Hello everybody. Just a quick question. Could someone in the 'know' advise on the food allowance for 2 adults & one child. I know you are really supposed to put down what you actually spend but just wanted to see if we are being realistic. Thanks.
The allowance is currently £406 so anything up to £400 and you should be OK. Of course, if you need to spend more than this due to special circumstances then you should increase this budget as long as you can justify it.
Remember, you are also allowed a budget for meals at work of £36 and a budget of £35 for school meals if your child is of that age.
We only have an allowance of £35 for meals at work between us which we feel is too low, but we now try and take lunch most days to cut down on costs.
Also try shopping in Aldi or Lidl instead of Tesco or Asda, if you have a Home Bargains in your area they are brilliant for branded products and massively reduced prices
hi i am in family of 2 adults and 2 children. i have an budget of 400 for food and 70 for school dinners. it is very tight you learn to make cut backs.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
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Ours 2 adults and 1 child is £330. So far three months in i seem to be doing ok, though there have been times I have had to put things back on the shelf. I add up as I go round, and if I get near my weekly budget I have to cut back. I like to buy a lot of fresh stuff as we do like to eat properly.
We then have school/work meals on top of that. School meals are terrible price so I do tend to do a mix of hot dinners with pack up. Hub makes do, bless him LOL
Wow! What a difference! Food is the one allowance where I think everyone should be given the maximum - it is our health at the end of the day and good quality meat, fresh fruit and veg and fish don't come cheap. Jan - your husband must work miracles in the kitchen!
BOL you're not kidding. I like all fresh stuff, or at least fresh frozen like chicken. I am very consious of eating 5 a day,though it doesn't always happen. Because I mentally add everything up as I go round asda, andthe fruit and veg aisle is first I know that it costs me between £14 and £20 depending on which week of the month it is. And thats before milk, bread, cheese, meats, packup bits, cat food and cleanign stuff. And of course prices have gone up.
Out of curiosity, as north and south can be different prices. what are the prices of these in London.
In Hull they are
4pt Milk Semi is £1.25
Kingsmill Medium 50/50 is £1.00 (usually £1.25 thou)
Can't believe its not butter 500g is £1.25
Interested to see if there is a big difference. I guess that would make a difference to the allowance, dependign where you live as to what costs.
Hi - I only have the smaller, city stores near me which puts me in the unique position of being able to say Waitrose is my cheapest supermarket (others are Tesco's Express and M&S Food). Needless to say, my weekly shop barely fills a basket and I always leave feeling as if I've been mugged!! I don't know the price of those things but will have a look tomorrow. FYI...the cost of living index-thingy is going up by nearly four percent this year...partly vat and partly 5% inflation and partly fuel price rises. Great. Worth noting for review time!
BOL - he's an absolute whizz! It does help that we get 10% discount at Asda as daughter works there.
Karin - what I used to do was a 'virtual' shop before I went. Went onto the online sites, did my shopping and then I knew how much it was going to cost before I got there.
We pretty much just replace what we've used these days and the only extra we put in is if something we use is on a BOGOF even if we don't need it that week.
For example, I drink decaff coffee and prefer Kenco to anything else. It's usually over £5 a jar but this week at Tesco it's two jars for £7 and they are the big ones. I don't need any, but will get them.
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley. http://kallis3.blogs.iva.co.uk
