Unpack our family food shop with me! See the food we got, what it cost to fit in our below average food budget, and the meal plan! (Stay tuned or hit subscribe and I'll show you what it actually looked like to use the food through the week so you can see how it translates to busy real life and meals.)

HELPFUL LINKS:

Fair Farming Campaign I referenced with the UK farmer statistic: https://getfairaboutfarming.co.uk/
Abel and Cole Veg Boxes (if you've not used them before you can also get a huge discount look for a banner at the top of the page!): https://tidd.ly/49OhtmN
Riverford Veg Boxes (£15 off your first box with this link) : www.riverford.co.uk/refer/SA4xNMI7CqoIEAx5YnUqw
Doves Farm Organic Flour Sacks (we get a stoneground wholewheat and a white bread flour): https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/shopcate...

AVERAGE SPENDING FOR A UK FAMILY/PERSON

The average spending for a family of our size (2 adults, 3 small children I’m not sure my 8 year old who eats more than me counts as that but we’ll roll with it) is £203 on food and non alcoholic drinks. The average for a person in the UK is £45 with it being higher for a young active male and less for a small child. [Office of National Statistics/NimbleFins.com]

WHAT WE BUY ORGANIC VS NOT ORGANIC:
My goal is 100% organic because of the benefits to the environment and biodiversity, and for our own health. But not everything we get is organic because of availability and budget. I try to prioritise meat and dairy as organic and then fresh fruit and veg and I tried to note what was and wasn’t organic, but not 100% of this shop was. The eggs were free range, the pie, and the honey were not organic, the bacon wasn’t either. I think the rest was this week. And there are other items we buy regularly that aren’ but it's my goal as much as possible!

VOUCHERS WE USE:

Waitrose card: 2 discount vouchers each week personalised (tip if you do a non usual shop, don’t swipe your card!)
Sainsbury’s Nectar: Check the app for personalised ones too via SmartShop
Milk and More: This is rare but sometimes the coupons are big and then I’ll do a big shop.
Monzo Cashback: Monzo is a more ethical bank we use. They sometimes give cashbacks so I quickly check before shopping. https://join.monzo.com/c/t5grjnl

A NOTE ON UK FOOD COSTS vs NON UK FOOD COSTS

My goal in these videos is to empower people to see how we can put foods together on different budgets to show that it’s possible to make organic or sustainable choices on a budget where people don’t think that’s possible. And to show one way it can look to do that. But the internet is worldwide and so these prices/budgets get compared with currencies and food markets everywhere which can lead to feelings far from those I’m aiming for of empowerment! So a few notes on that, especially for those in the US who find food more expensive.

Firstly: I’m choosing these foods shown because they’re the ones that are cheapest here and so work on our budget. When we lived in California I chose different foods (and, ironically, people in the UK would tell me I was so lucky for the cost of things!) I don’t buy avocados here, or chicken other than carcasses, or many other foods we ate in abundance in the US. So we all need to shop for where we live and the only way to stretch a budget is to base our meal plans around foods that are cheaper where we are. That's my biggest point here! Secondly, that’s not the whole story food is more expensive in the US, even after the exchange rate. BUT there are more factors we have to consider too. The average salary in the US is much higher than the UK (even when currency and cost of living adjustments are made.) So the average American spends more on food yes, but when you look at the proportion of income it takes to get the same food… it’s actually better to be earning and shopping in America! In both places though, we’ve made this kind of lifestyle work on a below average (well below average in the US) budget. I don’t want people to think it can’t work because the food costs are different that’s the opposite of my point! Doing the best with what we have, and then feeling empowered in that is my goal. But what that will look differs for all of us.

A lot of the ways we make our budget work are more about careful planning and creating no waste not about finding food cheap. So, try to be empowered to do the best with what YOU have where YOU are. And lastly, when Jared was in Germany, his food was just cheaper than in the UK. I wish I could shop Germany Lidl forever, so I really do get that sentiment, but I choose to zone in on what we have here and what that looks like for us and do the best with what WE have for our family!