Budgets

[kingginger]

What do you think a single person should spend every day on food?

I think I am spending on average £10-£15 a day depending on what I am doing.

I appreciate that sandwiches made at home could be cheaper, but I'm trying to keep off bread.

Just wondering what other people manage on?

Comments

[valkyriekaren]

That seems like quite a lot. Can you break it down a bit? I guess you're buying your sandwiches in expensive service stations etc while on the move, rather than taking advantage of supermarket meal deals etc?

For me, my average lunch (if I'm not making it for myself) costs about £3-4, and then dinner about the same or maybe less. I try to cook in bulk when I can i.e. make large portions of stews, curries etc, which will do for several days.

[kingginger]

I kinda grab what I can for lunch when and where I am.
Figuring my bowl of granola in the morning is £1 ish a bowl...
Lunch is around £5 ish. It's difficult trying to avoid bread based lunches. Perhaps I would get away with it if I had time to hit the gym regularly...
Dinner is around £5 ish (either pre made meal plus a bag of veg - or pre pack stir fry plus meat and a sauce).
I know I cost myself more through buying smash and grab foods, and also portion sizes...

[softfruit]

In the current food prices era, that sounds about right, by which I mean it's not far removed from what I'm spending averaged through the week!

If I was at home more or suchlike it'd be a bit less.

[kingginger]

Yeah... It's that food on the shelf that costs...
Let alone bottles of water etc that's still more expensive than diesel - even if that costs me £80 a week at times.

[softfruit]

Oh jesus, bottled water? Dude, that is the one change you can make that really will save money for hardly any effect on your life! Tap water may not be quite as nice but stick a dash of ribena or something in the top...

[kingginger]

LOL - yes - normally keep a few 1 litre bottles in the car with vimto added.
I got out the habit with the hot weather as refreshing as the stuff is, its not nice when its just shy of boiled in the car.

Other than that, I buy the big £2 for a dozen Tesco / Morrison's own brand bottles and they live in the foot wells...

[anonymous]

For me tenner is normally plenty, a fiver is very possible, and occasionally I have something more expensive and it goes up to about £15. That's assuming it's shopping rather than eating-out food, but if I have a meal out it's usually still under £20 for the day so not too much more.

[kingginger]

Yeah. I guess quantities dont help me at times... But then being the size I am, something small is not going to fill me / keep me going.

Perhaps it's "chicken and egg" if you diet that you eat less... But... I'm just "aware" what I eat vs my not-very-calorie-burning day job!