How much do you spend on food per week? can anyone tell me how to cut down my food bill?

Last November I started keeping records of my food spend, challenging myself to cut costs. Now on average I spend 28 euro per week for 2 of us, even allowing for strictly unnecessary treats like biscuits or ice cream, but non-food items make the shopping bill significantly higher. Highest week €39.89. Lowest week €12.13. Plus non-food items.

I head first for the reduced-to-clear shelf to see if there is anything there to suit me. Sometimes there can be really good value. Vegetables are cheaper per kilo than meat, so I use more veg. Anything I cannot use immediately goes into the freezer, where it stays fresh until required.

Shop around near closing time. You will soon learn where prices are reduced even more towards closing time, and which stores have good special offers on. Special offers are pretty good at Centra and Supervalu but Tesco wins hands down for end of evening price cuts. I am lucky enough to live pretty close to two. The Tesco in the bigger town has a bigger clientele and reduced items sell faster. In the smaller town, after 6pm prices shoot downwards, and again later. On many occasions I have done a week's shopping where almost every item cost around 10 cents - but staples like bread or milk (not on offer) cost full price. The only downside is that it is unpredictable what will be on offer, but if you can be imaginative combining ingredients, good meals can cost very little. Porridge manufacturers claim it cost 3 cents per serving, but I haven't tested to see is it true. For dog food, I buy dog muesli €15 (15kg) and add meat to it. Tesco sometimes has reduced-price liver which I boil and chop up. A little of the broth each day moistens the muesli. Some butchers charge very little for lamb kidneys.

Even including non-food items, I'm sure you could cut your shopping bill in half.

200 Euro seems a lot to me. I spend around 100 Euro per week on the main grocery/household shopping. That is for 2 adults and 2 ravenous teenagers (15 and 17).

We only have around 450 Euro per week coming into the house including child benefit. My partner is out of work and I'm self employed with not much work right now.

I buy most meat off the "reduced date" counters in Dunnes/Tescos so I base the meals for the week around what is available. I use Lidl and Aldi a lot for fresh fruit, ham, bacon, baked beans plus toiletries and cleaning products. Lidl washing powder is as good as the branded stuff. While its great to support local small businesses like butchers they are usually much more expensive than the supermarket chains.

Grow your own vegetables if you have a garden. Even just growing salad leaves in a tub saves money, I haven't bought salad for weeks. Take advantage of "buy 2 get 1 free" offers and cook in bulk, make a big lasagne and freeze half down for another day.

Try working on 12 euro a day for the family ...I know it's not easy but it can be done , if you make things yourself / don't but kitchen paper ...use cloths which can be washed over and over ...no junk food ....go online and find some good cheap recipes for dinners ...by own brand , and shop at Lidl or Aldi ....if you plan a week ahead it will make all the difference , and don't allow yourself to go over the 12 euro a day ....also if you all get involved ...you may find the children will be happy to come up with some good ideas.

I remember when my children were small ..which was many many years ago ....we were on the verge of losing our house because we couldn't pay for it ....so I did what I'm telling you to do and it worked , a year down the road we were back on track .

There is an old saying which my mother often used to make her point " You take care of the penny's and the pounds will take of themselves "

Firstly, don't get all your shopping from the same place, and don't be fooled by shop names that imply they are cheap. Independents aren't necessarily more expensive. If shopping locally, I buy from 3 different shops (SuperValu, CostCutter and Kelly's - the independent). The soap powder (Daz 90 wash) varies 5 Euro between the cheapest and most expensive. (€10.99 and €15.99). It is the same box with the same powder inside. There are a lot of things where you can save a Euro on an item by buying promotions / just paying the price of the cheapest shop.

If you live near an Aldi or Lidl (unfortunately, I don't), check them out. Look for bargains. SuperValu aren't the cheapest, but they have some really good offers. Try cheap brands - some of the economy stuff is really good but some of it is shyte. You learn from experience what is good. Some cheap dilute juices are like toxic waste.

Keep an eye out on anything you might regularly have to put in the bin and either stop buying it or buy less of it. Stock up on what is on special (our Costcutter has Kellogs Crunchy Nut cornflakes on special at €1.49, so I've built up a store of it for when the offer goes off).

If you live near the border, do some of your shopping in the North. About half of my groceries come from Tesco in Derry - a lot cheaper than Tesco this side of the border.

When it comes to fruit and veg, don't go for the nice and shiny stuff. The cheap stuff with scarred skins is just as nutritious, and if you get the right stuff, tastes just as good.

Don't buy prepared foods. You pay a fortune to get your potatoes ready-peeled. Don't buy takeaways - they are a rip-off and aren't nutritious. Don't buy microwave ready stuff. Not only is expensive but it is often about as nutritious or tasty as the box it came in.

Your sister spends fifty euro per week sounds right but its wrong at the same time, the v.a.t rate on food here is 20 percent which is twice what it should be

people should get together in there area and form a coop where the can buy goods cheaper off the suppliers in bulk, its the only way to get back at the unfair system,

Yes 200 for you per week is unfair and out of hand

yeah, thats a lot, i live in america and thats about $400 here, and we spend a maximum of $200 for a family of 5 and dog and a cat, thats about 100 euros. to cut down, not everything has to be name brands, the no name brands cost half the price and taste the same and usually even come from the same place. look for sales and coupons and only get the necessities. also, you dont need to go to the butchers which costs a lot more, the meat in the grocery store is fine.

Buy the stores own brand makes instead of more expensive well known brands.

Thats the best way to cut back imo

200 EUROS?? TWO ******* HUNDRED EUROS? Whoooah, and this is only just the food bill, what about everything else ? X.X

move to Ethiopia