How much do you spend each week on food?

Dribs and drabs, as the supermarket is just down the road and I am always calling in. Lidl is really good these days as well as our mainstream, which is Morrisons here, though I like to vary it by travelling to others occasionally. M&S is local too and good for meals for 2 for £10. If you want to save money on shopping, join Shopitise and Checkoutsmart and Shopmium and claim cashback via your phone app. The mysupermarket website allows comparison of prices for any product that you enter.

Two of us, no pets. We spend about 130€ (£110ish) per week on average. We shop at Lidl, Carrefour and the local organic supermarket. Fish twice a week from the market (expensive) and meat from the butcher. We have a large vegetable garden and are pretty self-sufficient in summer with lots of veg frozen for the winter. We drink wine (well it is France) but it is not expensive. Low-carb so no cakes or puddings and no visits to the patisserie involved.
We do eat well, but never eat out.

We will spend approximately £120 at Tesco today. There are the two of us all week, two pre school grandchildren to feed on 2 days a week and their daddy when he collects them. That doesn't include wine, DH gets that online usually when it's a good price. It's unusual if we manage the full week without having to top up.

Just lately it's been around £30 per week, a tad more if I accidentally go down the book aisle. I must confess though I have bought no potatoes for weeks, still digging them up as I need them. The runner beans are coming through so veggies won't be bought for a while, just frozen peas, sweetcorn etc. I have bought no fruit as I was having to grab people off the street and give them my strawberries, the rhubarb is still producing, although the gooseberries and blackcurrants are finished, I've already got blackberries the size of walnuts just started and still got a whole freezer drawer full of fruit waiting to have something done with them. Oh and the apples are nearly ready. Considering I only took up gardening at the age of 65 3 years ago I'm feeling quite pleased with myself [grin}. And just in case you're wondering I don't have a large garden.

We spend for two excluding the dog between £40 and £60 per week that included cleaning materials and occasional alcohol, mainly Aldi with a Tesco or Sainsburys top up when needed for the few things Aldi don't have or we don't like. It makes me so mad when I think of the money I wasted shopping in Waitrose, Sainsbury's etc before I retired. We don't buy much pre prepared food nearly everything is made from scratch and I always make a meal plan and use a list and we eat very well. In our town Tesco is across the road from Aldi and I always want to take families in Tesco with a full trolley on one side and tell them how much they could save if they went across the road. The other big advantage as I hate food shopping is that the Aldi is smaller and the checkout very very fast so you can do the whole weekly shop in under half an hour.

Since we both retired we don't do a regular shop anymore, but as and when we need to, which isn't actually often.
DH has a walk every morning, so pops into the co-op to have a look at their yellow stickers, if there's anything 'wondrous' he picks it up and it's either dinner that evening, or put in the freezer.
Roughly twice a month we go to Aldi to stock up on essentials and visit Waitrose every three weeks or so, for delicious extras. We've got our Waitrose timing perfect now, and usually pick up lots of reduced sticker produce. Last night we had sea bass fillets, Jersey royal potatoes and tenderstem broccoli, all Waitrose, total cost, £3-59!
We go to Costco for cereals, fresh/frozen veg and meat for the freezer about once every six weeks.
We have a takeaway about every third week, and eat lunch out about three times a month, very rarely have evening meal out, as we like to get 'comfy' in the evenings!
We hardly drink alcohol at all, so very little spent there, but I have a weakness for Blue Mountain coffee, which is a tad expensive, so I limit myself to two cups a day, and drink herbal tea or water the rest of the time. I buy my coffee as beans and grind them just before using, beans are cheaper than ground, and stay much fresher much longer.
I think all in, our 'weekly' amount averages out at £75 - £100 for two of us, no pets, but we eat very, very well.

My mind boggles at how much some people spend for 2 people.

I'd love to know how much I spend as the S.O. brings food in at the weekend and I live on whatever happens to be left topped up with what's in the freezer or things I buy when I'm out and about. I keep intending to keep a record. I do buy in fresh fruit and vegetables for my smoothie maker, along with nuts etc from Holland and Barrett so I know that each day I'm getting plenty of vitamins. But, when I went to Tesco's last week to top up on bananas, carrots and yoghurt I ended up spending @ £35 on toys and books for my granddaughter.

Only me and I'm not a big meat eater, just chicken or fish. Don't drink either. My weekly spend including cleaning stuff, toiletries etc is usually about £40. I use Sainsburys mostly but also Tesco and Aldi, and I get given veg from daughters allotment.

two of us plus one fussy cat and 2 grandkids who eat here 2-3 days a week, we spend about £80 big shop about every 10 days which consists of dinner/ lunch/breakfast food plus yoghurts, no cakes, biscuits, sweets etc and all cleaning stuff etc . we shop at either Asda(home delivery) or in person Aldi or Lidl and very rarely eat out or have takeaways. We also spend about £20 per week at local village shop on milk and bread.

I spend £40 in Lidl and £10 in or coop for top up for the two of us. All meals are cooked from scratch with fresh chicken or fish occasionally red meat or low fat mince . Once a week will be a veggie dish. I use a weekly meal plan but this is flexible if I buy any yellow sticker items. We don't drink so no alcohol. I find since stopping work and not visiting the large supermarkets any more my spending has reduced as there is so much less temptation and also less waste very little is thrown out these days

I plan a menu for the week. That way I know the ingredients I need to buy. 3 adults and a toddler - varies between £70 to £100. Before I adopted this method my shop and top up shops used to cost over £150 pw. Plus of course I ended up with duplicate packs of pasta etc etc.

I'm averaging £16 a week on "Tesco", which is mainly food. That's for one person. I eat out once a week and tend to spend £5 on food and £5 on drink. It is quite possible to live on a lot less than most people think.

Lilyflower I so agree with your final paragraph some of my grown up grandchildren moan because they can't save but when I see all the socialising, eating out, holidays and takeaways they have a lot of the time its no wonder they can't save. Hindsight and age experience is a wonderful thing.

Not advertising, but Ocado "price match" with Tesco and other supermarkets and are ideal for the "big shop" especially for the items I buy regularly, loo paper, dishwasher and laundry tabs, butter etc etc.
Certainly better than supermarket parking on a Saturday, but that is another story.

I've just been for my daily Waitrose outing on foot, (yes, good exercise as someone said), spent £24.68. It did occur to me they are probably making me buy more than I need because I regularly use their own convenient recipe cards and of course they have all sorts of ingredients in them I wouldn't normally buy.

Tomorrow I'm going to try a weekend shop at Tesco to fill the cupboards and it will be interesting to compare. Taking the car and parking (London) is going to be the hassle part.

As a young mum with 2DDs in the 70's I was acutely aware of prices and good value. Tooting market was my favourite stamping ground or the late lamented Safeway in Streatham High Road. Once when I had had my Family Allowance money "lifted" from my handbag by a friend's au pair while I was being shown over the friend's new house,(!) I was left with precisely £8 for the week. No huge freezer or fridge full of staples to fall back on and no access to the cash point for another week, but I managed! We ate a lot of eggs that week and beans on toast more than once, but I had to hide behind the sofa when the milkman rang for payment!
Looking back I could learn a lot from those days of making do, instead of popping out to my local Waitrose at the drop of a hat.

I have noticed that my grown up children spend what I would consider to be far too much on food, probably twice what I spend. The reason for this profligacy is that they don't plan meals a week ahead but like to be spontaneous and buy everything new for each meal. My son leaves half of his unused ingredients in the fridge and I use them up for him which saves me a fortune.

He bought the means of making a mince ragu recently and changed his mind. Rather than letting good food go to waste I Googled a ragu recipe and made it myself. He thought it was delicious but really, what a foolish way to carry on - and with the example of a prudent and frugal mother!

Sometimes when I hear youngsters complaining about how older folks are taking all the money off them I think to myself, 'You could have saved for a house deposit with what you have wasted on food' just as my dear old mother could have bought a Ferrari with what she spent on 'booze and fags'.

Glad to see I am not alone! I thought my spend was getting a bit high but it is clear that I am not alone. Two of us plus cat, I buy cat food in bulk on line only Fishy Treats from the supermarket and only when they are on special offer. Food spend varies from just over £200 per month to £400+ (usually when the family visit) so it is £50 to £100. That doesn't include cleaning materials etc which I list separately. Shop at Farm shop, local butcher and Waitrose. Bills will be lower for the next couple of months as all veg and a lot of fruit are from the garden.

Single, but usually spend between £30/40 (includes the odd cleaning products and toiletries )as I buy extra in for family/ friends popping by.I buy fresh or frozen fish ,decent quality chicken ,nice bread and some organic veg.Never red meat or processed meals,rarely wine unless friends are coming.Try to buy half price where possible,and throw as little away as possible.
If I fancy eating A but B is on its use by date,then I will eat B !!
Some spend more on food than the state pension!!
I still work ,but live on my state pension as the house is being renovated(nothing fancy...floors,joists,heating,insulation etc ).
It has made me realise how difficult it must be to have only that.
My water,insurance,fuel,council tax takes almost half of it....can,t imagine I will retire.

I have no real idea. Food shopping includes my husband, me and my brother who lives with us. Also feed 4 DGCs 2 x week for tea and lunch too in hols so weeks vary. Live opposite the co-op so pop in there almost daily for bits and bobs forgotten during bigger trips to Sainsbury, Waitrose (our 2 local supermarket options) or the market, greengrocer , butcher or fish shop in the High St. It all depends on what time of year, what's growing in the garden, if we are out for meals and what I've spotted in a recipre book /online/TV etc etc. Whatever the total is it is certainly more than we actually NEED to spend!!

It would be difficult to assess exactly how much I spend a week as I no longer do the 'one big shop' in the store I used to do when I was working with two tired children trailing round with me fighting each other!

Instead I do a Tesco's 'deliver-in' of basics which costs from £65-£120. These days retirement has allowed me to spend time chasing bargains so in that basic sum there might well be something on offer I have bought in bulk. For example, when my toothpaste came down to half price I bought ten of them and I always buy 342 and BOGOF offers of non perishable items.

My DH and I eat frugally in the week and stick to things like soup or salad. At the weekend (Friday to Sunday) we indulge a bit. On Friday we have smoked salmon and cold seafood or a continental meat & meze selection with artisan bread. Saturdays are given over to some high end red meat such as lamb or steak and Sundays will be barbecue if it's hot or lasagne made with no-fat steak mince and salad. Often we will dive into Waitrose or M&S and pick up fancy yellow sticked bargains and plan the weekend meals round them.

I reckon it all evens out at aout £100 a week for a healthy and delicious menu.

However, I have not mentioned my Champagne addiction which is going to have to be shown the door when the DH retires. On Friday we share a bottle of Prosecco or Cava and every single Saturday we open a bottle of nice Champagne we have bought at bargain basement prices. We buy in bulk when it's on offer and watch Martin Lewis's cheap fizz e-mails for these. Often the fizz-keeper goes in the top and the shampoo is kept until Sunday so we can have a glass then too. We are not big drinkers but we do like a bit of luxury.

Yep same here, £120 ish just for food. If I buy wine and expensive washing powder, cleaning stuffs etc then its a lot more. Only two of us and one dog and cat. Doesn't include the dogs or cat food though, that's another £20 or so a week!!

I do a weekly shop in Sainsburys- about £90 but that includes wine.
I then top up in Waitrose & Morrisons during week if I find I need something. Maybe about £20-30 max-usually less.
Only 2 of us & I cook everything from scratch & I don't buy any 'convenience' food as I love cooking- including making our bread.
This does not include cat food which I get delivered & the bil goes up quite a lot when DGC are staying.
DH not here for lunch & I usually only have toast or a yoghurt or something light.
I keep one credit card only for food shopping so I can keep an eye on it & it is usually £400-£500 a month(includes alcohol) I pay it off every month but it is useful to see what I am spending.If we have fish & chips or a Chinese takeaway it comes out of main account though- maybe once every 6 weeks.
I always thought it was far more economical to cook everything from scratch but TBH I'm not sure anymore. However I have always cooked this way so am not about to start buying microwave meals-although DH has a nasty habit of seeing something he fancies & bringing it home-as long as he doesn't want me to eat it that's fine- he works opposite a very large Sainsburys in another town & can't resist the urge to 'pop in' there (worked for Waitrose when he was at college so fascinated by supermarkets- he is a nightmare abroad as I want to see the scenery & he wants to see the supermarkets!!)
I'm not sure about the Greg Wallace show although I do watch it- are people really that dim that they have no clue what they are spending & do they REALLY give their children all those crisps? It wouldn't be much of a show if they all bought loads of raw fruit & veg & were doing OK with their budgeting. I notice they don't have any older people!

I am also quite stunned at the amount some of us are spending on food assuming we are all in a similar position relying on retirement pension?
After paying mortgage,council tax and utility bills I only have left for a months food what some here are spending in a week!
There is me, my grandson and his cat and dog. I wondered how on earth do you all pay bills, but then realised the couples will receive double pension. What about all we singles, how do you manage the budget?