£100 a month food budget for two

PiKe

PiKe

PiKe

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I have always tried to aim for £100 a month food budget but never seem to manage it, regularly overspending £50-£100.

We have to buy milk at least once a week and I make bread in a bread maker so I don't have to keep buying that, but do need to buy real butter, which isn't exactly cheap.

It's mainly lunch time meals we struggle with, either eating microwave ready meals, sandwiches of some description or a frozen pie with mushy peas.

We try to do one big shop, but then end up buying odds and ends from town which push us over budget.

Any ideas on how to keep costs down?
 
Are you trying to save or not actually live and not be miserable.?

Butter does not cost much. and if you are basically living on bread then and trying to avoid healthy other means I really do not know how well that will work out long term but a lot of bread makes me gain weight.

I eat most things in moderation but your diet sounds unhealthy.
 
A £5 British whole chicken from M&S is good quality and if you roast it on Sunday should provide enough lunches for both of you during the working week. Just add usual salady bits, some Bulgar wheat or couscous etc and you've got a very healthy and filling lunch with all the right food groups.

Also check out Jack Monroe's food blog and books. Great recipes for people needing to save.
 
haaammit said:
Make a meal planner and stick to it, only purchasing stuff you need to make the meals.
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Exaclty this.

We spend more than the ops budget but cut down our food shopping spending hugely but ordering online and planning meals.

If you make a big pot of chilli it'll only cost ~£5 and gives you plenty of portions and you can have leftovers for lunch.
 
Unless its the weekend or your not on holiday. Lunchtime, food is just fuel.

Get yourself 2 bags of huel, cheap as chips with everything you need.
 
Cooking. Good pasta is cheap. So is mushrooms, pesto, tuna.
Chilli con carne I also cheap and easy to make. And is amazing for the coming cold days.
Omelette is nice. Eggs, peppers, all cheap.
 
Scam said:
A £5 British whole chicken from M&S is good quality and if you roast it on Sunday should provide enough lunches for both of you during the working week. Just add usual salady bits, some Bulgar wheat or couscous etc and you've got a very healthy and filling lunch with all the right food groups.

Also check out Jack Monroe's food blog and books. Great recipes for people needing to save.
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A £5 chicken is unlikely to ever be good quality.

I make cheap lunches all the time: quinoa, feta, some sweet chilli sauce and salad being one. Roasted veg with rice or lentils or something another.

Chicken goes along way but buying cheap chicken isn't a thing to be promoting I don't think. Different strokes for different folks and all that though
 
£100 for two is around 56p per person, per meal, which really isn't a whole lot.

The only way I can see that working is making large batches of food, curries, chili, soups etc.

Using cheaper slow cooked cuts of meat would help as well. Ox cheek for example is about £7 a kilo, chicken thighs are about £2 a kilo skin on/bone in.

SPG said:
Get yourself 2 bags of huel, cheap as chips with everything you need.
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Doesn't Huel work out at about £1.30 per meal?
 
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Cleisthenes said:
A £5 chicken is unlikely to ever be good quality.

Chicken goes along way but buying cheap chicken isn't a thing to be promoting I don't think. Different strokes for different folks and all that though
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The M&S Oakham chickens are British and to a higher welfare standard than your normal supermarket types. I'm not in the business of suggesting people eat cheap/poor welfare meat. Buying whole chickens from M&S is actually quite a good deal. Especially when you compare it to the chicken breasts. Why pay £6 per breast when you can get a whole chicken for that. That was the point I was trying to make. Whole chickens are often cheaper than portions of breast etc.
 
Scam said:
The M&S Oakham chickens are British and to a higher welfare standard than your normal supermarket types. I'm not in the business of suggesting people eat cheap/poor welfare meat. Buying whole chickens from M&S is actually quite a good deal. Especially when you compare it to the chicken breasts. Why pay £6 per breast when you can get a whole chicken for that. That was the point I was trying to make. Whole chickens are often cheaper than portions of breast etc.
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They are intensively raised chickens, often in very poor conditions. A stroke of genius by the M&S marketing team. https://www.peta.org.uk/features/uk-chicken-farms-high-welfare-myth/
 
200sols said:
They are intensively raised chickens, often in very poor conditions. A stroke of genius by the M&S marketing team. https://www.peta.org.uk/features/uk-chicken-farms-high-welfare-myth/
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Well I appreciate the info and will look into it. Not sure I always trust PETA to provide a balanced findings and arguments.

That said, judging from a quick look on Ocado and Tesco you can find whole free range chickens from £6-7 so I'd say my point still stands. The main jist of it is that buying whole birds gives you a lot of meat for less £/kg. We're forever filling our freezer with portions of roasted chicken. Perfect for a chicken and mushroom risotto, thai green curry, tacos, chicken and fennel creamy pasta... the list is endless.
 
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