jayseven Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Inspired by the graze thread. Ish. At uni I'd probably spend £30-£50 a week on myself, including take-aways. I'd buy snack food like pot noodles, pork pies and pasties, and I'd buy pasta sauces or ready-made meals (even if they were sainsbury's basics). Included in the snacks was tinned 'goods' -- from spaghetti to curry to full english breakfast. I rarely had cereal. Usually I'd just set off the smoke alarms with bacon and eggs. In any case, I ate what I wanted when I wanted it. Nowadays, I have to try to make £20 last a fortnight. Breakfast is cereal/skipped, lunch is a sandwich (either peanut butter of salami with mayo) or leftovers. Dinner is either pizza with added toppings (mushrooms, peppers, onions, paprika, whatever) or a big bowl of pasta, where I usually make about 5 portions to last for a few days. A typical fortnight's shop; - Mushrooms - peppers - onions - chillis - garlic - cheese - mincemeat - big roll of salami - pasta - Cereal - 3x pizza - bread - milk - crisps* - dips* *treat :P This list isn't scientifically accurate as I may re-buy things during the fortnight or buy added supplementary items. Whatever. This is dull. Sorry. It isn't as monotonous as it seems! Ok, it is. But I have enough herbs and spices to be able to mess with the pasta sauce to make it italian, spanish, tex-mex. But generally; it's either pizza or pasta. So yes! Do you tend to have the same three meals on repeat? Do you watch what you spend at the shops or just grab what you want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murr Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) a weekly shop for myself and Mrs Murr consists of... Bread Milk Lettuce Cucumber Peppers Carrots Bananas Oranges Ham / Chicken (processed crappy meat for sandwiches) Crisps Couple of bottles of Pepsi / Coke (what ever is on offer) Once a month we do a freezer filling / Restock shop and get things varying from... Breaded Chicken (Birdseye chicken marinated in some kind of sauce, or breaded) Chips Garlic Bread (never hurts to have garlic bread) Pasta Pasta Sauces Potatoes Butter Soups Kievs Cheese Cereal Squash Beer Then there's the household essentials / Hygiene tools (not food i know :p) Washing up liquid Washing powder Toothpaste shower gel shampoo hair spray hair gel toilet roll kitchen roll cling film foil bleach toilet smelly fresh thing some form of spray you use on your hair before straightening it Deodorant Don't really have set meal plans for the week, so we often buy random things too, like ingredients for Lasagne, ingredients for Pizza's, ingredients for Fajita's or other mexican foods, ingredients for curries. WOW... re-reading that makes me realize how much we eat / spend. Edited March 9, 2011 by Murr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raining_again Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I hate having the same thing every day!!! Get bored so easily with food. I eat pretty much anything and everything except some fish and shellfish. At the mo i'm on a carb free diet so I'm taking a lot of supplement shakes and protein f00ds, aka meat and salad, lol XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murr Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I hate having the same thing every day!!! Get bored so easily with food. I eat pretty much anything and everything except some fish and shellfish. At the mo i'm on a carb free diet so I'm taking a lot of supplement shakes and protein f00ds, aka meat and salad, lol XD I couldnt cope on a carb free diet. Bread is to awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Usually I spend £30 to last me two weeks, mostly it's the stuff listed such as bread, milk etc. My typical shop would usually be something like this: - Milk - Bread (half a loaf.) - Mushrooms - Chicken - Some other meat (such as mince.) - pizzas - tomatoes - some form of fruit - sandwich meat - pop or juice, I try never to buy both as I mainly drink ribena which lasts ages. - eggs (if I need them) - stuff for baking I tend to live off chicken variations such as satay chicken, chicken supreme, curries etc, chilli, pizzas, chicken strips (again variations.) with chips/veggies, sandwiches, home-made cake. It cost so much less than I used to spend anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eenuh Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Hmm, over here it's usually a mix of different things. Breakfast and lunch are usually bread (maybe cereal for breakfast). Bread is a huuuuge thing here for food and there's so many choices in bakeries and for stuff to put on the bread, so it never feels boring. Plus we bake our own bread, yummm! As for dinner, it changes. We like pasta, so we eat that quite a bit, but in all kinds of different variations. Like yesterday dad made a lasagne. We sometimes have tortellini with spinach, or with tomato sauce and vegetables, tagliatelle with broccoli, tagliatelle with salmon... Mmm. Friday is spaghetti day, we pretty much always have spaghetti then. Bolognaise sauce with vegetables in it made by dad (quorn version for me). Saturday is quite often chips day, most often with chips from the chip shop, some meat from the chip shop and a salad to go with it. =) Sometimes we have meals like we did today: potatoes (usually cooked or mashed) with some vegetable (like red cabbage, normal cabbage, cauliflower, carrots or whatever) and some meat. Typical meals from around here, though I'm not a huge fan of those. =P Then sometimes we have fish with something, or rice with chicken or whatever. I think we have a very varied diet at home, which I like. Though if I could I'd have pasta every day haha. Also since I still live at home, I don't have to worry about buying the stuff and spending money on it, whoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raining_again Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I couldnt cope on a carb free diet. Bread is to awesome. I know, ever since I started it my smell has been trebled in terms of bread, I can smell it a mile off now. Pancake day was hard to say the least. I wasn't wanting sweets/crisps/junk... just bread, and potatoes, and a full meal!! urgh!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I've never thought much or cared particularly for food. Cornflakes for breakfast every day. Usually spuds and chicken for dinner. And coffee. Lots of coffee! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomJcg Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Interesting, I know that if I were to buy brands my fortnightly shop would be around 50 pounds, but its nearly halved by not branding. Monday is Risotto Night Tuesday is Stir Fry night Wednesday is Chicken and something night Thursday is Curry night The rest is variety! the Spice of Life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 It's important to get variation but yet having balance at the same time. I'm eating quite a lot of meat at the moment, due to gymming it up and just needing the energy. Like you Jay, I'm trying to spend 20-30 quid and making that last for a fortnight if I can. I went for a food shop last Monday and I've predicted I probably won't need to go until Saturday, which is good. Although, due to things like meat having sell-by dates, I find that I'm usually eating all my meat first, and then having stuff like pasta towards the end of the week. So, I guess it can be a bit monotonous. Last week I had Spanish Chicken and rice for two days, then spaghetti bolognese for two days with mincemeat, then chicken and stuff for the rest of the week. Also, when I open jars of sauce, I'm quite eager to finish the rest of the jar the next day, which means cooking the same meal again. Otherwise I'm worried the contents of the jar will go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan-likes-trees Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 or for even more variety, + Chicken + Mushrooms + Frozen sweetcorn + Pasta (not rice, I know, I'm a freak) Pretty much every night. I don't get bored of it, but I definitely should. I tend to buy one of these every day too. Stunning. For only £1 too! Can't got wrong! I should definitely cut down on food spending... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I've been having utterly terrible oven/microwave meals since I got to America, I don't mind them every so often but it's really gotten ridiculous. But today I have finally turned the corner. I have a big pot of Chile on the stove - the first thing I've cooked from scratch in about 4 months - and it's smelling delicious. I'm so excited about eating it. Best of all I reckon theres about 4 portions, so I have good food for a while. I'm going to get into the habit of cooking again. Can't beat great home cooked food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My main meal of choice if I'm cooking is something I can put in the oven with some chips at around 200 degrees for around 20 minutes. Spicy chicken, fish, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I definitely find sell by dates are the reason I end up spending so much more on food, I try to buy things fresh as possible and unfortunately it means going shopping more, I just refuse to live off microwave meals and pot noodles like I did first year! Today is spicy chicken, veggies and chips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esequiel Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I grew up in a poor family and we had the same meals all the time. Never bad food but always the same, Bellypork Tuesdays, Spag Bol Thursdays etc etc Now i make sure my kids get pretty much whatever they want to eat, it may not be the best attitude towards it but yeah.... anything they want food wise really. We always stock the cupboards full of fruitshoots/water/capri suns. The freezer always has icepop/icecream in it, the fridge has plenty of veg/salad in it and the fruit bowl is always full, atm we have bannanas, peaches, oranges, apples and a mango. We have take aways.... maybe too many but i work very long hours and sometimes get so tired you really dont feel like cooking. I would say our average shop is £100 a week and maybe £40 a week on takeaways.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReZourceman Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 My meals follow a pretty strict pattern (Claires parents cook it so...) Monday - Chilli Tuesday - Sheppards Pie (usually) Wednesday - Pasta Bake or Chicken and Chips (usually) Thursday - Spag Bol (I dislike, pretty much) Friday - Chicken and Chips if not consumed on Wed/do it yourself. I could have sworn there is another one I'm forgetting....meh. Weekend is usually pretty free-form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Odwin Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I grew up in a poor family and we had the same meals all the time. Never bad food but always the same, Bellypork Tuesdays, Spag Bol Thursdays etc etc Now i make sure my kids get pretty much whatever they want to eat, it may not be the best attitude towards it but yeah.... anything they want food wise really. We always stock the cupboards full of fruitshoots/water/capri suns. The freezer always has icepop/icecream in it, the fridge has plenty of veg/salad in it and the fruit bowl is always full, atm we have bannanas, peaches, oranges, apples and a mango. We have take aways.... maybe too many but i work very long hours and sometimes get so tired you really dont feel like cooking. I would say our average shop is £100 a week and maybe £40 a week on takeaways.... You should work less, but also buy fewer takeaways. The money will balance out. Everyone wins! (Except the poor takeaway owners.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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