The cost of healthy living (UK)

BSummers321

It sucks that all the unhealthy food seems be the cheapest, having a wander around mysupermarket and all the major stores have offers on chocolate and doughnuts and everything that is bad for you, while the fruit (so glad that there is a lidl near my house - get fruit and veg for half the price compared to other stores!) and veg is expensive. What I do is buy in bulk when there is an offer!

Also I noticed if you go to the cheap shops aka poundland, home bargains etc you can get things like crispbread and nuts etc far cheaper than in the major stores. Went into poundland a few months ago and got ryvita 2 packs for £1! And they're about 1.10 for one pack in most stores.

I tend to stick to Lidl and Aldi, simply because they're much cheaper for healthy food, and every other day I check: .mysupermarket.co.uk or hotukdeals to see what offers are on in the major supermarkets! Saved so much money!

Hikaru37

Head to Tesco/Asda/Morrisons etc about half 11 and get all the reduced fruit n veg!! They last a good extra few days or freeze any you won't use. Costs about 10p each!!

Anonymou5

Hmm, frozen vegetables for a week - £6-10
Mince meat - £5 (1kg)
Frozen Assorted Chicken Portions (1kg) - £3
Sandwhich steaks (2 packs of 5) - £5.80
Potatoes - £3
Rice - £2
Gravy granules - £0.50
Sauces (occasional purchase) - £3
Sausages - (£4)
Eggs - £2
Oatmeal - £1

Don't seem too bad to me! (that's for 2 peeps)

wow! no way is that your shopping for a week!

It was this week, what's wrong with it like?

Kathrynha77

I get my meat, fruit and veg at the local market, it's loads cheaper, and fresher.

For toiletries, washing powder, loo roll, tinned stuff, packets, soft drinks, cereal etc check out B and M, Home bargain, pound stretcher, or similar stores. These things are often loads cheaper there.

Also my main money saving at the moment is getting stuff out of the garden, My fruit and veg plot is all in pots, so not loads of space, but I'm getting lettuce, radishes and herbs at the moment from it, and in the next week I should be getting strawberries and blackcurrants, and later in the summer loads of other things.

Last year I got a packet of Strawberry seeds for about £1, then the cost of some pots (try freecycle) and compost and this year I have about 80 strawberry plants with fruit developing on them. Over the summer each plant will probably produce a punnet of fruit, so thats about £160 of fruit, and strawberry plants last 3 years so thats £480 of fruit in total from a £1 packet of seeds. And that isn't taking into account the fact that strawberry plants send out runners and produce new plants.

One word of advice - don't sow the whole packet of seeds unless you really really love lots of strawberries

BSummers321

Yes go for the reduced stuff at the end of the night, although I've noticed my local tesco has stopped reducing food as much as they used to (10p for a cauliflower! I was in heaven that day, oh what a saddo), used to be pennies for food, now they knock 10 or 20p off veg, when I could get it next door in lidl for half price and fresh!

blazeybug87

Don't know if any of you have a Farmfoods locally but they do frozen meat/fish really cheap and Weightwatchers meals (great for quick low cal lunch) for £1 etc.


May have to take a little walk down there now I've said that...

mrskatiepowell

The thing that annoys me the most is when you go into the supermarkets & everything on offer is all junk food etc!

I'd like it if they put more things like fruit, vegetables & meats on offer instead of crisps, cakes and high fattening meals!

I do find I spend abit more now i eat healthy though as i am always stocking up on fresh foods now rather than buying ready meals, tins and packets etc.

I try to shop around though, i do some shopping at Aldi and some at Asda & Sainsbury's so i can get the most of each supermarket.

I go with a shopping list too & stick to it & also try & plan our meals ahead so i know in advance what foods we need.

Also going into the shops late at night i pick up alot of reduced items which i can freeze.

Stacey x

Thanks Stacey.
I never buy impulse items - i'm pretty strict, i agree with you though. It would be nice to see a BOGOF on berries rather than bakery items :happy:

amy1612

Hmm, frozen vegetables for a week - £6-10
Mince meat - £5 (1kg)
Frozen Assorted Chicken Portions (1kg) - £3
Sandwhich steaks (2 packs of 5) - £5.80
Potatoes - £3
Rice - £2
Gravy granules - £0.50
Sauces (occasional purchase) - £3
Sausages - (£4)
Eggs - £2
Oatmeal - £1

Don't seem too bad to me! (that's for 2 peeps)

wow! no way is that your shopping for a week!

It was this week, what's wrong with it like?

Think they were impressed that it seemed so little, thats a good sensible shop right there.

roachhaley

Yeah, but we manage on about 45 a week (2 people, only me eating healthy)

robinhardysmall

It's not just the UK that it is more costly to buy healthier~ in the U.S. it is very expensive as well. Buying healthier costs more- however I realize that the cost now will be very little compared to the cost of multiple prescriptions for multiple medical comorbidities as I get older.

I do try and use specials when I can- coupons, etc...

I am worried ~ as my husband and I are going to the UK for Christmas this year- (my husband is British) and we are coming to see his family for two weeks. But now I'm worried I will have to get a second job to pay for the food

inkandsheep

I think mine has gone slightly down because I bring packed lunches to work now (I used to spend £3-£6 on lunch every day...) and don't get take aways (which I used to get at least once a month at about £18 at a time).

I'm vegetarian and eat a lot of cheap things like chickpeas, beans and lentils. Oats for breakfast are cheap, too. Generally cooking from scratch works out much cheaper for me than buying readymade foods.

mrskatiepowell

I'm definitely going to give Aldi and Lidl a try - lots of good things being said about them!

My weekly food shop is so much more than that list and i have to pop in midweek for fresh salad.

1 kg frozen chicken
1 250g frozen king prawns
1 425g pack turkey
2 packs of smoked salmon fillets
5 tins tuna
1 tin mackerel
1 tin spicy bean salad

1 pack wholegrain rice
1 pack ryvita
1 pack Miltons multigrain crackers
2 pack Jordans frusli
2 multipack sunbites

2 pack greek yogurt
1 pack Flora proactive
1 pack feta
3 pack cottage cheese
1 pack minibabybel light

2 pack salad - more needed mid week
1 pack cherry tomatoes
1 bunch spring onion
1 pack of 3 peppers
1 pack beetroot
1 white onion

then household stuff, dog food etc

HannahsReturnToFitness

To make it easier in our house (2 and a 1 year old), I drafted a healthy menu for a month so that we were not going to the shop every day and spending a fortune. We stick pretty much to this.

I have a monthly shop list of store cupboard items e.g. pasta, rice, stock etc and the items for the month that do not need to be brought fresh e.g. meat, cheese etc. When I do this shop it varies between £35 and £45 per month.

We then pick up the fresh items during the week. I guess maybe £10-£20 per week for fresh milk, fresh fruit and veg, fresh pizza etc.

I have found this a brilliant money saver.

mrskatiepowell

It's not just the UK that it is more costly to buy healthier~ in the U.S. it is very expensive as well. Buying healthier costs more- however I realize that the cost now will be very little compared to the cost of multiple prescriptions for multiple medical comorbidities as I get older.

I do try and use specials when I can- coupons, etc...

I am worried ~ as my husband and I are going to the UK for Christmas this year- (my husband is British) and we are coming to see his family for two weeks. But now I'm worried I will have to get a second job to pay for the food

haha sorry to worry you! You'll be fine as long as you find a Lidl or Aldi by the sound of things :laugh:

twilight_princess

I spend around £30 each week on my grocery shopping (including non-food items) from Tesco for myself. But even with £30 I shop all the 3 price ranges (value, normal and finest).

I plan my meals ahead, make my own lunches and cook dinner for 2 days (and sometimes for the freezer). My meals are varied but usually only consits of a few ingredients so I only need a few things. I do agree that fruit and vegetables are quite expensive as I spend about half my budget on them but its essential to a healthy diet. I do eat 2 protein based meals a day a eat fish at least twice a week.

Best thing as always is to write a list and price it, cutting out the unnecessary items and look at what you have in the cupboard.

And use your CLUBCARD VOUCHERS, Tesco have really improved in sending out personalised vouchers that I actually use and they are mostly for healthy items.

sunshinebee

There was something on TV recently about only 1 in 8 supermarkets having special offers on healthy food / fruit and veg. It really is a shame that supermarkets don't do this - however if they start taking away specials on the unhealthy stuff then their competitors will make more money. It just needs one supermarket to do it though and hopefully it would catch on - like Jamies Oliver's School Dinners!

I spend loads on food. It makes me happy to go food shopping, to cook and to eat, so I don't mind. But I see where you're all coming from and as a student I did struggle as I always bought fresh whereas housemates bought crap. They always had more money left - but I knew I had eaten a proper healthy meal that day so the extra spend was worth it

Flafster

I'm not sure it's healthy living that's driving your costs up, more a taste for the more expensive cuts and meats, plus eating lots of protein which is naturally more expensive to produce, and therefore buy, than other staples.

Swap breasts for thighs & leg joints, or better yet, buy a whole chicken and cook it,and freeze the cooked meat for your salads. You either have to pay someone to fillet it or decide that you're rather save your money for something better.

Beef is pretty cheap, but it can be hard to find good welfare pork at a reasonable price. Lamb is almost always extortionate so we usually buy the cheaper cuts and spend time cooking it. Morrisons is actually great for the more unusual cuts. Got a huge amount of beef shin the other day. Lush.

Prawns & salmon? try something other cheaper fish like pollack, mussels etc.

If meat is still too expensive, move to beans& pulses.

Like most things, you can have food that is quick, cheap or good, but not all three at once.

Flafster

Oh and try mysupermarket.co.uk for a price comparison. You can load your trolley and it'll tell you where it'll be cheaper to shop, including special offers.

Another thought - try to keep to seasonal eating to keep the costs down.

ahamm002

I just think it's outrageous that a large pack of Doritos is £1.00 but a punnet of blueberries can be £4.00

There's really nothing outrageous about it. Think about the two products. Doritos are overly processed nutrient devoid carbohydrate chips that are mass produced in a factory, then flavored with cheap chemicals, and then sit on a shelf for long periods of time before going bad.

Whereas, blueberries are real food that have to be grown at a farm, picked, and then quickly transported and sold before they go bad. Often b/c they go bad so fast, they have to be transported by airplane.