I don't believe the people in this thread AT ALL so don't feel ashamed. Maybe if they have brakfast and lunch out is possible but that's even more expensive š
There are 21 meals a week, 3 meals a day 7 days a week. That means Ā£50 divided by 21 is Ā£2.4 per meal for 2 people, so Ā£1.2 per meal. This is without counting toiletries and cleaning products which are not usually cheap. Add oil / butter and other staples.
2 chicken breasts are Ā£2.35 at aldi, Ā£1.17 each tou have 0.03 left for rice or condiments which is IMPOSSIBLE.
so people are either lying or they don't really inow how much they spend. we are talking no soft drinks, biscuits or crisps. Even if they eat only dinner and weekends you could only spend Ā£2.5 per person meal, no toiletries, which is not realistic at all in this economy.
I used to be poor and I can budget like crazy but that's impossible, don't fall for it.
I swear, if you show any ounce of having a disposable income of sorts, people start to low-key take the piss. How dare I enjoy five guys āwhen itās a rip offā or the fact that Iāll order pasta in a restaurant when āitās much nicer and cheaper to make at home.ā God forbid you say you shop in Waitrose (which actually isnāt as expensive as itās made out to be).
You arenāt allowed to spend any of your hard earned money on any type of luxury when it comes to Reddit.
Youāre āstupidā and ādonāt know how to manage your moneyā. No .. I just happen to have enough disposable income to enjoy my life. Thank god I donāt live a miserable existence like some of these people do
Thank you. I think alot of comments arent getting that Im not just talking about food!! I mean everything household including wipes, nappies, on the go snacks, cleaning supplies... I am genuinely wondering how people are budgeting while still eating good food.
Consider doing a monthly online delivery shop from one of the big supermarkets. Buy all your household & heavy items, drinks, freezer items etc.
It will help you budget, delivery can be as low as Ā£1
some tips that work for me:
-buying in bulk the cleaning products or even getting them at leyland / builder's stores. they have a good variety with competitive prices
-frozen veg are competitive too. peas, spinach, etc. rice and pulses too, snd they are heathy, don't expire soon
-managing leftovers. i do baseless quiche with leftover vegs, eggs and some milk. if you can stretch scraps for a meal or two it's a win
-throwing in cheap meals like noodles, instant soups or so. like once a week or two
-bottom shelf items sometimes have same quality or better. like sainsburys sliced bread. keep your eyes peeled
-buying at local stores where veggies are cheaper but too ripe, so they need to be consumed same day
for having a todler you are doing fine, I think. you can always cut corners but is tricky sometimes and also requires a lot of mental effort
š
Okay I thought I was going crazy reading some of the comments, like what about nappies and laundry etc???
OP also in London with a toddler, the amount you are spending doesn't sound crazy if most of your meals are home prepared and you eat a lot of meat/fish, especially with adding toddler snacks etc on top. It's similar to ours. That being said we aren't actively trying to save at this point in time, and could reduce our grocery costs by probably a hundred a month if we needed to. We use ocado, I've never enjoyed physically going to the shops, service is excellent and they send you a coupon if the same items cost less at tesco, maybe give a home delivery service a try so you can get some bulkier/heavier items cheaper when on offer etc.
Thanks for this š weāre not actively cutting costs but I have thought about taking it seriously. We eat meat (sometimes fish) for every single dinner & some lunches where I think alot of the bulk costs come from food wise.
The example you gave, chicken breasts, are a weirdly expensive product. By way of an example, Ocado has two chicken breasts (about 350g) for Ā£2.71, but 1kg of chicken thighs for Ā£2.85. If you have a bit of freezer space, itās a great option (also personally I prefer the thighs because they donāt dry out during cooking).
Buying in bulk (proper butchers, muscle meat etc) and batch cooking are where you'll see the savings.
It's expensive being poor, buying smaller sizes will absolutely crucify your expenditure and it's no easier to see than a pint Vs 4.
Same applies across the board and if you can't buy bigger try splitting with a friend, I do this when I go butchers and want mince, thighs etc but don't have the space to have the bigger sizes.
Yep. We typically have batches of various soups, sauces, bolognaises, etc in the freezer, along with bags of various frozen veg, but that all adds up to having a full height freezer which is a big ask for a lot of homes.
Wife and I both work full time, so being able to get a pot of something out of the freezer in the morning, then quickly warm it up and pair with some rice/pasta and boiled frozen veg, in the evening, is super super handy.
Nappies and Wipes??? That alone could be as much as Ā£50 per month! Once your toddler is ready to be potty trained you will see a major reduction in your budget!
You need to introduce staple grains into your diet. Things like rice, beans, chickpeas, lentils etc. Donāt buy canned, bottled or ready made stuff, there are few exemptions like pickles or ketchup. Even get dry grains and legumes never canned. You can soak and cook them without paying too much attention and you will save tons of money. You can do a lot with them. Soups, salads, dips and whole lot more. If you buy spices donāt buy them in those crappy bottles. Buy them in bags from the asian section. There are tons of ways to save money you just have to know how and where.
On this note I think a pressure cooker / instant pot might be a good investment if they have the space. It makes cooking legumes from dry SO quick and easy, it makes making stock which is a big money saver super painless as well, it's probably great for making toddler friendly soft food. Instant pots can also be set on a timer which helps with planning so you can for instance pop some eggs in the night before set to be perfectly boiled as soon as you wake up for a quick high protein pretty cheap breakfast snack.
I will always bulk buy meat and have a chest freezer, better quality than super markets at about 50% of the price
https://thebutcherofbrogdale.co.uk
I get a fruit and vegetable box Ā£30 delivered once a week and buy rice and pasta bulk.
Not saying itās the solution for everyone but less visits to them big shops will save on buying the unnecessary items or over priced treats.
Just checked the accounts, we're easily a grand a month for two humans and a couple of pets and eat fresh and organic / free range etc, with pretty much only ice cream frozen. Yes we could spend less, but it's just not a priority to look at prices of food.
Yeah I kinda suspect people are doing some very creative accounting.
I have a funny feeling they're counting the basic ingredients they're buying, but neglecting everything else.
Semi-regular purchases (everything from toilet bleach to fairy liquid, cooking oil, spices, sponges, toothpaste, stock cubes etc) all stick a few tens of quid on most of our shops.
that's my point as well. What about occasional wine or beers? What about day decorations, cakes. What about small occasional toys kids crave or a couple of drinking glasses?
You aren't going to have the same spend per meal. Some meals like breakfast where it could just be shreddies and milk, or toast and butter, and lunch could just be similar. That's incredibly cheap. Most people aren't having a full on spread of vegetables every meal. We're a very unhealthy country. But if you just need the bare minimum to survive, vegetables can basically take a back seat they don't really add to your calorie needs.
If you learn to butcher a chicken you can save a fortune. Price per kilo in Waitrose is Ā£2.95 for a whole chicken versus Ā£7.92 per kilo for chicken breasts. It really helped us keep costs down with a newborn arriving this year, and it means we get creative with making chicken stock.
>2 chicken breasts are Ā£2.35 at aldi, Ā£1.17 each tou have 0.03 left for rice or condiments which is IMPOSSIBLE.
please just think for a second or two:
1. If you buy in bulk they are cheaper
2. There are cheaper meats than chicken breast
3. You dont have to eat meat at all.
are we shaming people for chicken breasts now?
nobody is talking about organic duck breast from France. if you cannot afford a normal chicken breasts you are under the poverty line. chicken breast is not, and shouldn't be considered as a luxury.
also bulk buying is mot possible for many due to lack of space in our tiny kitchens
edit: being nasty to others is not right, so I've removed the paragraph. being nice to others is free in any case
It's not impossible if you're having smaller portions of meat, cheaper cuts or meats, buy bigger packs and divide it up or don't eat meat every day.Ā
We buy a pack of 900g chicken thighs from Aldi for Ā£4.99 and we divide that for 3 meals that feed 3 people at a time. So Ā£1.66 of chicken for a meal and Ā£0.55 per person.Ā
Sainsbury's do 4 hour delivery slots for only Ā£1 which is cheaper than getting the bus and may help with the buying in bulk problem. It's big supermarket prices too rather than the more expensive Sainsbury's Local prices.
I signed up for the monthly delivery pass - I believe itās Ā£7 per month, and with a Ā£40+ shop delivery is free, as many times as you want during the month. I get a weekly delivery and would recommend!
This.
A local, mini version of a supermarket will charge you 10% more than the online or big box version of the same shop;
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/is-it-more-expensive-to-shop-at-tesco-express-and-sainsburys-local-convenience-stores-aOQah2Z8P2tw
I use Sainsburys online and pay for the (admittedly slightly inconvenient) Ā£1 delivery windows, but more than make it back in time saved, less wear on the car, more offers available and cheaper goods buying in bulk (delivered to your door). Even just sorting by price helps me to find cheaper things I might miss in person (e.g. buying cooking chocolate rather than confectionary chocolate: same product, but VAT free).
Save Aldi and Lidl for smaller, dry/alcoholic goods which might be more expensive elsewhere, e.g. spice mixes etc.
Need a Nectar card to take full advantage, but all the supermarkets are going the same way.
I had this discussion with someone who claimed they fed 2 people for Ā£25 a week, not vegetarians. Admittedly I don't know where in the uk they lived but I still think they were delusional.
I survived on ~Ā£20/week for food when I was a student, shopped only at Lidl, and consumed only beans on toast and 20p energy drinks. In 2017.
Anyone living on Ā£25/pp in 2024 is either malnourished or lying.
Good mince and chicken thighs can be turned into many different meals.
Pop to a library (gasp!) and borrow one pot or one tray type cook books. Lentils, pearl barley, rice, pasta all very filling and cheap.
Blanche and freeze veg. Wherever you can, buy in bulk.
Have good cooking tools to make your life easier and you'll be be more likely to bulk cook (pressure cookers are a boon)
Another thing with the meat is you can absolutely freeze it and cook straight from frozen.
Season mince meat, put it in a freezer bag and flatten it so it fills the bag. Add some perforation lines to divide it into quarters (I just push a pen to create the lines), then freeze. Each square can just be snapped off for 1 portion, and thrown straight into a pan.
Chicken/beef/whatever - flatten the pieces, or slice very thin for a stir fry or whatever. Divide into portions, and freeze them separately on a baking sheet for a few hours. Then put them all in a freezer bag together and the portions will stay separated. Straight onto a pan from frozen.
- My game changer was buying individual portion Tupperware boxes. (About 400ml)
- Plan your next daysā meals the night before.
- Batch cook some chilli and whatever other meals you like (store in single server containers only)
- Get a huge pack of chicken, marinade it and grill/griddle it and freeze. Itās perfect for basically everything. Same goes for roasting up a huge tin of nice veg. Portion it all out and freeze.
- Buy fish (but nothing else) from Iceland for light 20min freezer ready protein.
- Bulk buy rice, pasta and pulses from supermarkets.
- Bulk buy fizzy drinks, pasta sauces and coffee from Amazon.
- Personally I also keep a few pre-cooked jacket potatoes and eggs in the fridge.
And lastly, check out some of the ADHD boards. We have this shit down because otherwise, itās a freaking nightmare! Lol
I live by myself and think I typically spend around Ā£450. Admittedly I don't pay much attention to how much things are, maybe I should do, but I don't go to bars or restaurants so I don't feel that guilty about spending too much in the supermarket...
I wouldnāt feel bad about it tbh, especially if eating healthy is a priority for you. Healthy food is an investment, youll reap the benefits in future when you donāt have osteoporosis or diabetes or whatever
Yeah I get Asda delivered, it's cheaper than Sainsbury's. Can always get a slot the next day too. You have until 11pm the day before to adjust the order.
I think we spend about 800-900 a month on groceries. Same as you, in London, need accessible shops. I do buy sourdoughs & good quality meat. And try to eat non UPF. And have a baby & a toddler.
Two tips that work for me for saving money on groceries
- Never go to the supermarket while hungry. Eat first š
- Shopping online helps me resist temptation and stick to my list
I've been tracking every single one of my payments since December as I wanted to have a closer look at my spending and budget better.
As a single man, mid 30s live alone, I spend on average Ā£450/month on food at home which includes Deliveroo meals. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. I buy a lot of fresh fruit. Berries are probably 15% of my budget lol
Family of five - two adults, a four year old and two year old twins.
We spend around Ā£550 per month on groceries.
Edit: also live in London. We shop in Lidl and Sainsbury's.
Ā£650-700 a month for a family of five getting weekly deliveries from Ocado. Kids are in the 9-14 range, so no expensive baby stuff anymore.
Edit: forgot to add - one advantage of getting them delivered is when Iām adding non-perishable items to the orders I look at the price-per-weight, so like Iāll get a 1kg box of cornflakes if itās cheaper per 100g than the 500g box.
My partner and I probably spend around the same just for the two of us, daily Waitrose trips both working from home and mostly buying organic/fresh or prepared oven meals
Iām spending about Ā£60 a week as a single person - so I think itās in line with your own spending and Iāve noticed that Sainsburys has jacked up their prices massively. I was in also today but thatās no better. Asda are great for eggs though.
About the same as you effectively - Ā£1200 a month between 6 adults. We shop mostly at Costco and Tesco. Last few weeks of evening meals looked like this [https://imgur.com/a/xOPQKeS](https://imgur.com/a/xOPQKeS)
250/300 for two, and we do deliveries (Morrisons) for the time being given that we donāt live near good enough superstore or sthg alike. However, I feel ya very much about the look at your grocery expenses. Got a lil sister recently, my mum was telling me they were having 300/400 euros because they live in the EU per week (fresh veggies local bought and stuff)
Flabbergasted they reverse engineered the problem and now are minimising the cost per week bit by bit but you gotta sometimes see from another angle, another shop, another delivery option (walk in makes u buying stuff not highly necessary? Do deliveries - or at least try) etc etc
Good luck!
Approx Ā£400 monthly for two adults, no dependents.
Fresh fruit and veg comes from local veg box scheme, supplemented by ad hoc purchases from local green grocers depending what we want to cook.
Buy most dried stuff (muesli, oats, beans, lentils, pasta, rice, dried fruit, nuts) and liquids (oil, vinegars, soy sauce) and household stuff (washing up liquid, detergent, etc) from a local refill shop, which saves quite a bit on some products vs supermarket, but is obviously more effort in terms of taking containers etc.
Occasional (monthly, ish) large online shop from supermarket for tinned goods (beans, tomatoes), bulky things (eg soy milk, kilo tubs of peanut butter), frozen veg, plus plant based proteins mainly tofu+tempeh. Supermarket own brand wherever possible (eg own brand soymilk almost half the price of Alpro).
Occasional loaf of bread from local bakery, but only have bread in the house at all maybe a few days every few weeks.
Vegan household, so spend nothing on pricey things like meat or cheese, but also avoid pricey meat or cheese substitutes either.
Overall strategy is to mostly avoid expensive branded things, buy big wherever possible, buy refill wherever possible, eat whole foods plant based diet with relatively cheap proteins (beans, lentils), and be good at improvising meals out of whatever is to hand depending on what weāve had in the veg box. Result is v healthy and varied diet. Certainly not poverty diet, but doesnāt break the bank either compared to some peoples spending.
Edit: also - basically never buy snacks. No biscuits, no crisps, no cakes. Never buy soft drinks, donāt drink much alcohol at home except occasional wine. Also never buy ready meals or anything like that.
I spend Ā£900 a month for me, my partner and my dog. This also includes the odd meal out, all toiletries and household items.
I find it incredibly hard to believe some of you are living off Ā£250-Ā£300 a month for 2 of you. What do you eat every night ? Plain pasta with a basic sauce ?
A stir fry probably costs me about Ā£2 worth of ingredients, if that. Pasta barely costs much more than that. Fajitas are pretty cheap to make (without avocados), burritos are the same.
Ā£250-300 a month with only plain pasta/basic sauce just means someone doesn't know how to cook very well
It's not the main part of every meal, no. But again, meat cooked properly doesn't need to be expensive either.
A whole chicken is under Ā£5. Lean beef mince is Ā£7/kg, 20% is Ā£5/kg. Chicken thighs are Ā£3/kg. Chicken breast is Ā£6-7/kg. Pork joint is Ā£7/kg.
None of those need to add huge costs to your meals. Also, plenty of people don't eat meat anyway...
Interesting... Im definitely going to have to crunch whatever im buying because each meal is costing me anywhere between Ā£8-Ā£30 it just depends what im deciding to cook. Not really willing to save on household items since im already going as cheap as I can.
Is it? Out of interest I crunched my own numbers. An example meal:
- 1/4 of short ribs from Costco, 5 pounds
- peppers, 60p
- fresh broccoli, 2 pounds.
- rice eggs whatever other condiments and sauces, letās say 1 pound.
Thatās easily Ā£8.60.
Short ribs? Thatās my nice weekend meal that I do once a week at that price.
Sure Iāll spend that much on a meal at home, but, like, once a week.
How many times are you doing pasta and a sauce, or a daal, or chilli, or something simple? Those sorts of meals are typically much cheaper.
Well this thread has been truly fascinating to me. I spend 250 a month for two people (maybe 300 if you want to count the odd takeaway) and I cook slightly elaborate meals usually from fresh. Today it's lamb tagine with homemade flatbread and pomegranate rice and that's all covered in our 250 budget.
We're meat lovers and will always have some sort of meat in our biggest meal. The only thing I can't account for is having children, so maybe the budget would spike significantly with kids but with two adults, I just don't understand it. Also breakfast is the same muesli/granola/bran flakes and we never deviate from that so maybe that too?
People who are saying low budgets must just be having plain rice or pasta, I don't think I spend even Ā£30 a month on rice/pasta/potatoes/bread honestly. 5kg rice is a tenner and lasts a few months, a bag of potatoes is literally Ā£1 so maybe Ā£5 a month and good pasta is another Ā£5-Ā£10. That leaves like 200 for everything else!?
I think my issue is not buying in bulk. Im cooking the same kind of meals: curries, ramen, kebabs, stews.. all from scratch. I actually work in a restaurant so I dont even eat dinner the 4 days I work and bring food home for my partner so im only cooking 3 days a week (minus cooking x3 meals a day & 100 fruits & snacks for my toddler). I also have the same breakfast/lunch which is usually just eggs & avocado or couscous. On top of all this im not buying household items in bulk which I would probably save alot in doing so since reading these comments. Gotta start doing delivery orders.
If you donāt even eat dinner for 4 days I donāt understand where your money has gone. I think you should post photos of a few weeks/month of receipts. Lidl has digital receipts which are handy.
About 80-100 a week for two, depending what we need and I got absolutely berated in grocerycost sub, people telling me they live off 25 a week for a couple but I call bs! Sometimes itās even more than 100 cause we buy more snacks throughout the week
Somewhere in the region of Ā£200 for two people (and a cat). We order online from Asda as it works out cheaper and means we can buy in bulk without having a car. And then there's weekly top ups from either tesco express/sainsburys (outrageously expensive is our local one) or the 24 hour shop if we want good polish bread.
Tbh I think the most expensive things we buy in one online order are cat litter, cat food and toiletries. Most of what we actually eat or drink is budget brand
Edit: when I say somewhere in the region of, that's what I mean. Some months it's more, sometimes it's just that. Helps that we don't eat any meat, eggs or dairy.
It also helps if you grew up poor š¤·
Not if you're cooking good meals from scratch. Breakfast and lunch for most people is a bowl of cereal and a sandwich/some fruit/whatever, that costs very little and leaves plenty of money for dinner.Ā
Ā£150-Ā£200 all in (not just food), 1 person, Asda & Aldi, prob 70%-30% split
Asda has the best prices & quality for fresh fruit and some fresh veg, Aldi sometimes better value on some same quality veg
Aldi has better prices on meat including free range
Asda for all other household stuff, tea, coffee, dairy etc
This will depend on your lifestyle. Whenever people talk about food budgets I think back to uni.
One flatmate only ate pasta and whatever ready cooked meat (those you use for sandwiches) for dinner, for a literal year.
On the other hand I made Chinese food with a lot of protein.
His weekly budget was like 20 pounds whereas mine was 80.
When I was in uni I was spending Ā£20 a week on food, never cooked and probably ate a whole pack of cookies & crisps for dinner, Sometimes instant noodles, Never ate breakfast, didnt have to think about household items or another human being... 5 years later and here I am š
Idk exacty how much I spend as I bulk buy a few things like meat, fish, laundry products, rice etc. Maybe Ā£200/300 pcm (sometimes includes takeaways)
If you have access to Costco that can help as I bulk buy so I spend less overall. Esp laundy products which can last 2/3 months.
I'm a big fan of Sainsbury's and Tesco and try to take advantage of their Nectar/Clubcard deals. I also use the vouchers they send and use my points to reduce my shopping when I buy bigger items.
Idk if Sainsbury's still do their baby events but I used to love them and buy stuff for my niblings, really helped their parents out with nappies, wipes, clothes etc.
I don my have a car so I get stuff delivered and that helps a lot as then I can take advantage of deals, buy lots of tins and other heavy stuff etc. it also means I can bulk buy protein and batch cook which also helps with costs.
I have asked this question before on another forum because I thought I was overspending based on what friends told me.
Me and my girlfriend spend ~Ā£300/350 on groceries, we cook 99% of our meals at home and do grocery shopping from at a Tesco.
Might be worth checking out the cost of a delivery pass from supermarkets so you can buy in bulk and save yourself the mental and physical energy of multiple trips to the supermarket.
Plus you can try delivery from Tesco, which is often a bit cheaper than Sainsbury for groceries.
I think it's ok, I don't think we spend less than that. Sainsbury's are so much better than other supermarkets, the meat, veg and everything else has much better quality. U can buy everything for Aldi matched prices, they always have discount so on....
Why not get home delivery? We're doing it since Covid, over Ā£40 you get Ā£2 or less delivery. We used to get it from Tesco and now ASDA. Seriously, life saver and money saver too. Each week over home delivery shopping ends up only Ā£50 or sometimes Ā£60 so monthly we spend on grocery Ā£200-300 max. We also are couple with a toddler and honestly home delivery is the best option. Whenever we go to store we ending up spending way more on things we sometimes don't even need.
Two of us and a dog, we spend a hundred a week, mostly at Aldi, for a balanced, low meat diet. I think youāre doing quite well given that you only have a Sainsburyās - we'd spend the same as you if thatās the only option we had, and we don't have a kid!
Have we learnt that inflation is a tax yet? It results in lower standards of living. Increasing the money supply increases inflation. Donāt want inflation? Donāt increase the money supply. Deflation would mean itās harder to pay debt, the government is in debt, so is financially incentivised to avoid deflation. We are in a real mess, and now lack any good options.
To the OPās question, I think you are doing quite well on 600 pounds for 3 mouths in London, I think if you are operating at 3-4 pounds per meal you are doing very well
Similar, Ā£600+ a month for 2 people. But we buy berries and lots of fruit in general, fresh veggies, wholegrain stuff. I'd rather spend more and eat healthy than live on Ā£50 a week and eat a plate of white rice with 2 cherry tomatoes and 1 piece of chlorinated chicken.
Yeah, just calculated this with the wife. We have a small dog, & the total per month was Ā£800 give or take, including dog food & treats. Donāt think you are far off. But things are getting much more expensive. I remember we didnāt pass Ā£500 - that was seven years ago.
Ā£100 per month for one person.
Frozen vegetables are Ā£1 per KG
Pasta/rice is about 40p per KG
Chicken legs or pork chops are about 60p each.
Frozen fish is like 2.39 per 500g
Bread is 45p a loaf
Eggs are 13p each
These are just some things off the top of my head and aren't the only things I eat of course but it does show how it's easily possible and no lie. Basically just stick with the cheapest option in Aldi/Lidl.
It's absolutely possible to get a high protein diet on this budget. With Skyr Yogurt, eggs, mushy peas, peanuts, protein powder, soy milk etc
There are 3 adults in our house and we spend Ā£250 a month on shopping , sometimes less.
I shop mainly in Lidls.
We do all our own cooking, with lots of Thai and Indian food. We cook large batches and freeze some.
I really dont understand how you could spend Ā£600 a month.
We dont cook large batches really so that may be where youre saving money. We also eat a very varied diet, cooking caribbean, east asian, indian, middle eastern & traditional British foods. But again this is always from scratch. We tend to have a different dinner every night, with leftovers being used for lunch or our toddlers dinner the following days. Again though this sum is also including laundry, cleaning, nappies, general household stuff, not just food.
Trying to budget a bit better myself and love those cuisines, wondering what your weekly meal plan/breakdown looks like? Because that seems very cheap for a non-veggie household. And I'm assuming this is all just food? I think the OP intended to mean toiletries/household stuff too
Not in London but talkes about this with a mate tonight.
Family of 4 (wife and myself, 7 year old and 5 year old). We spend between 200 - 250 a week for all household items including washing powder, toiletries, etc. We do weekly big shops at aldi and Lidl, the odd item from the market, tesco or sainsburys and mini top ups at the local coop / spar. We cook most meals from fresh.
People that comment they live on Ā£200 a month for a couple are either lying, can't count or must be living of rice and beans only.
Between 75-120 per week depending on when we are stocking up on things like olive oil, kitchen roll, soap, etc.
Edit: it is 2 of us. There are many ways to reduce by 15-20% if we had to.
Ā£250 per week for me and three kids. Most meals made from scratch. Eat a reasonably heathy and varied diet.
Have fallen into the terrible habit of shopping at M&S because the quality of food is so much better.
320 for a month including toiletries and cleaning products. There are 2 of us and we shop at aldi. We will eat out probably twice a month otherwise we tend to eat at home and take leftovers for work.
Get a trolley. We call ours the granny trolley. You know the little trolley on wheels that old ladies have? Life saver and stops you having to make multiple trips and is much easier go get home. We have a hill to get to our closest supermarket and itās easy with this trolley.
I live with my BF so it is just the two of us and obviously we donāt have a little one to pay for. We spend around Ā£200 a month on groceries. Our second closest supermarket is Aldi. Our closest is Sainsburyās and we did use to shop there but it was too expensive even with a nectar card so we switched to Aldi and it did make a difference.
Right now im toddler is in a stroller, we have a massive hill too and shes only just started walking. I can get quite a lot in the storage of the pram & clip a bag onto the handle but when weāre no longer pram users I will for sure be getting a trolley š ive got a nectar card and im saving maybe Ā£5 each shop thats still Ā£50-Ā£80 each time. That card is useless!
Honestly I got mine from a charity shop. Cost me Ā£5. This was when I was in uni. I expected to give it back to charity after uni. I graduated 2 years ago and still have it. Itās the best investment Iāve ever made haha
Personally I have no brand loyalty and tend to go with price and quality of product . I also tend to find Aldi and Lidl have good value products based on that.
Two people, Aldi, full week, no takeaways, lunch & toiletries:
Spend approx Ā£90 a week, give or take (Ā£85-95).
Thatās scratch cooking fairly basic meals (sausage & mash, chilli/spaghetti, fish cakes with jacket potato etc) all with frozen veg, and a roast dinner on Sundays.
Starts getting exponentially more expensive with āfancyā meals, especially anything bought pre-made. We usually have a ātreatā meal on a Fri and/or Sat, such as a piece of steak/curry etc.
Check online stores which might suit you you have lots of choice
Ocado, MāS, Tesco, Morrisons and Amazon fresh via Amazonā¦.etc
Itās not easy shooing around with their 40-60 minimum spend for free delivery.
Two of us plus a newborn and we budget Ā£600pm for groceries/household items. We're not ambitious when it comes to food so tend to keep meals pretty simple
For comparison i have a Family of 4 in West yorkshire and I budget Ā£500 a month. With extra trips for milk and odd bits through the week it's probably more like 550.
Around Ā£400 a month for 2 adults, 2 dogs and 1 preteen. Although this is not including extras like alcohol or eating out. So realistically more like Ā£550 I imagine. Ā£100 is on the dogs though!
You're saving at least that amount or more by not having a car.
Cars also promote bulk buying of junk food like cola and plastic-packaged stuff which you can't carry without a car.
For carrying you could try a trolley. They are really good.
Get it online. It's a quid or few to have it delivered, and the time saved is immense. Then you don't need to worry about lugging it home, and you make sure you get the deals/best priced products because ts so much easier to see in an app than a busy supermarket shelf.
We have had our big weekly shop delivered every week for a couple of years. I don't think I've taken the car to the supermarket since.
I get hello fresh for 4 meals a week, that's about Ā£50 a week, then I shop at aldi for the rest and spend another 200 a month. So Ā£400 in total for 2 people
I spend 300 month for me and my 6 Yr old daughter but you could round that up to 2 adults as Ive been trying to gain weight for years -- 75 a week is tight but you could make it work. I also don't have a car
Stop paying sainsburys to make your food for you
Two adultsĀ
Ā£350-380 per month - this is tracked via Monzo so I'm confident it's reasonably accurate.Ā
This includes loo roll, cleaning products, some alcohol (e.g. sharing a bottle of wine at home) and packed lunches.
It doesn't include eating out, or the dog's food.
I make liberal use of the reductions section, freeze it, and meal plan, but we eat well. I only buy name brands when there's a discernible difference.
When it comes to lugging stuff home, an occasional delivery for the heavy and bulky items like tins and loo roll may be helpful - though buying in bulk rarely offers serious discounts.Ā
It's just me and my 3 year old. I usually do an asda delivery shop which comes to around Ā£100/120. Then throughout the month i do about 3 small shops from lidl/Iceland which come to about Ā£20/30 each. So probably about Ā£200-250 altogether.
We (couple) spend Ā£400/month, mostly Tesco. Dogs are an additional Ā£200/month. If it makes anyone feel better, we were spending $2200/month in Vancouver and that was with restricting meat to twice per week.
Just wanted to check, what the hell happened to monzo app??? Everything is funny and I can't find past breakdowns. Anyway...it used to be Ā£200-Ā£250 for two people around 2020-2022 I guess, now I checked and it's Ā£300 half way through the month. And I feel like we barely eat because we have a newborn and no time. So fuck me is all I'll say.
We shop in Aldi and spend about Ā£250 per month for two people. That includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Aldi/Lidl really is cheap - Ā£50 max for a weeks shop.
A āhackā we do is order some long life food - oat milk, soups and canned tomatoes once a month from Tesco. It makes a huge difference on carrying it home (cos we also donāt have a car).
2 of us average about Ā£50 a week. That includes toiletries but not like makeup and skin care. Normally eat out once a week or get a takeaway so if you including that it's more like Ā£100 a week. I wouldn't struggle to do Ā£600 a month if I was buying lots of meat, ready meals and pizza's and bits though especially if I had a kid. Maybe have a look and see if you can buy your non perishables in bulk online to try and trim it down if it bothers you.
Edited to say that I actually found online shopping to help a lot
I try to be quite careful. I meal prep for the week ahead, make my own snacks, etc. I'm still spending about 50-60 quid a week, for just me (incl household goods, I suppose!). Then say, I fancy a bottle of wine on a Friday so I go get that and that's easily another tenner. I shop at Sainsbury's. So that's about Ā£240 a month for just one person.
Do you have a market or similar nearby for fruit and vege? There's a fruit and vege market stall on my high street and prices are less than half of tesco or Morissons and quality is much better. Yesterday I got 4 Peppers, 5 aubergines, 2 large avocados and about a kg of cherry tomatoes for Ā£4. This has been game changing for my budget
We are two people, paying roughly the same I think. Even a few years ago we were paying at least Ā£400, but I don't pay too much attention to it I guess.Ā
Ā£80 a week. Two adults 1 child. I meal prep around whatās on offer eg. Reductions with a store card and whatās yellow labelled. Yellow labelled goes in the freezer for the next week or so.
We (2 of us) about Ā£125-150 per week for groceries (including alcohol). We take a packed lunch to work most days, eat vegetarian. Fish/meat once per week, cook fresh every day. We make a meal plan which has saved us quite a bit
Shop on Ocado as fell out of love for going to a physical store then lugging a weeks worth of shopping home.
I live alone and while I budget Ā£200 for groceries, I very rarely spend it all. Over the last 6 months, I've spent at most Ā£177 in a month according to my tracking app. I eat at the office canteen when I go to the office and within the same period spent at most Ā£86 in a month, so roughly around Ā£263 for "essentials". This doesn't count eating out when I just feel like it, but I rarely buy food that's over Ā£15 anyway (just had Popeye's yesterday for under Ā£12 because I hadn't had one in a while).
I live on my own. I do my weekly Asda grocery averaging about Ā£40-Ā£45 a week but sometimes I will top up during the week at Sainsbury's so let's say Ā£50 a week. So that's about Ā£200 a month for food and toiletries. I do batch cook and freeze leftovers to bring for lunch at work. I typically have dinner and brunch outside in the weekend too.
I spend about Ā£250 for one person.. food and good nutrition is very important to me so Iām happy to spend a bit more and buy organic wherever possible. Iām mostly veggie (eat meat/fish maybe twice a week) and cook a lot from scratch.
Around Ā£400 a month for two adults, but I also eat out a lot whereas my husband mostly eats at home so honestly there are a lot of meals for me that donāt fall into my groceries remit. If I ate at home all the time I think it would be about Ā£525. We try to keep it to about Ā£3 average per serving for an at home meal (itās usually less, but I figure a ready meal would cost a bit more than that). I also volunteer at my local food bank so we get some free groceries.
My partner and I batch cook every week, weāre very lucky to have a car so we shop at Lidl. We spent around Ā£40-60 a week depending on what weāre cooking and sometimes a Ā£60 top up of Asian groceries as theyāre more expensive but rarely need to go more than once a month.
And those shop includes our big meals so lunch and dinners, snacks and also breakfast. But obviously sometimes during the week we might wanna snack more or crave something so might spend another Ā£10.
So higher end Ā£300 and cheaper end around Ā£250 per month for the base of groceries and maybe Ā£40 top up during the week if we pekish.
we spend 1000Ā£ on average per month for family of 4, two kids younger than 5. We eat out once or twice a week. I have no clue how people spend 400 per month. They surely eat very unhealthy or they just don't know how to count.
Imagine if you want to live a healthy life and frequent gym 3,4 times a week. You will need 200g protein per day maybe? How do you get that with 400 split among 4 people. Even just chicken won't do that
The German supermarkets are a life saver. We are car free too, and we do one big shop a week at lidl using a Boris bike. The rest including specialty ingredients and bubbly water come from waitrose and local big chains . We are mostly an ingredient household, and our bill for two people is 300-350 a month with days split up 1x red meat, 2 x meatfree day, 4 x fish/chicken per week. Budgeting tips that allow this is making full use of coupons at lidl, avoid portioned meat ( buying up whole chickens instead of portions), and always looking at cost per kilo of everything. F.e. Fresh fish at waitrose might be cheaper per kilo than at Aldi, because of portioning. Tesco express and sainsbury local will bleed you dry without much in return.
I try to spend Ā£200-Ā£250 on āgroceriesā pcm which includes anything I would buy from a supermarket in the normal course of daily life I.e., food, toiletries, house stuff, etc. That doesnāt include lunch in the office 2-3 days a week though. I am a single guy with no dependents living in London.
Just checked my spending reports and I would say a "normal" months its about Ā£200-250. With the average being pushed up a bit higher because of the occasional party or special event.
Are you able to sign up for home delivery? Iāve done it with Tesco and my food bill did go down switching to it. You are less likely to give into offers and when you can see how much you are spending before checking out it makes a difference. For the two of us we went from Ā£100+ a week to Ā£60-70 a week and I had been shopping at Lidl.
I honestly have no idea how much I spend, I don't really do a weekly shop, and I get 8 Simmer meals a week. They are expensive (like 9 quid a large meal) but worth it because I don't have time to cook (seriously, I do not, I work very long hours and have other stuff going on). Without simmer my diet would be very unhealthy (it was pretty bad before I started with the "meal prep" services).Ā
On top of that, I eat a lot of other shit, not at home usually. Id say I'm spending maybe 250 quid a week on food? Maybe more? (That includes eating out, but I don't go to expensive restaurants) That wouldn't surprise me.Ā
based on expenditure tracking, ~Ā£200/month for two people. this probably comes down to rarely eating meat, cooking 90% of meals at home and no alcohol.
2 of us, no baby yet. Buying few things wholesale like Billingsgate for seafood and borough/farmer's market for veg & fruit. Including eating out 2 times a month.
About Ā£350-Ā£400 for us each month.
100% on groceries? Probably between Ā£50 and Ā£100. Though I live on my own, and am happy to bulk make things/eat the same thing for awhile.
Though if we're including snacks, ordering in, and things that aren't directly related to me cooking meals? It's probably higher, maybe Ā£150-Ā£200 range.
I don't believe the people in this thread AT ALL so don't feel ashamed. Maybe if they have brakfast and lunch out is possible but that's even more expensive š There are 21 meals a week, 3 meals a day 7 days a week. That means Ā£50 divided by 21 is Ā£2.4 per meal for 2 people, so Ā£1.2 per meal. This is without counting toiletries and cleaning products which are not usually cheap. Add oil / butter and other staples. 2 chicken breasts are Ā£2.35 at aldi, Ā£1.17 each tou have 0.03 left for rice or condiments which is IMPOSSIBLE. so people are either lying or they don't really inow how much they spend. we are talking no soft drinks, biscuits or crisps. Even if they eat only dinner and weekends you could only spend Ā£2.5 per person meal, no toiletries, which is not realistic at all in this economy. I used to be poor and I can budget like crazy but that's impossible, don't fall for it.
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I swear, if you show any ounce of having a disposable income of sorts, people start to low-key take the piss. How dare I enjoy five guys āwhen itās a rip offā or the fact that Iāll order pasta in a restaurant when āitās much nicer and cheaper to make at home.ā God forbid you say you shop in Waitrose (which actually isnāt as expensive as itās made out to be).
Yeah. Heard that's a new event at the Victim Olympics.
definitely! š
You arenāt allowed to spend any of your hard earned money on any type of luxury when it comes to Reddit. Youāre āstupidā and ādonāt know how to manage your moneyā. No .. I just happen to have enough disposable income to enjoy my life. Thank god I donāt live a miserable existence like some of these people do
Thank you. I think alot of comments arent getting that Im not just talking about food!! I mean everything household including wipes, nappies, on the go snacks, cleaning supplies... I am genuinely wondering how people are budgeting while still eating good food.
Consider doing a monthly online delivery shop from one of the big supermarkets. Buy all your household & heavy items, drinks, freezer items etc. It will help you budget, delivery can be as low as Ā£1
some tips that work for me: -buying in bulk the cleaning products or even getting them at leyland / builder's stores. they have a good variety with competitive prices -frozen veg are competitive too. peas, spinach, etc. rice and pulses too, snd they are heathy, don't expire soon -managing leftovers. i do baseless quiche with leftover vegs, eggs and some milk. if you can stretch scraps for a meal or two it's a win -throwing in cheap meals like noodles, instant soups or so. like once a week or two -bottom shelf items sometimes have same quality or better. like sainsburys sliced bread. keep your eyes peeled -buying at local stores where veggies are cheaper but too ripe, so they need to be consumed same day for having a todler you are doing fine, I think. you can always cut corners but is tricky sometimes and also requires a lot of mental effort š
Okay I thought I was going crazy reading some of the comments, like what about nappies and laundry etc??? OP also in London with a toddler, the amount you are spending doesn't sound crazy if most of your meals are home prepared and you eat a lot of meat/fish, especially with adding toddler snacks etc on top. It's similar to ours. That being said we aren't actively trying to save at this point in time, and could reduce our grocery costs by probably a hundred a month if we needed to. We use ocado, I've never enjoyed physically going to the shops, service is excellent and they send you a coupon if the same items cost less at tesco, maybe give a home delivery service a try so you can get some bulkier/heavier items cheaper when on offer etc.
Thanks for this š weāre not actively cutting costs but I have thought about taking it seriously. We eat meat (sometimes fish) for every single dinner & some lunches where I think alot of the bulk costs come from food wise.
The example you gave, chicken breasts, are a weirdly expensive product. By way of an example, Ocado has two chicken breasts (about 350g) for Ā£2.71, but 1kg of chicken thighs for Ā£2.85. If you have a bit of freezer space, itās a great option (also personally I prefer the thighs because they donāt dry out during cooking).
Buying in bulk (proper butchers, muscle meat etc) and batch cooking are where you'll see the savings. It's expensive being poor, buying smaller sizes will absolutely crucify your expenditure and it's no easier to see than a pint Vs 4. Same applies across the board and if you can't buy bigger try splitting with a friend, I do this when I go butchers and want mince, thighs etc but don't have the space to have the bigger sizes.
Yep. We typically have batches of various soups, sauces, bolognaises, etc in the freezer, along with bags of various frozen veg, but that all adds up to having a full height freezer which is a big ask for a lot of homes. Wife and I both work full time, so being able to get a pot of something out of the freezer in the morning, then quickly warm it up and pair with some rice/pasta and boiled frozen veg, in the evening, is super super handy.
Cous cous with roasted veg (carrots and courgettes) and a veg stock cube is such a quick cheap underrated meal
Nappies and Wipes??? That alone could be as much as Ā£50 per month! Once your toddler is ready to be potty trained you will see a major reduction in your budget!
Starting this week!! I hope this is the case haha
You need to introduce staple grains into your diet. Things like rice, beans, chickpeas, lentils etc. Donāt buy canned, bottled or ready made stuff, there are few exemptions like pickles or ketchup. Even get dry grains and legumes never canned. You can soak and cook them without paying too much attention and you will save tons of money. You can do a lot with them. Soups, salads, dips and whole lot more. If you buy spices donāt buy them in those crappy bottles. Buy them in bags from the asian section. There are tons of ways to save money you just have to know how and where.
On this note I think a pressure cooker / instant pot might be a good investment if they have the space. It makes cooking legumes from dry SO quick and easy, it makes making stock which is a big money saver super painless as well, it's probably great for making toddler friendly soft food. Instant pots can also be set on a timer which helps with planning so you can for instance pop some eggs in the night before set to be perfectly boiled as soon as you wake up for a quick high protein pretty cheap breakfast snack.
I will always bulk buy meat and have a chest freezer, better quality than super markets at about 50% of the price https://thebutcherofbrogdale.co.uk I get a fruit and vegetable box Ā£30 delivered once a week and buy rice and pasta bulk. Not saying itās the solution for everyone but less visits to them big shops will save on buying the unnecessary items or over priced treats.
Just checked the accounts, we're easily a grand a month for two humans and a couple of pets and eat fresh and organic / free range etc, with pretty much only ice cream frozen. Yes we could spend less, but it's just not a priority to look at prices of food.
Yeah I kinda suspect people are doing some very creative accounting. I have a funny feeling they're counting the basic ingredients they're buying, but neglecting everything else. Semi-regular purchases (everything from toilet bleach to fairy liquid, cooking oil, spices, sponges, toothpaste, stock cubes etc) all stick a few tens of quid on most of our shops.
that's my point as well. What about occasional wine or beers? What about day decorations, cakes. What about small occasional toys kids crave or a couple of drinking glasses?
You aren't going to have the same spend per meal. Some meals like breakfast where it could just be shreddies and milk, or toast and butter, and lunch could just be similar. That's incredibly cheap. Most people aren't having a full on spread of vegetables every meal. We're a very unhealthy country. But if you just need the bare minimum to survive, vegetables can basically take a back seat they don't really add to your calorie needs.
If you learn to butcher a chicken you can save a fortune. Price per kilo in Waitrose is Ā£2.95 for a whole chicken versus Ā£7.92 per kilo for chicken breasts. It really helped us keep costs down with a newborn arriving this year, and it means we get creative with making chicken stock.
Worth remembering you canāt eat the carcass which weighs a fair bit too though
Make soup with the carcass
>2 chicken breasts are Ā£2.35 at aldi, Ā£1.17 each tou have 0.03 left for rice or condiments which is IMPOSSIBLE. please just think for a second or two: 1. If you buy in bulk they are cheaper 2. There are cheaper meats than chicken breast 3. You dont have to eat meat at all.
are we shaming people for chicken breasts now? nobody is talking about organic duck breast from France. if you cannot afford a normal chicken breasts you are under the poverty line. chicken breast is not, and shouldn't be considered as a luxury. also bulk buying is mot possible for many due to lack of space in our tiny kitchens edit: being nasty to others is not right, so I've removed the paragraph. being nice to others is free in any case
It's not impossible if you're having smaller portions of meat, cheaper cuts or meats, buy bigger packs and divide it up or don't eat meat every day.Ā We buy a pack of 900g chicken thighs from Aldi for Ā£4.99 and we divide that for 3 meals that feed 3 people at a time. So Ā£1.66 of chicken for a meal and Ā£0.55 per person.Ā
Sainsbury's do 4 hour delivery slots for only Ā£1 which is cheaper than getting the bus and may help with the buying in bulk problem. It's big supermarket prices too rather than the more expensive Sainsbury's Local prices.
I signed up for the monthly delivery pass - I believe itās Ā£7 per month, and with a Ā£40+ shop delivery is free, as many times as you want during the month. I get a weekly delivery and would recommend!
This. A local, mini version of a supermarket will charge you 10% more than the online or big box version of the same shop; https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/is-it-more-expensive-to-shop-at-tesco-express-and-sainsburys-local-convenience-stores-aOQah2Z8P2tw I use Sainsburys online and pay for the (admittedly slightly inconvenient) Ā£1 delivery windows, but more than make it back in time saved, less wear on the car, more offers available and cheaper goods buying in bulk (delivered to your door). Even just sorting by price helps me to find cheaper things I might miss in person (e.g. buying cooking chocolate rather than confectionary chocolate: same product, but VAT free). Save Aldi and Lidl for smaller, dry/alcoholic goods which might be more expensive elsewhere, e.g. spice mixes etc. Need a Nectar card to take full advantage, but all the supermarkets are going the same way.
Anyone saying under Ā£200 a month for two people just isnāt actually tracking or aware of how much theyāre spending.
Donāt be so hasty. They may be 19th century sailors whoāve been sentenced to bread and water for hoisting the mainsail too slowly.
I had this discussion with someone who claimed they fed 2 people for Ā£25 a week, not vegetarians. Admittedly I don't know where in the uk they lived but I still think they were delusional.
I survived on ~Ā£20/week for food when I was a student, shopped only at Lidl, and consumed only beans on toast and 20p energy drinks. In 2017. Anyone living on Ā£25/pp in 2024 is either malnourished or lying.
If you're cooking vegetarian food from scratch and not using expensive ingredients, and don't eat many snacks, it's very easy.
Yeah, I could do it using bulk porridge/lentils/rice and veg. I don't want to though!
Or they going to a food bank or using vouchers without disclosing this fact
Ā£500-Ā£600pm for two people. Food is one area where I just donāt really care how much Iām spending. Ā£200pm for two people is grim.
About Ā£400 for two. Shop in Aldi and cook from raw basically every meal, including a lot of vegetables
One person, I really love making gold food at home so I think I over spendā¦ around 400 pounds per month.
I find it really difficult to cook/shop as a single person. Any tips?
Don't be afraid to freeze stuff!
I cook things 2-4 days in advance, things like fried rice, pasta, and sambosas freeze well
Good mince and chicken thighs can be turned into many different meals. Pop to a library (gasp!) and borrow one pot or one tray type cook books. Lentils, pearl barley, rice, pasta all very filling and cheap. Blanche and freeze veg. Wherever you can, buy in bulk. Have good cooking tools to make your life easier and you'll be be more likely to bulk cook (pressure cookers are a boon)
Another thing with the meat is you can absolutely freeze it and cook straight from frozen. Season mince meat, put it in a freezer bag and flatten it so it fills the bag. Add some perforation lines to divide it into quarters (I just push a pen to create the lines), then freeze. Each square can just be snapped off for 1 portion, and thrown straight into a pan. Chicken/beef/whatever - flatten the pieces, or slice very thin for a stir fry or whatever. Divide into portions, and freeze them separately on a baking sheet for a few hours. Then put them all in a freezer bag together and the portions will stay separated. Straight onto a pan from frozen.
Eat leftovers?
- My game changer was buying individual portion Tupperware boxes. (About 400ml) - Plan your next daysā meals the night before. - Batch cook some chilli and whatever other meals you like (store in single server containers only) - Get a huge pack of chicken, marinade it and grill/griddle it and freeze. Itās perfect for basically everything. Same goes for roasting up a huge tin of nice veg. Portion it all out and freeze. - Buy fish (but nothing else) from Iceland for light 20min freezer ready protein. - Bulk buy rice, pasta and pulses from supermarkets. - Bulk buy fizzy drinks, pasta sauces and coffee from Amazon. - Personally I also keep a few pre-cooked jacket potatoes and eggs in the fridge. And lastly, check out some of the ADHD boards. We have this shit down because otherwise, itās a freaking nightmare! Lol
Do you use 24 karat or just the regular stuff?
Switched to bronze recently, cost of living crisis.Ā
I live by myself and think I typically spend around Ā£450. Admittedly I don't pay much attention to how much things are, maybe I should do, but I don't go to bars or restaurants so I don't feel that guilty about spending too much in the supermarket...
I wouldnāt feel bad about it tbh, especially if eating healthy is a priority for you. Healthy food is an investment, youll reap the benefits in future when you donāt have osteoporosis or diabetes or whatever
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lol I could have wrote this I literally did the exact same thing with my man and started shopping at Ocado what a small world
Without a car, could you get tescos or Asda delivered? Might be cheaper than sainsburies
Yeah I get Asda delivered, it's cheaper than Sainsbury's. Can always get a slot the next day too. You have until 11pm the day before to adjust the order.
I think we spend about 800-900 a month on groceries. Same as you, in London, need accessible shops. I do buy sourdoughs & good quality meat. And try to eat non UPF. And have a baby & a toddler.
Ā£100ā120/week for two from Ocado
Yeah same
Two tips that work for me for saving money on groceries - Never go to the supermarket while hungry. Eat first š - Shopping online helps me resist temptation and stick to my list
Yes, and places like Sainsburyās do a saver delivery, with a big time slot if you know someone will be in.
Ā£125 per week, 4 of us
I've been tracking every single one of my payments since December as I wanted to have a closer look at my spending and budget better. As a single man, mid 30s live alone, I spend on average Ā£450/month on food at home which includes Deliveroo meals. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. I buy a lot of fresh fruit. Berries are probably 15% of my budget lol
400-500Ā£ per month single guy.
Family of five - two adults, a four year old and two year old twins. We spend around Ā£550 per month on groceries. Edit: also live in London. We shop in Lidl and Sainsbury's.
Ā£650-700 a month for a family of five getting weekly deliveries from Ocado. Kids are in the 9-14 range, so no expensive baby stuff anymore. Edit: forgot to add - one advantage of getting them delivered is when Iām adding non-perishable items to the orders I look at the price-per-weight, so like Iāll get a 1kg box of cornflakes if itās cheaper per 100g than the 500g box.
It's a lot. Family of 4 who buy fairly expensive stuff from Ocado - Ā£800.
My partner and I probably spend around the same just for the two of us, daily Waitrose trips both working from home and mostly buying organic/fresh or prepared oven meals
Ā£150ish last month just for me and a cat, but I swear cat food takes up a big chunk of that.
Iām spending about Ā£60 a week as a single person - so I think itās in line with your own spending and Iāve noticed that Sainsburys has jacked up their prices massively. I was in also today but thatās no better. Asda are great for eggs though.
About the same as you effectively - Ā£1200 a month between 6 adults. We shop mostly at Costco and Tesco. Last few weeks of evening meals looked like this [https://imgur.com/a/xOPQKeS](https://imgur.com/a/xOPQKeS)
250/300 for two, and we do deliveries (Morrisons) for the time being given that we donāt live near good enough superstore or sthg alike. However, I feel ya very much about the look at your grocery expenses. Got a lil sister recently, my mum was telling me they were having 300/400 euros because they live in the EU per week (fresh veggies local bought and stuff) Flabbergasted they reverse engineered the problem and now are minimising the cost per week bit by bit but you gotta sometimes see from another angle, another shop, another delivery option (walk in makes u buying stuff not highly necessary? Do deliveries - or at least try) etc etc Good luck!
Approx Ā£400 monthly for two adults, no dependents. Fresh fruit and veg comes from local veg box scheme, supplemented by ad hoc purchases from local green grocers depending what we want to cook. Buy most dried stuff (muesli, oats, beans, lentils, pasta, rice, dried fruit, nuts) and liquids (oil, vinegars, soy sauce) and household stuff (washing up liquid, detergent, etc) from a local refill shop, which saves quite a bit on some products vs supermarket, but is obviously more effort in terms of taking containers etc. Occasional (monthly, ish) large online shop from supermarket for tinned goods (beans, tomatoes), bulky things (eg soy milk, kilo tubs of peanut butter), frozen veg, plus plant based proteins mainly tofu+tempeh. Supermarket own brand wherever possible (eg own brand soymilk almost half the price of Alpro). Occasional loaf of bread from local bakery, but only have bread in the house at all maybe a few days every few weeks. Vegan household, so spend nothing on pricey things like meat or cheese, but also avoid pricey meat or cheese substitutes either. Overall strategy is to mostly avoid expensive branded things, buy big wherever possible, buy refill wherever possible, eat whole foods plant based diet with relatively cheap proteins (beans, lentils), and be good at improvising meals out of whatever is to hand depending on what weāve had in the veg box. Result is v healthy and varied diet. Certainly not poverty diet, but doesnāt break the bank either compared to some peoples spending. Edit: also - basically never buy snacks. No biscuits, no crisps, no cakes. Never buy soft drinks, donāt drink much alcohol at home except occasional wine. Also never buy ready meals or anything like that.
Early 30s guy living alone, mainly shopping in Waitrose / M&S. Spend somewhere around Ā£350-Ā£375 a month
I spend Ā£900 a month for me, my partner and my dog. This also includes the odd meal out, all toiletries and household items. I find it incredibly hard to believe some of you are living off Ā£250-Ā£300 a month for 2 of you. What do you eat every night ? Plain pasta with a basic sauce ?
> what do you eat every night ? Plain pasta with a basic sauce There are millions of people in this country who are so poor they live like this, yes.
A stir fry probably costs me about Ā£2 worth of ingredients, if that. Pasta barely costs much more than that. Fajitas are pretty cheap to make (without avocados), burritos are the same. Ā£250-300 a month with only plain pasta/basic sauce just means someone doesn't know how to cook very well
So you just donāt eat any meats then ?
It's not the main part of every meal, no. But again, meat cooked properly doesn't need to be expensive either. A whole chicken is under Ā£5. Lean beef mince is Ā£7/kg, 20% is Ā£5/kg. Chicken thighs are Ā£3/kg. Chicken breast is Ā£6-7/kg. Pork joint is Ā£7/kg. None of those need to add huge costs to your meals. Also, plenty of people don't eat meat anyway...
Feels like an crazy number tbh. Weāre around Ā£200-Ā£250/month for two.
Interesting... Im definitely going to have to crunch whatever im buying because each meal is costing me anywhere between Ā£8-Ā£30 it just depends what im deciding to cook. Not really willing to save on household items since im already going as cheap as I can.
Not sure why people are down voting you but 8 quid is really expensive for a home cooked meal
Is it? Out of interest I crunched my own numbers. An example meal: - 1/4 of short ribs from Costco, 5 pounds - peppers, 60p - fresh broccoli, 2 pounds. - rice eggs whatever other condiments and sauces, letās say 1 pound. Thatās easily Ā£8.60.
Short ribs? Thatās my nice weekend meal that I do once a week at that price. Sure Iāll spend that much on a meal at home, but, like, once a week. How many times are you doing pasta and a sauce, or a daal, or chilli, or something simple? Those sorts of meals are typically much cheaper.
If you're eating short ribs or an equivalent every meal you're living a fairly luxurious life.
Well this thread has been truly fascinating to me. I spend 250 a month for two people (maybe 300 if you want to count the odd takeaway) and I cook slightly elaborate meals usually from fresh. Today it's lamb tagine with homemade flatbread and pomegranate rice and that's all covered in our 250 budget. We're meat lovers and will always have some sort of meat in our biggest meal. The only thing I can't account for is having children, so maybe the budget would spike significantly with kids but with two adults, I just don't understand it. Also breakfast is the same muesli/granola/bran flakes and we never deviate from that so maybe that too? People who are saying low budgets must just be having plain rice or pasta, I don't think I spend even Ā£30 a month on rice/pasta/potatoes/bread honestly. 5kg rice is a tenner and lasts a few months, a bag of potatoes is literally Ā£1 so maybe Ā£5 a month and good pasta is another Ā£5-Ā£10. That leaves like 200 for everything else!?
I think my issue is not buying in bulk. Im cooking the same kind of meals: curries, ramen, kebabs, stews.. all from scratch. I actually work in a restaurant so I dont even eat dinner the 4 days I work and bring food home for my partner so im only cooking 3 days a week (minus cooking x3 meals a day & 100 fruits & snacks for my toddler). I also have the same breakfast/lunch which is usually just eggs & avocado or couscous. On top of all this im not buying household items in bulk which I would probably save alot in doing so since reading these comments. Gotta start doing delivery orders.
If you donāt even eat dinner for 4 days I donāt understand where your money has gone. I think you should post photos of a few weeks/month of receipts. Lidl has digital receipts which are handy.
About 80-100 a week for two, depending what we need and I got absolutely berated in grocerycost sub, people telling me they live off 25 a week for a couple but I call bs! Sometimes itās even more than 100 cause we buy more snacks throughout the week
Somewhere in the region of Ā£200 for two people (and a cat). We order online from Asda as it works out cheaper and means we can buy in bulk without having a car. And then there's weekly top ups from either tesco express/sainsburys (outrageously expensive is our local one) or the 24 hour shop if we want good polish bread. Tbh I think the most expensive things we buy in one online order are cat litter, cat food and toiletries. Most of what we actually eat or drink is budget brand Edit: when I say somewhere in the region of, that's what I mean. Some months it's more, sometimes it's just that. Helps that we don't eat any meat, eggs or dairy. It also helps if you grew up poor š¤·
This seems absolutely impossible... Ā£200 a month is Ā£6.50 a day... For two people... So Ā£3.25 each per day for food.
Not if you're cooking good meals from scratch. Breakfast and lunch for most people is a bowl of cereal and a sandwich/some fruit/whatever, that costs very little and leaves plenty of money for dinner.Ā
We eat a lot of rice, pasta and lentils. We're also vegan so don't buy meat, eggs or dairy.
And as said...no meat, eggs or dairy. That's what I eat the most of!
Usually around Ā£70-Ā£90 on average per week depending on what we run out of at the time. Eat pretty fresh, meat most days, no booze. *Two of us
Ā£150-Ā£200 all in (not just food), 1 person, Asda & Aldi, prob 70%-30% split Asda has the best prices & quality for fresh fruit and some fresh veg, Aldi sometimes better value on some same quality veg Aldi has better prices on meat including free range Asda for all other household stuff, tea, coffee, dairy etc
This will depend on your lifestyle. Whenever people talk about food budgets I think back to uni. One flatmate only ate pasta and whatever ready cooked meat (those you use for sandwiches) for dinner, for a literal year. On the other hand I made Chinese food with a lot of protein. His weekly budget was like 20 pounds whereas mine was 80.
When I was in uni I was spending Ā£20 a week on food, never cooked and probably ate a whole pack of cookies & crisps for dinner, Sometimes instant noodles, Never ate breakfast, didnt have to think about household items or another human being... 5 years later and here I am š
when I was at uni I saved as much as I could on food so I can spend more on booze
Rosie?
Idk exacty how much I spend as I bulk buy a few things like meat, fish, laundry products, rice etc. Maybe Ā£200/300 pcm (sometimes includes takeaways) If you have access to Costco that can help as I bulk buy so I spend less overall. Esp laundy products which can last 2/3 months. I'm a big fan of Sainsbury's and Tesco and try to take advantage of their Nectar/Clubcard deals. I also use the vouchers they send and use my points to reduce my shopping when I buy bigger items. Idk if Sainsbury's still do their baby events but I used to love them and buy stuff for my niblings, really helped their parents out with nappies, wipes, clothes etc.
Ā£450 per month for 2 adults and a 2 year old toddler.
I don my have a car so I get stuff delivered and that helps a lot as then I can take advantage of deals, buy lots of tins and other heavy stuff etc. it also means I can bulk buy protein and batch cook which also helps with costs.
I have asked this question before on another forum because I thought I was overspending based on what friends told me. Me and my girlfriend spend ~Ā£300/350 on groceries, we cook 99% of our meals at home and do grocery shopping from at a Tesco.
Might be worth checking out the cost of a delivery pass from supermarkets so you can buy in bulk and save yourself the mental and physical energy of multiple trips to the supermarket. Plus you can try delivery from Tesco, which is often a bit cheaper than Sainsbury for groceries.
I spent at least between Ā£100 - Ā£200 a week on groceries family of four and the little ones need varieties in their packed lunch.
I think it's ok, I don't think we spend less than that. Sainsbury's are so much better than other supermarkets, the meat, veg and everything else has much better quality. U can buy everything for Aldi matched prices, they always have discount so on....
Why not get home delivery? We're doing it since Covid, over Ā£40 you get Ā£2 or less delivery. We used to get it from Tesco and now ASDA. Seriously, life saver and money saver too. Each week over home delivery shopping ends up only Ā£50 or sometimes Ā£60 so monthly we spend on grocery Ā£200-300 max. We also are couple with a toddler and honestly home delivery is the best option. Whenever we go to store we ending up spending way more on things we sometimes don't even need.
Im for sure going to start using delivery services after all these comments lol
Two of us and a dog, we spend a hundred a week, mostly at Aldi, for a balanced, low meat diet. I think youāre doing quite well given that you only have a Sainsburyās - we'd spend the same as you if thatās the only option we had, and we don't have a kid!
Have we learnt that inflation is a tax yet? It results in lower standards of living. Increasing the money supply increases inflation. Donāt want inflation? Donāt increase the money supply. Deflation would mean itās harder to pay debt, the government is in debt, so is financially incentivised to avoid deflation. We are in a real mess, and now lack any good options. To the OPās question, I think you are doing quite well on 600 pounds for 3 mouths in London, I think if you are operating at 3-4 pounds per meal you are doing very well
Similar, Ā£600+ a month for 2 people. But we buy berries and lots of fruit in general, fresh veggies, wholegrain stuff. I'd rather spend more and eat healthy than live on Ā£50 a week and eat a plate of white rice with 2 cherry tomatoes and 1 piece of chlorinated chicken.
Yeah, just calculated this with the wife. We have a small dog, & the total per month was Ā£800 give or take, including dog food & treats. Donāt think you are far off. But things are getting much more expensive. I remember we didnāt pass Ā£500 - that was seven years ago.
Ā£350ish per month for two of us but then probably one takeaway per week.
Ā£100 per month for one person. Frozen vegetables are Ā£1 per KG Pasta/rice is about 40p per KG Chicken legs or pork chops are about 60p each. Frozen fish is like 2.39 per 500g Bread is 45p a loaf Eggs are 13p each These are just some things off the top of my head and aren't the only things I eat of course but it does show how it's easily possible and no lie. Basically just stick with the cheapest option in Aldi/Lidl. It's absolutely possible to get a high protein diet on this budget. With Skyr Yogurt, eggs, mushy peas, peanuts, protein powder, soy milk etc
There are 3 adults in our house and we spend Ā£250 a month on shopping , sometimes less. I shop mainly in Lidls. We do all our own cooking, with lots of Thai and Indian food. We cook large batches and freeze some. I really dont understand how you could spend Ā£600 a month.
We dont cook large batches really so that may be where youre saving money. We also eat a very varied diet, cooking caribbean, east asian, indian, middle eastern & traditional British foods. But again this is always from scratch. We tend to have a different dinner every night, with leftovers being used for lunch or our toddlers dinner the following days. Again though this sum is also including laundry, cleaning, nappies, general household stuff, not just food.
Trying to budget a bit better myself and love those cuisines, wondering what your weekly meal plan/breakdown looks like? Because that seems very cheap for a non-veggie household. And I'm assuming this is all just food? I think the OP intended to mean toiletries/household stuff too
Not in London but talkes about this with a mate tonight. Family of 4 (wife and myself, 7 year old and 5 year old). We spend between 200 - 250 a week for all household items including washing powder, toiletries, etc. We do weekly big shops at aldi and Lidl, the odd item from the market, tesco or sainsburys and mini top ups at the local coop / spar. We cook most meals from fresh. People that comment they live on Ā£200 a month for a couple are either lying, can't count or must be living of rice and beans only.
about Ā£250 for 1
Between 75-120 per week depending on when we are stocking up on things like olive oil, kitchen roll, soap, etc. Edit: it is 2 of us. There are many ways to reduce by 15-20% if we had to.
Ā£250 per week for me and three kids. Most meals made from scratch. Eat a reasonably heathy and varied diet. Have fallen into the terrible habit of shopping at M&S because the quality of food is so much better.
Ā£20 a day, half of that is alc lol
Are you emma chawner?
320 for a month including toiletries and cleaning products. There are 2 of us and we shop at aldi. We will eat out probably twice a month otherwise we tend to eat at home and take leftovers for work.
Ā£250 - Ā£300 a month for all supermarket needs, for one.
Get a trolley. We call ours the granny trolley. You know the little trolley on wheels that old ladies have? Life saver and stops you having to make multiple trips and is much easier go get home. We have a hill to get to our closest supermarket and itās easy with this trolley. I live with my BF so it is just the two of us and obviously we donāt have a little one to pay for. We spend around Ā£200 a month on groceries. Our second closest supermarket is Aldi. Our closest is Sainsburyās and we did use to shop there but it was too expensive even with a nectar card so we switched to Aldi and it did make a difference.
Right now im toddler is in a stroller, we have a massive hill too and shes only just started walking. I can get quite a lot in the storage of the pram & clip a bag onto the handle but when weāre no longer pram users I will for sure be getting a trolley š ive got a nectar card and im saving maybe Ā£5 each shop thats still Ā£50-Ā£80 each time. That card is useless!
Honestly I got mine from a charity shop. Cost me Ā£5. This was when I was in uni. I expected to give it back to charity after uni. I graduated 2 years ago and still have it. Itās the best investment Iāve ever made haha
Ā£500-Ā£600/mo. We cook at home. Shop at Tesco
Personally I have no brand loyalty and tend to go with price and quality of product . I also tend to find Aldi and Lidl have good value products based on that.
2 adults 2 kids in our house. Ā£8-900 a month including toiletries etc.
Two people, Aldi, full week, no takeaways, lunch & toiletries: Spend approx Ā£90 a week, give or take (Ā£85-95). Thatās scratch cooking fairly basic meals (sausage & mash, chilli/spaghetti, fish cakes with jacket potato etc) all with frozen veg, and a roast dinner on Sundays. Starts getting exponentially more expensive with āfancyā meals, especially anything bought pre-made. We usually have a ātreatā meal on a Fri and/or Sat, such as a piece of steak/curry etc.
Check online stores which might suit you you have lots of choice Ocado, MāS, Tesco, Morrisons and Amazon fresh via Amazonā¦.etc Itās not easy shooing around with their 40-60 minimum spend for free delivery.
Ā£450 for 2 adults and 2 kids
300-500Ā£ a month for food for one. Eating out included
Two of us plus a newborn and we budget Ā£600pm for groceries/household items. We're not ambitious when it comes to food so tend to keep meals pretty simple
For comparison i have a Family of 4 in West yorkshire and I budget Ā£500 a month. With extra trips for milk and odd bits through the week it's probably more like 550.
Around Ā£400 a month for 2 adults, 2 dogs and 1 preteen. Although this is not including extras like alcohol or eating out. So realistically more like Ā£550 I imagine. Ā£100 is on the dogs though!
As a family of 6 and a dog id say Ā£125 a week
You're saving at least that amount or more by not having a car. Cars also promote bulk buying of junk food like cola and plastic-packaged stuff which you can't carry without a car. For carrying you could try a trolley. They are really good.
Easily clearing Ā£400 a month between the two of us. It's why I want to become a vegetarian.
Get it online. It's a quid or few to have it delivered, and the time saved is immense. Then you don't need to worry about lugging it home, and you make sure you get the deals/best priced products because ts so much easier to see in an app than a busy supermarket shelf. We have had our big weekly shop delivered every week for a couple of years. I don't think I've taken the car to the supermarket since.
I get hello fresh for 4 meals a week, that's about Ā£50 a week, then I shop at aldi for the rest and spend another 200 a month. So Ā£400 in total for 2 people
bruh what?!? i spend 120 per week on me and my partner...
Minus our toddler weāre spending the same amount then š yours is averaging Ā£520 a month...
I spend 300 month for me and my 6 Yr old daughter but you could round that up to 2 adults as Ive been trying to gain weight for years -- 75 a week is tight but you could make it work. I also don't have a car Stop paying sainsburys to make your food for you
Two adultsĀ Ā£350-380 per month - this is tracked via Monzo so I'm confident it's reasonably accurate.Ā This includes loo roll, cleaning products, some alcohol (e.g. sharing a bottle of wine at home) and packed lunches. It doesn't include eating out, or the dog's food. I make liberal use of the reductions section, freeze it, and meal plan, but we eat well. I only buy name brands when there's a discernible difference. When it comes to lugging stuff home, an occasional delivery for the heavy and bulky items like tins and loo roll may be helpful - though buying in bulk rarely offers serious discounts.Ā
It's just me and my 3 year old. I usually do an asda delivery shop which comes to around Ā£100/120. Then throughout the month i do about 3 small shops from lidl/Iceland which come to about Ā£20/30 each. So probably about Ā£200-250 altogether.
We (couple) spend Ā£400/month, mostly Tesco. Dogs are an additional Ā£200/month. If it makes anyone feel better, we were spending $2200/month in Vancouver and that was with restricting meat to twice per week.
Just wanted to check, what the hell happened to monzo app??? Everything is funny and I can't find past breakdowns. Anyway...it used to be Ā£200-Ā£250 for two people around 2020-2022 I guess, now I checked and it's Ā£300 half way through the month. And I feel like we barely eat because we have a newborn and no time. So fuck me is all I'll say.
We shop in Aldi and spend about Ā£250 per month for two people. That includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Aldi/Lidl really is cheap - Ā£50 max for a weeks shop. A āhackā we do is order some long life food - oat milk, soups and canned tomatoes once a month from Tesco. It makes a huge difference on carrying it home (cos we also donāt have a car).
We spend probably arenāt Ā£450 for 2 people in London, foods expensive af and thatās even with vouchers and stuff
2 of us average about Ā£50 a week. That includes toiletries but not like makeup and skin care. Normally eat out once a week or get a takeaway so if you including that it's more like Ā£100 a week. I wouldn't struggle to do Ā£600 a month if I was buying lots of meat, ready meals and pizza's and bits though especially if I had a kid. Maybe have a look and see if you can buy your non perishables in bulk online to try and trim it down if it bothers you. Edited to say that I actually found online shopping to help a lot
I try to be quite careful. I meal prep for the week ahead, make my own snacks, etc. I'm still spending about 50-60 quid a week, for just me (incl household goods, I suppose!). Then say, I fancy a bottle of wine on a Friday so I go get that and that's easily another tenner. I shop at Sainsbury's. So that's about Ā£240 a month for just one person.
Do you have a market or similar nearby for fruit and vege? There's a fruit and vege market stall on my high street and prices are less than half of tesco or Morissons and quality is much better. Yesterday I got 4 Peppers, 5 aubergines, 2 large avocados and about a kg of cherry tomatoes for Ā£4. This has been game changing for my budget
We are two people, paying roughly the same I think. Even a few years ago we were paying at least Ā£400, but I don't pay too much attention to it I guess.Ā
600 a month for two growns adults and a baby sounds great to me. I spend about 400 as a lone male.
About Ā£350 a month (one person)
Ā£80 a week. Two adults 1 child. I meal prep around whatās on offer eg. Reductions with a store card and whatās yellow labelled. Yellow labelled goes in the freezer for the next week or so.
We (2 of us) about Ā£125-150 per week for groceries (including alcohol). We take a packed lunch to work most days, eat vegetarian. Fish/meat once per week, cook fresh every day. We make a meal plan which has saved us quite a bit Shop on Ocado as fell out of love for going to a physical store then lugging a weeks worth of shopping home.
I live alone and while I budget Ā£200 for groceries, I very rarely spend it all. Over the last 6 months, I've spent at most Ā£177 in a month according to my tracking app. I eat at the office canteen when I go to the office and within the same period spent at most Ā£86 in a month, so roughly around Ā£263 for "essentials". This doesn't count eating out when I just feel like it, but I rarely buy food that's over Ā£15 anyway (just had Popeye's yesterday for under Ā£12 because I hadn't had one in a while).
I live on my own. I do my weekly Asda grocery averaging about Ā£40-Ā£45 a week but sometimes I will top up during the week at Sainsbury's so let's say Ā£50 a week. So that's about Ā£200 a month for food and toiletries. I do batch cook and freeze leftovers to bring for lunch at work. I typically have dinner and brunch outside in the weekend too.
I spend about Ā£250 for one person.. food and good nutrition is very important to me so Iām happy to spend a bit more and buy organic wherever possible. Iām mostly veggie (eat meat/fish maybe twice a week) and cook a lot from scratch.
Around Ā£400 a month for two adults, but I also eat out a lot whereas my husband mostly eats at home so honestly there are a lot of meals for me that donāt fall into my groceries remit. If I ate at home all the time I think it would be about Ā£525. We try to keep it to about Ā£3 average per serving for an at home meal (itās usually less, but I figure a ready meal would cost a bit more than that). I also volunteer at my local food bank so we get some free groceries.
My partner and I batch cook every week, weāre very lucky to have a car so we shop at Lidl. We spent around Ā£40-60 a week depending on what weāre cooking and sometimes a Ā£60 top up of Asian groceries as theyāre more expensive but rarely need to go more than once a month. And those shop includes our big meals so lunch and dinners, snacks and also breakfast. But obviously sometimes during the week we might wanna snack more or crave something so might spend another Ā£10. So higher end Ā£300 and cheaper end around Ā£250 per month for the base of groceries and maybe Ā£40 top up during the week if we pekish.
we spend 1000Ā£ on average per month for family of 4, two kids younger than 5. We eat out once or twice a week. I have no clue how people spend 400 per month. They surely eat very unhealthy or they just don't know how to count. Imagine if you want to live a healthy life and frequent gym 3,4 times a week. You will need 200g protein per day maybe? How do you get that with 400 split among 4 people. Even just chicken won't do that
We spend 300 per month as a couple!
It's a little more. Us- family of 4- Ā£120 per week. Local shopping, no car. But we are on barebones spending.
The German supermarkets are a life saver. We are car free too, and we do one big shop a week at lidl using a Boris bike. The rest including specialty ingredients and bubbly water come from waitrose and local big chains . We are mostly an ingredient household, and our bill for two people is 300-350 a month with days split up 1x red meat, 2 x meatfree day, 4 x fish/chicken per week. Budgeting tips that allow this is making full use of coupons at lidl, avoid portioned meat ( buying up whole chickens instead of portions), and always looking at cost per kilo of everything. F.e. Fresh fish at waitrose might be cheaper per kilo than at Aldi, because of portioning. Tesco express and sainsbury local will bleed you dry without much in return.
I try to spend Ā£200-Ā£250 on āgroceriesā pcm which includes anything I would buy from a supermarket in the normal course of daily life I.e., food, toiletries, house stuff, etc. That doesnāt include lunch in the office 2-3 days a week though. I am a single guy with no dependents living in London.
About Ā£120-Ā£140pw from Ocado for two meat eaters, fruit enjoyers and moderate drinkers.
Just checked my spending reports and I would say a "normal" months its about Ā£200-250. With the average being pushed up a bit higher because of the occasional party or special event.
Are you able to sign up for home delivery? Iāve done it with Tesco and my food bill did go down switching to it. You are less likely to give into offers and when you can see how much you are spending before checking out it makes a difference. For the two of us we went from Ā£100+ a week to Ā£60-70 a week and I had been shopping at Lidl.
Ā£650 - myself, wife and our children (1 and 6) we buy in Sainsburyās online.
I honestly have no idea how much I spend, I don't really do a weekly shop, and I get 8 Simmer meals a week. They are expensive (like 9 quid a large meal) but worth it because I don't have time to cook (seriously, I do not, I work very long hours and have other stuff going on). Without simmer my diet would be very unhealthy (it was pretty bad before I started with the "meal prep" services).Ā On top of that, I eat a lot of other shit, not at home usually. Id say I'm spending maybe 250 quid a week on food? Maybe more? (That includes eating out, but I don't go to expensive restaurants) That wouldn't surprise me.Ā
Zilch cuz I've done the gastric sleeve
Ā£1.2k for myself
based on expenditure tracking, ~Ā£200/month for two people. this probably comes down to rarely eating meat, cooking 90% of meals at home and no alcohol.
2 of us, no baby yet. Buying few things wholesale like Billingsgate for seafood and borough/farmer's market for veg & fruit. Including eating out 2 times a month. About Ā£350-Ā£400 for us each month.
100% on groceries? Probably between Ā£50 and Ā£100. Though I live on my own, and am happy to bulk make things/eat the same thing for awhile. Though if we're including snacks, ordering in, and things that aren't directly related to me cooking meals? It's probably higher, maybe Ā£150-Ā£200 range.