No idea how much spent on Food

Same here. We shop at Aldi and Sainsbury’s, a mix of special offers, store own brands and occasional treats.
£700 for two people sounds quite a lot.

£80 a week-ish for me and DH, that’s food, toiletries, cleaning and laundry, plus we’ll go to the abbatoir and spend £ 40-50 on meat every couple of months or so.

I don’t know it to the exact £ but I could definitely give you a ball park. Spend about £120 a week on big shop then around £30 on 1 or two top ups (self-checkout usually but I do look at the total before I tap my card!). Milk delivery £12. Rarely have takeaways. Fortunately we’re comfortable financially so it’s not something I worry about but I’m naturally inclined to be relatively frugal and not wasteful.

I don’t think it’s good that you have no idea how much you’re spending. You need to start taking note. I used to watch “eat well for less” and the families were always horrified by how much their food shops added up to, and that was before the COL crisis.

About £700 per month for 2 adults 2 kids no pets. I know because I pay for it all on a credit card which gives me Avios and then at the end of each month add it up and sweep the amount out of our joint account. That’s a basic Sainsbury’s shop with the odd top up and 2 meal boxes a week - mindful
chef and Gousto.

Doesn’t include takeaways or meals out (this is only about 1-2 times per month) or weekend trips to Starbucks for a tea and cake.

I’m the same. I also couldn’t tell you how much my water / electricity / council tax is. Some things I class as « mandatory expenditures » so no point knowing how much they are as I’ll have to pay anyway. (Simplistic, I know)

Probably around £100 pw for two of us. That includes the necessary gin and all cleaning products. I remember when DC were small 30 years ago, I spent 15 a week and stuck to the budget!

I'm not lucky enough to be in that position. I have a budget and stick to it.
There's nothing stopping you adding up what you've spent. Log on to your back and go through your transactions. It's not hard.

Of course if you are fortunate enough to be able to spend as much as you like then just enjoy that privilege. You don't need to feel bad about not being poor.

It’s almost like you can’t just check your bank account in seconds….

Yup, all this ^^ plus we regularly add clothing and homeware stuff into the basket, along with cards and gifts for parties, the odd book and all of the cleaning and laundry supplies too. It's not just a food bill.

Actually, I really like my local Tesco. It never has any supply issues, I never have to do a second shop elsewhere and all the the fruit and veg are fresh and keep well. So I couldn't give a stuff about bonuses.

I do know, now, because I have to be a bit more careful these days.
In the past I’ve been caught out by guessing it to be a lot less than it really is “oh I spent £60 on the big shop then a couple of top ups here and there, what? How does that come to £140??”
Even now sometimes though I’ll think we haven’t spent much on a week where we don’t do a big shop but when I add it up I realise that £30 in Lidl and £22 in Tesco and £5 in coop and £26 in Aldi and £12 in Asda is actually quite a lot!

YANBU if you're lucky enough to be able to just go shopping and pick up what you want, that's brilliant. I used to be like that. Things are tougher now, so I know exactly how much I spend.

That’s my view too! We have a high income and technically don’t need to budget, but I’d rather not spend a massive amount on groceries! We eat well, meat from a butcher, veg from a farm shop etc, but there are certainly better ways to use my spare cash than line the pockets of Tesco’s CEO. I prefer to keep a track of my spending, stick to a loose budget and then have more for savings and interesting stuff!

If you want to reduce how much you spend then pay attention to what you're spending it's that simple. If you don't then yanbu to not pay attention

Well if you don't do a big shop buy more small shops here and there plus takeaways , eating out then it's difficult to know. We do a big shop a week (around £130) a top up shop mid week (around £20) and very rarely a takeaway or drive thru, maybe once every couple of months so I have a really good idea of how much we spend.

Even if you're wealthy why would you want to line Tesco's pockets unnecessarily, hasn't their top bod just been paid £10m?

It all sounds a bit, oh look at me I'm so free spirited, not like you bores with your meal plans and spreadsheets.

I think we're a bit like you OP - before COVID I would have done a main shop once a week and only occasionally had to top up, now I seem to be in a supermarket or Spar at least once a day (three times yesterday!!) and it does make it much more difficult to keep track of the overall spend.

For two adults and two older teens I'm guessing we spend at least £800 a month, maybe more, and although we can afford it month to month, I'm uncomfortably aware that we don't have much by way of savings for our age and stage. One difficulty is an ASD teen with food issues which means you can't easily substitute brands to take advantage of offers, and their OCD means that they drink a lot of individual bottled drinks because they can't cope with pouring from an already opened bottle or when it's really bad, even using a glass from the cupboard that other people have used. I cringe at the plastic in our recycling sometimes, but they can't help it, it's that or they stop drinking altogether.

This thread has given me a shunt to look at the credit card bill and see if I can get more of a handle on it though, university costs are looming so we could do with making some savings!

Oh, I stopped looking, family of five (four adult sized) and I know the answer is a bloody huge amount and climbing.

But we need food, I get food, we have money in the account for food - and this admittedly rather soft focus lens on the figures is a comfortable ignorance I'm sticking with.

I think it’s unusual not to have any idea at all. I do the majority of shopping, two adults and 2 cats and 95% shop at Aldi. £70 is a typical week, anything over £90 an expensive week. Only go over £100 at Christmas etc. This included everything, we only ever go to another shop for Ariel and Sure deodorant.

3 adults (2 large men with physical jobs and who do weight training) plus a cat and we are about £170 a week. I'm also on a lowish carb diet for blood sugar control. All meals are taken from shopping e.g. Packed lunches etc.

I'm lucky to not have too strict a budget but I also prioritise decent food over entertainment/hobbies/holidays.

Also spend maybe on average another hundred a month on specific things bought online/costco.

Rary have takeaway and occasionally eat out.

I grew up in poverty with my parents worried about every penny and I'd love my mum to be alive and able to put things in her trolly without thinking about it which I mostly can do but in practice, I like a good bargain and I can cook so that helps money go further.

I’m not sure OP, partly because I tend to do at least a couple of top up shops weekly too. Also I switch between Tesco & Asda, although it’s mainly Tesco. I know we waste a lot of food so I’m trying to change my buying habits to avoid that. I write a meals list for the next week on a Friday & that sometimes helps to stick to a budget.

So have uou added up the last 2 months @Aquarius1234