What's your average monthly food spend per adult? (UK)

[Squelchy]

Never Give Up - You are very good, wanting to bulk these soups with salads. I'm afraid I'd go for pudding for padding. Apparently, there's a Swedish tradition of pea soup and pancake Thursdays. My only problem with pancakes is that to keep up with demand for them, I end up standing at the hob for ages, but for only one person, it sounds pretty good.

[sea_saw]

NGU have you been throwing away roast chicken carcasses? Aiee!

I have a friend who feels so strongly on this topic that if he's ever served a roast at someone else's place he enquires what the hosts are going to do with the bones, and if they say 'er, throw them away?' he kicks up a fuss until the bones are bagged up to go home with him.

That said I'm on team risotto for the stock. Soup's nice and all but cmon.

[never give up]

Thanks Squelchy although pudding sounds good!

Er sea_saw whoops. It’s possible to do something cooking wise with the carcasses? I’ve just been hanging them in the garage as a tribute :-) Oh crumbs I have so much to learn.

[londonstache]

Thank you all for showing me how insufficiently badass I am, and the need to dial down my costs!

We average £200/month for 2 of us which includes all of our cleaning products and other household spend. I don't segregate it out but would guess at £10-15 being household per week and c. £35-40 being food.

[CrabbitDutchie]

Never Give Up - You are very good, wanting to bulk these soups with salads. I'm afraid I'd go for pudding for padding. Apparently, there's a Swedish tradition of pea soup and pancake Thursdays. My only problem with pancakes is that to keep up with demand for them, I end up standing at the hob for ages, but for only one person, it sounds pretty good.

mmmm pancakes! Our usual is definitely bread with soup, but we barely ever have just sandwiches for lunch so it balances out. We vary the bread - pitta, baguettes, normal wholemeal, homemade soda bread, dumplings in the soup. Also, it should be noted that mostly when I say soup it's stand your spoon up in it, thick, filling soup.

It seems that from soup, we're now into rice with mush week. Saturday was leftovers (pasta bake and the last of the scotch broth), sunday dahl with rice and poppadums, today super cheap chilli (managed to chuck in a carrot that was starting to go soft and the last of last week's swede as extra filler without compromising taste) with more rice and tomorrow will be the rest of the dahl (I made a double batch), though I'll maybe make flatbreads to go with it instead of more rice.

[Liminalities]

I am new to tracking food spend, but I know it is the area where I have the most room for improvement.  I think we are in the region of £350 per month for 2 adults, which includes all household consumables and toiletries.   I'll have full month figures at the end of Feb and will post then.  That is high but it has definitely come down from when I was at work (currently on sabbatical)

In my defence, I do have well stocked cupboards and an overflowing freezer, which is partly a deliberate attempt to guard against Brexit related price rises (or temporary shortages).  I tend to buy what looks good value (shop mainly at Aldi and Ocado) and create meals from that - not sure if it would be cheaper to plan more in advance or not. 

Off to take stock of my stocks now...

[Kookaburra Risotto]

We spend about £300 per month for two adults. That includes cleaning products, loo roll etc and some toiletries. It's too much really so we've started shopping around to try to cut it down.

[FIRE-ing in the UK]

We average £60 per adult. Thank you Aldi & Lidl!

[shelivesthedream]

We average £60 per adult. Thank you Aldi & Lidl!

Blimey! What on earth do you eat?!

[cerat0n1a]

We average £60 per adult. Thank you Aldi & Lidl!

Blimey! What on earth do you eat?!

I guess Jack Monroe had her £10 per week thing, which looked pretty doable to me (looking guiltily at my brunch of sliced avocado, dolcelatte cheese, dates, hazelnuts and left-over salsa.)

[shelivesthedream]

We average £60 per adult. Thank you Aldi & Lidl!

Blimey! What on earth do you eat?!

I guess Jack Monroe had her £10 per week thing, which looked pretty doable to me (looking guiltily at my brunch of sliced avocado, dolcelatte cheese, dates, hazelnuts and left-over salsa.)

There's a difference between doable and pleasant. I have looked at Jack Monroe several times and thought that while it's certainly achievable, on a long-term basis that sort of budget and food would really grind me down. (She says, looking guiltily at my elevenses of fancypants coffee and fruit cake.) We've got the basics down pretty well but never managed to stop indulging in treats of all kinds, be it bacon and eggs or cheese or chocolate biscuits.

[Playing with Fire UK]

I did £10pp pw a while ago, but it seems like £10 went a lot further eight(ish) years ago than it does now. I spent a lot of time thinking about food and wouldn't choose to do it again.

I think it would be doable with a big allotment or smallholding, assuming that you found the allotment-ing fun.

[wespellitmoustache]

Never above £250 a month for 2 adults, 1 child and 2 cats.

- We only shop in Lidl
- We only shop once a week
- We are vegan (beans, lentils, rice and cheap veggies are our friends)

We average circa £75-100 per adult, per month...I think DD eats 2 meals a day, five days a week, at school so it's hard to split it out.

[londonstache]

There's a difference between doable and pleasant. I have looked at Jack Monroe several times and thought that while it's certainly achievable, on a long-term basis that sort of budget and food would really grind me down. (She says, looking guiltily at my elevenses of fancypants coffee and fruit cake.) We've got the basics down pretty well but never managed to stop indulging in treats of all kinds, be it bacon and eggs or cheese or chocolate biscuits.

That's sort of where we are (~£50 for 2 adults per week). We could optimise a little further, but there is a part of me that thinks given our savings rate is over >60% from net pay and higher if we factored in some strong pension contributions I'm happy where it is. I happen to like fancypants coffee but it's an at-home treat, rather than an expensive daily habit.

[paperclip]

For a single adult (student), I've optimized my monthly food spend to be around ~£70-80. This nets me around ~2,700 calories per day. If I were less active and could shop at Aldi / Lidl this would no doubt fall closer to ~£60.

Some things I've found helpful for anyone looking to trim their food budget:

- Eating the same things each day makes it easier to buy in bulk and meal prep.
- It's useful to break cost down into calories per £. This is useful to assess the true cost of energy foods like oats, dried beans and peanut butter.
- Using the above measure, there are also some surprises: Desiccated coconut is very powerful, while "cheap" meats like chicken breast and tuna score more poorly than beef.
- Try not bringing cash or a card with you when you go out. You don't need instant access to money to survive. This is perhaps the biggest change I made, as I would otherwise buy random sandwiches / snacks / coffee from the shops which nearly DOUBLED the food expenditure.

[cerat0n1a]

- It's useful to break cost down into calories per £. This is useful to assess the true cost of energy foods like oats, dried beans and peanut butter.
- Using the above measure, there are also some surprises: Desiccated coconut is very powerful, while "cheap" meats like chicken breast and tuna score more poorly than beef.

There's a lot more to food than just acting as fuel (calories.) On that basis you'd just down spoonfuls of caster sugar each day for probably only a few pence? Beans, peanut butter and oats are good things to eat for lots of other reasons.

[paperclip]

Most certainly! On calories alone, I'm guessing white sugar and vegetable oil would score the highest. While you would save a lot, there's no point shooting for early retirement if your crappy diet drops your life expectancy to 40. :P

I mostly eat oats, beans, etc. for energy rather than the micro-nutrient profile, so the cal/£ metric is useful to me for working out the cheapest option. Remaining money in the food budget is spent on non-starchy vegetables and meats that cover my ass against micro-nutrient deficiencies.

I'd love to develop a metric for assessing micro-nutrient value, but given the sheer number of minerals and vitamins the body needs this is much more difficult to evaluate. I suspect things like organ meats would score very highly on such a metric, and Marmite is cost effective for supply B-vitamins... if you can stomach it. ;)

[FIRE-ing in the UK]

We average £60 per adult. Thank you Aldi & Lidl!

Blimey! What on earth do you eat?!

We love food and I think we eat quite well. Almost everything is made from scratch. Breakfast is normally porridge/cereal with some fruit. Lunch is normally left overs or a salad of some sort, yoghurt and fruit. Dinners over the past week have been jacket potato with tuna and salad, a couple of pasta dishes, a veggie chilli, sweet and sour chicken, a cheeky sourdough pizza from Lidl and a roast.

We do tend to batch cook so will have times where our spend is lower as we will eat out of the freezer. We don't drink very often so this helps keep the cost down and we grow some veg in the garden but this doesn't save a huge amount.

Oh, I was eating a biscuit just before writing this so we have some treats too! :)

[TacheTastic]

My average in a single-adult household is £135 per month. I tend to be time-poor and sometimes buy sandwiches for lunch in this, and my supermarket bill does include things like cleaning products and kitchen/toilet roll. Sounds about average on this post.

[PhilB]

I wouldn't like to calculate ours as we do like our grub!  We also love a bargain though so there are lots and lots of cheap but tasty meals included. 
The talk of chicken carcases reminded me of when my local NISA had a whole tray of raw chicken carcases for something crazy like 87p - what was left after they'd taken off the legs, breasts and wings.  I roasted them all and picked of loads of meat for a salad the first night, reserving all the chicken fat that came off them.  The roasted carcases were then boiled for soup the next day.  On the third day we were very naughty indeed and made latkes cooked in the traditional manner in the chicken fat (schmaltz).  Yummmmmmm.

[sea_saw]

Back when I ate more meat, I could sometimes catch the local butchers just before closing and ask them for spare chicken carcasses and/or wingtips, which they were often surprised I wanted to pay for!

Chicken fat is absolute magic on anything. And the stock makes the best risottos. Ahh :)

[Playing with Fire UK]

Back when I ate more meat, I could sometimes catch the local butchers just before closing and ask them for spare chicken carcasses and/or wingtips, which they were often surprised I wanted to pay for!

Chicken fat is absolute magic on anything. And the stock makes the best risottos. Ahh :)

Do you have some examples? I struggle to use chicken fat and feel bad about it. Also, gristle in stock is grim, how do I fix this?

[CrabbitDutchie]

Back when I ate more meat, I could sometimes catch the local butchers just before closing and ask them for spare chicken carcasses and/or wingtips, which they were often surprised I wanted to pay for!

Chicken fat is absolute magic on anything. And the stock makes the best risottos. Ahh :)

Do you have some examples? I struggle to use chicken fat and feel bad about it. Also, gristle in stock is grim, how do I fix this?

Seconded. Magic on anything! One of life's little pleasures is chicken dripping lathered on toast finished with just a little pepper and sea salt. Mine barely ever lasts for more than that, but I do love potatoes or other root vegetables roasted in chicken fat. But I'd also just use it everywhere I'd otherwise use butter or oil in savoury dishes (if it lasted that long).

[sea_saw]

Just to check, you meant rendered chicken fat right, not fatty bits of chicken like skin? If the latter, I think the answer is put them in your freezer until you have enough to be worth cooking down and filtering the bits out.

For spoonable, bit-free chicken fat, then like CrabbitDutchie said, any time you'd use butter or a vegetable cooking oil. Especially great with roast potatoes and in saucy dishes, but no one's going to complain if it goes in I dunno courgettes or scrambled eggs or something. It just tastes inherently wonderful.

I sieve home made chicken stock through a fine mesh sieve and that's enough for me, I don't find any gristle makes it through. If you're really particular you can line the sieve with a layer of cheese cloth but I don't find it necessary.

[Playing with Fire UK]

Ah-ha, rendering, that's what I needed to look up. I get it now. Thanks folks!

[PhilB]

One of my favourite dishes I normally do with pheasant, but chicken is almost as good.  A great way of using up the last pickings from the bones after you've has a roast and the fat really gives it a depth of flavour:
Fry a crushed garlic clove in a tablespoon or two of the leftover fat from roasting for a few seconds, then throw in the meat pickings with plenty of nutmeg and white pepper.  Add a pot of cream and cooked pasta - we normally use fusilli - and stir until well mixed.  Top with grated cheddar and parmesan and put under the grill until brown.  Serve with a side salad.  Mmmmmm.

[sea_saw]

PhilB, you're killing me there, I want it like right now.

Ah-ha, rendering, that's what I needed to look up. I get it now. Thanks folks!

Aha! Yes, we're talking about the chicken equivalent of this: https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Cooks--Co-Duck-Fat/81107011 Although don't expect that sort of quantity if you're making it from scraps left over from a household of two, you're more likely to just get a couple of spoonfuls that can go in whatever you happen to cook next (or on toast).

If you make wings for a party or something though you can end up with loads. I love pouring the liquid from the trays into a jar, it separates into chicken aspic at the bottom and fat at the top, each flavoured with whatever hot sauce or other ingredients you used on the wings. Both are heavenly, absolutely miles above anything you can buy in a shop.

I do the same with bacon. Cook streaky bacon on low for 40 mins and drain off the fat. Super crispy bacon and the fat is !!!! in loads of dishes. When I see people grilling it and throwing away all the fat that drips off it makes me want to cry.

Gosh I really miss cooking with meat all of a sudden!

[vand]

I'm constantly impressed how frugal many of you are able to do the weekly groceries for.

We filled up our Tesco trolley yesterday and it came to £200, and including -£15 off of the special offers.

a few baby garments and a baby formula/food probably came to £40, and pet food around £15, but £140-£150 per trolley is pretty typical for us

We probably do this not quite weekly, but every 10 days or so. So monthly grocery bill is definitely north of £500/month

It's not even like we're buying the luxury brands, either (but neither do we buy the budget brands)

[InterfaceLeader]

Our lowest spend is £165.5 per adult. Highest is £232 per adult. (That's monthly).

We buy an organic veg box + extras from Ocado. We get it delivered as we don't have a car. We were using Sainsbury, but then Ocado gave us a year of free delivery so we switched.

I would say we do a lot of home cooking, and both are quite good cooks but we are also a bit foodie and spend too much on 'luxury' items.

Also spouse buys booze which increases the cost quickly. I don't drink, though I use wine in food sometimes.

[Kwill]

This is an exciting thread. I need to sit down and figure out my average monthly food spend before I post properly. I'm afraid I'll lose track of this before then, so I'm posting to follow.

What I spend on actual groceries is probably on the low end, but I eat out more than I like to admit to myself. I probably need to include the eating out as a subset of food to get a more accurate number.

[FireSeekerLondon]

I'm too embarrassed to tell you all what my current average, but the good new is you have inspired me to try to cut it down significantly.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I'm going to aim for no more than £150 for me next month which would be a massive improvement!

I'm so careful with everything else that I think I've been very complacent about my grocery spending.  Anyway, I'll report back!

[dashuk]

January adds up to £285, so £143 per adult if we're pretending the two ravenous mini-beasts (4 and 1) don't exist and eat food.

I found another £20 or so after posting this (OH buying odd bits not in the big shop).

First three months of the year for supermarket food only are now £302, £333, £296. We were away (self-catering) Feb half term, which probably adds the extra 10% for multiple trips, small quantities, and Sainsburys instead of Asda.

Eating out was also a scandalous £46 in feb rather than usual tenner.

Non-food supermarket is about £40 a month.


So in terms of the actual question, fairly solid at about £100-110 per adult counting both kids as a third adult.

[Kwill]

I worked out what I've spent so far in 2019. I'm at £19.65 per week or about £80 per month. That's not counting eating out, which is sadly a little more than the groceries but is more social time than food cost.

[londonbanker]

I have just had a heart attack reading this thread yesterday!!! Since then I have spoken to coworkers about their monthly grocery budgets and got another heart attack.

I am a bit embarrassed to say that over the past 24months I have been tracking my expenses precisely, we are spending slightly under £1,200 a month on grocery. This number also includes cleaning supplies, dishwasher tablets, laundry detergent etc... and personal hygiene (tooth brush, hand soap etc...). This is for a family of 4 (2 adults, a 3yo and a 5yo). What is even more shocking is that we do not eat at home during the day outside of week end (eat at work and food is free there), nor the kids eat at school (school provides) nor does it include alcohol as we rarely drink, and most of what we drink is bought in France on a holiday budget - not grocery budget (booze trip once a year filling a car up). It doesn’t include any dining out either.

I genuinely don’t get how I spend so much as we only have breakfasts and dinners at home during the week and we don’t eat meat/fish every day. We do, however eat fresh fruits, vegetables and lettuce everyday. When we do eat fish/meat, it’s usually organic as we are a bit spooked by GMOs - but our meat is by no mean “fillet mignon” grade.
Looking at people menus posted above, I am trying to understand if everything is included in those menus - and if their spend is genuine, as there is no mention made of any fruits/bread/cheese/vegetables/desserts at all. eg. When I read “Thursday tomato’s soup for dinner” - is that just it for dinner? No starter/desert/fruits/yogurt/even bread or anything else?

I can already hear a huge flaming coming my way - so as a way of example - here is what a typical breakfast would look like for me and my wife (actually the exact same everyday) - 1 bowl of fruit and oats mixed in yogurt each. Costings: 1 box of fresh blueberries shared between us - £3, 2 passion fruits (1 each) at 80p each - £1.6, 1/2 pot of plain yogurt £0.8, some oat £0.2 I’d guess and 1 banana for both of us 30p. That healthy breakfast costs us £5.9 per day - that’s already £175 per month...

I mean even a lettuce every dinner and lunch/dinner over the week-end at £1.25 a pop - that almost £40 a month on lettuce. Milk? The kids eat cereals in the morning and have a snack in the afternoon when they come back from school. That 2 pints a day - there goes another £30-35 a month on milk...

So I am genuinely amazed how families manage to spend 300-400 a month on grocery, and eat relatively healthy. And although I realise we could shave a couple of 100s monthly - I don’t get how we could literally cut our budget by 60%...

Step 1 - Face punch
Step 2 - Put on a fire proof outfit ahead of the forum flaming...

[Hula Hoop]

I have no business on this thread as I'm in Italy not the UK and I suspect that food is a lot cheaper here.  We spend around Euro 400-500 a month for a family of 4 (kids are 7 and 10).  What brings our costs down is shopping almost exclusively at the cheap supermarket (similar to Aldi) and at the inexpensive open air markets.  We tend to avoid things like blueberries and passion fruit (as much as I love them) apart from special treats as they cost so much.  We eat meat around once a week. 

[PhilB]

It all comes down to mindset when shopping.  If you go shopping thinking 'this is what I want and I'm buying it whatever the price (eg passionfruit and blueberries) then the stores make very healthy profits from you.  If you go thinking 'I wonder what's good value today?' then you save a fortune.

Have you ever wondered how so many different supermarkets can all claim that they are the cheapest?  That's because sensible shoppers adapt their menus to what's on special.  As a result, and because different supermarkets have specials on different things, they can say "The typical basket for one of our shoppers last week was £x and it would have cost you more if you bought it from our competitors".  Of course the typical basket at their competitors is different because they had different specials.

Next time you shop, don't go straight to the passionfruit and blueberries, look at the other fruit and see where the deals are.  Then you might find yourself eating strawberries, apples and melon one week, rasperries, peaches and grapes the next, etc.  And best of all get yourself down to the market for all manner of interesting fruit and veg at £1 a bowl.

[shelivesthedream]

You eat blueberries and passion fruit every DAY?! Imagine eating in-season peaches, or tinned pears instead. Fruit budget halved instantly. Apply that logic everywhere and... ta da!

Obviously this is a crude oversimplification, but as with many things the tactic is twofold:
1. Pay less for what you do use.
2. Use less or substitute.
This is the whole of frugality.

[cerat0n1a]

I can already hear a huge flaming coming my way - so as a way of example - here is what a typical breakfast would look like for me and my wife (actually the exact same everyday) - 1 bowl of fruit and oats mixed in yogurt each. Costings: 1 box of fresh blueberries shared between us - £3, 2 passion fruits (1 each) at 80p each - £1.6, 1/2 pot of plain yogurt £0.8, some oat £0.2 I’d guess and 1 banana for both of us 30p. That healthy breakfast costs us £5.9 per day - that’s already £175 per month...

I have a fairly similar breakfast. I have oats + milk every single day. Today I also had a handful of mixed nuts, some blueberries, some cherry yoghurt and a coffee. 1kg of oats from Tesco cost £1.10 and lasts me for weeks. The mixed nuts were from Asda, 200g for £1.99 which again will last for weeks (I usually prefer to buy larger individual packs of hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts.) The blueberries were £2 for 250g (Tesco) and would last me for probably 4-5 days. The Yeo Valley Cherry Yoghurt (500g pot) was 2 for £2 and again will last several days. Don't remember how much the coffee beans cost, but I doubt it's more than a few pence per cup. I'd guess that's around £1 per day on breakfast for me.

I mean even a lettuce every dinner and lunch/dinner over the week-end at £1.25 a pop - that almost £40 a month on lettuce. Milk? The kids eat cereals in the morning and have a snack in the afternoon when they come back from school. That 2 pints a day - there goes another £30-35 a month on milk...

I'm really not sure where I could go to pay £1.25 for a lettuce (admittedly, I mostly eat salad from the garden, but I've never seen a lettuce at more than 75p or so.) Milk is a little over 25p per pint, so 2 pints a day should be less than £20 per month?

I think it's a combination of comparing a four person household with one or two people, relatively expensive tastes (having passion fruit which have to be flown into the UK to eat every day is never going to be cheap) and shopping in really expensive places. How much food gets thrown out?

[Kwill]

I eat two fried eggs, two pieces of bread, coffee with milk, and often but not always a bit of fruit for breakfast. That might be a mini apple, plum, or mandarin orange. Today I had a handful of blueberries, but I don't buy them often because they are expensive. The eggs are £2 for 15, so that is 29p per day. Bread is about 45p to 90p, depending on where, so that is about 6p or 13p a day, assuming a loaf lasts a week. I put it in the freezer after a couple days to keep better.

[Lincolnshire Girl]

We have soaked oats for breakfast but I buy frozen mixed berries at £3.75 per kilo at Tesco to avoid any wastage. OH puts his on the night before to defrost and I leave mine out in the morning for a late breakfast.

[Hula Hoop]

IMO part of economizing on groceries is eating the local diet (whatever that is) ie. whatever foods are common and cheap where you are, rather than exotic foods.  Here in Italy, we eat lots of pasta and risotto because pasta and risotto rice are dirt cheap here as these are everyday foods.  I love basmati rice but this is not something we eat every day as it is "exotic" here and therefore expensive.  I imagine that this might be reversed in a place like the UK with a significant South Asian population.  Risotto rice might be more expensive than basmati where you are.

Also, it's important not to waste foods or buy ingredients that you can't use up.  So our menus are often - roast chicken for dinner on a Sunday night.  Then I make chicken stock in the pressure cooker on Monday night.  Tuesday or Wednesday, we make risotto (with whatever vegetable is cheap and in season - mushrooms, asparagus, zucchine or just saffron) out of risotto rice and the chicken stock.  Then we eat risotto for dinner with a big salad (in which we use up leftover beans, cheese etc.) and we usually end up eating left over risotto for lunch the next day or I bread the risotto and fry it to eat as leftovers.  Leftover pasta or boiled vegetables are used up the next day in a frittata.

In the UK, I'm sure you have foods traditions that use up leftovers similar to these Italian foods.  For example, bread and butter pudding is a great way to use up stale bread and fill kids' bellies.  Fried rice is a good use for leftover rice.

And we always buy the generic brand or cheap supermarket brand of products unless we can really tell the difference.  For example, the cheap supermarket brand dishwasher tabs work just as well as the name brand.  There is a British TV show called "Eat Well for Less" that runs a bunch of experiments on this and the supermarket brands often win the taste tests.

[dashuk]

I think it's a combination of comparing a four person household with one or two people, relatively expensive tastes (having passion fruit which have to be flown into the UK to eat every day is never going to be cheap) and shopping in really expensive places. How much food gets thrown out?

My numbers upthread are for basically the same family unit, and are a third of the amount even adding the eating out and non-food bits back in. My 5yo gets fed lunch at school in the week, but everything else we eat is in that number.

Agree it's probably a combination of the other things. Would be interesting to know what the food/non-food split is as well, as it's easy to spend a lot on cleaning and toiletries.

My standard breakfast is (soy milk) porridge with some combination of syrup/chia seeds/raisins. Well under 50p. Kids have (supermarket brand, non-sugary) cereals.

Soy milk is 59p/litre, cow milk is about £1.25/4 pints, so roughly the same. We probably spend £5-6 a week on milk, so not far off you.

Our weekly food shop includes fresh apples, pears, satsumas, bananas, sometimes grapes, occasionally blueberries/mango/melon/pineapple, cucumber, peppers, broccoli, spinach, mangetout, babycorn. Add in tinned fruit/tomatoes and frozen peas/sweetcorn. Noone is going short of fruit and veg here, but noone is eating passionfruit every day either.

I'm a bit vague on both price of lettuce or how much we get through, because we have salad leaves in the greenhouse.

More generally, we're not far off vegan at home. Kids have cow milk (esp #1), soft cheese and yoghurt, we all have ice cream occasionally, and there's (unsurprisingly) been a lot of chocolate lately. But we don't buy meat or eggs. A meal's worth of tofu is comparable in cost to cheap meat, but most other protein sources (tinned beans, dried pulses) are cheap. Quorn and other fake meats and cheeses are expensive, but we don't eat them. Generally everything made from scratch. I think this helps us, but there are meat eaters in this thread with similar costs.

Don't know what else to say. £1200 a months is eye-watering.

[sea_saw]

Great advice so far.

In terms of what the figures include, I did a breakdown in my original comment. It boiled down to:

£110 per month spent in supermarkets, for food to eat at home plus loo roll and washing up liquid and whatever. Includes a bit of casual hosting.
+ £10 for shampoo and toothpaste and whatever purchased in non-supermarket shops
+ £25 per month lunches at work when I haven't brought in my own
+ £120 per year hosting a big birthday party, average £10 per month if you prefer

I'm a weirdo who doesn't eat breakfast, not for frugal or diet reasons but because it makes me feel queasy. My hunger kicks in at about 10am, by which time I'm already at work on weekdays.

I am also only feeding myself, and am a small female person. Despite being pretty physically active my daily calorie requirements are just under 2000. Not that I track, but for approximate context.

Typical weekday food looks something like:

• 10am: small breakfast, most often a handful of nuts, dried fruit etc which I keep in my desk. Or sometimes I bring in bananas or clementines or something. Or sometimes (esp in the winter) I make porridge or miso soup.
• Lunch: either another portion of yesterday's dinner, or canteen meal for £3.50
• Afternoon snack: if I'm not going straight home, which I'm usually not, at around 4.30-5ish I'll have more nuts and dried or fresh fruit to keep me going.
• Dinner: I pass several small supermarkets on the way home and check out the reduced section for any bargains or inspiration. This is by far the most variable bit so I won't list out the possible options. I aim for at least A Protein and A Vegetable, although sometimes I just want mac & cheese or something. I'm also not above Things On Bread, or a spinach and cheese omelette if I'm too tired to cook something that takes time or chopping.

Weekends it's more like:

• 11am brunch: usually some combination of toast, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, smoked mackerel (lives in the freezer!), hummus, tahini, yoghurt, peanut butter and jam...
• Mid afternoon: a small food. Usually fruit. Sometimes with additions like peanut butter. Or chocolate digestives :) Or cheese and pickle on crackers. Tzaziki with veg. I'm making myself hungry.
• Late evening: cook up a proper big meal with all washing and chopping of ingredients, and leftovers for a couple of days' lunches. Usually vegetabley. Common standbys are egg fried rice, veg thai curry, risotto, pasta (puttanesca, creamy/cheesy, or vegetabley), noodle stir fry, chana masala or daal with rice and pickle and yoghurt, halloumi/paneer/egg curry with rice, etc.

Does that give a reasonable picture?

I'm trying to think of how I approach supermarkets. I definitely have a mental list of things that if they're on sale I just buy. Stuff like my fav tinned tomatoes that are theoretically £1 each but are frequently on sale for 50p, I only buy at the lower price. If there are three packs of tilda rice reduced for their best before I'm buying them all, that best before is a lie. Other things are on my 'auto-buy if reduced/on significant sale' as treats, like smoked salmon (*something* treat-worthy will pop up at least once a week). But for the most part I go in with an open mind, looking for 'some veg' and 'some fruit' and buying whatever looks like the best quality for the price, rather than heading straight for the purple sprouting broccoli and blueberries or what have you.

I do eat mostly pescetarian and don't buy booze. I only buy the organic produce if it looks noticeably better than the standard stuff, not as a matter of policy. (I actually have massive problems with the Organic Association accreditation standards and would actively prefer not to buy them if possible, don't get me started).

There are definitely parts of my routine that don't scale to a family of four. I can make a meal around a single very reduced item, and it's very easy to avoid food waste as I'm only catering to my own tastes. On the other hand, there are economies of scales I can't access due to lack of storage space (I have one fridge shelf and one kitchen cupboard) or not being able to get through perishable stuff fast enough by myself. And I ate more cooked food and less Things On Bread when I had a spouse who shared responsibility for making meals happen.

I do think you would be able to reduce your budget by say 30% without even making major changes, just doing the quick wins. E.g. buy yoghurt in the 1kg £1 tubs, swap out the blueberries and passionfruits for whatever soft fruit is going (and have frozen ones ready for when nothing good is going). I'm sure you can take your £6 for two servings to £4 without any trouble or loss in quality, just by adding 'price' to your list of factors you take into consideration when making your selection.

[never give up]

Good grief londonbanker! My total expenses for everything per year are £4K less than your grocery spend! There is only just me in my household though.

I second all the good advice that has been provided on here. I’ve cut my grocery budget by 20% since joining these fair forums. A few things that have helped me:

1. Roasting a whole chicken (with legs and everything) gives me two dinners and enough left overs for all my salads for work. I used to buy prepared chicken in packets that was costing me a fortune.

2. Non-perishables I look for every time I shop not when I need them. As a result I always buy when they are on discount and then I buy in bulk.

3. Items like yogurts - I buy what’s on offer not just my favourite flavour. This tactic can be applied to everything.

4. There are loads of good substitutes. Supermarket own brand weetabix 50% off, carrots and broccoli are really cheap, 25p tins of beans etc. As sea_saw says you’ll be able to cut a third off your bill barely trying.

Lastly a lettuce costs me about 45p. Are you buying individual leaves picked by fairies and washed in the fountains of Paradise or something?

You can do this. We believe in you. We want to hear about you getting the bill under £1000 and then under £800!

[Kwill]

My dinners tend to be pretty basic because I'm cooking for one. I tend to make a one-dish meal and then have something like decaf tea and biscuits/cookies for dessert. Sometimes I have ice cream, and sometimes I make a dessert like cake or most recently peach cobbler (from canned peaches). If I have vegetables with dinner, they tend to be from frozen mixed vegetables. This is more me being lazy than me being cheap.

Tonight I made spaghetti (1/3 of a package of Sainsbury's 20p basics spaghetti= 7p), and sauce. I sauteed a pinch of dried chipotle flakes, a dab of minced garlic from a jar in the fridge, about a half cup of frozen minced onion, and a small handful of frozen chopped sweet peppers in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Then I added a little bit of canned kidney beans (1/3 of 30p can = 10p) and about 2/3 cup of frozen lean beef mince (about 1/5 or less of a £4.75 bag so 95p?), browned that, added a package of Sainsbury's basics chopped tomatoes (30p), and simmered it all with salt and pepper and a good shake of dried basil from a big £1 bag from Tiger (maybe 5p worth of basil?). I cut some thin slices of cheddar cheese to put on top when I served it because that's what I had handy. The frozen items let me avoid waste since I'm cooking in small quantities, but I'll still have enough sauce for at least one more meal.

The numbers get complicated, but maybe £2 total for dinner plus a lunch of leftovers to take to work the next day. With another 50p for breakfast and maybe 50p for tea and biscuits or a little fruit, that makes £3.00 for a full day of food.

I've been able to save a lot with vouchers this year. I got one for £18 off my first online Sainsbury's order, and then when I shopped in the local store I kept getting vouchers for £12 off orders. I was reluctant to try online grocery shopping, but it's helped me to be more careful about what I buy. It's useful to be able to check my cupboards and refrigerator when deciding what I need.

[shelivesthedream]

Question to both Kwill and the world at large: do you notice any difference in quality between frozen food and "fresh" food? We at last have a normal-sized fridge-freezer so I have been eyeing up all the frozen ingredients (as opposed to prepared meals) at Aldi. They seem cheaper by weight. Is there any downside?

[Kwill]

Question to both Kwill and the world at large: do you notice any difference in quality between frozen food and "fresh" food? We at last have a normal-sized fridge-freezer so I have been eyeing up all the frozen ingredients (as opposed to prepared meals) at Aldi. They seem cheaper by weight. Is there any downside?

I love frozen chopped onions and frozen chopped peppers. I wouldn't defrost and use them on salads because the freezing affects the texture and makes them a little softer, but they are great for heating in oil in a pan with other ingredients. A lot of recipes start with oil, minced garlic, and chopped onions, so if you have a jar of minced onions as well, you can skip a lot of prep and just start cooking.

[InterfaceLeader]

I always have a bag of frozen veg in the freezer. It works really well for adding extra veg to pasta bakes, risotto, etc. Anything where you are boiling or cooking in sauce.

I don't use it for meals where veg is the 'star', e.g. if I'm making roasted cauliflower 'steaks' then I will use fresh.

Frozen fruit is brilliant for porridge, smoothies, cakes etc.

I would use more except I have a tiny freezer and there isn't room for everything.

[shelivesthedream]

When I travel with my wife in the winter (full-time living in our truck camper on the road in Mexico), we average $150 per month per person. Despite limited counter space and a very small propane refrigerator, we cook everything from scratch, but still go out to a cheap local eatery every few days. From mid-April to October, I am alone and still living in my truck camper full-time, but I don't cook whatsoever and my diet takes a serious hit and tops $300 a month. Got to take serious action in that area.

This is a thread for UK food costs, as they aren't really comparable with overseas.

[Lincolnshire Girl]

I regularly use frozen diced onion to cut down on prep time too. Frozen peas and sweetcorn are always on hand for an extra addition to any meal that feels a bit small. I will freeze left over kale, leeks, rhubarb etc if i'm not needing them straight away. And I love my frozen berry mix at breakfast.

I did read that frozen fruits/veggies tend to be fresher as they are frozen as soon as they are picked. How true that is in reality I really don't know.