How much do you spend on food a week?

DeFrEaTs · 7 Feb 2010 at 11:26

When we lived in the UK, about £150 a week. Probably about the same now in fact. 2 kids and a baby. Goes up and down obviously, but thats about the average.

EDIT: Just read through this thread after posting this and it seems we spend a lot more than most on food. How do you do it!?!?! We hardly eat like kings and never really let anything go to waste, always go for the bargains etc but it just seems to rack up!

OpenToSuggestions · 7 Feb 2010 at 13:18

lokiss said:
Wants and needs my friend.

Smile as you wish, but i have an extremly active job... unless i eat a wheel barrow full of veg and good protein im dead on my feet.

You would would be less dead on your feet without carbon monoxide in your blood and treaclely tar in your lungs.

Fool.

ripperOFflesh · 7 Feb 2010 at 13:31

about £50

Mad old tory · 7 Feb 2010 at 13:49

mglover070588 said:
You would would be less dead on your feet without carbon monoxide in your blood and treaclely tar in your lungs.

Fool.

You made your point well and then made a totally uncalled for comment.

Buying for the full week (i.e. no takeaways or meals out that week) would probably be about 20-25 depending on what meat/fish I choose. Of course, on the occasions when dishwasher tabs/washing liquid is needed that would go up a fair bit.

Trying to knock the takeaways and meals out on the head as I'm trying to put some money away and get healthier at the same time.

Of course, as I say that, I'm currently eating an XL pizza from Papa Johns

Stolly · 7 Feb 2010 at 14:16

DeFrEaTs said:
When we lived in the UK, about £150 a week. Probably about the same now in fact. 2 kids and a baby. Goes up and down obviously, but thats about the average.

EDIT: Just read through this thread after posting this and it seems we spend a lot more than most on food. How do you do it!?!?! We hardly eat like kings and never really let anything go to waste, always go for the bargains etc but it just seems to rack up!

Used to be £100 to £120 per week on food, until i started going to Costco. Now all the tinned stuff / packet stuff comes from there once a month. Things there are anywhere up to half the price you see in normal shops. You just have to buy a lot of it.

Now its around £80 per week, and thats just the fresh stuff.

Jimmyboyo · 7 Feb 2010 at 14:56

mglover070588 said:
Why do people buy water? I don't understand.

Tap water is pretty minging where I live - Limescale/additives/old pipes/? - I just know it tastes bad. Any I use for cooking/tea/coffee is filtered, for drinking straight I prefer bottled.

qqg3 · 7 Feb 2010 at 14:58

K.C. Leblanc said:
It's probably not far off £25 for the week.

On a monthly basis I go to the supermarket to get all the tinned and dried stuff. This usualy comes to between £20 and £40 depending how much stuff I have in stock, things like pasta and rice I keep loads of. This will also include household stuff.

I head down the market on a saturday get most of the fruit and veg, it usually comes to about £5-7, pop a long to the cheese stall and get some chedar, two rashers of bacon and anything else I need, usualy about £4 there. Go to the bakers for some bread rolls which are a pound. If I need meat I then go to either the butchers of to the farmers market. That can be anything up to about £6. I will also get a couple of pints of organic milk for £1.20.

During the week I will need to get more bread and milk so probably another £3.

That seems like a pretty sensible system, something I've been trying to adopt but I snack way too much and seem to clear out my cupboards too quickly.

Kreeeee · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:15

£30-40 between 2 of us, varies depending on how many luxury goods (crap) we buy.

wannabedamned · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:20

£25-£30

Salad, Veg, Chicken, Pork. I'm lucky enough to beable to do my shopping at a proper butcher and Grocer, So it's cheaper for me than super market shopping.

Then I get things like Milk, bread, Tuna, Light Mayo, Pasta\Rice from my local mini-sainsburys.
I'm happy to buy basic stuff rather than brand name though.

My weakness is redbull, and that can push my weekly spendings up, but its on a £1.09p daily basis

Cairns78 · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:20

far too much.

£80-90 supermarket - mostly food
£30-40 for coffees, snacks and sandwiches during workdays
probably another £40-£80 on restaurants.

I could get it a lot lower if I made an effort... btw I'm not fat! just wasteful and love red meat

Guv · 7 Feb 2010 at 16:30

Probably averages out at about £25/week and I eat well imo.
I usually do a £60ish Tesco shop every 3-4 weeks which gets me most of what I need, then go to the local smaller shop a couple of times a week for fresh stuff that I need.

I bulk buy suitable items when they're on offer and when I cook I often make enough for a few meals and if necessary freeze a couple of portions.

anything I don't mind · 7 Feb 2010 at 17:08

including beer and water, cause i don't drink tap water, £20-30 at work during lunch, one or two take aways, but trying to cut down on take aways. if you include beer and the water you talking about £80-£100 for one person.

demonoid-gnome · 7 Feb 2010 at 17:10

£35-45 per week on average.

Do a full supermarket shop every 10 days or so and odds and ends from local shop as needed.

Gaidin109 · 7 Feb 2010 at 17:11

This week £168.65 in waitrose for a family of 3, no alcohol was included in this and my Wife says this is about average.

K.C. Leblanc · 7 Feb 2010 at 17:23

qqg3 said:
That seems like a pretty sensible system, something I've been trying to adopt but I snack way too much and seem to clear out my cupboards too quickly.

What I would say is I could probably get my costs down if I went to the supermarket instead (and I do sometimes get meat from the supermarket). Part of the reason I do it is going into town on a Saturday morning is a much more pleasant experience.

I will often get chips, or a coffee which bumps the price up. Can then there's a moral fibre I need to avoid visiting the record shops.

regulus · 7 Feb 2010 at 20:14

Gaidin109 said:
This week £168.65 in waitrose for a family of 3, no alcohol was included in this and my Wife says this is about average.

Sounds like you eat REALLY well :eek:

cymatty · 7 Feb 2010 at 20:41

ripperOFflesh said:
about £50

This.

It probably doesn't help that I shop at waitrose.

Nate Silvers · 8 Feb 2010 at 03:03

£10 a week. Buy a big bag of rice and beans on toast every night. I'm 6ft7 and weigh 11.5 stone.

ac1d1ty · 8 Feb 2010 at 03:07

Spent nothing this week xD

(unless you count takeaways in which case to much).

I've started to get into just eating cheese and bread. Problem is that its actually quite expensive.

I would be a happy chap if I could eat just cheese/bacon and bread economically all week.

starfighter · 8 Feb 2010 at 04:43

Probably about £50. I only cook one meal a day and buy the other one, breakfast is pretty cheap. Either porridge/cereal or buy a bacon buttie.

But I probably spend a similar amount on fags/beer also so it is about £100 I imagine.

Out of my wage I probably spend 1k a month atleast and save a few hundred.

Was crap when I was on 18k, would literally have no money at the end of the month, on 25k it is a bit easier to stay alive yet actually enjoy myself occasionally.

I have respect for people on minimum wage that manage to get by especially if running a car.