Food bills out of control!

[BaitandSwitch]

There are just two of us in this house, but our monthly food bills seem to be way, way over line compared to just about everyone else we know. Spending £500 a month on food (exc. alcohol and household products) is normal, yet we do most of our shopping at Aldi!
We do eat well - plenty of food, fish, meat, fruit and vegatables and we are healthy and slim. But I don't understand it, as we don't waste much at all. I am however going to keep receipts for the next 4 weeks and monitor spend, but somehow I think this is just the way it is?

Are there any other big food spenders out there?

What do you eat?

That does seem a lot, I would class us as big spenders on food and we spend more like £350-£400 p/month on food for 2 adults excluding cleaning stuff and pet food, but including some alcohol. I guess it's a bit different in that I am mainly veggie (although DH is a big meat eater) so we will save compared to you, but the meat we do buy is organic and we mainly shop in Waitrose....

I guess the main question is does it bother you what you are spending, can you afford it? If you can easily afford it and are happy with what you eat then it doesn't really matter that you spend more than your friends. Food is both really important for health and also (IMO) for happiness so it makes sense to spend more in this area to me than on say clothes, or holidays (although of course we all make our own priorities).

If you did want to save money, I think I would advise the following (which all have environmental benefits as a side note):

-Reduce your meat consumption, especially red meat and expensive/prime cuts. Investigate using cheaper cuts of meat (if saving money isn't the prime consideration you could 'trade up' to cheaper cuts but higher welfare/organic meat), so perhaps stewing beef rather than steak, or brisket or a roasting joint rather than mince. Albeit Aldi is not the best for getting the less common cuts (I love Aldi in other ways, don't take this as an Aldi slag-off) - you might want to try an online butcher/meat delivery if you have freezer space to buy a big order? Try introducing veggie days, beans and pulses are dirt cheap sources of protein compared to meat, and much much better for the planet too.

-For fish, try and avoid premium over-fished or expensively farmed things like sea bass and tiger prawns, and go for lesser known/less popular fish such as coley, pollack, hake, basa. Again you might need to try a fishmonger or supermarket with a fish counter for some of this rather than Aldi. Frozen fish is also often cheaper than fresh and just as good...

-Reduce consumption of out of season and expensive fruits and vegetables, try and stick to in season British fruit in particular. Things like soft fruit, tropical fruit, out of season berries, avocados are quite resource intensive to grow/transport to the UK and cost accordingly. If you do get tired of apples and pears (in the winter especially) try buying canned, frozen or dried fruits rather than fresh.

-Buy in bulk where you can, reduces packaging and shipping costs and saves you money too. Aldi is not great here as usually you can only buy quite small packets, I buy things like pasta, rice, dried beans and pulses and some canned goods online.

I think we spend a lot on food as well. Just the two of us and we spend roughly £400-£450 per month. Like yourselves, we eat healthily and are slim but we do love cooking and food.

We wanted to cut down so recently worked out a budget where we spend £50 for food Sunday-Thursday and then £25 for Friday-Saturday. This would keep us to about £300 per month. Any alcohol and household goods like tp, kitchen roll, etc would be on top of that.

Then I got pregnant...then COVID happened where I've been furloughed since March, cue a lot of snacking! So budget is out the window currently. But maybe working towards a budget like that would help?

We shop at Tesco, fwiw.

Thanks everyone for all your comments so far. I agree with Maxelly that we could change to different meats & fish though sadly my husband doesn't like lentils very much and if defo a confirmed carnivore! We do a lot of cooking from scratch so not much in the way of processed food.
I know you could buy, say, family pizza for pennies which will feed 4 people but that to us is not quality food. Thanks goodness, Otterbaby that we aren't the only ones spending a fortune on food!
Yes we can afford it (and it has gone up since Covid) but it would be nice if we could cut costs a bit and use the money elsewhere ...

Break it down into breakfast, lunch and dinner and see if that sheds any light. It might be that you could, for example, simplify lunches if you are spending a lot on deli bits and bobs.

Do you limit carbs? That tends to push your spend up. And fresh fish tends to cost a lot, but it is good food.

I’m similar and I live alone! I’m going to start actual menu planning and doing an online shop every week. I think picking up “a few bits” every day or so adds up .

Deffo think the contributing factors for me:
Organic meat and dairy.
No ready meals but a lot of pre-chopped/packaged stuff
Fish and meat which adds up.

I’m also going to try upping the carb and veg proportions of my meals.

Finally, using freezer more to batch cook and do frozen fish veg etc

Wish me luck!

We spend between £30-£40 a week on food for two of us. And can sometimes stretch that to two weeks. I do a lot of larger meals, for example a large lasagne, then freeze what's left so there's a freezer drawer full of ready made meals. Also pad a lot of stuff out with vegetables. I try to use less meat but the OH asks where all the meat is 😂 also, look through the cupboards, fridge and freezer to see what we already have before going to the shops and making meals around what we already have.

Do you have much wastage?
Keep receipts and check what you bought and ate.
Shop in a cheaper supermarket eg Lidl/Aldi, expensive doesn't always mean better, sometimes it's just nicer packaging. Own brand can be ok.
Use your local shops (butcher/baker etc)

Cripes! It's getting worse. I have just analysed receipts from 16 days' spending (most of the receipts are from Aldi) and the average food spend, per day, for two adults is £20! Is there anyone out there who would like to analyse our spending and help us - something like a reality TV programme would be good

Are you shopping most days? That would probably explain it.

Meal plan for the next 4 days. Go to the supermarket and buy what you need for the plan. Don't go back to the shop til day 5 when you have another 4day plan in your hand.

We are spending around £100 a week including wine and beer plus household boring stuff. We eat very well (don't want to sound too much like I'm bragging but we eat high quality food)

I got my bill down by planning, a bit of bulk buying (chicken thighs etc in large trays and splitting). I get the simply cook spices once a fortnight (£10) and then have a mixture of traditional English, Italian etc meals. Sometimes I make enough for 2 meals eg lasagna. I don't include eating out in that amount which is less than it was. Meal costs vary from £2 for pasta to £10 for something exotic. We take sandwiches so this includes lunches too

If anyone wants a voucher for a free trial of simply cook pm me.

Yes I think we're too lazy to plan our meals for the week ahead (or even the next 4 days!) Btw we cook from scratch, eat loads of fresh fruit & vegetables, but all our meals have meat or fish as a base ( my husband would struggle on a vegetarian diet and I love my fish).
We both also have large appetites, eg a pan of chile-con-carne should last for 2 meals over 2 days but we tend to eat in all in one sitting! However we are both very healthy and slim. Also not much goes to waste. We are scratching our heads trying to work out how other people with families seem to keep their food budgets well below ours (sense of shame ...) and I'm hoping someone else will come along onto this thread to say they also spend a small fortune on food (and it's not just us!)
Thanks also for comments - I am reading and taking notes.

I don't think that's ridiculous but it is a lot
I spend probably triple that a week on food
But we never eat out

We are a family of 5, 3 teenagers and 2 adults. We eat well, cook from scratch, fish or meat most days. We've never been planners but since lockdown we have planned for the week. We now spend about £150 per week including cleaning supplies and a couple of bottles of wine. We don't scrimp at all but having cut back on lots of shops a week we are saving a fortune compared to what we used to. We could cut this down if we wanted to but are happy with what we eat and spend.

Just did an online shop which came to £130 for two of us. Brought loo roll and cat food (wet and dry) but no booze or cleaning materials.

We have pork and beef mince, chicken and fillet steak for 6 evening meals. We have 4 types of fresh fruit, veg and salad plus potatoes, noodles, rice and pasta.

Have a few sweet items but didn't buy much else.

I think its really easy to spend £100 a week on two people.

Yes i have excluded all non-food item eg alcohol, cleaning products and food and supplies for our new kitten!
He also has a healthy appetite and only likes the most expensive tinned food ... we tried him on cheaper stuff but he turned up his cute little nose at it.
I think we're doomed!

What does a typical day of meals and snacks look like?

If you eat avocado on toast for breakfast every day, or mango and pomegranate seeds with organic yoghurt, for example, that would obviously be a lot more exoensive than cereal or toast.

Even spending £6-7 per day on fish and meat (I spend max this for 4 people) that’s another £13 per day on fruit, vegetables, carbs and dairy. What do you eat?

What’s an example say look like?

*day

Hello! I'm the other person you're looking for who spends a lot on food :) Average of €110 a week for DH and me on the Tesco order, plus another €50 once a month on fish, and also a bit more on extra meat from the butcher if I'm cooking Sunday lunch for us and a couple of friends. That includes dog and cat food, too (2 dogs, 1 cat). and washing up liquid etc.

I love cooking, I love eating (I don't really drink alcohol nowadays) - and I know I could live on a smaller budget, but we don't currently need to, so we don't. What we do have is a freezer full of food, so we could probably go a couple of weeks with minimal shopping and just live on what's in there.

My main expenses are meat, fish and cheese. We eat a lot of chicken, but also duck, prawns, lamb - I could cut back on these quite easily if I had to. We could cut out the steaks (€6 for 2 x ribeyes isn't too bad though) and replace them with fresh meat burgers, I could replace smoked cod and haddock with smoked coley, we could restrict ourselves to cheaper Cheddar - there's loads of ways I could reduce our spending, if it was necessary. I also eat a lot of yoghurt, grapes, and Serrano ham which I could easily live without if I had to.

Even before Covid, we never went on holiday, I never get my hair done and rarely buy new clothes - eating well is probably our main indulgence, so I don't feel too bad about it.

I save a fortune on food shopping by batch cooking, soup etc. Freeze it all and take it out as needed ! X

Is that 20 a day for 3 meals for 2 people, with fresh meat/fish and vegetables. If so I don’t think it’s expensive?

Since you are big eaters you'd save by buying big and buying mainstream.
P
So for example whole chicken instead of bits.
A pack of a dozen eggs is better value.
Larger joint to give a meal plus cooked meat for lunches.
Large yoghurt pot rather than individuals.

I like many speciality cheeses but imo best value and very tasty is extra mature cheddar in a large pack. Commonplace fruit and veg in season is cheaper.

Give up fruit juices. Bad for teeth, waistline and can cost a lot for not much.

Wow that is a lot of money.
DH is doing the shopping at the moment but I write most of the list. I try to plan meals although DH isn’t quite on board. He has recently retired and was fed very well at work where several top chefs were working. While he was away I tried to keep to fish twice a week, veggie or vegan twice a week and meat twice a week. One day a week was random. DH likes to eat more meat and sometimes adds to the list like yesterday by bringing steak home. We shop locally in nearby villages for meat, veg and the co op. We get a fruit/veg box delivered at £15. About once a month a trip to a larger supermarket in a town to stock up on less popular ingredients where we spend about £100. It includes cleaning, laundry and food. I cook almost everything from scratch. Very little waste. We have our own hens and grow tomatoes, lettuces, courgettes, potatoes, pumpkins, herbs and black currants. We swap some produce with friends and usually we grow beans or peas too. It isn’t a big patch but it helps and I like going out to pick it fresh.

I had a friend years ago on a very tight budget and she had a small accounts book that she wrote in each night to keep check on what she was spending. I suggest this might help you.

Some cheaper ingredients that are a hit here have been chicken livers, mackerel and mussels.