Food - £60-100 a month. Enough to eat well?

[Indigo]

I need to be more careful with my money and start sorting a few things out so I'm going to try and budget around £60-100 a month for food. Obviously as low as possible would be ideal but I would spend more if it means eating well and being healthy.

I have some ideas so far in terms of buying less meat, more veg, cooking in batches and buying items such as lentils/grains/beans/pulses etc and spices and herbs to flavour food.

I guess my main questions are how much do people spend on food and what kind of things would be on your shopping list for my budget?

Cheers

 

[Indigo]

I have easy access to both an Aldi and ASDA so I will be doing most of shopping here. Also have excess to two fruit and veg stalls as well for things like that too.

 

[Indigo]

Cheers for all the advice. Think I'm going to end up with meal plans for each week and try to have varied weeks so I don't get bored. Buy in bulk on a Sunday and then wait until the week after and rinse and repeat.

Definately going to give Mackerel a try and other tinned fish, may well cut out meat completely other than chicken occasionaly as legs are always quite cheap.

The gammon joint idea seems very good too and will last a while on Sandwichs.

 

[Indigo]

How on earth do you guys spend £100 a week?!

I live with my girlfriend and we spend £20-30 per week at Tesco. Eat a decent amount of meat, fruit, veg and in general, a lot of fresh produce.

May I ask what it is that you usually buy and the meals that your making? Sounds ideal if your feeding two people on that budget.

 

[Indigo]

Here are some beans that have high protein content:

Soya (36%)
Red lentil (26%)
Broad & Pinto beans (25%)
Adzuki & Blacked Eyed (24%)

Sainsbury's Mackerel Fillets, in Brine 125g (86g*) = 21.5% protein
Sainsbury's Sardines, in Brine 120g = 22.4% protein
Sainsbury's Tuna Chunks, Basics 185g= 27% protein

Obviously the mackerel and sardines have essential fatty acids, but at least there are also cheap pulses/legumes that you can use to buff up the protein content of meals.

If I am going to be eating less meat than eating beans is going to be where I get most of my protein from now I think. Will also be eating more eggs as well and definately tinned fish, I do actually eat quite a bit of tinned mackerel already and tuna so no problem here.

In terms of carbs I'll be eating potatoes, pasta and grains.

Going to do an ASDA shop online later on and see how much it comes too and post it here so you all have an idea where I'm going. It may also help other people if they're wanting to save money as well!!