Grocery Spend

Okay, so DH and I were just going over how much money we spent last month and on groceries alone we spent over £500 pounds!  There's only 2 of us!  This sounds like so much money to me to be spending on food and I really want to try to cut it back by as much as I can.  Can you give me an idea how much you spend on food per month and if we are just plain old crazy to be spending so much?

Yes, that is wildly crazy! 

We spend roughly a hundred - hundred and twenty pounds per month for the two of us.



Vicky

Yes, that is wildly crazy! 

We spend roughly a hundred - hundred and twenty pounds per month for the two of us.

Is that including eating out?

DH and I spend 70 - 80 pounds a week and we eat out once or twice a week.  I can't figure out how to cut our shopping down, but we'd like to.

Oh no, we really ARE crazy!!!!!
Does that include everything?  Breakfasts, lunches, dinners and cleaning products, etc?
Okay, we need to regulate this ASAP!

whoa.  I don't even spend that for a family of five.  Where do you shop?

About £200 per month not including eating out, which we don't do often.  The boy buys sandwiches for lunch when he commutes to the office.  Otherwise we do all our eating at home.

Yael - no, this doesn't include eating out or take aways, which probably occur once a week on average (if that).  It also doesn't include going to the pub!  It does include cleaning products.

We keep things simple - breakfast is cereal or toast, and I do splash out on decent jam for toast but often bake my own bread.  Lunch will be sandwiches or leftovers from last night's dinner, and dinner is almost always cooked from scratch and I make enough to roll over for lunch the next day for at least one of us.  We seldom do junk food or convenience food, and I do a fair amount of baking.  I got used to cooking on a budget when I was a student, and I guess I am just good at it and I am meticulous about never wasting food.  Also a factor might be that I don't buy meat.

Vicky

my dh does the shopping. he spends about 40£ a week, if we do take out then 50£ but we dont eat a lot meat,i dont eat any, and they eat meat once or twice a week most! also when i cook i make enough food for atleast two sometimes three days. so that helps too.. we eat pasta a lot and things, we do buy my diet coke, and crisps:) that is for two adults and an almost ten year old that will eat most anything he gets his hands on! this also includes toilet paper and etc. like cleaning supplies. we do the coupon things, and sales. also we use like tessco brands, on somethings, and we always check the discount aisle!

We spend on average 40 pounds a week on food.

I started tracking all of our spending last November, and it took a while to work out what our average is, since we sometimes have months where we'll do very large shops and stock up, and then have months where we're hardly around, and sometimes I'm better about brining my lunch to work, or making big batches of meals to eat throughout a week, etc, etc. I would start tracking exactly what you are spending, but give it some time to show consistent patterns.

We don't buy a lot of convenience foods or snacks, and besides wine/beer (which we stock up on a few times a year), don't buy any other drinks since we prefer water.

Trust me--I was equally surprised when I figured out what I was spending last November. But even just keeping a record of it has helped my husband and I cut back, as it makes us think twice.

whoa.  I don't even spend that for a family of five.  Where do you shop?

We shop at Tescos to do our big shops where we usually spend between £50-£70.  But we usually get our meat from Waitrose or M&S if they have a good deal on.  I know it's expensive but I am not a huge fan of the meat at Tescos and I really like my fresh meats.

I think our main problem (but DH disagrees) is that since he works in Windsor where there is a Waitrose and an M&S, he goes on his lunch break and picks up things we 'need' during the week and it all adds up.  I have said we need to stick to our weekly shops and one shop per week at Waitrose to pick up meats for the week but thats still a lot!

my dh buys meat at a meat shop. they eat meat that is slaughtered in a speical way, not like stunned or anything. so that can get expensive, they do have this type of meat that my dh eats at tessco but it doesnt smell good......

Lissa - Meat at Waitrose and M&S is expensive, but I would agree that it is probably worth it to get better qualify (and healthier meat from animals who have had nice lives if you organic).  Perhaps it might be worth cutting down your meat purchases, so you would save money by eating meat less often but wouldn't have to compromise on qualify.

DH is kidding himself if he thinks that he is not contributing to your spending by doing this.  We got to Waitrose for little things sometimes, as there is one right by our flat, and it is significantly more expensive than tesco/Sainsbury's, even for staples like bread, milk, eggs, washing up liquid etc.  If he gets his sandwich there at lunchtimes too, you could be talking about an extra £50 per week!

mspotts - I assume that you mean halal?  I didn't realise that was much more expensive than the regular stuff?


Vicky


Vicky

We shop at Tescos to do our big shops where we usually spend between £50-£70.  But we usually get our meat from Waitrose or M&S if they have a good deal on.  I know it's expensive but I am not a huge fan of the meat at Tescos and I really like my fresh meats.

With regards to meat, we tend to buy better quality (free range, or organic, and usually from Waitrose), but cheaper cuts. So chicken thighs instead of breasts, for instance. Or we'll buy a whole chicken, and get quite a few meals from it. There is a thread somewhere about how far one can stretch a roast chicken. We also look for good deals and stock up and freeze.

mspotts - I assume that you mean halal?  I didn't realise that was much more expensive than the regular stuff?

I don't know about Halal meat, but kosher meat in the US is VERY expensive.  I'm assuming it is here as well, but I've not checked.  Anyway, this is why I don't eat meat (DH doesn't now either)..

We still spend a lot on groceries even without meat.  I really don't know how I could cut it down, as we eat a lot of veggies (which aren't cheap - bell peppers are 88p each!) and fruit.

I have no idea what we spend.  
We do most of our shopping at Costco, have our milk, juice and yogurt delivered and I get most of our fruit and veg at the green grocer. If we need something else we go to Waitrose and cannot manage to walk out of there spending less than £40, even if I just go in for a couple of things!