The cost of healthy living (UK)

For me not really,

At first I looked at my shopping receipt and suddenly felt a little lightheaded but then I took into account...

Friday and Saturday nights, either involved a takeaway or going out to socialise (always involved food) - at least £30
Buying readymade lunches at work every week - about £30 per week

It does work out cheaper in the long run but the first few shops where you are building up your stockpile it can sting a little


That being said - I watched a show on Youtube called My Big Fat Diet Show or something similiar and it highlighted how most of the shops offers are on crap food thus promoting obesity.

Really?! how do you make your shopping cheaper?!
would love to know.......
mine is about £80! Any tips to reduce the amount ? :flowerforyou:

depends where you shop i guess??

agree with the poster who commented about takeaways ect... ive saved money even just buy not 'treating' yself everytime i go in a shop so chocolate or whatever!!

do you shop around? shops ike aldi are much cheaper than tesco or sainsburys and especially with fruit and veg there isnt any difference!!

better yet go to a locally run market or green grocer the quaity is usually much better and the prices tend to be cheaper (in my experience)
again see what the prices are like in the butchers shop or fishmonger?

hey if ur gonna go crazy you could grow your own??

if you are still insistent on just going to the supermarket maybe try online shopping so you can compare prices? store own brand are a great way to cut the cost and most of the time you literally are just paying for the name!!

when you are feeling flush maybe try bulk buying things like pasta. things that will save and that you will eat regularly. i watch a programme on channel 4 (uk) which i bet you could still find online (4oD and Youtube both do) called Super Scrimpers. On there weekly buying one a small bag of pasta (same with things like loo roll and tea bags) rather than stocking up on a large one, say every 2 months, meant you were spending something like 4 times as much?? i cant remember exactly how much but it was silly money!!

make sure you stick to a list!! it may be nice to try out all the exciting exotic dried fruits but if you wont or dont need to eat them you could be costing yourslef extra money and calories! try to plan your weeks meals and snacks!!


me and mum have had a rough time in the past where we didnt have the luxury of money! one week we fed ourselves and the dog and the budgie on £20 including loo roll and shower gels! it was hard and we were struggling by the end of the week! im not saying anyone needs to do this but it proves it can be done!

i work in a supermarket and if i go on the tills people spend far too much money on things they clearly dont need! they always gasp when i tell them the total! try going in with no wallet just however much cash you wish to spend?? if you go over ask the assistant to take things off the bill?

shoppers get set in there ways! supermarkets set out the shelves so you buy what they want you to! go in alret and ready to bargain hunt!!

It depends, I buy my meats & chicken fillets in bulk from a farm shop, much higher quality and they come in at just under £1 each. One of those is more than adequate for a main meal, they are not like the little anaemic things the supermarket sell.

For veg I buy bags of frozen stuff, it's cheap and often retains more of the nutrients than the "fresh" stuff. Fresh veg I buy a couple of heads of broccoli.

I buy packet brown rice for my carbs, you can often find the Tilda stuff on offer for £1/packet ... just bulk buy it when it's offer, ordinary rice, cous cous and savoury rice are also very cheap.

The most expensive part is the fish, tuna is OK if you go for the cheaper brands but the fresh salmon, etc that the supermarkets sells is ridiculously priced ... £5 for a 100g packet of smoked salmon!!

Fruit can also be expensive but I don't eat too much of it these days.

So tips on cheaper living, find a good butcher or farm shop for meats and eggs, buy frozen veg and maybe find a fishmonger for fish if that's a part of your diet. Bulk buy on other things like cereal that will keep when you see it on offer. I tend to buy 2-3 boxes of muesli or oats at a time and store it in plastic cereal containers.

There is no doubt that buying fresh fruit, vegetables and meats in the UK is expensive. I get through a punnet of Rasps, Strawbs and Blueberries every other day and at £2 per punnet (marked as half price I might add!!!) it isn't cheap. Yes I could buy frozen but I prefer the texture of fresh fruits, especially berries.

I have given up drinking so have removed that cost from my budget and I don't often eat out anymore. It was an almost nightly occurence before I decided to change my lifestyle so I am saving pennies there.

I do find I have more money at the end of the month now because of the changes I've made so although the items I am buying are more expensive my overall budget has gone down. I haven't examined it fully though.

I hate seeing all the rubbish food and alcohol advertised for very marked down prices on the TV. It seems even worse now that the Euro Championship is on.

I do know that after 7 months I wouldn't want to go back to the way I was even if it were cheaper. I have more energy, a good complexion and dare I say it look a little younger! Oh and I'm 47 lbs lighter.

cheap crap does tend to be crap.

For once I agree with yarwell.

You can save money by shopping around if you're buying at the supermarket - Sainsburys is where I usually get my meat, Morrisons is better for fruit and veg - at least in my area. Make use of our produce markets too.

Perhaps we should start a UK shopping group to let each other know of good offers etc?

BTW if anyone wants to add me feel free - all of my friends so far are American, I need some local support!

Loads of good advice here.

I think the problem is that we don't eat staples like cereal, pasta or potatoes.

My OH and I eat mainly salads with chicken/turkey/prawns/salmon usually twice daily so it's pretty costly.
I try and buy frozen chicken breasts rather than fresh but that's still approx £5 per kg.

Of course we save money because we don't go out but a healthy meal for 2 of say steamed chicken(£2) with lettuce (£1), tomatoes (50p), spring onion (50p), beetroot (50p), peppers (50p) and some feta (£1) would set us back approx £6.00. Whereas a chicken kiev with mash and beans would be about £2.50.

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

Maybe worth jumping on the Big Retailers websites and doing a bit of price comparison? Create a shopping list of 15 things that you buy all the time and see which is cheaper?

I do this quite often...sad but true