running out of food budget - did I underestimate my food cost or did I buy too much luxury food item?

[confuseddeist]

I budgeted £5 per day in my food, excluding dining out. However, I'm now spending about £10 per day on food, including a mixture of raw food (including vegetable, beef, pasta, tomatoes, etc.), processed food (frozen pizza, chilled ready meals) and drinks (orange juice, etc).

I try to shop from the cheapest supermarket for the cheapest equivalent item if possible. For example, I'm buying mostly £0.5 / kg pasta (1 kg serves 5 - 6 meals for me), £0.425 / pc Asda romaine hearts for vegetable (1 pc each meal), £0.69 / L apple / orange juice, £4.52 / kg Lidl minced beef 10% fat (about 150 - 200 g each meal), £6.843 / kg Lidl diced beef (a 700 g package serves me about 4 meals). For ready meals, I initially shopped £1.79 per serving items, but now I'm shifting to £1.2 per serving from Asda, and I consume 2 servings per meal. And for frozen pizza, I bought medium 10" size pizzas (about ~390 g) for £0.85 each, and consume 2 per meal. On most days I have 3 meals per day, occasionally 2.

My food cost turns up to be about £10 per day. Is my estimation of £5 / day seriously wrong, assuming I always shop in the cheapest supermarket for supermarket-label goods?

P.S. I'm in the South West.

 

[ghaynes]

@confuseddeist Lol OP is consuming close to double the average daily calories of an adult because he is training for a Channel swim and doesn't mention it in the OP...

Case closed gentlemen

 

[waterflow]

@ghaynes Yeah, absolute madness. "why is my food bill double my budget"...."btw I eat at least twice as much food as a normal person"

 

[endend]

@confuseddeist Impossible to know unless you post a weeks shopping list. £10 per day is £300 odd a month, and that's a lot of you think you're shopping cheap. Only you know where it's going though.

 

[confuseddeist]

@endend Let me copy it out

from 2021-05-11 to 2021-05-17

Butter Croissant x 3 £1.11

rotisserie £1.39

ready meal x 6 £11

soup £1

soup £1.25

brioche rolls 8 pc £0.75

Frozen meatballs meal 550 g £1.99

Spaghetti Bolognese 450 g x 2 £3.7

Frozen chicken chow mein 550 g £1.99

soup £1.25

Beef hot pot x 2 £3.78

mug shot x 3 £1.47

ready meal x 4 £4.8

extra tasty chicken breast steaks 400 g £3.89

pasta 500 g x 2 £0.58

boneless chicken thigh 650 g £3.85

British romaine lettuce hearts 2 pc x 2 £1.7

reduced fat beef mince 650 g £3.85

multibuy saving £-1.59

Salad tomatoes 6 pc £0.72

Romaine hearts 2 pc £0.99

Conchiglie pasta 500 g £0.45

Salad tomatoes 6 pc £0.72

diced beef 700 g £5.79

lettuce 2 pc x 2 £1.7

beef steak x 2 £2.98

juice 1 L x 2 £1.38

soya drink 1 L £0.85

pasta sauce x 3 £0.15

 

[clothilde]

@confuseddeist The first thing that jumps out is that you're buying a massive amount of meat for one person for less than a week. The fact you're buying junk food on top of that makes it even harder to understand. You should probably work out your daily calorific intake and protein intake because you seem to be eating about ten times what I'd consider healthy for a typical person.

 

[confuseddeist]

@clothilde What are the junk food that I should cut away?

I tried to count my intake in the past and it turned out to be about 4000 - 4500 calories per day.

 

[regularposter]

@confuseddeist You probably know, but recommended calorie intake for a man is 2500 per day. If you are buying for double, your bill will be too.

 

[generalcarter]

@confuseddeist So are you a massive body builder or just...massive?

 

[confuseddeist]

@generalcarter My weight is at a stable 67-70 kg over a few months.

 

[generalcarter]

@confuseddeist Height? Sorry I'm not trying to come off rude - it just seems crazy to eat so much for a single person and not be obese. I'm an 88kg man and this seems even too much for me!

 

[confuseddeist]

@generalcarter 174 cm

 

[generalcarter]

@confuseddeist Huh, well barring the difference between being male or female - I guess you must have either a) A mythological level of metabolism b) Work out a lot c) Aren't measuring the calories you are eating properly somewhere

 

[confuseddeist]

@generalcarter I work out a lot

 

[modernjonah]

@generalcarter They said in another comment that they're training to swim the channel which would explain it lol

 

[edward237]

@confuseddeist Are you a body builder or athlete? Genuine question, as that seems to be a very significant intake of calories.

 

[confuseddeist]

@edward237 I swim a lot. I'm training for a Channel swim this year. 1-2 hours of sea swimming 5 days per week, will increase as the temperature goes up.

 

[anma]

@confuseddeist THIS IS INFORMATION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE OP

e: like okay 5000 calories per day makes sense given you are intensively training and your spend it therefore probably in the right area but also read what everyone else has told you about eating better.

 

[clothilde]

@confuseddeist Pizza, frozen meals, that sort of thing. Add up the amount of meat you're buying over six days. At 100g - 200g per day, that would feed you for several weeks. If you're using meat to bulk out your meals, that would explain how you're spending so much.

 

[confuseddeist]

@clothilde I'll try to cut away some frozen meals