Fizzle Knit Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 (edited) If people are willing to say, how much do you spend on your weekly shop (food, cleaning materials etc), and how many is that for? We're a family of 5, and spend too much I'm sure, and I can't even put a figure on it I tend to do a big monthly online shop (£200?) then "top-up" doing little shops during the month, and I think it's those little extras where all the money goes. So I want to be more organised in 2010, have a realistic budget, and stick to it, so I'm curious to know from other people's experiences what a realistic budget might be! ETA I can spell REALISTIC correctly, even though I failed to twice in this post!! Edited December 29, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggquisite Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hi Frizzle Knit, I would guesstimate we spend on average £50-60 per week for two adults. This excludes any pet good for our managery listed below As you can see for our signature we're planning to try & cut our spends too by planning meals better etc.. we love to cook & bake so more of that to be planned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xScrunchee Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We are a family of four and spend about £150 per fortnight but that includes dog and cat food, cat litter, cleaning products etc, as well as guinea pig food and hay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Around £150 a week for seven people. I wish it could be less! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terracata Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Well being only 17 and therefore still mooching off the parenty ones I can't tell you what I spend personally, least ways not on food... I about reckon we spend 60-70 pounds, Christmas being an exception of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 About £30 a week for two adults including cleaning/washing stuff but we did grow a lot of veg this year and have our own chickens for meat Hubby is a very clever shopper when it comes to making up multiple meals from the same ingredients which is very handy but we do have a lot of 'samey' meals so the remains of a soup one day gets more veg and pasta added to become a only very slightly different meal the next day Our pet food and bedding bill is about £25 a week on top though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Sounds similar to ours Fizzle. For 5 of us, probably £150 a month on the big shop,then top ups from our co-op or Aldi. Amounts depend on who does the shopping If OH is on cooking duty he will 'nip to the shop' for pies, snacks, pop and ready meals but if I'm cooking I'll maybe top up with fruit and veg and use whatever else is in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrie Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hi we are a family of 5 too. We tend to spend about £450-500 a month which include washing/toiletries etc. Then every couple of months I bring it right down to £200 to get bank balences back into order. To do this I take £50 cash out of the bank each week and only spend that cash, some weeks I can get it to £35 but that is with lots in the store cupboard. I do quite enjoy my £200 months its a good challenge. January will definately be a £200 or less month Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzle Knit Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share Posted December 29, 2009 Thanks all - just googled my question and it's amazing how little some people are able to spend on groceries (through choice or necessity). Think I'm going to plan ahead more in the New Year, eg by doing weekly menues and only doing one shop a week, and see how much we spend then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docsquid Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I guess ours averages £80 to £100 for two of us but that includes everything - wine, beer for DH, not inconsiderable quantities of cat food, veg, toiletries and occasional purchases of items such as cookware, storage bowls, cleaning cloths and cleaning materials etc. On the actual food and veg it would probably be about £30-£60 a week, depending on whether we are having any treats and on how much of our own grown veg is in season and how much home-made wine we've got in stock Now I make my own cakes and have my own eggs, this will go down a bit. I would add that I need quite a high calorie and high protein diet due to a medical condition, and so this does tend to add a bit to the food bill. I also only buy Organic and free range meat and veg, so this puts the prices up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I spend about £60 a week or so including cleaning stuff for 3 of us ( pet stuff is bought elsewhere).I always check out the special offers and write a list (all priced up) & menu before I go. It takes a little longer to organise but I now have it down to a fine art (and a spreadsheet on the 'puter). I pay cash as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I would say the average is approx £80 a week for 2 adults, a German Shepherd and 6 chickens! That will include everything and no "pop outs" to the shop to stock up mid week. I buy FR chicken for the dog, and the chooks have corn on the cobs and raisins included in my weekly shop. I also have to buy a lot of cleaning products as have a casual home help job also. I think a lot of you do very well on your shopping compared to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 About £150 per week for four of us. All in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadMitch Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 About £80 a week for two adults two cats and 9 chickens. This doesn't cover meat though as I get that direct from Farms every couple of months. No matter how hard I try I can never seem to get it for much less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Ours varies depending on good I am been! ie. if i have made a menu for the week then i take a shopping list and stick to it. For 4 of us it can sometimes be £50 on a good week. When i just run out the door with no planning it can double! Moral is - make a menu and take a list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I think I am spending around £20 to £30 per week on food etc I get meat in the Co-op reduced shelf for less than half price (and sometimes reduced stuff in Tesco too) and have grown veg this year, but not much. I would say the £30 per person, per week would be a good basic no frills amount. I rarely buy cleaning products just wash down with soapy water. I have managed to last for a year without buying washing powder too, just one of those magic balls and some soda crystals. Nothing is really dirty and the only thing I have purchased for laundry is some fabric conditioner, as I noticed all my clothes were getting a bit static I have a budget of £200 per month to cover food, petrol, clothes, general spends and I don't exceed it. I have vowed to not buy cake or sweets in 2010 so if I want them I will have to make them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 About £150 per week for four of us. All in. Same here for us, bearing in mind my children are teens who eat like adults now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Good point Cinnamon! 1 teenage boy = 2 normal adults food wise!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I'm not sure exactly how much we spend , in the region of £50-60 pounds for two adults and one toddler per week, that includes cleaning stuff but not pet food. We have good weeks and absolutely terrible weeks where we are always popping into the supermarket for stuff we fancy rather than stuff we have in the cupboards/fridge so that probably adds £20 or so to the weekly amount . Oh, and then we have bad weeks where we consume way too much alcohol and of course that all adds to the ££££s. One of our plans for the new year is to start being more careful and planning ahead what we need, what we are going to eat etc and try and spend less money. I think I might (if I'm feeling brave enough ) start keeping a diary so I can track what I'm spending. We are also cutting down on the booze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Currently there's 3 of us at home plus 4 cats and ...many chickens (my chicken maths is poor ). We average about 300 a month all in. It probably reduces slightly in high summer when we've got veg from the allotment. I do make menus in advance, but often find that it makes more sense to see what special offers there are, buy them and then build a menu around those special offers... Saronne x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docsquid Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I do make menus in advance, but often find that it makes more sense to see what special offers there are, buy them and then build a menu around those special offers... I find it almost impossible to do menus in advance, although a bit easier at this time of year. This is mainly because I'm never sure exactly what veggies we will have ready at what time. Even when I have a veg box delivered in winter I'm not sure exactly what will be in it - they give you a list but often put in extras, or substitutions. I do try and plan out a rough menu but then DH says he doesn't want what I'd planned, so I have to think again on my feet. He also changes his mind about what he likes and doesn't like! And about once a month just wants us to go out for a meal on the spur of the moment, which means carefully purchased and planned things have to be re-jigged or frozen or whatever. So, I try and buy basics and be flexible, and never buy ready meals. I could save quite a lot if I didn't buy organic and free range - I think this would reduce the bill by about £15 a week if I went for the non-organic options. What I don't do is throw food away - it is very rare that I find something lurking that really has gone off and has to be composted. DH does not over-consume alcohol, but does drink a fair bit of wine and beer, which is also expensive, as he likes real ales and nice wine. There is room to cut down, but I don't need to reduce food expenditure, so at the moment that isn't a priority. This year we plan to eat more locally-caught game too (this is licensed, legally-hunted game such as rabbit and wood-pigeon), and along with the eggs, making our own bread, growing more of our own veg (we have a greenhouse now!) and so on, will reduce the bill even further. A lot of our food has zero food miles, and that's what we want to do more of. One thing I'd like to do is get DH's meat consumption down. I only allow myself 4 meat meals a week, plus one fish. However DH has meat at lunch every day too, while I don't. It would be better for the planet and healthier for him not to mention cheaper for both of us. It is a case of slow but sure, until he gets a meal he likes and then realises it is meatless. It isn't helped by supermarkets doing meat in packages that are too big (for two of us) and encouraging a lot of meat to be eaten at one meal instead of a small amount with some other padding like pulses. We don't have a big enough freezer to freeze half portions, or cook double quantities and freeze the rest, so it all has to be eaten once the packet is opened. Anyway, enough of my rambling! I'm happy with what we get for what we spend, but am trying to reduce the food miles and environmental impact of what we eat, which isn't the same thing as reducing the cost, although sometimes they go hand in hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I do make menus in advance, but often find that it makes more sense to see what special offers there are, buy them and then build a menu around those special offers... This year we plan to eat more locally-caught game too (this is licensed, legally-hunted game such as rabbit and wood-pigeon), and along with the eggs, making our own bread, growing more of our own veg (we have a greenhouse now!) and so on, will reduce the bill even further. A lot of our food has zero food miles, and that's what we want to do more of. I'm into low food miiles, too, and buy meat and some of my veg from local producers - not that it's cheaper! The allotment helps a lot in the summer, as do the eggs. We even get locally milled bread flour... Saronne x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I do plan meals from Monday - Thursday then shop again on Friday for the weekend. I tend to splash out a bit more for the weekend,buy a few more treats & only really use red meat then too. Having a veggie daughter (its a year now!) has really helped us to keep costs down as we now eat veggie at least 3 times a week. And my eldest is now working 2 evenings a week,so we eat later those days,which has taken some planning too. Luckily I am a great organiser & I LOVE to plan. I have 8 files of recipes for different bases (chicken,Pork etc) & flick through those each week to pull out something to cook. I hoard recipes all the time & my desk constantly has a pile of 'to trys' on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 (edited) About £150 per week for four of us. All in. Same here for us, bearing in mind my children are teens who eat like adults now Crumbs ! I have 2 hollow legged teenage boys and we only spend around £80 on groceries per week, including meat and any fruit/veggies we don't grow ourselves. I have to admit that I am extremely tight about meat and will make a Sunday roast last for 2-3 more meals and I bake/make everything from scratch. I don't buy any cleaning products or alcohol on a weekly basis though. Edited December 29, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Having a veggie daughter (its a year now!) has really helped us to keep costs down as we now eat veggie at least 3 times a week. When hubby and were first together some 15 years ago we couldnt afford much so went veggie to save money and we saved an absolute fortune, we are still in the habit of havng a few veggie meals a week to keep costs down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...