Cost of Eating

[sidevalve]

Ok help required here. I have a long running argument that it is cheaper to buy food in the US than here in England. Has anybody got a few figures out there for maybe two people for a week's food and a percentage of an average sort of income ? No exact figures just a fair estimate. Our food bill tends to work out at about £40 -45 a week [about $60 - 70 dollars]. No great attempts to be thrifty just average.

 

[Berties]

its hard to work out what we spend on groceries in a week , but in a month it works out to be £450 but thats for 4 of us,
other in the uk we are often compared to France and we are around 12% more expensive,cleaning products are a big saving,though the supermarkets are more fresh food and seasonality orientated
below i have attached a interesting read
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/26/uk-cities-food-prices-survey

 

[Lullabelle]

I suppose it depends where you do your shopping and whether or not you buy shops own or branded foods. There are only 2 of us and a cat but our grocery bill is different every week depending on how much meat we buy, hygiene items-cleaning products etc...

I have never bought anything in America so I cannot offer much to this thread.

 

[Food4thought]

I keep the costs well below £20 per week for myself. I cook all my own meals and never buy ready-made. I don't go for big brand products. I like shopping in Lidl and Aldi where there are special offers on fresh produce each week. I get some really good deals on fresh veg with Lidl half-price weekend offers and I only buy basic value range packets of basics, such as rice and pasta.

I am very price conscious and won't buy anything I think is not good value for money. I time my supermarket trips at times when I know there will be items reduced for quick sale. For example, my local Co-op reduces pastries and buns down to a few pence each in the hour before closing. My local Tesco reduces loaves of bread down to a few pence on a Sunday afternoon and Asda does the same with bread and vegetable.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Our food bill tends to work out at about £40 -45 a week [about $60 - 70 dollars]. No great attempts to be thrifty just average

for how many people though?

We average £200 per month between 2 of us (but grocery means cleaning products the lot, anything bought at the supermarket). We both prefer quality over being thrifty though, so given that most of our food is homemade and vegetable based, we prefer good quality veg that isn't going to perish overnight in the fridge. I also can't have dairy products so even my dairy-free milk is £1 per litre and that is when it is on special offer, usually it is £1.49 per litre and I get through more than a litre a day because the alternative is not great - it is my source of calcium and I have to have something like 500% RDA of calcium (and some other bone minerals) because of my osteoporosis. I get calcium through other sources as well, but non-dairy milk I drink is one of my main ways. We only price hunt on the almond milk though. With my husband being my carer and him working full-time as well, and us not getting any help from the state with my disability (I'm still bedbound and housebound unable to sit up or travel, still partially paralysed and still on 24hr morphine) it is better for him to do the shopping in 1 location and not play hunt the cheapest place for xyz. It frees time up for him to rest and enjoy what we can of life at the moment. Living rurally means playing hunt the cheapest in various supermarkets is not really an option unless you are passing that supermarket because of the fuel costs associated with it. Our closest supermarket is 6 miles away (not a huge distance, I appreciate but compared to someone in a town/city in the UK it is quite a distance.

 

[DIna00]

It depends where you live in the states. Some states and regions have ridiculously high prices and there seems to almost be some price fixing going on, to keep the prices so insanely high. Then other parts of the country have extremely low prices and sales all the time. So it is hard to generalize about the states, but if I had to, I would say food here can be cheaper than most other countries. For example I could buy a good load of groceries here for $50, which would cost me closer to $100 in Canada.

 

[sidevalve]

It depends where you live in the states. Some states and regions have ridiculously high prices and there seems to almost be some price fixing going on, to keep the prices so insanely high. Then other parts of the country have extremely low prices and sales all the time. So it is hard to generalize about the states, but if I had to, I would say food here can be cheaper than most other countries. For example I could buy a good load of groceries here for $50, which would cost me closer to $100 in Canada.

Cheers - that's about the sort of info I was curious about. There are two of us [+ cat and dog] and I always get the feeling that here in England we seem to be ripped off with a depressing regularity {not just in food of course}.

 

[missbishi]

My food bill (for 2 adults) tends to be around £50 per week. I admit that I could reduce this further without too much effort. I use the same large Tesco which is a 10 minute walk away and 2-3 discounters but I'm sure that a trip to Aldi or Lidl would yield some extra savings. It's too far away to walk there and then back with all the bags though, so I rarely visit.

 

[ChanellG]

You could Google the cost for an average family of X, but there are just too many variables. If I go to the farmer's market and the share box, I get what's estimated to be enough food for tow people for one week. If I only eat from that box, I only spend $25 just feeding myself, and I'll often have stuff left over. For people who insist on buying steaks and/or high end certified organic products, it's going to be much more.

 

[ChanellG]

It depends where you live in the states. Some states and regions have ridiculously high prices..

This is very true - availability of food stuff in or out of season is going to affect price. If you're inland, seafood is always going to cost you more. In the north, where the growing season is shorter, I imagine some things are either not available or extremely expensive. Tax is also a factor. My part of my state has the highest tax, then when you go someplace like California, there's no tax on food items.

 

[Rosyrain]

I shop for a family of 4 and spend roughly $100 each week, so just for the 2 of us, it work out to about $60-$70 per week. I could probably stand to save a few dollars at the grocery store, but I really do not see the point. I think groceries is the one treat in life where I can splurge. I usually buy a cut or 2 of expensive cheese so that we have healthy snacking options throughout the week. I was actually looking at my reciept last week and thinking that I need to cut some of the meat out and I would save a lot of money right there, meat is getting sooooooooooo expensive!

 

[GadgetGuy]

My income / budget goes month to month, since I receive a fixed income only once a month.
I have to budget everything, pay rent & other bills and buying groceries on a string to try to make ends meet.

 

[sidevalve]

My income / budget goes month to month, since I receive a fixed income only once a month.
I have to budget everything, pay rent & other bills and buying groceries on a string to try to make ends meet.

Join the club on that one. Since I retired and my wife is disabled we are on a fixed budget too.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've stopped going shopping for a big heavy amount of food. I just pick up things as they are needed, such as milk, bread, butter, eggs, etc..
Too many trips to make up the stairs to the 4th floor!! Hopefully, when I move, I'll be on a lower floor. I don't want to move to anything above the 2nd floor!!

 

[Rosyrain]

I've stopped going shopping for a big heavy amount of food. I just pick up things as they are needed, such as milk, bread, butter, eggs, etc..
Too many trips to make up the stairs to the 4th floor!! Hopefully, when I move, I'll be on a lower floor. I don't want to move to anything above the 2nd floor!!

I know the feeling on that one, I lived on a 3rd floor apartment before I moved into a new place a couple of years ago and it was hell trying to get the groceries up those stairs. I hated going to Costco and doing heavy shopping because I knew it was going to be a huge workout to get all of the stuff into my house. Now I live in a townhome and only have to carry the food up one flight of stairs to the 2nd floor where my kitchen is located.