£800 pm on groceries for a family

I won't buy cheap meat - I want to know that what I eat has had a higher welfare life - that makes a big difference in cost. I do tend to not buy meat in my big shop and pick it up as and when - either from the butchers or M&S (got to love their yellow stickers...). If you are buying good quality meat and fish then it is going to be expensive as you will be spending £5-10 a meal on that alone. The only way to save then is to eat less of it and that is tricky if you have men demanding protein and not recognising other sources.

Ways to cut down are basically using pulses to cut the meat and keep the protein up. So

Lamb curry plus dhal plus rice plus curried roasted cauliflower rather than meat curry and rice.

Veggie Chilli rather than meat chilli (I usually add a dollop of marmite to increase the beefiness. Cookie and Kate has a good recipe on their website.

Mushroom and lentil ragu instead of bolognese sometimes - good in a lasagne where the sauce isn't so important.

Ham egg chips plus baked beans using a boiled gammon joint that produces loads of stock for soup/risotto another day.

I'll buy a large salmon tail fillet rather than 4 fillets - then serve up the same amount as 4 fillets in one meal and a salmon spinach and broccoli frittata using the remains of the salmon for another meal. Usually costs the same as say 6 fillets but I get 2 full meals out of it that way.

Soup maker that I can load with lots of back of the fridge veg - produces soup for lunch in 20 minutes.

But if you can afford it carry on - scrimping on food is miserable.

I spend about £800 a month for 6 of us, 2 adults plus 4 kids but one eats like an adult due to age. I also work for a supermarket so I get my discount too, it's shocking! We don't eat extravagantly either, food is just really expensive now

We don’t spend much (£385pcm 4adults) and we do buy masses of fruit
atm
its grapes bananas
plums nectarines ( which are amazing this year ) kiwis melons strawberries

We make smoothies so buy frozen too ie mixed summer fruits, blueberries and mangoes and pineapple

We’re veggies so the trolley is packed with veg too

No, not if you like quality food and you have teenagers at home. Food prices have shot up since Brexit. Some of us don't want to live on baked beans.

I was looking through my emails recently and comparing 2019 amounts with current prices.

Some examples, all identical brand/amount from Tesco.

500g 5% beef mince, same brand: 2019: £3.30; 2025: £5.29

950g chicken breast fillets: 2019: £4.75, 2025: £6.50

4 pints semi-skimmed milk: 2019: £1.10, 2025: £1.65

4 x tins Tesco chopped tomatoes: 2019: £1.39, 2025: £1.80

Clover Light, 2019: £1.85, 2025: £2.60

And so it goes on.

Interesting (and depressing!) to look through

We spend about this for two adults and three large "children" but eating well is our priority and we eat mostly organic for that. Pretty much all homemade. That means it saves on things like bread - home made a fraction of like for like sourdough prices - but works out a bit more for things like organic fruit Vs inorganic (?) fruit. Balances out I think.

We eat well and cook from scratch and we are about £150 for 2 adults, a 5 year old and 1 year old. It is very hard to get it down without reducing quality or fruit and veg.

About the same here OP for 2 adults and 2 teen boys. All the grandparents in our family are totally out of touch too

Yeah I’d say we spend about the same for 2 adults and a 12yo and 8yo. But I suppose we don’t skimp, and that also includes skincare etc.

Think it’s very much the norm

3 adults as two adult sons living with me and about £600 for everything. I do once monthly ocado, the rest aldi, asda and local butcher but I know my prices, this is easy as I'm in my late 60s and retired .........when younger, working full time with three kids it would have been harder to stick to budget so i think your doing fine👏 Agree with another poster who said M & S is sometimes cheaper these days for basics, I get these from ocado. I cook from scratch including bread and homemade pizzas and no ready meals or takeaways, includes packed lunches for workers as I don't want sons wasting their money, which they are more than happy with🤣

We’re a family of 5, eldest a teen who eats like an adult and we easily spend £350 a week on food. We don’t eat out / have takeaways / drink or smoke, so food is really our only “luxury”. The cost to eat well is honestly insane and it’s just going up!

It's really really not it's less than 50 quid per person a week. 5 years ago absolutely yes it would be ridiculous these days unless you live under a rock it's pretty hard to not notice everything has got more expensive and therefore that will include the price of the weekly food shop.

We don't really drink much.
No pets.
We do get through a staggering amount of loo roll though 🤔
We eat meat and fish.
I bake - the price of basic making ingredients has also risen.
We buy a lot of sparkling water, apple juice and milk.
We like ground coffee but buy supermarket own brand.
I get the main shop from ocado, with top ups from aldi, lidl or the co-op.
I like lidl and the co-op more than aldi...I tend to just get cleaning products/loo roll etc from aldi.

This is a reasonable amount if you want to buy healthy goods. I spend more for my family.

One thing I notice is often people who spend a lot often buy a lot of fruit. We rarely buy fruit and if we do it's cheaper stuff like apples/bananas/satsumas. I never buy berries or exotic fruit.

We pick blackberries in the summer and can pick enough to freeze for eating over the winter.

I spend more than that now for two adults and a cat.

We spend similar for similar size family but with minimal meat - teens eat so much

would you be willing to share what meals you would typically make with this?

£800pm is ridiculous and I’m someone who really likes good quality food.

No judgement here. The truly wasteful spends are on food which gets thrown out unused. Buying adequate quantities of the good you enjoy is getting the best value from your shopping. Everything is rising in price. We are a household of two adults, no pets. We spend under £250 a month on groceries as that is all our budget allows. Our diet is basic and repetative but we have the time and space to grow fruit and veg which helps. If I had a larger budget, I would spend it on fresh fish instead of canned/frozen and a greater variety of fruit.

You could look at Suma for hugs sacks of dried stuff, if they deliver to you :) before we moved we were part of a small community group (very informal) that ordered. It says wholese but anyone can order really.