what is your weekly food spends??

We spend about £40-£45 a week for 2 adults and one small cat hehe We used to spend up to £60-£70 when we didn't have a car and only shopped at Waitrose.

I make a lot of our meals from scratch using store brand value stuff- ie. lovely homemade tomato sauce made with tesco value plum tomatoes! I buy store brand or value products for most paper goods and other stuff that we've tested out and feel don't dimish the quality and we basically decided what we can stand not being brand named. Instead of buying chicken breasts,  we'll  buy a chicken to roast and that lasts us for at least 2 meals, often 3. We've just started going to a local Sunday Market where we buy our veggies and fruit for an obscenely cheap amount. As a result, we have been eating lots more fruit and veg and find that it is very filling! All of the veggies are really big, too. For example, We'll buy 4 Aubergines for £2, 2 bunches of Bananas for £2, 3 cucumbers for £1, 6 mangos for £2 (ohh, that was heavenly), 4 Swedes for £1, 5 boxes of strawbrries for £2, 4 honeydew melons for £2.  Which means we have had some nice fruit for breakfast or snacks, too!

We realised too that the bulk of our money was being spent on food. So we've decided what we want to skimp on and what we don't. The only things we really don't skimp on are tissues, toilet roll, nice pasta, juice, tuna and Sweetcorn from Waitrose when we can stock up. Also, the cat is finicky- only likes Go Cat brand- thankfully it is cheap! hehe

We spend about £60 a week, for 4 people, 2 adults, 1 teenage boy and 1 preteen girl.  But that also includes cleaning supplies, alcohol and the odd dvd or cd or top for my daughter. I am actually very frugal when it comes to food, we eat quite healthy and I make 95% of our food from scratch. I buy most my veg from a local farmer at amazingly cheap prices - I'll get a huge sack of potatoes for £1, equally big bag of onions £1, cauliflower & broccoli for .35p a head. double bunches of carrots for .50p. I LOVE my local farmer guy Everything is fresh, lovely and organic too.

Rosie

I think I am doing something wrong...for my hubby and I i budget £125 a week..and that includes 25 for his weekly lunches, my petrol for my car and things around the house....I don't enjoy cooking all the time and we have cut back on alot of our takeaways...I shop at ASDA for most things but buy my meats from Tescos and Sainsburys....

bloody hell woman £125 a week for 2 people !! wow.

Edit to say : if that's including petrol and stuff that sounds about right...

£25 for lunches?  That's £5 a day.  Is he buying out?  My husband makes lunches for me and the teenager, and the younger one does school dinners (his choice, though he did have packed lunch for half the school year) at £7 a week.  I don't mind the younger one doing school dinners, because he's real good about eating off the salad bar and eating veggies!

Every saturday we spend £100 on shopping for food between Waitrose/M&S & markets but this includes any incidentals like a lottery ticket, magazines & cigarettes.  Hard to break it down to just the food part, but if I need to make savings some weeks I cut out my magazines (at £3 a pop that can be very expensive) and a surprising way I saved money was by cutting out diet coke- I used to drink litres of the stuff, switched to water and that makes a big saving weekly.

I will also buy staples like kitchen towels, toilet paper, house cleaners and washing powders at one of the discounted stores like "Saver" or Wilkinsons, can save a lot of money that way.

Interestingly, when my husband goes he can always do it for about £30 less than I can, but then we run out of things by Wednesday- so he will supplement it and I think thats a false economy.  We barely have takeouts anymore, I would rather go for a pub lunch on a saturday for that kind of treat.

We are a family of 6 and spend about £140-£160 a week but we usually dont skimp and we dont buy store brands. We could probably save a lot of money if we switched to store brands.

Is coupon cutting in England the same as it is here in the States?  I save about $5 - $8 on a trip if I'm really good about using coupons.

~Liza

I know i think i need to cut down...he does spend $20-25 a week on lunches but he travels all the time so it is difficult for him to make his own and keep them in the car....and he works fulltime as well..so its a bit of a reward for him..ha ha

I bring mine most days but im only working 29 hours a week...i wish there were more coupons here...i used to cut coupons from our local sunday paper in the US>...haven't found many coupons here...

You can get store cards and they will send you coupons periodically and you earn points on your purchases...

Is coupon cutting in England the same as it is here in the States?  I save about $5 - $8 on a trip if I'm really good about using coupons.

~Liza

NO! And I really miss my coupon clipping days! Here though the stores often have great buy one get one free items. I always take advantage of them.

Same here I used to clip coupons for my parents shop we used to save a lot a month ...and it was my sunday morning routine...flicking through the sunday paper while watching CBS sunday morning...

Is coupon cutting in England the same as it is here in the States?  I save about $5 - $8 on a trip if I'm really good about using coupons.

~Liza

No, Ricki is right - it used to be more common- some stores would even have racks of their coupons on display but now you have mentioned it, coupons have pretty much become extinct in favour of "loyalty cards".

I do well out of my Boots Advantage card (when I remember to use the double points token) but that's not food!

I remember in the States (and I admit, I didnt fully understand the system) but there would be double points days and then they would take other coupons from other stores and double those too - I remember little ladies would have special little extended folders with alphabetically arranged coupons and spend ages at the til getting them out - I tried to copy them but never remembered the folder when we decided to go shopping!

Yeah, not too many coupons here. I have issues with the loyalty cards, though. It's all a bit too Big Brother for me. They are tracking and saving every detail about your shopping habits and I don't like that.

That said, a couple times, when I'm checking out and am asked if I have a card, the person behind me has offered theirs. And I still don't get a discount! Like US coupons, the UK loyalty cards are often for new products, ready meals, sodas, sweetened juices, etc. Things we rarely buy. You don't get coupons for red cabbage, do you?! 

As a business idea ~ someone could make a fortune out of me if they would do my weekly shop and then cook me healthy meals to freeze with it- I would more than happy to pay for this.

I dream of being able to afford Silhouette to deliver but at £30 a day, I cannot afford it, but if I had a friend or someone locally who had a clean kitchen and could knock up and freeze a batch of healthy meals for my husband and I - would be more than willing to pay- hate shopping, hate cooking and the price of this would more than compensate not having to do it.

Was thinking about this last night, there are so many of you who know about feeding a family, have millions of menu ideas and enjoy cooking and then there are couples like us who hate it and overspend on items we shouldnt!

Things we rarely buy. You don't get coupons for red cabbage, do you?! 

Yes, you do. The Tesco clubcard sends you coupons based on your past purchases. Since what we mostly buy is fresh fruit and veg, that is what we get coupons for - apples and asparagus. And rum & Dvd's.

Rosie