Grocery budget for two... now .

Pre food price increases I was spending about £60-£70 a week for the two of us and a large dog. I am now spending £80-£90 and the other day it was £100! This includes food for packed lunches (we both work full time) a Sunday roast and I always buy free range eggs and good quality meat (mainly from an animal welfare perspective). This will include the occasional cider for DH, I don’t really drink. I have changed my shopping habits too, I have stopped buying treats like fresh crab as it has gone from £4 to £6 and I have tried supermarket own brands as an alternative.

I really should work out how much I spend. I am shopping less now since I started freezing portions of what I make. Just took carrot/coriander soup out of freezer that will have for lunch with an Aldi thin (85p for 6) Three portions of soup made from one onion 500gms carrots and a little teaspoon of coriander. I also batch make a veggie bolognese mix and freeze. Very filling with a jacket potato (cut in half and cooked in airfryer). I have loads of stuff to grab in freezer. Will be making pepper soup today with a bag of peppers from Aldi... Pea soup tomorrow.

Last month we spent £160 in Lidl plus about £50 in our fruit and veg shop and £20 in our local butchers. So £230 for the month.
Still have meat and chicken in freezer as we buy 6 pack of chicken breast or pork chops when cheap and freeze most of it in portions of 2.
Dog food for 2 dogs we buy online in bulk and have 2 large storage bins for this. That's every 3 or 4 months. Works out about £50 a month

I decided at the start of the year to only buy British meat - why eat something from the other side of the world when you can get it here? So - I do a Sainsburys shop for general household stuff - store cupboard/ etc and buy the meat ( and often alcohol! ) at Aldi - where it is British and cheaper ! Some weeks I spend £80 - £100 on a Sainsburys shop including cat food, dog treats, pond fish food etc - and top up with the other as above. We also eat fish twice a week too. I cook slow cooker meals and bake a cake each week too - so we live quite well on that.

I make lots of soup for the freezer - have just done loads from mushrooms picked in a local field and tomato from some very cheap tomatoes. A bowl of soup and a roll at lunch is cheap and filling! Live by myself in the country so never have takeaways, but do go out to lunch with friends about twice a month and restaurant bills have certainly gone up a lot. Don't eat a lot of meat but get given quite a bit of game. Feel very lucky that I'm not too badly off and don't have to worry about every penny - saying that will be adding more clothes rather than putting the heating on!

For myself and DH I spend about £50 week on average. We’re vegetarian so obviously no meat, which keeps costs down. Eat a lot of vegetables, beans, chickpeas. Make toad in the hole with meatless sausage served with potatoes and green veg. Love butternut squash and chickpea curry, chilli con carne made with beans, chickpeas loads of garlic, onions, and mushrooms. We certainly don’t go hungry, plus I bake cakes and treats for the grandchildren.

Can I recommend the Too Good to Go app, through which you can at local grocery stores very cheaply buy food which would otherwise be thrown away because it is about to pass its sell by date. You don't know in advance what will be in your "magic bag", but you can batch cook and freeze meal portions for later.

I am not sure if the posts are self-selecting, but a lot of us aim to buy sustainably and ethically and take some trouble & expense to do so.
I like to think that spending a little more is keeping our local and ethical producers going, and it will be the last thing to go from the budget.
My bill is actually nearer £80-90 for 2 of us. That includes feeding family members at least once a week, having people to dinner, making cakes for local good causes, alcohol, and 2 take-aways a month (DH's Indian fix and my essential fish-and-chips).
We rarely eat out, and some of this money goes on 'luxuries' to eat at home instead. We have a fishmonger come to our local farmers' market - this weekend we may well buy a lobster at £20, and a bottle of good wine for £12. Extravagant in a 'housekeeping' budget, but an indifferent meal out would cost more. And the lobster shell goes for stock. These would, of course, be the first things to go, although I'd keep buying the cheaper fish from him.
My lovely raised bed and a few pots give me herbs, salad & greens all year round.
And yes, steak once a month (my butcher does a very good cut from the rump) but cheaper slow cooked cuts most of the time.
I am an obsessive stock maker, and use my freezer for that. Onion skins, leek ends, any soft carrots, and stringy celery all go in, along with chicken carcasses, bones from a roast etc. Then I can make a chicken stock, fish stock, or general stock. The stock also adds flavour to one of my favourite meals - the peasant staple of slow cooked pulses with some sausage and/or ham hock.

I did some thinking, adding up, while I have been pottering this morning. Overall about £45 a week on food for me. I bulk buy cleaning products to decant eg bio D, maybe £2 a week. We have always eaten sustainably and I have always bulked expensive meats with pulses and veggies. Soups with lentils. Salads with tinned edamame beans, a few walnuts etc

A large tall freezer is absolutely essential for my way of cooking, eating and making the money spin out

It’s possible to cut back on cleaning products to an extent. White wine vinegar has a multitude of uses as have lemons and other natural things.

I am by myself. Only eat meat rarely, not for any vegetarian reasons, just because I prefer fish, and they are quicker and easier for me to cook (airfryer or microwave). My main meal, most days is a very substantial salad, plus a portion of fish. I do not drink alcohol (do not like it). I do have a tin full of choc biccie type things (penguins, wagon wheels, t-cakes, etc), so any g.children calling round like this - also keep cans of diet cola for them).

I am rarely, if ever purchase cakes, try not to eat too many, and if I wanted them would make myself. 90 per cent of my weekly shop is salad things - and this does mean that I am paying about £40 per week. Probably could get some of this cheaper if I shopped around, but find it easier to get delivery from Sainsbury. This means I have to get it above the forty pound mark. I like my shopping to be on the same day, much the same time weekly. Every three or four weeks I do an in-house shop when I do not need very much.

Not many cleaning items as I tend to use white vinegar and soda for most of that. Do like large or Xlarge eggs, which I use about a dozen a week.

I know there are things I could (and probably will have to) cut back on in the coming months, as I feel that this is far too much money for just one person.

I think I am going to try bulking out our meat meals with more vegetables and lentils , as its healthier too . I also buy expensive coffee and some mid priced wine separately from my grocery shop which adds a few pounds per month. I could probably cut this down if needed but the wine is a shared bottle at the weekend and coffee is just once daily each .

I spend about £35 to £40 which includes any cleaning stuff I need and lasts about 10 days sometimes 2 weeks but I don’t eat meat or fish and don’t have pets
I used to spend £28 to £32
But I don’t buy any ‘good’ stuff like you karmalady mine is all from Aldi or Asda and BandM it’s whatever coffee, loo rolls washing powder or fruit is on offer ?

widowed and single. I only eat organic food and grass fed organic meat. I may spend £100 a time on the meat, which I freeze and do that 2-3 times a year. Mostly the cheaper cuts that I stretch into ready meals for my freezer eg 7 meals from 500g shin. I do buy a few bits of prime lamb steaks as a treat now and then. Good salmon is expensive so perhaps eaten once a week. I eat veggie-based foods, including some home made vegan meals

I get an organic veg delivery every week and a bit of fruit, mostly apples. I grow and freeze my own blueberries, strawberries and gooseberries, enough for the whole year

Organic cheese, kefir, eggs and yoghurt and I make my own bread from good quality flour. Organic nuts and seeds in bulk from online retailer. I make my own plant milks. Buy organic olive oil, do not buy alcohol

My online weekly veg cost this week is £27 and is usually around £20. No idea of a weekly food cost averaged out over the year

I vac pack organic coffee beans, nuts, meat and fish, all for the freezer

I live alone since widowed over two years ago . I have a delivery about every 10 days which usually is about £70 I then top up fresh fruit and veg in between total probably about £15 every 10 days too. I buy organic milk, eggs and all UK seasonal stuff if I can. I buy responsibly sourced Fish once or twice a week maybe, I eat UK reared, free range cheaper cut meat probably about 2-3 times a week . Plenty of beans and pulses. Of course the bill rockets when family visit but I am fortunate in being able to continue to buy responsibly sourced good food and at the moment heating !

We buy items like chicken thighs in bulk and vacuum pack and freeze portions. Others we souvide. Lamb mince is good value and can be eked out with vegetables etc. our alcohol bill is expensive so going to cut back in wine! I rarely eat steak but do like good fish.

Another way to reduce meat consumption is to add lots of vegetables, beans and lentils to meat dishes so that meat portions are smaller.

Years ago I would expect 1lb of stewing beef to feed four people, now I add vegetables and beans and pulses so that I get 8 portions from 1lb of stewing beef.

I have never eaten meat everyday of the week, my mother didn't much like meat, so as well as meat based meals we also had vegetable based meals. It wasn't because we were short of money, it was purely personal taste.

I have always served a wide range of meals and we have rarely had meat more than 4 times a week, again, not a finance based decision, just the way I was brought up, so it never struck me as being anything unusual.

I think we all tailor our eating patterns to our budgets. We could certainly spend a lot less on food than we do and i would have no problem managing it, but it would mean sacrificing long held environmental and animal welfare principles. But, if I had to, I would.

Katie you are so very right.
We can eat well on much less.
At the moment we are still buying lots of (delicious) things we only bought for birthdays treats when we had a family to feed.
I would never have bought some of the lush items from specialist grocers as we do now!

There's lots of room to cut back on this food bill, certainly!

Really appreciate all your comments . I had thought we were spending well above the norm and although we spend more than some it does now seem pretty average .

All in Sandytoes our food bill is similar. I also buy good quality meat from a local farm and we eat plenty of fish and fruit and veg. I am not sure egg and chips is that bad, carbohydrates, protein, vitamin C and iron etc!
I do take a shopping list now but that is partly age.

Yes we have eaten free range, grass fed organic meat for years.

It is more expensive of course, but we do so purely for animal welfare reasons.

However we have cut our consumption because of environmental reasons and eat meat only every 3 rd day now. The other days are fish and veggie.

Our fish is purchased from a local fisherman - we live on the coast, and our veg is from oddbox - saving fruit and veg that would otherwise go to landfill and from a local organic farmers shop.

I am mindful of using everything down to the last bit.

Most couples could manage on £50 a week if they tried but you would not be able to buy premium brands or alcohol. If you had a large pet it would be a challenge too.

MOinica , We do have cheaper cuts of meat. They can be really tasty when cooked slowly but we do choose higher welfare / organic , which is what pushes up the price . I would probably choose some meat free meals and cut down on the quantity rather than compromise on this although I do appreciate that for some this may not be an option .

We average out at £60 - £70 a week for everything, less when it's just us, more when the family are here.
I was going to buy a leg of lamb the other weekend when they were all here but backed off in a hurry when I saw the cost - and then felt guilty for not supporting the sheep farmers.

Sainsburys delivery every 10 days or so, usually between £100 and £120. Co-op for little things if we run out but that is not often. Now and then a big burst around M&S . Just the two of us