How much each week do you spend on food shopping per person?

[AlyTab]

Hi there, sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I'm just wondering since my friend says that between her and her boyfriend, they can spend about £300 a month on food. This made me wonder if I actually pick up enough food. Me and my bf have only been going out for a few months, so he buys his own stuff when he comes over and we don't live together just yet.

I'm new to the whole living by myself thing, its my first flat, so sorry for sounding thick, but I spent £12.65 on shopping this week, so just over £50 a month on food and TP. Is this too much, too little, or average? How much do you spend per person on shopping.

You don't seem to be eating any fresh stuff. If you bought your five a day it would be higher. Fruit is expensive as are some veg. And you could maybe do with more varied protein. Do you never buy apples, oranges or bananas?

I spend about £25pp per week. I think that's reasonably low. I cook from scratch 5 or 6 nights a week. The 1-2 nights I don't is when I'm out working and the kids have pizza or something. I eat leftovers those nights

I do buy apples most weeks or bananas. I usually only have one or two a day though, so still not that healthy honestly. Sometimes I'll buy grapes.

I don't think it's for anyone to judge you on what you eat...it depends if you're happy eating what you do or if you're just stuck in a rut?

I would say it's quite easy to eat healthily on £12 a week IF you cook everything from scratch. I do this sometimes but unfortunately work about 70 hours a week so don't always get time to do this. I make things like stew, curry, veg lasagne, risotto, enchiladas, chilli etc and normally there are several portions. I don't eat meat either.

Thank you caravangirl. Generally I'm ok with what i eat, but I must admit I do get bored with what i eat.

I would love to try some vegetarian enchiladas, they sound really nice actually. Make a vegetarian curry, some spicy stuff. A few months ago I tried these wraps I think? They had grated cheese and caramelized onions in them. So nice, I might make some of them later. I have a real craving for them now

Risotto is a really cheap and easy thing to try too. You can put whatever you like in them too.

I'm not sure whether I'm keen on the idea of risotto, mostly because I'm not entirely sure what it is. Every time I look it up it shows me something different

It's a creamy rice dish with stuff like chicken or prawns or veg in it. I know you're veggie - those were just examples. You can put whatever you like in really.

It's made with arborio rice

What do you have when you have pasta? A tomato sauce? A cheese sauce? Any veg in it? If your having pasta frequently a veg sauce, chunky if you like it that way, blitzed if not, is a really good way of getting more fresh veg into your diet.
If you have porridge or similar, get some frozen berries and chuck a handful on top, they are cheaper than fresh, you don't have to worry about them going off because they are frozen, and they defrost really quickly.

My main concern would be your lack of fruit and veg. And if your bread/pasta is white rather than brown you are having a lot of processed carbs.

Saying that, when I first lived alone I lived off beans on toast, ready meal fish pie and basic tomato pasta. I was totally skint and these were filling, quick and easy meals to make it in a kitchen in a shared house (where I hated my housemates and was crippled with social anxiety). Don't beat yourself up about your diet, if you are healthy and happy with what you eat that's fine. If you want to add more or be more adventurous there are some good ideas on here.

imo health is the most important area of life and i believe it should be the focus of everyones life, and that starts with diet. i cannot believe how limited your diet is so many people eat shit when they are younger and suffer the consequences later in life when they have a family and children that they need to be around for.

you’re at risk of being deficient in lots of micronutrients as well as eating barely any protein. this is what your body needs to exist. it doesnt have to be difficult or time consuming, you could buy a small blender and make smoothies. fruit is cheap at lidl. you can buy an assortment of random veg and make chilli, soup, curry. bake a sweet potato and add tofu/cottage cheese/avocado. have fun with it, you really arent giving your body anything nutritious

We're a family of five - two in nappies - cook most meals from scratch and batch cook.
Our daily running cost is around £15 a day for food, nappies, wipes, cleaning products, baby food for miss precious who refuses to eat blended home cooked food etc
When it was just DH and I we used to allocate £75 a week for food and household. It usually came in at £40 a week and we'd have a few cheeky meals out or takeaways out of the leftover money Or go out on the town.
I miss those shopping bills. Enjoy it while you can.

I agree with most that you can eat on about £12 a weekpp, but that what you describe you are eating doesn't seem to be great for you - on health grounds, but also in terms of interest, taste, just enjoying food

Why not get one of the simpler cook books (Delia Smith is good, or any one of the 'Student Cook Books' out there, (Just go and have a rummage in 'The Works' or somewhere similar) and start being a bit more adventurous ? Maybe do one new meal a week and see what you enjoy ? I mean, I think most of us get into a bit of a rut in terms of the limited number of meals we make each week or fortnight, but I think most people can manage a bit more adventurous than beans on toast.
When you make a one pot meal (curry, soup, casserole, chilli, bolognaise, etc) then Have one portion for dinner, one the next day heated through for your lunch, and freeze 2 - 4 portions so you have your own, home made 'ready meals' to microwave when you don't have time/ energy to cook. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to cook for one person.

We are £300 - £400 a month for 2 adults.

I and my boyfriend spend between 50-90 a week. I make varied and interesting nutritious food ....i can't understand how you could spend under 50 unless you had very boring, regimented or recycled meals .

Thank you for the suggestions, I definitely need to give some of them a try. I do order a takeaway sometimes, but again it's nothing spectacular. Before I moved into my own place I would maybe order it a few times a week. Now I'm not as bothered for some reason. Possibly because I hate talking to them on the phone 😣

Economies of scale, LemonySnicket. Food tends to get cheaper per person if you are cooking for more than two people. As long as you aren't all eating different meals...

I have no idea. Maybe £80-£100 a week for me and 2yo ds (not including nappied/wipes).

We spend quite a bit, but we eat lots and lots of fruit and veg. Without that, it would be much less.

I'm a bit healthy food fiend now but back when I first left home a spaghetti Bol was as good as it got. Try cooking at least one night a week and you'll soon have a repertoire. I love a nice lentil curry with a veg jalfrazi.

I’m veggie and don’t like cooking either. We eat very nice stuff and it adds up to about £200-250 per person per month (for food and cleaning products).

Any animal products (like milk or yoghurt) I buy organic on animal welfare grounds. A lot of other stuff is organic too and I get ready made stuff which bumps the price up.

Have a look at the eat well plate or the food pyramid to see what a healthy diet involves.

Ideas to try could be ready made bean or quinoa salads, fresh soups (instead of tins) and lots of fruit and veg. If you don’t fancy prepping, a lot of veg can be smacked on raw: carrots, broccoli, peas, mange tout, radishes, lettuce heads, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn etc. You can also get microwaveable stuff like curried chickpeas or lentils etc. Things like oven sweet potato fries are good too along with veggie burgers or sausages if you fancy more healthy stodge.

I eat meat so some of this isn't relevant but I do live alone! My plan for this week is

Breakfasts
Scrambled eggs
Banana pancakes with Greek yoghurt and berries
Toast with peanut butter and banana

Lunch
Usually a thin with some form of cooked meat in it and salad
Prawn salads
Avocado, red onion and feta on toasted seeded bread

Tea
Fajitas with sour cream
Roasted veg and sweet potato with chicken
Pizza
Pasta bake (ham, chilli, sweet corn, red onion, tomato sauce, cheese, pasta)
Beans on toast!

I batch cook a lot or take leftovers for my lunch. Snack wise usually peanut butter on apple or cucumber and hummus

I think I average 120-140 a week for a family of 4! And I thought I was quite economical, not sure now!!!

Thank you for all the answers, it's really interesting to hear how much others spend on groceries for some reason. I don't know how much my cleaning products cost altogether, since I tend to just pick them up when I need them as opposed to weekly.

JoJoSM2 that much per person? Wow, that's a lot on food, I'm hoping you don't have a family of 10!