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 ?

I presume you've seen the receipts and it all adds up? I think you need to go through it with him and decide what he has to cut back on. How come he thinks you're crap at shopping? He's crap at meal planning and budgeting, obviously

Is he batch cooking for the freezer? Indulging in luxury ingredients - not many of them in Lidl! I can't understand that sort of expenditure in a cheaper supermarket unless half the trolley is booze. Intervention required now!!

We are isolating and the only supermarket that I could get priority delivery slots was Waitrose so we are spending way more than planned

Most weeks it’s £130-140 for 3 people including 2 bottles of wine

We aren’t really buying more food but the deals have certainly stopped

I was spending about £80 a week prior

Hmmm... our shopping has increased too,but from 80-100/week to about 120-130 (2 adults, 2 DC, all of us eating at home, and 2 cats) . So about 20-25% increase. Sometimes Tesco or Morrison's, sometimes Lidl, one big shopping trip a week and one top-up. OK, maybe the costs go up to 150 if we do a take away as well, not just pizza evenings once a week.

Whoa!....you’ve at least made me feel better - I’m spending £250-300 a week but that’s for 6 of us (including 2 teenage boys) and beer & wine for the weekend!...is your dh buying fois gras and beef fillet for every meal?!

We are a family of 6, our food bill is hideous. It’s sort of breaking even (up £100 a week) as I’m not using petrol or going out at all. I assume you are both at home?? If so are you not saving on travel, odd bought lunch, but of socialising?

We would easily spend that (in euros rather than pounds), but that would include alcohol, cleaning products, cosmetics - well anything you can buy in a supermarket. We are two adults and two teenagers. It sounds a lot, but when I add up what we were spending before lockdown when everyone was at work and school on lunches, coffees, drinks, meals out (trips to the hairdressers!) etc etc it seems quite reasonable. During lockdown (it's just ended here, but we still can't eat out) the only place to buy anything was a food shop or supermarket. That said we don't throw out any food - it's a real matter of pride for me that we don't buy stuff we won't eat and don't generate loads of food waste. If you are buying stuff you aren't eating you need to address that.

Buying expensive food is one thing. Wasting food is another, and accounts for 6% of global emissions. There is no excuse for wasting food. ( ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions )

Jeez, we spent £130 one week and I thought that was a lot (lasted about 10 days, so not bad really).

If he's duplicating and you're chucking a lot of food, could you sit down together and sort a meal plan? Or insist that you eat whatever's in the freezer before he goes shopping again.

I thought I was spending a lot... our shop is about £150 a well for just H and I, but that's everything and lots of alcohol and snacks that I wouldn't normally buy

Ours is about £115 a week from Tesco (4 of us) but usually shop at Aldi and spend around £70-80 so it’s a bit of a shock. However, while we can get a delivery we will.

I think we're spending £200+ each week on four adults.

If you can, make an inventory of things you already have that he might buy more of. Also work out exactly how much is spent on booze each week. Even if your DH wants to go to the shops, you should be able to help with the list!

We are definitely s pending more, partly because we're now eating three meals a day 7 days a week at home (so the coffees, sandwiches, post-swimming sausages for kids etc are not being consumed which mitigates this). Also, we did tend to spend quite a bit in ad hoc shopping which isn't happening any more.

Having said that, I notice that there are almost no deals available now so we're paying full price for everything so I think the overall cost is still up compared to normal.

But if he's buying so much that you're throwing food away, that's a problem. I've made a real effort to make sure we're not doing that and have been really pleased that we haven't 'had to throw away anything in weeks due to a bit more careful thinking and planning.

My shopping is up. There aren't as many offers about and I often have to buy more expensive stuff than we'd usually get. I don't want to shop around, I've found a quiet time at sainsburys so do 1 big shop there and one top up in the small co-op mid week.

Probably spending similar, maybe 160-180 per week for 4 adults, 3 men (two adult teens) and me. 2 of which are doing weight training.

There is an element of getting some more treat stuff as we are not able to go out or do anything so it's become the focus of the day.

Also buying a little more booze as both boys home and no pubs so a pack of cider every couple weeks - nothing excessive, just stuff they'd normally buy themselves but they aren't really shopping as popping in for a pack of cider isn't really essential and I don't trust them with a bigger shop.

I'm not wasting anything other than the occasional rotten onion or such like.

I'm actually more organised and have meal plan on fridge plus list of stuff it's safe to have for lunches to stop boys eating half my dinner ingredients.

We spend similar for 2 adults plus 3 young snack obsessed children. I do think for 2 adults and a baby that if obsessive. Is he going in with a list of some sort or even prior discussion of what you'd like for the week. We don't drink which is what I imagine keeps our costs down

I did enough for a month at the beginning of March in case we all got it/had to self-isolate at the drop of a hat (NB I like to think not panic buying, just buying ahead) and I spent £330-odd. Now more like £160 for a fortnightly trip. That really big shop was quite hard to handle though, I could hardly push the trolley by the end...

He needs to be given a budget.
We spend £100 a week on a family of four. That’s everything all in, so 3 meals a day, snacks, if we need any toiletries or stuff for the little one like wipes.
We do buy alcohol separately from a delivery service because it’s much cheaper.
If I start to go over £100 then I’ll look at things I can take off or replace.
A strict budget is what he needs.

That’s crazy spending.
Even with increased cost from not being able to shop around we are spending about £50 a week for 3 adults & that’s plenty.
Does he have a drink problem?

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....!

Yep, it's miserable enough so if we're going to have steak it's going to be really good steak. Dh came back with some insanely priced burgers the other day and boy they were worth the money.

Is he going out with a shopping list? It sounds like he's going out and just buying what he fancies without checking the fridge or freezer.

DP does the food shop as he's the only driver. There are 3 adults and 1 child here, we're probably spending 400-500 a month on food but that's for all meals, and I think that the amount is fine cos we're home ALL THE TIME.

Anyway, I always do a big list and then DP checks and adds anything else he thinks we need. I always forget household bits like handwash and anti bac wipes lol. He's more likely to forget to add spices. So we play to our strengths!

When he's done the food shop, I always get the receipt so I can work out what the 3rd person owes and track how much we're spending. I love organising and spreadsheets 😳

Ours would average £100 per week. 2 adults, 1 teen,1 cat. There is no alcohol bought.

We don’t have Waitrose or Aldi here so I do the majority of my shopping in Tesco but am a bargain hunter and would stock up in Home Bargains and B&M every few weeks.

DH and teen would take a lunch to work/school so no change there.

DH has been WFH but has already paid for a yearly travel pass, so we’re saving on my petrol, school travel fares and eating out.

Does he take a list with him when he goes shopping? I have a mini whiteboard on my fridge and write on that whenever I run low of something, so when I go shopping I can just copy the list from that. I then don't end up thinking "do I need more apples" or "do I need more biscuits" - if it isn't on the list, I don't need it.

I also tend to put the amount I need on the shopping list, so one week will have say 4 pints of milk, and another week will write 6 pints.

In Ireland and 4 of us and we are spending approx 350 a week on food and wine. Disgraceful I know but in my defence, there is quite a lot of m&s in there

We are two adults and a 15 year old DS who eats a LOT. We are spending around £200 a week. That includes our one supermarket shop and a weekly delivery of Gousto meals, veg & fruit box and a monthly egg delivery

From the 23rd of March to the 23rd of April I added up we went spent 2184 on food, takeaways alcohol and gas and electric. Was totally horrified. Theres me, dh, three kids - one a teenager. I'm reigning it in this month.

We're spending around £200 a week but that's Ocado for 4 of us, including nappies for two children and baby formula. Way more than we'd normally spend but I'm avoiding going into supermarkets as far as possible and Ocado have stopped nearly all special offers.

I'm offsetting it against saving £500 per month on DH's commute and no meals out, takeaways, bought lunches etc.