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Original poster

On average per day how much are you spending to feed the family?

117 replies

Rebelwithallthecause · 20/04/2020 14:43

Per person?

We are family of 3, and did our last big shop 12 days ago. It seemed expensive at the time but it’s managed to last us to today (only just), but also covered Easter treats and a Easter roast dinner which isn’t the normal weekly purchases.
It’s around £13 a day which for 3 people doesn’t seem to bad.

However, we’ve run out of so many spaces and herbs and other condiments that this weeks shop also now seems surprisingly expensive.

Is there a daily spend you are happy with in general?

I’ve never been able to work it out accurately before because of top up shops and DH and I picking up lunches on the go sometimes

OP posts:
DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon · 20/04/2020 18:25

About £8 pppd. Our shopping is a lot more than normal, but DP used to buy lunch at work a couple of days a week. We'd go for dinner and maybe a lunch out at the weekend plus going to pubs/bars. Overall I think we are saving money on food

We are eating well. I need something to get me through lockdown!

RoseMartha · 20/04/2020 18:26

About £3.50 per person per day, which includes laundry products.

But I am running low on some cleaning and toiletries items.

kimlo · 20/04/2020 18:32

we are eating at home a lot more.

Dd1 normally eats has school lunches and eats out and about for lunch at the weekends, she also stays at my dms a couple of times a week over night so eats dinner there.

Dd2 eats at breakfast at breakfast club and dinner at afterschool club during the week then out and about with me at the weekend.

I eat at work during the week for lunch then out and about at the weekend.

Dh buys things for work depending on his shifts.

Literally all the money I have saved by not not going out, not going to the shops, is being spent on food. All of it.

RedskyAtnight · 20/04/2020 18:34

About £15 per day (2 adults and 2 teens).
We ate most meals at home even before the lockdown (might eat out once every couple of months or so) but bizarrely the food cost has actually gone down if anything. Not having to factor in who is in and out at what time (so I can just cook what I want, when I want) and no need to make sure I have things for packed lunches seems to have brought the cost down. And the teens are eating 3 meals a day rather than no breakfast, a makeshift lunch, a proper dinner and topping up with snacks.

1forsorrow · 20/04/2020 18:37

I think it is £8 or £9 a day, only two of us.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 20/04/2020 18:42

Last couple of weeks the shopping has come to £150ish. But there has been non- food items in there like charcoal, books and sandals for the children (who took lockdown to mean 'lets grow out of all our shoes bar wellies), easter eggs. So probably around £120 on food. £30 per person per week- doesn't sound that bad to me.

MsJuniper · 20/04/2020 18:48

We are spending about £100/wk between four of us, 2 adults, 1 primary age and 1 toddler. So £14/day, £3.57 per person/day.

Our usual budget is £70/week for shopping and £20/week on lunches, so not too much extra.

snowone · 20/04/2020 18:50

A small fortune.....between £150-£200 per week for everything. Our shop has practically doubled. I could spend less if I needed to I suppose

PhantomErik · 20/04/2020 18:58

About £10 - £12 per day for 2 adults & 3 DC.

FoggyNelson · 20/04/2020 19:10

£200 for what is essentially 4 adults, but if I count up all the daily top-up shops we used to do, we're saving a lot of money on food.

I think it's down to needing to buy less packaged food for convenience and starting to really think about what what's in the fridge rather than than just saying "oh I fancy this tonight"... and going to buy the ingredients. And let's not even mention how often we used to eat out.

Hopefully we're going to emerge from lockdown much better at meal-planning, and a lot less wasteful.

TrickyKid · 20/04/2020 19:16

About £15-£18 a day. Two adults and 3 kids

worldweary45 · 20/04/2020 19:29

£17 a day for 2 adults and a 16 year old -so 3 adults really

It's significantly less than we were spending prior as 2 of us were buying lunch out daily, plus coffees, 1 meal out per week and a couple of takeaways when various sports training nights were happening

I'm never going back!

MissusMaker · 20/04/2020 19:34

Very interesting thread. The first few replies made me think we were being ridiculously frivolous (though I wasn't going to change) but later answers are more reassuring.

We are spending about £5.50 pppd here, including all toiletries, alcohol, nappies, treats (so many treats) and one takeaway a week. There are 2 adults and 2 children in our household. Like others I have no clear idea of what we were spending before because I shopped every couple of days, DS is on universal FSM and we would eat out at least twice a week.

Despite the seemingly huge shopping cost, with no restaurants, after school clubs, days out etc we are currently saving £700 a month Shock (we have vulnerable family members and we started social distancing at the beginning of March)

Ulver · 20/04/2020 19:39

I haven’t calculated it because i know it’s a ridiculous amount of money and I’m embarrassed. The stress of lockdown has made me spend way more than I normally would. Plus my daughter has piled in on the shopping list with all her requests.
I dread to think, I know I’ve spent at least £200 this week

MogeatDog · 20/04/2020 19:47

Last week my shopping came to over I think about £9 per person per day and About £3 a day on the dog.

InDubiousBattle · 20/04/2020 19:48

A lot. £120-130 a week for four of us (dc are 4 and 6). Probably £40-50 more than usual. We're eating quite extravagantly for that though, and drinking more booze.

YodaEveryday · 20/04/2020 19:50

Approximately £3.60 per person per day, which is about 10p more than normal. This is probably due to lack of offers in supermarkets, using the farm shop for fresh top ups, and having to buy what’s there rather than shop around.

WickedlyPetite · 20/04/2020 19:52

About £35 a day, for 2 adults and a teenager who eats more than an adult.

Once I manage to get hold of some bread flour that will reduce by a couple of quid a day.

LalalalalaLlama · 20/04/2020 19:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rockbird · 20/04/2020 20:09

Yep also about £9 million. They don't stop eating. I'm probably spending about £120 a week which probably isn't much more than I'd spend in an average week but by God it feels like it!

MogeatDog · 20/04/2020 20:12

They don't stop eating. I am spending a fortune but it is all being eaten - my food wastage has never been so low.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 20/04/2020 20:15

Between £20 and £30 per day for 4 adults and 2 cats, including all cleaning products and toiletries. We have 2 adult sons living with us who are eating us out of house and home. I picked ds2 up from uni the day of lockdown and when I came back from work th following day he and ds1 had eaten an entire loaf of bread between them. Normally a loaf lasts dh and I a week.

val4 · 20/04/2020 20:15

Around 260euro a week....but that is for 6 of us....ages 13 to adult. I bake lots of bread, cakes etc and it's like a continuous cafe/restsursnt for 4 ravenous teenagers! Also our wine and gin consumption has risen but as we are not going to pubs and restaurants, it's probably less than before!

WickedlyPetite · 20/04/2020 20:17

My son's like a shark - if he's awake he's feeding.

My food waste has also never been as low. It's because I've got all day to look for recipes for using up leftovers. And I'm 'catching' a lot of stuff before its expiry date and tailoring our meals around using it up, or freezing it before it's well and truly gone off.

PickAChew · 20/04/2020 20:27

About £7.50 per person per day. Fewer special offers and yellow stickers, no money off total spend vouchers, buying lots more branded stuff where own brand is unavailable, no shopping around for the best stuff or deals from each shop. I pick one shop and buy what they've got. I ended up paying boots prices for toiletries, the other day, because that's what was open, where I went (scored some heavily reduced eucerin 10% urea cream, mind)