how much should our weekly shopping cost?

[booyhoo]

there is me and two dc's. almost 5 and almost 1. and two cats.

we use cloth nappies and wipes so no spend there, breastfed so no baby milk to buy and we are all small eaters, as in we eat five small meals a day rather than 3 large and two snacks. i dont buy any cleaning products other than vinegar and bicarb. we love our pasta dishes and not into exotic tasting meals, quite bland palates.

i reckon we should be able to eat well on £35 a week but i always seem to spend double that when i do the shopping. do you think it is possible to halve our weekly spend?

[NoahAndTheWhale]

I think it should be possible to spend less as we have two adults and two children aged 6 and 4 and I do it in about £50-£60 and am sure we could spend less.

I found that in bigger places like Tesco and Sainsburys with clothes etc I would slip a few things in and find I was regularly spending a lot more than I meant to. I also have a much stricter list now and do a vague meal plan so that I know I can make meals for the week without needing to go out to get more things, which inevitably adds up.

[FabIsGoingToGetFit]

£70 a week does sound a lot for 1 adult and 2 children but that is going by how much I spend for 2 adults, 3 children, 1 cat and 2 guinea pigs.

Food should be enjoyable so don't worry to much about a few extra pounds, as long as you can afford it of course as that can cause stress if not.

[booyhoo]

i always seem to have a trolley full of rubbish and hardly any food when i do the shopping, lots of biscuits and stuff that gets devoured in two days. (i am usually the guilty party )

[booyhoo]

i left my job last week so money will be tight untill i get something new. just trying to keep the spend down until we can relax a bit.

[witchwithallthetrimmings]

I spend (roughly) £50 a week on basics but loads loads more on special treat (cheeses, wines, fruit juice etc). There are 4 of us (2 adults 5 +1). When we want to save i buy frozen veg instead of fresh and cut down on treats

[booyhoo]

well then i definitely can do it if you can all feed 4+ people for around £50-£60.

i'm writing down a list now of what i would call staples and anything else we need this week and pricing it on asda.com. that should give me a good idea of how much it should cost.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

Things like biscuits etc do have an annoying habit of sneaking in I find .

[peachybums]

We do our shopping via my supermarket with tesco, There is me (39 wks pregnant) DP and 2 dcs 3 and 8. No pets. DD had nappies for bed but reusable and washable wipes. We dont eat too much as DP and DS are very poor eaters and we spend around £50 a week. The most expensive part of my shop believe it or not is cereal, DP will only eat top branded cereal like shreddies, i have porridge, DD will only eat weetabix and DS will only eat cornflakes!

I think we have put ours down to as low as we can wthout a war breaking out over breakfast but i still hate spending £50 a week!

[mrsruffallo]

I would say you need around 80 pounds a week to eat well.

[Ivykaty44]

here is last weeks thread on cost of shopping

[booyhoo]

well, ive written a list and i reckon if i stick to it strictly we will spend about £30 so here's hoping that's a standard set for the future.