Weekly spend on food?

The best thing we ever did was to sit down together (No.1 son and I) and make a list of the meals we like best and then to slot them into a fortnightly plan. Later, we extended it into a four weekly plan. I used to be a real impulse shopper but this made me focus on what we needed for two or three days ahead. Before, I'd stroll round the supermarket and pluck things off the shelves and, subsequently, throw away so much food. We ate takeaway food practically every week but when we only included it once a month on the planner, we saved money and I'm sure that was also a healthy decision!

We started this way of organising the shopping when I was still working and it took away a lot of the stress of decision making on the spot after a hard day's work. I'm retired now but it's still a great way to be organised. Nowadays I rarely throw food out. It might seem like a faff to do it but we found it enjoyable. Also we combined certain meal choices to help cut down shopping and avoid waste e.g. Sunday's roast chicken followed by Monday's chicken and mushroom pie, Bolognese followed by a chilli eked out with a tin of red kidney beans. We tweak it between winter and summer and it's not set in stone but it really works! We've also introduced many more veggie days to cut down on our meat consumption. We share the shopping and the cooking, although my son is a whizz in the kitchen.

One thing we've also done is to pay attention to portion size. I make sure I eat a smaller portion than my son. When he made a pasta bake in a large dish, we finished it up. We swapped to a small dish and we're still satisfied! I'll post a photo of the before and after dishes. Watch this space...

Lily65 he drives me mad some weeks. He says he isn’t fussy..... ??

Blimey Gma29, there's not much left after you have taken out all the things he won't eat!

All nuts and dried fruit from Lidl

Buy most staples and items not widely available in other supermarkets from Ocado. Lots of people think it’s expensive but very often, items on offer are a lot cheaper than Tesco. About 50% of shop is on offer and I always opt for a day and time when delivery is free. Rest of time shop at Tesco and Marks and Spencer. January’s supermarket spend has been a lot less as we’ve done dry January.

Probably around the £85 mark for 2 adults. It does vary a lot. I try not to waste food, but the OH is very unpredictable in what he wants to eat, and several days a week just doesn’t bother. That’s when I waste food, as I will have planned & shopped, but then he doesn’t want to eat. He also has an extremely traditional and limited idea of what he will eat (no pasta, pulses, vegetable based dishes, or cooked cheese, and nothing in a creamy sauce, to name a few!).

I have tried shopping more frequently so I don’t end up with a ‘backlog’ of dinners cooked and going off, but that always seems to work out more expensive. We also live out in the middle of nowhere, so unless I want to go for a 20 minute (each way) drive in the car every time I need something, there is an element of ‘just in case’ to my shopping.

I am quite amazed how little some of you manage to spend.

I found it difficult to adjust to shopping for two rather than four when the kids left home. Now I don't work full time and we are on a tighter budget I've really tried to cut back and by shopping more frequently rather than one big weekly shop we don't waste so much. I can sometimes manage £50/60 a week but when we need a lot of cleaning/toiletries etc. It goes up or if we are entertaining. A list definitely helps,or on line shopping which stops the impulse buys. I love a voucher - £14 off a £70 shop used wisely can be really beneficial or maybe that week I push the boat out and have a mag and some wine! We could do better but generally quite happy.

For two adults and 2 very hungry sporty children, with my mom coming for supper once or twice a week, plus a friend or two of the children we spend £70- £100 a week.
No alcohol or cigarettes.
We vape which costs less than £5. for two of us.
Asda delivery twice a month and the rest of the time I choose what we need.
We do plan meals but loosely and never waste anything.
Cat food is a specialist veterinary type which is £78. for 5 cats for 8 weeks minimum. When we met years ago we both had cats hence having 5, which sounds an awful lot.
We will have another child soon so I'm expecting an increase in food cost once breastfeeding reduced and weaning happens.
We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. No junk, all home made from scratch, unless dh is cooking and then maybe the odd jar might be used.
The price of mince beef seems to have skyrocketed.
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I sometimes challenge myself to not buy any food until all the fresh and freezer food has gone. I have to get quite creative. Very difficult sometimes as I am vegan. I keep a reasonable store drawer of things like tinned tomatoes etc and dried things like pasta and rice. It is important to keep staples such as these available. I have never actually worked out how much I spend. Maybe I should. Oh I buy wine when coop has something on special...usually just £5 for a decent red.

There are 3 adults at home, and we spend about £150 a week. That includes beer and wine and cleaning products. I bake and have to eat a lot of vegetables and decent quality meat as I am diabetic and on a low carb diet. I do try to get it down but the cashew nuts, chocolate, soft drinks and various other treats do seem to magic themselves into the shop.

An educated guess would be about £90 per week, however, it's often more and often less!
We buy fresh meat and fish from the wholesalers, and home freeze it. If we do a 'big' wholesale order, it can leave us with a £500 bill, but fills the freezer up.
Rice, pasta and bread flour (make my own bread most days) are also from the wholesalers.
Veg is almost always from the local farm shop, and averages about £12 a week. Eggs are from my friend Jude, organic, free range, huge and £2-00 a dozen!
Laundry liquid, loo rolls and cleaning products are from the nearest factory shop.
On the three days a week when we childmind DGS, at our house, he has breakfast, lunch and dinner, and unlimited fruit, as he has hollow legs! Those days the bill is much higher than for just the two of us. He's not even two and a half yet, I hate to think how much it'll take to fill him when he's a teenager!
If I have a batch cooking/baking session I always send half of everything to DS and DDiL, they both work full time in high powered jobs, and often carry on working at home until late at night, (after devoting evening to DGS), so they have a few home made ready meals in their freezer.
I never, ever waste any food though, never even roast a chicken without using the carcass for soup. If lettuce gets a bit 'past it' it's wilted down or dry fried until crisp and served as a topping for veg. We quite frequently have what DS has always described as 'random casserole', if it's in the fridge and needs using, it goes into the pot!
We're not teetotal, but we're not far off, so our alcohol spend is negligible. We have a very healthy 'booze' cupboard, as most of our friends don't drink much either, but it's there for visitors, just in case!

I try to spend about £50 but it's often more - sometimes much more. I often find other things like a new mug or a piece of china - which I can't resist. I don't spend on holidays, cigarettes so I tell myself it's all right.

Between £50 and £90 depending on whether I go to Lidl, Asda or Sainsbury’s. M&S week is cheapest because I only go there when I have vouchers that I don’t want to use for anything else.
Sometimes do the week’s shopping at BOOTHS. The last minute shelf is useful. Very little is cheaper there, but it’s in walking distance so saves petrol on the 12 mile round trip to any of the others.

I should add that I bake my own white bread and make my own jam, and that we live in Denmark, near the German border and buy about half of our household stuff in Germany where prices are lower and VAT less then in Denmark.

My average weekly household spending last year was £ 83 a week.

This covered food, coffee, washing powder, shampoo, toothpaste, bath soap, shaving soap, razor blades, toilet paper, cleaning agents, cat food, bus fares, medicine and some of the vet's bills, plus presents and postage.

The household consists of two people and two (now only one) cat(s).

Around £30 a week including Guiness and wine, toiletries, cleaning stuff. I can only go shopping once a week on the Dial a bus to town 26 miles away for two hours where I can hire a scooter.
I cook everything from scratch including bread. Never eat out. Try to keep the freezer topped up with my own ready meals, pasta sauce etc.

About £35 but I have to have dairy free for medical reasons and needless to say they are all more expensive. Tesco do a nice dairy free cheese if anyone interested but £2.50 for 200grms which soon goes on cheese omlette and cheese on toast etc

If Sainsbury's sends us a voucher for £9 off for spending £60 in one shopping trip then guess how much we spend? Very useful those four vouchers were too in the overspending weeks approaching Christmas.

Normally my wife and I spend £50 to £70 a week for all food (mainly fresh fruit, veg and cooking ingredients), multiple cleaning fluids and those damned expensive clothes washing capsules.

We make our own pizzas, cakes, jams and marmalade (well I knead and stir!).

I know I spend far too much on food and I am pretty wasteful with the leftovers after a meal. But, I am re-forming my ways. I have started to empty the cupboard instead of buying fresh food just because I don't fancy what I have in already. I am pre planning meals now so I just get what is needed. I don't always have meat or fish in the meals and try to get a bargain rather than go buying the best quality cuts. I have never been a fan of ready meals so that is my best asset, along with my mini slow cooker - I do eat out now and again as a treat does that count?

Only two of us now so at the lowest £50 and at the highest £80 but that has to include bulk buy at the butcher. Friday is meat free and Thursday is what's left in the fridge day and Monday is hopefully leftovers day! As I've got older I hate waste but sometimes it is unavoidable. I'm off to get some oxtail ?

On my own I spend around £40 per week by shopping mainly at Aldi I do top up with nice bits from Waitrose and M&S.
I am a vegetarian so I don’t have the expense of meat or fish but I do buy tofu and Quorn which can be expensive I love cooking (and food?) so I prepare mainly from scratch and freeze meals too which helps keep the cost down. However I also enjoy eating out and unfortunately I spend quite a bit on that too!

I'm on my own. My domestic bill is minescule because I do a daily final reduction visit to two local supermarkets. Gives me exercise and usually some meal contribution for the next day. If unsuccessful I resort to the freezer where I have a stock of previous reduced successes. However I do lunch out fairly regularly and that would be my total consumption for the day apart from coffees/fruit juice. I've recently had a kitchen re-hash and am shocked at the amount of tinned food I have amassed. Plan to work my way through that too. I buy walnuts regularly and have yet to beat Lidl for price and quality. I have a large pot of soup regularly on the go. I also stockpile on special promotions. I learned a very helpful way of losing weight on this site and that has been a huge contribution to my reduced purchases. All good.

Gosh, this is a most interesting read! From skinning a deer to just about managing to make soup and everything in between.

I am intrigued by your semi nocturnal family Skweek and the lady who lauders her friends shirts!

I try to waste no food at all. I cook from scratch, mainly veggie. Probably spend £60-70 per week including dog food, toiletries and cleaning products for 2 of us. Sometimes more with visitors.

I have no idea what I spend. I have a Tesco credit card. I use it every time and to be honest don't even look at the amount. I also shop locally for bits and pieces.