I'm inspired after a discussion with my (considerably richer) friend. She's living with her boyfriend and doesn't think twice about spending several hundred quid on her monthly shop - "the best & most of everything", to use her words. She likes to see her fridge-freezer fully stocked and cannot abide having only half-boxes or half-cartons of anything

I shop weekly, so I can better estimate how much I need (I'd probably spend too little or too much if I tried to budget monthly) and spend roughly £15 (for one person) going for the cheapest of everything, and only the very essentials.

I'm sure we're probably at two ends of the spectrum, so I was wondering which side you lot lean towards? How often do you shop & how much do you spend? Are you satisfied with cheap brands or will you look for the best of everything?

well.. first off for the budget concious is to NOT shop in supermarkets.

Find an organic box scheme local to you. Mine is delivered every fortnight and cost £9.80 it contains enough veggie for the intervening to weeks, lasts well and tastes great.

Find a good local butcher. All meat is locally sourced, you get what you want in the portions you require. I spend about £35/£40 every 5/6 weeks. Stocking up my freezer.

Use an Aldi/Lidl for all the other non food items.

ta-da.. good quality/variety on a budget taht also includes lots of "feel good" as well

Four adults in my house, and I spend at least £100 per week on main shop, then probably another £20-30 per week on bits at other shops.

I buy what we like, what we fancy, and just get it wherever I see it. I always have two freezers stocked up (yes a lot of it is convenience food), and my cupboards are always well stocked.

I've lived in my new flat for a month and can't even bring myself to do a shop yet

Luckily my lovely Mum packed me a 'goody' box that had eveything I needed (condiments, cleaning products, tinned goods, loo rolls etc...) so I have just been shopping as I go along!

Will bite the bullet and do a big shop when I get paid - for 2 of us I estimate a £50 / £60 shopping bill for the week!

I do my food shopping online every 2 weeks, I only buy for myself and spend roughly £40.
I have loads of food for that, lots of fruit and veg. I used to spend about £20 a day on food at one point (eating out) now I spend that a week!

Aldi & Lidl are the most underrated supermarkets ever. I often go shopping in the nearby Lidl and some of their stuff is beautiful: particularly the olives stuffed with feta cheese Their chocolate isn't too bad, either!

Yes, Lidl's has some good stuff at excellent prices. I tend to shop at Waitrose as I prefer the store layout and can get round quickly, doing scan as you shop. Also I think the quality of the stuff they sell is good

What sort of price range is Waitrose? I've never been in one Is it up there with Marks & Spencers or at a more affordable level?

I'm a Waitrose fan for things I can't get at independant shops. I think they give every one from farmers to Staff a better deal.

If you are brassic, I recomend going to a butchers for meat and getting some of the cheaper cuts. Get your fruit and veg from a greengrocers, and herbs, spices, rice etc from an Indian wholesale store; like the ones in brick lane or Tooting.

Aldi is so cheap i buy all my cleaning goods there and save a fortune. I love their olives too and they do a particular yoghurt which is scrummy. It never ceases to amaze us how cheap our trolley is, compared to tescos. The thing is with aldi too they do lots of other stuff for hubby to drool over and we always come out with a trolley full of food and stuff and it rarely costs us more than 60.00.

We did our weekly shop yesterday which came in at around £20. We got our meat and veg from the butchers and greengrocers and the other bits from Tesco. This included a couple of 'luxury' items as well that we wouldn't normally consider.