I need an intervention!! UK

[JamesMay82]

Not sure if this is allowed but here we go!

I've taken my head out the sand and have finally decided to tackle my personal finances!

Here in the UK the average family I believe spends between £200-£300 a month on food and for some that might even include a take away or even a meal out as a treat.

I've just totalled ours up for 2 adults and young child of 7! We are spending over £1,000 a month on groceries! This isn't caviar this is just pure junk food of soda, chocolate, wine , ready meals and then all your standard household cleaning supplies, bread, milk, fillings for sandwiches etc!

We've had a dip in our earnings lately which has caused me to find out where we can start saving and I'm gobsmacked and how much we've been wasting. The main problem is we just shop at our local convenience store called the co-op which isn't known for being cheap!

This figure excludes money at restaurants & fast food places on the go etc

I feel sick that we've been so wasteful!

so the point of this thread! shame and abuse me! and please leave some money saving tips on grocery shopping or meal prep!

to the UK peeps what is your monthly grocery spend and how many in your family.

 

[MajorFubar]

I can relate. There's two of in this household and typically I spend upto £500 a month. And like you we don't eat caviar. We do have a few take-outs and Uber Eats, but mainly the price is because the cost of groceries has just gone through the roof since Covid and that war we'e not supposed to mention. I'm not at all convinced it's related to either. Just someone getting very fat from my wages, and it ain't me. Same as the Utility companies making record-breaking profits and awarding their bonuses to their CEOs and shareholders that amount to more than my lifetime income.

Capitalism sucks. But it appears the alternative sucks more. So what do you do.

 

[JamesMay82]

I can relate. There's two of in this household and typically I spend upto £500 a month. And like you we don't eat caviar. We do have a few take-outs and Uber Eats, but mainly the price is because the cost of groceries has just gone through the roof since Covid and that war we'e not supposed to mention. I'm not at all convinced it's related to either. Just someone getting very fat from my wages, and it ain't me. Same as the Utility companies making record-breaking profits and awarding their bonuses to their CEOs and shareholders that amount to more than my lifetime income.

Capitalism sucks. But it appears the alternative sucks more. So what do you do.

Yes! the cost of groceries and all goods is incredibly depressing at the minute. Our local restaurant said their electric went from £1,800 a month to £6,200 a month and they are now looking to close due to these costs.

 

[Algus]

Well first off, you have just drawn up a budget and that is your first step on the road to better personal finance management so I have nothing to shame and abuse you on because you are taking a giant step forward.

Junk food sounds like a great place to start tackling control of your spend. I love a fine bottle of wine myself but think about how much you should spend on that bottle and how often. Don't NOT treat yourselves but instead of having that reward every day, or every week, reduce it to a couple of times a month.

Start small. Don't try to cut your spending cold turkey (unless you're in an emergency situation). Draw up a household budget for your other spends. Figure out how much money is flowing out each month vs how much you are taking in. Maybe food isn't even where you start with reducing your bills.

In the end, to maintain and grow your savings Income > Spend. It really is that easy. If you are making 1500/mo but spending 1600/mo, you just need to find a way to trim 100/mo (at least to get started, presumably you'll want to grow wealth at some point)

Don't get to down on yourself, personal finance is a pain in the butt. That you even have awareness of how to tackle the problem puts you ahead of tons and tons of people mired in debt.

 

[ericwn]

I applaud you for coming out and seeking input to improve your situation! Many things got really expensive due to covid and maybe Brexit adds to that as well, but either way, one has to find solutions.

I’d try to cut down on takeouts, check out different supermarkets that may be cheaper and maybe try to make bigger batches of meals and freeze them for later use.

I’m sure others will have more to add! Best success!

 

[MacMan2013]

I can highly recommend Money Saving Expert. Pick your format: website, newsletter, app. But there are a lot of painless ways on there to save money that are effective and often painless. Might also help to give yourself an incentive - any money you save, put it to one side and plan something nice to do with it. Also if the Co-op is more expensive, it might be cheaper to go to a larger store less often. Even getting deliveries once a week might be quicker than going to the local store every day.

 

[ovbacon]

Having a budget is absolutely the most important thing... know exactly how much is coming in and how much you are spending on what.

You already started to indicate places to cut back a bit so find a close store that is a bit cheaper, be careful with alcohol as that is expensive and cut back on junk food and spend more on quality food which will make you feel better as well. Cut back on whimsical spending like coffee from starbucks (or equivalent).

But again have a budget and check you credit card and bank accounts at least once a week so you know exactly what and when you are spending (to much) money. Also be honest with each other as far as spending goes and also realize what IS important to you so you don't start feeling resentment at cutting back spending.

 

[maflynn]

Here in the UK the average family I believe spends between £200-£300 a month on food and for some that might even include a take away or even a meal out as a treat.

Where does 200 to 300 a month come from?

I don't know how comparable food prices between the US and UK, but I easily spend 200 to 300 dollars a week, not a month. I don't buy extravagant stuff. Its mostly fruits, some veggies, some grains, very little meat. Some premade meals (very little) and of course dairy. I buy for a family of four and we're not huge eaters, though I go through about 4 gallons of milk a week, 4 loaves of bread, and fairly healthy amounts of fruits.

 

[organerito]

Where does 200 to 300 a month come from?

I don't know how comparable food prices between the US and UK, but I easily spend 200 to 300 dollars a week, not a month. I don't buy extravagant stuff. Its mostly fruits, some veggies, some grains, very little meat. Some premade meals (very little) and of course dairy. I buy for a family of four and we're not huge eaters, though I go through about 4 gallons of milk a week, 4 loaves of bread, and fairly healthy amounts of fruits.

We are 5. I easily spend around 380-450$ a week here in Canada. It is about the same in US dollars. If you eat vegetables, and some meat, you cannot go lower than that. We rarely eat salmon.

 

[maflynn]

If you eat vegetables, and some meat, you cannot go lower than that. We rarely eat salmon.

My family isn't really meat eaters - other then the occasional chicken. So I guess I have that going for me

 

[ucfgrad93]

Stop eating out. Even fast food cost close to $10/meal.

 

[Shanghaichica]

We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children. We spend around £600 -£700 on food a month. It’s not easy. I don’t think we can manage with only £200-£300.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Where does 200 to 300 a month come from?

I don't know how comparable food prices between the US and UK, but I easily spend 200 to 300 dollars a week, not a month. I don't buy extravagant stuff. Its mostly fruits, some veggies, some grains, very little meat. Some premade meals (very little) and of course dairy. I buy for a family of four and we're not huge eaters, though I go through about 4 gallons of milk a week, 4 loaves of bread, and fairly healthy amounts of fruits.

I agree £200- £300 is just not doable imo.

 

[organerito]

My family isn't really meat eaters - other then the occasional chicken. So I guess I have that going for me

We eat chicken often, at least once a week!

 

[dmr727]

We've found that buying what we can from the weekly farmer's market helps save money too - especially with fruit and vegetables, ours comes in well below the local supermarket pricing.

Glad you're making a budget! As others said that's the first step to getting a handle on it.

 

[ericwn]

We are 5. I easily spend around 380-450$ a week here in Canada. It is about the same in US dollars. If you eat vegetables, and some meat, you cannot go lower than that. We rarely eat salmon.

I bet I could get below that purchasing mostly in bulk like at Costco. Not the widest array of choices, but perhaps doable

 

[Ruggy]

Ok, maybe I have something that can help?
The first thing I would do is consider what you are actually getting for your money. You said yourself 'junk food' and if you actually start looking at the labels and thinking about what is actually in all those sodas and ready meals, you'll soon realise that nutritionally you are getting very little and you are in fact paying a lot for sugar and fat (and not even good fat- mostly reprocessed fat).
This may actually be enough to spur you into thinking about nutrition first.
A couple of stories to illustrate: once when I only had enough money for a packet of fish fingers (good old British food) I calculated I was paying more for the actual fish in them than equivalent amount of smoked salmon.
Another time when my son was drinking a shed load of soda every day (hint: just cut them out altogether and put water on the table) I calculated all the sugar in the empty bottles poured out an equivalent weight into a bowl and handed it to him. It was a real shock.
Ok, you actually know what you've got to do. You've got to buy food and cook it yourself so instead of paying for the convenience of a factory serving you ready made fat and sugar in a fancy box with a pretty picture on you eat something nutritious.
If doesn't have to be fancy cooking, anything complicated or expensive. Learn about slow cooking or crock pot cooking.
Buy some odd looking veg and some scraggy meat, chuck it in a crock pot with a load of herbs and garlic and let it cook on a really low heat for as long as you like. If you have a slow cooker it'll use roughly 60watts an hour and you can easily do it before you go to work and it'll be wonderful, nutritious and delicious for everyone to take a bowl when they get in. If you have a freezer you can cook more of things and freeze them too. (you can even cook on a tea light)
All the old things people used to live on. Lancashire hotpot, cottage pie that sort of thing, always quite easy to do (as long as you plan in advance), really nutritious and relatively cheap.
Give up all the ready meals even Pizza. Pizzas is essentially bread with tomato sauce on it it's not even 10th of the price to make it yourself, it won't be full of salt and it'll take you no longer than waiting to have it delivered.
The key is to chuck out all the processed food and all the junk and start cooking for yourself. No oven chips, peel a potato.
Have a nice bottle of wine every now and then for sure. But get into nutrition first and look at what you are getting for your money and it'll motivate you and you'll soon see a big drop in what you spend and you'll eat a lot more healthily.

Oh, and grate your own cheese. Grated cheese is tasteless and it contains loads of flour and anti caking agent. You are paying cheese prices for flour and chalk so even though it might look cheaper it's way more expensive.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

We tend to shop between Lidl and Asda each week to save money and even then we are spending about £120 a week on average for a family of 4. I have noticed prices creep up as I used to spend about £85-£90.

My advice is get the meat and veg in Lidl or Aldi and any cleaning bits along with anything you can off the list, then get the rest in one of the bigger supermarkets. It does save a bit of money.

Use pressure cookers and air fryers at home instead of the job and fan ovens to save a bit of energy too.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I agree £200- £300 is just not doable imo.

I might be able to do £300 if I bought all the value labels but that just isn’t enjoyable IMO.

The biggest dent at the moment of toilet roll, Andrex is around £13 for 24 rolls at the moment and I live in a house with 3 females! Seems insane for something we put in a sewer ultimately.

 

[Shanghaichica]

We tend to shop between Lidl and Asda each week to save money and even then we are spending about £120 a week on average for a family of 4. I have noticed prices creep up as I used to spend about £85-£90.

My advice is get the meat and veg in Lidl or Aldi and any cleaning bits along with anything you can off the list, then get the rest in one of the bigger supermarkets. It does save a bit of money.

Use pressure cookers and air fryers at home instead of the job and fan ovens to save a bit of energy too.

We do pretty much the same. The bulk is done in Asda and the rest is done at Aldi.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We spend around £35-45 a week at Aldi. It’s much cheaper than Sainsbury’s we used to use. In addition we get a delivery of around £40 a month as well.
We don’t have too many treats as Mrs AFB is allergic to a lot of food.
So we eat a lot or rice or pasta and have chicken most days. Usually one chicken breast between the two of us.
We do have plenty of fresh vegetables.

In terms of setting a budget I’m not really the one that does the shopping, but in terms of brands we buy the shop brand stuff more than the household name.

Don’t shop when you are hungry. Take aways are very expensive. Not really an option where we live as we are in the country.
No alcohol makes a big difference. I’m also not one to use Starbucks and the like. I just make a tea in a travel mug at home.
Also when things are on offer, only buy them if you won’t eat them quicker. 3 for 2 offers are not cheaper if you eat them all in a week.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I might be able to do £300 if I bought all the value labels but that just isn’t enjoyable IMO.

The biggest dent at the moment of toilet roll, Andrex is around £13 for 24 rolls at the moment and I live in a house with 3 females! Seems insane for something we put in a sewer ultimately.

You’re using it wrong! Try the three shells method!

 

[James3000]

I think this is a common problem for couples in the UK, especially those with young children.

My wife and I certainly have this issue and ours friends are the same. We’re all in roughly the same position - with one or two young children.

We’re moving house soon and will tackle this issue head on when we do because we know how financially wasteful it is.

As to the causes - I think there’s a few reasons so many have found themselves in this position.

All of us work full time quite demanding jobs, which means we’ve all got a decent amount of disposable income but very little time to properly plan and prepare meals.

I noticed too a big difference during covid and it never really went away. Suddenly every single restaurant became easily available on the apps and it was much easier than masking up and going to the shops.

My wife and I used to grab groceries we needed on our way home from work but now we both work from home, so we’ve become lazy and stopped going to the shops as much as we should to prepare cost effective meals.

Another issue we have is we feel we’ve been in limbo with our house situation for almost a year now. We should move next month but it’s been going on a long time, and we’ve fallen into the trap of not correcting bad habits in the present and instead making detailed plans of how we’ll correct them when we move.

We’ll sort our lifestyle when we move next month, I’ve no doubt. I think many people will be in the process of reflecting as the financial landscape continues to change in the UK.

 

[organerito]

I bet I could get below that purchasing mostly in bulk like at Costco. Not the widest array of choices, but perhaps doable

We buy most of our grocery at Costco. My two boys eat like adults. Perhaps, that is why it is expensive.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Where does 200 to 300 a month come from?

I don't know how comparable food prices between the US and UK, but I easily spend 200 to 300 dollars a week, not a month. I don't buy extravagant stuff. Its mostly fruits, some veggies, some grains, very little meat. Some premade meals (very little) and of course dairy. I buy for a family of four and we're not huge eaters, though I go through about 4 gallons of milk a week, 4 loaves of bread, and fairly healthy amounts of fruits.

We’re at $200/wk and that’s for TWO of us. Granted we could cut that in half easily; we eat a lot of organics & some non-meat alternatives (Impossible/Beyond/etc) but we can afford it so I don’t sweat it. But still… $300/mo for a family of 3 would be starvation level.