Mortgage Rate Rises

Freddie1980 said:
£500 a month on food? Are you American?
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He says 2 adults and a kid, which makes it different. Me and my wife spend about £300 per month on food, all fresh and a lot of meat. We can do better for sure but my wife insists on not cutting corners and not skimping on quality. I mean if I made my own sandwiches for breakfast I can easily feed myself for £10 per week for breakfast. Probably £40-£50 per week for lunch and dinner (make dinner and my lunches would be the leftovers for the next day)
 
mcast123 said:
Slightly off topic, my food bill living alone is £500+, how is £120 possible?
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500 a month?

Even if we (me and my partner) both splurged we wouldn't hit 500 a month! To get that high we'd have to eat out every week and include that in the cost.
 
500 quid is more than enough for a family of five, let alone three. Maybe stop shopping at M&S and move to something a bit more normal :D
 
413x said:
500 a month?

Even if we (me and my partner) both splurged we wouldn't hit 500 a month! To get that high we'd have to eat out every week and include that in the cost.
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really? my food bill is £500/month..

tesco weekly shop is 80-100 most weeks and one take a way a week(20-25) so I'd say our food bill is 400ish/month but even that that is easy to spend, we're not eating that much and we're not shopping at m&s for sure.
 
Lima said:
£15 on pet food? I have a westie who eats pretty cheap cesar which is £20 a month and that’s just dinners. Then has some better quality dry food for breakfast which is about £16/ month. Then there are some training treats etc. So say £40 a month on a small dog. What pet food is £15/ month?
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Our dogs eat Kirklands dry dog food. It's not stupid priced premium stuff like James Wellbeloved or similar, but it has a pretty good reputation.
It costs about £25 for a 15kg bag. I've not kept track really, but a sack that size must last us at least 2-3 months - that's for two Jack Russells.
So for one dog pet food costs would be about £5 a month.
 
robgmun said:
He says 2 adults and a kid, which makes it different. Me and my wife spend about £300 per month on food, all fresh and a lot of meat. We can do better for sure but my wife insists on not cutting corners and not skimping on quality. I mean if I made my own sandwiches for breakfast I can easily feed myself for £10 per week for breakfast. Probably £40-£50 per week for lunch and dinner (make dinner and my lunches would be the leftovers for the next day)
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Have I misread it? He said his '...food bill was £500 living alone', seems some what excessive for an individual unless they were indulging on filet steak and lobster on a regular basis but yeah for a family of 3 it seems about right.
 
MooMoo444 said:
500 quid is more than enough for a family of five, let alone three. Maybe stop shopping at M&S and move to something a bit more normal :D
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Lunch is usually at least £5 anywhere close to work (not m&s), dinner is the same again, snacks/fruit/drink £3 a day. Maybe two takeouts a month £30, throw in a few luxuries and one restaurant trip is £500.

I maybe exaggerated, it's closer to £400pm for basics and at least £100pm for eating out. The thing is, I genuinely think I'm frugal, some friends/relatives will easily spend much more.
 
mcast123 said:
Lunch is usually at least £5 anywhere close to work (not m&s), dinner is the same again, snacks/fruit/drink £3 a day. Maybe two takeouts a month £30, throw in a few luxuries and one restaurant trip is £500.

I maybe exaggerated, it's closer to £400pm for basics and at least £100pm for eating out. The thing is, I genuinely think I'm frugal, some friends/relatives will easily spend much more.
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Make your own sandwiches/pasta etc for lunch. "Meal deals" are a rip off. You could make your own lunch for the week for the cost of one meal deal!
 
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robgmun said:
Just stop, make some comprises and make a packed lunch. That's at least £100 off your food bill alone.
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Getting back on topic, when I had a mortgage things were pretty tight, so I see where people are coming from.

For context, my girlfriend with a mortgage and one child spends her entire £2900pm (after tax). My sister earns about the same and has no kids, is constantly broke, usually begging my parents for money :cry:

So I'm actually scrooge!
 
Thanks for the replys all.
£120 food for one person (in the North East) is easy. I could live on 20 a week if I wanted. My favourite "meal" is aldi beans on toast which is like 30-50p for 500 calories+
 
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mcast123 said:
Lunch is usually at least £5 anywhere close to work (not m&s), dinner is the same again, snacks/fruit/drink £3 a day. Maybe two takeouts a month £30, throw in a few luxuries and one restaurant trip is £500.

I maybe exaggerated, it's closer to £400pm for basics and at least £100pm for eating out. The thing is, I genuinely think I'm frugal, some friends/relatives will easily spend much more.
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You're not frugal.
 
My food spending has come right down, ive cut out takeaways almost completely except when at work. At home Im eating one meal a day plus biscuits. Its not good but there is nothing else where the budget can be cut.
 
danlightbulb said:
At home Im eating one meal a day plus biscuits. Its not good but there is nothing else where the budget can be cut.
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One meal a day and spending £££s on biscuits is daft. You can get 1kg of porridge oats for £2. That's like 8-10p per portion depending on how much you have. At least you'll be having a decent breakfast. You can do a simple minestrone soup with onion, carrots, celery, 1 tin of tomatoes and pasta and probably get 6-7 portions for less than £1. We do that most weeks and we're not really actively budgeting, it just helps.

My sister eats one meal a day but she doesn't know how to cook so subsists on takeaways, eating out and microwave meals. End result is she's absolutely massive and clearly making herself very ill (doesn't help she never exercises or moves, mind).
 
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danlightbulb said:
My food spending has come right down, ive cut out takeaways almost completely except when at work. At home Im eating one meal a day plus biscuits. Its not good but there is nothing else where the budget can be cut.
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As Scam said, buy a big bag of porridge. Going to be much better for you than biscuits, and a lot more filling.
 
Scam said:
One meal a day and spending £££s on biscuits is daft. You can get 1kg of porridge oats for £2. That's like 8-10p per portion depending on how much you have. At least you'll be having a decent breakfast. You can do a simple minestrone soup with onion, carrots, celery, 1 tin of tomatoes and pasta and probably get 6-7 portions for less than £1. We do that most weeks and we're not really actively budgeting, it just helps.

My sister eats one meal a day but she doesn't know how to cook so subsists on takeaways, eating out and microwave meals. End result is she's absolutely massive and clearly making herself very ill (doesn't help she never exercises or moves, mind).
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Yeah Ive never been a good eater, so have relied heavily on processed food and takeaways all my adult life.

I can cook - but when I cook something it ends up more expensive than a processed version.

Im quite skinny too, and exercise has really suffered initially during Covid but also lately because i cant afford to waste petrol driving to ride my mountain bike on the trails.

So overall not a good picture. Need to do something about it but right now most waking moments is worrying about cost of living and trying to cut back.
 
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