The cost of healthy living (UK)

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.