Dh is spending a fortune on the weekly shop !!!!

[Comps83]

It's always been DHs job to do the big shop as he says I'm shit at it and he knows what we need as he does all the cooking
But since lockdown he is going crazy . He's spending between £200-300 every week
There's only us and a small baby
I'm about to go onto statutory maternity pay soon!
Anyone else spending a lot more since lockdown ?

3 adults here and I’m spending about £130 a week. That’s in Tesco and one person is gluten free which is expensive for bread, pizzas, etc.

But no alcohol. And very occasional meat (like 1 pack of sausages or bacon a week).

£300 in Aldi is crazy. Even £200 is crazy.

I don't think mine can be more than £60 a week, and that included the occasional bottle of red wine - no other booze. Two adults.

We eat a lot of vegetarian food/stuff that's on offer. Mostly cooking from scratch and eating leftovers/home made soups etc for lunch. Cake/puddings also home-made. Mainly shopping from Lidl and Asda.

Do you think he’d be happy to cut down on the alcohol?

It’s not the amount necessarily - it all depends on household specifics like circumstances, tastes and food likes/dislikes, how much alcohol is drunk and also what shops are available to buy from. And yes, plenty of people can afford to spend extra because saving elsewhere, but there’s still no need to be pissing money away on food that isn’t being eaten.

When large amounts of food are being thrown out and you can’t even properly store all the perishables then something, somewhere is off and it needs to be looked at and brought back in check.

£300 in aldi For dp, dd and I I’m spending around £80 a week, including booze and toiletries. And dp eats a shit load!

Our last two weekly shops at Lidl came to just over £90, which is more than we would normally spend for a couple, but there were necessary cleaning items, plus our first pack of loo rolls for two months (starting to get really pannicky!), plus a box of 6 basic Cotes du Rhone, which came to nearly £27.
As Witsend pointed out, the middle aisle in Lidl can be a killer.

What on earth is he buying? I only spend £30 a week on me and the cat!!!

How much booze is he buying on a weekly basis OP? And is he drinking it all or are you having the odd glass of wine/beer too?

same but more like crept up from £120 to £180. we are at home snacking, more cereal and larger portions as no breakfast club, more afternoon snacks as no childcare after school, not just any old ice cream but Hagen Daz or vegan expensive ice cream, more wine!

husband has gone completely mental with vegan and wholefood expensive processed snacks eg £2.75 for 3 bars which are eaten in a few minutes and he can't use his site cafe for breakfast or lunch.

we are also spending shed loads on craft, hobby craft must love us.

How much!!! I lost my shit two weeks ago when I let DH do the weekly shop and he spent £90 !

What on earth is he spending 200 on!???

Ok, I thought you were going to say about £100 and I was going to say that seems normal to me at the moment. But £200-300! I'm spending about £100 a week for 2 adults and 2 dc aged 6&8!

Two adults, DS17 & DD16.
Weekly about £100 - £120 including stuff like stationery, cleaning and laundry products. We cook over half our meals from scratch although buy lots of pizzas too. Very active kids, cycling, running every day. DD24 also takes food for lunches at work.

We eat well. Fresh meat, veggies, salad, fish etc Over £200 pw sounds mad if I'm honest.

I'm spending more, but as I'm doing it online and not going out, I'm actually saving money overall.

I'm not buying lunches when I'm at work, not stopping off to pick up something I fancy for dinner when I've already got something in, and I'm buying all my toiletries, makeup and household bits that I can instead of spreading the spend over multiple shops.

That's insane. Our household of me DH and baby (and also a dog) spends between £50 and £60 a week on food. You would spend more if you ate meat (we don't) and drink alcohol (we do but rarely)... maybe up to £100? Any more than that is wasteful madness, or else WTF are you drinking. Are you throwing stuff away?

How does it compare with what you would usually spend per week?

I'm definitely spending more than pre-lockdown - about £150 per week all in, which is one Tesco delivery and a veg or fruit box weekly. There are two adults, one teenage DS who is hungry all the time and eats way more than I do, and DD 10 who has the appetite of a sparrow unless it involves sweets.

I reckon pre-lockdown I was probably spending £100 per week on the main weekly shop.

Some items are more expensive - the offers aren't always there and I can't always get the cheaper brands or bigger sizes of things (so end up buying 2 small instead of 1 big pack of something for example). But, the main difference is that everyone is at home for all meals, whereas there would be some school lunches, some meals out, sometimes kids at friends houses for tea or vice versa. And, admittedly I have bought more 'treat' food that we wouldn't usually have.

Also, shopping has become a bit like in the Big Brother house, where everyone seems to be involved in decisions over what we get (there is an 80 item limit on a tesco delivery) and I am allowing everyone to choose one 'treat' item each. (DS picked salt n vinegar pringles, DD haribo tangfastic, DH dairymilk and I had a packet of Wagon Wheels in case anyone is interested!).

I can't imagine spending £300 in one go at Aldi or Lidl unless there was some pricey purchases from the 'middle aisle' included?

OP, try meal planning, then YOU go out and get what you need. You need to do this if you are getting a bit wary about going outside. And you need to do it to stop DP spending so much on booze. Is he hiding any somewhere in a secret stash?
This is very worrying!

That is a lot. I'm buying whatever anyone asks for at the moment without a budget and it is still only £200 a week for five.

I’m spending about £250/300 a week for four of us.....

Bit of keeping the cupboards well stocked, few bottles of nice wine, some very nice cuts of meat, posh ice cream and biscuits for a treat. All too easily done....!

He must be buying a lot of gin. Absolutely ridiculous amount.

Spending £70 every 2 weeks and I thought that was a lot!

Wow!
I went to Aldi yesterday and spent £110. That will last us at least 4 weeks, and will get top-up bread, milk and eggs from local corner shop / fresh veg from local Tesco Metro (say another £10 pw)

Am shocked that you are throwing away unused veg and fruit. Why didn't you use it up before now?

I agree actually - if you are starting to avoid going out more than you reasonably should I would nip that right in the bud otherwise it could really, really end up limiting your life and that of your child(ren), in the future. And there’s only one way to do it and that’s to just face the fear and do it.

We are shopping twice a week Sainsbury's for a main shop then Lidl or Aldi for top up of fresh food, veg, bread, milk etc

We eat meat and a small quantity of alcohol £170 per week for 5 adults/older teens!!

Bit of keeping the cupboards well stocked, few bottles of nice wine, some very nice cuts of meat, posh ice cream and biscuits for a treat. All too easily done....!

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Lockdown is bad enough without budgeting on food and considering we aren't spending elsewhere it doesn't seem worth scrimping.

We''re spending £120 a week, 2 adults, 2 dc's, 1 cat, up by about £20 which would usually account for lunches. We don't drink though.