Weekly shop costs

Emilee

I hope none of them will mind that I've "pinched" their idea, but I saw a conversation between @WelshBlue, @SheffieldMan1976 and @SoapySoutar about the cost of a weekly shop, and the suggestion that £58 is expensive.

I have a number of dietary restrictions and also rely on some convenience foods, as I find food preparation difficult, so my costs are probably higher than average. That said, I’m curious, how much do people generally spend on a weekly food shop?

Please don’t feel pressured to give an exact amount, I’m just interested to know whether it tends to be more or less than the £58 mentioned.

SoapySoutar

Fortnightly meal delivery (14 main meals) - £81.20.

Fortnightly Sainsbury's delivery - £50 to £80 approximately.

SwiftFox

I shop at tesco online and I've just noticed a big diffence. We pay about £4 deliver charge per month and for that we could have any time from Mon to Wed, but now they've changed it to the afternoons only and all the morning slots are between £4 and £6 till 3pm. Absolute greed. And you can bet your life that all the others will follow in line,

WelshBlue

@Emilee … welcome to pinch the thoughts from my head anytime … I could do with the rest 😝

I wish it was the £58 in the joke … in reality it must be at least £140 every ten days or so.

Our trouble is we like different things from different supermarkets, so extras always seem to go in. Found an old receipt from 3 years ago … scarey how much things have gone up in that time

I don't think we've seen the knock on effect of the Iran war yet, a lorry driver friend was telling me on Saturday how his fuel costs have increased by over £100 a day in the past 2 months … no pun intended but it's got to come down the foodchain eventually. In all commodities be it building supplies, food and other things transported

SheffieldMan1976

Back when I shopped at Infirmary Road Tesco, I used to spend about £25-30, but I was just buying for one and only ever bought the essentials.

Nowadays, the shopping's done by the staff, I don't know or care how much they spend as long as I don't gotta pay it.

Hopeless

I have Sainsburys home delivery. They’ve just put their minimum spend for free delivery with a delivery pass up to £50 and I’m struggling to reach this amount each week even though I include cleaning stuff and toiletries etc

OverlyAnxious

Mine's less than £50 a week including cleaning supplies and toiletries. Average for this year so far is about £40 a week.

However, I really don't eat much, and everything I do eat is pre-prepared, just open a packet. Not healthy, and I've been in calorie deficit for a long time, so I'm not surprised that most people spend more than £50 a week now.

Emilee

I've found this genuinely interesting.

I couldn't imagine spending less than £50 a week, especially including cleaning supplies and toiletries.

Do you find it difficult to eat more than that @OverlyAnxious? It must be a concern to be in a deficit for so long.

I spend roughly the same as you @WelshBlue.

OverlyAnxious

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1117854#Comment_1117854

Yes, I've always had problems with food, but around 8 years ago they switched from just about manageable to unmanageable. I had to halve portion sizes, and cut a lot of foods out completely. Tried a dietician who was no help, just said I should eat more (as if I didn't already know that). Then lost the ability to do any of my own shopping, and that reduced my food intake even further. I can't see it increasing again unless my situation improves considerably so just have to try and accept it.

MissMarple

I think there can be huge differences in spending on food, and comparisons often don't apply. I have dietary restrictions as well as very limited energy to cook. So I rely heavily on convenience food. Microwaveable ready meals, ready to eat salads, prepared vegetables etc. I also love good food so I prioritise healthy and tasty food - as much as the above restrictions allow - and I try to save elsewhere. I always keep an eye on promotions and stock up on items when they are cheap. Then there are the days when I'm too unwell to eat. That saves a lot! 😂

Rural_lad

Everyone is different in their spending.
I'm not in the best of health, and I sometimes struggle to stay standing, my OH has trouble with her hands, but I can always manage to prepare a decent meal, usually by sitting on a stool at the kitchen worktop.
I found a long time ago that if you are too unwell to eat, you will soon feel a lot worse.

I don't shop at supermarkets, or have home delivery.
Our local village shop provides our groceries, and the butcher for meat, sometimes I grow my own veg in pots (very therapeutic, tasty and cheap).
From a pound of sausages I get 8 links. From that I can create at least three different meals, (I even remove the skin and make sausage rolls from the meat). From mince I also get a huge variety of meals and the pies I make myself from other cuts beats anything shop bought. Shepherd's, Cottage, Cumberland, steak and gravy, mince and onion etc.

Thirty pounds worth of fresh meat will last two to three weeks for the two of us, vegetables even longer.
Fresh vegetables are just as cheap and will go a long way but we often get given fresh fruit and veg by neighbours who have grown too much themselves.
The main thing is I can buy fresh produce in the quantities I need rather than what the pre-pack contains and sell by dates do not apply.

Trying for zero food waste, everything is used, even peelings are kept then boiled/reduced making a stock. Whatever is left over when serving gets stored for a meal on another day, nothing is left on the plates thanks to the dogs. (I still need washing up liquid though)

Baking my own bread, works out at fifty pence for a medium sized loaf every couple of days. Therefore I could say for the two of us (and our two small dogs), the weekly meat, veg, dairy shop is around forty five pounds a week and everything is healthy. Once a month tea, coffee and some household products are required so maybe add another ten or fifteen pounds.
The trick is to keep the cupboard topped up and only buy what you actually need.
All this comes from a lifetime of living on a very tight budget.

Amberpearl

I don't have much to spend

I'm. A vegetarian

Prices have gone up so much

My late father had an allotment and we had lots of fresh vegetables

I dknt have an allotment

SwiftFox

Everything is going up and it won't come back down…the news and experts say it will, but it never does. And for once we can't blame any party, this is solely on fruit loop trump and his actions

luvpink

Food prices and everything else keep consistently rising and it's only going to get worse.

It cannot be 'solely' blamed on Trump.

Its been happening since covid