta mixed with pesto and some veg and shredded chicken which I worked out cost 22p per portion. We don't drink squash rather than fizzy juice or alcohol. We make good use of our freezer and visit stores such as B&M bargains where you can get Walkers crisps for 10p per bag and groceries for a fraction of the supermarket cost. Last night DH had steak pie made with braising steak and another portion is in freezer, I had some of the cooked chicken with french bread and salad. Tonight we had chicken kebabs with rice and veg. We eat really well. Lunch is either leftovers, salads or sandwiches. Breakfast porridge. We don't need to scrimp on shopping. We both just enjoy getting a good deal and would rather stock up the freezer than pay over the odds. It's often said in my family that my freezer is the most impressive anyone has seen. We are going to invest in a chest freezer when we get more space and make more use of the offers as sometimes I just don't have the room.

Depends entirely where you shop. I've just done our main shop in Lidl £44 and then spent another £14 in sainsburys. We don't have takeaways but both children usually have school dinners.

As for meal plans tonight we're having lemon chicken risotto,
Thu Gammon & Pineapple (special request by DS)
Fri Bangers & Mash
Sat Chicken Fajitas
Sun Roast Pork

Mmmmm lemon chicken risotto - can you post the recipe?

Will try later, off on the school run now. Its another special request from DS and must admit it is very nice. Got the recipe from this book which I got for the bargain price of £3 .

Absolutely meal plan - we'd be all at a loss without it. Don't forget lunches, breakfasts and snacks too.

My latest trick is writing my list the estimating cost at the side for each item. When in the shop, I only pay my estimate or less and can be confident that the total will never go over what I can afford. Works so so well.

We can get away with £50/week for two adults and a child. With an occasional bigger spend when needed - say £70/80 every 6 weeks or so.

This month (I do a monthly 'big shop') I've spent about £180 for three of us (two adults - one heavily pregnant and greedy, one active, food loving toddler)

That's £45 a week roughly, but that includes two packs of nappies, a hair dye, laundry stuff, 3 lots of vitamins, maternity pads and extra supplies of medicines (paracetamol and ibuprofen for DD), fruit juice (we usually only get squash) and some treats!

That's what I'd usually spend but we've got WAY more for our money, mainly because after reading the Aldi thread I had the sense to shop around. Most of the things I've listed above we don't usually get but I'm stocking up as I'm 35w pregnant and so want to get stuff in just in case this one appears before I get the April shop done!

Through the month we'll top up if we need to, with bread, fruit/veg and fresh stuff from the mouldy stall at Tesco :)

Lemon chicken risotto does sound gorgeous Jilted

Thanks for the suggestion Vickity that sounds like a good idea writing estimates at the side...we used to do that when I was at uni and we did a big shop for the flat but I'd forgotten about it! I actually quite enjoyed food shopping then!

Also hadn't really considered lunches etcmuch so thanks for the reminder. DP is a terror for snacking!

Fliss didn't know you were pg . Missed the Aldi thread, what was that about?

JiltedJohnsJulie Enormously so, am going to explode soon with gigantic baby if the MWs are to be believed

There was a thread a few days ago about whether Aldi was cheaper than the main supermarkets, I hijacked it by banging on about Lidl and halfway through I had a revelation about how to manage with a buggy, no car and the ridiculous lack of baskets in our local one.

I would think if you set a budget of £40 a week it would be plenty.

We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 7/6/4yr old kids) and we spend in the region of £70 a week. Some weeks its as low as £50 others as high as £80 depending on where I shop and what I buy.

I always menu plan, but if I see things reduced, will bung them in the freezer for the following week.

As we are restricted to Tesco, Co-op or Lidl here, I tend to shop at Lidl and then anything I cant get there, I go to Tesco for.

I usually price up my shopping online with Tesco, and it usually comes to around £90. I then go to Lidl, and into Tesco, and it is usually at LEAST £25 cheaper!

That's good to hear Fliss £45 a week sounds do-able. Especially if we can manage nappies etc in that. Would be great!

I am fairly limited here too Mouse but theres a Tesco and a Lidl close by so will definitely try to get the majority in Lidl and top-up in Tesco.

Whenever I lived on my own I did all my food shopping in M&S and never really gave a thought to budgeting. I didn't know I was living then!

Fliss if it wasn't for the fact that you are heavily pregnant I would start to suspect that you are actually me . I love Lidl .

How are you going to manage Lidl? Would DC1 go in the trolley and baby in a sling? Must admit that when DC2 was born I got a milkman so at least I didn't have to carry all the milk home .

DD will be in her buggy and DC2 will go in the sling, yes. I will continue with the collapsible-basket-on-the-top-and-then-underneath-to-walk-home system.

I only really go for bits, if I can't manage it on the buggy it doesn't get bought. The main or heavy shopping I leave for DH and the car