Solitary chicken - need advice

[Sheilaz]

Omleteers for advice again?

 

Does anyone have an idea of a reasonable amount to charge for weekly food bills for a single, elderly Mother? I just wondered if anyone already did this, or whether you've heard this discussed?

I'd be very grateful if anyone has any ideas. Please ignore this if tempted to add how much it costs for a family, it's very different! I'm assuming for someone who isn't extravagent, but should be able to have good food.

 

For nearly 3 years I've shopped for my Mother and she's paid the supermarket bill, then given me the exact money for bakers and any other bits.

I have a lot of other family shopping to do (etc!), and paid for that separately, and had it all down to a fine art.

I'm not bothered if I've bought her extra things when I've brought fruit at the market for example, and the food for our weekly lunch at my house is on my bill, I err on the side of not overcharging her & that's fine, although she likes to know everything to the last penny.

 

However, I've increasingly found that it's all very time consuming. So, now I have Ocado deliveries, and can pick up extras in town easily as I work in the City centre. It's a smooth & organised system for me & has freed up a lot of time & effort. Often the shopping is put away & her week's meals cooked by 9am on a Tuesday, so I can pick her up early to come to my house. Also, it's impossible dividing what I bought for just her, and what's for everyone to share, especially when cooking for all.

 

Any ideas where to start? I hate asking for the money, but it's taking hours to tally up items, I wondered if I could aim for a set amount & discuss it with her?

[Cinnamon]

How much did her weekly supermarket/bakery/butchers bills tot up to before,on average?

 

I would start from there, & maybe add a little more for your time,delivery charges & so forth.

 

Not easy though,is it?

[C&T]

A few years ago, I was living by myself.

 

I had moved into my first place - so wasn't flush with money!

 

I had £200 a month, which covered all food shopping (plus toiletries, cleaning stuff etc) and also going out money.

 

From memory I would spend about £20 a week in the supermarket, and that covered everything (food, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc) except Fruit and Veg, which I bought from a green grocers. Became a game of seeing how little I could spend, and still eat!

 

I was eating the cheap versions of everything though. Tesco's economy pasta and tesco economy cup-a-soup with some veg thrown in. Yum!! And if really lucky, some ham or a sausage on top But I did buy a lot of veg, and padded out all my meals with those. Maybe £5 a week? And the Green Grocers was cheap but fresh!

 

(For the record, now avoid Tesco's, and try and eat quality meat... )

 

 

Not sure if that helps or not...

[Space Chick]

Hi Shelia, I have a similar situation with my Grandad. His weekly shopping comes to about £30 a week (including things like washing powder, cleaning stuff, toiletries etc)

 

On top of this, I make him homemade "ready meals" which are easy to heat up in the evening to give him a good quality dinner as opposed to supermarket rubbish. The ingredients for these meals, are included in my shopping, but he gives me money every month towards them.

 

He usually gives me about £30 a month towards these (although this doesn't cover the cost, but he doesn't need to know that I'm happy that he is eating good quality organic meat, but that is my decision and I can afford to feed him as we both work full time and don't have children to feed )

 

So I suppose if its food only you would need to budget about £30 - £35 a week, if it is toiletries and other things as well probably £40 - £45 a week.

 

I hope this helps

[jess]

I live alone right now and I spend 25 pounds a week. A little more if the recipe needs things like fresh thyme or basil, as theyre quite expensive at asda.

[Sheilaz]

Thank you very much, Omleteers are so helpful! £25 sounds good for a frugal student Jess, so that is a starting point. Then, C&T, that's a bit nearer, but I know I spend more on her (whilst eating leftovers myself!

However, my parents scrimped & saved all their lives, so I do buy the best produce for her, whilst also looking for bargains of course!

 

Sarah, that too made sense, and is in fact what Mother suggested when I raised the subject this afternoon. Well, I thought there'd be resistance to any easy option but she favoured the plan & was even helpful!

 

Debs, your situation sounds quite similar, albeit with a generation gap. It was very useful to know how you worked yours out, and my approach will be similar I think.

 

I feel much more optimistic about this now, which leaves a bit more time to tackle other problems. Thank you so much for posting everyone, it's very kind of you.

[Valkyrie]

I take mum shopping and her weekly bill ranges from £20 - £35 on average. She always complains that the vouchers from Sainsbury's or Te$co are always "when you spend £50 or more", and she never reaches that target.

[BocBoc]

This is a very useful thread. I have a lodger and he eats his evening meals with us - I charge him £20 a week. I had no idea if this was too much / too little as it's difficult to work out when doing a weekly shop for different things.