£100 on food a week for family of four

[Fruitteatime]

I know prices have gone up and I know we are fortunate to be able to afford this but does anyone else regularly spend this much on food a week? We rarely drink, maybe buy the equivalent of two bottles of wine a month but do buy organic dairy and fruit/veg when possible because I'm convinced it's healthier. I guess I'm looking for ways to cut down without compromising health as our monthly spending is starting to cut into our savings. I would like to know if anyone has a way of reliably predicting fruit and veg consumption for the week, I often get it wrong with too much!

We do a big shop and then knowingly leave enough for a top up shop. Things like fruit get topped up if we’ve eaten a lot of a particular one, bread, milk and salad. This means we know what we need to buy and rarely have waste!

Our cost is higher, about £120 per week but this includes nappies for the mini-beast and there are 5 of us

We spend the same for a family of 4 and a cat. We don’t drink and I also buy organic dairy. We have cut out all meat apart from fish (more for ethical reasons) and it has actually reduced our monthly food spend. We eat a lot of beans, split peas, chick peas and vegetables.

I really avoid top up shops because I'm a sucker for special offers and picking up things because they look good, so try to get everything in an online shop. Once a week in winter, around every 5 days in summer as things go off faster.

Top up shop might work for some people who can actually walk into a shop and only hey what they need though. Veggie meals could be a good tip too, what kind of things can be cooked with chickpeas, beans, and split peas?

@Fruitteatime curries, chilli, falafels with pitta breads, we make quesadillas with mozzarella cheese, black beans, sweet corn etc

You need to learn to use your excess fruit and veg so it doesn’t feel like wasted money. Make soup, cakes (courgette and pumpkin good for this) , smoothies you can freeze. I’ve never been convinced about the health benefits of organic. Are you sure it’s worth the very high cost? And where do you shop? Try a shop a level down (eg Waitrose to Tesco, or Tesco to Aldi) and/or level down in terms of branded items eg brand to own brand to value range) and see if you really notice the difference

Oh and we buy frozen veg instead of fresh usually as it obviously lasts alot longer

Thank you for the ideas.

Same here for 5 of us. More food wastage than I'd like.

Split all your meat into smaller portions before freezing, then make the same meals you do now but with half the meat and twice the veg. It's not actually that noticeable to the overall taste of the meal.

This time of year any fruit that's not eaten before it's passed it's best gets blended, mixed with cheap yogurt and frozen in ice lolly molds, so at least nothings wasted. My kids think they're a treat and I get to sneak fruit into their diet, so win win. In winter I do similar but melt it into porridge.

Similarly, when veg is getting towards the end of it's life I cook double portions of whatever we're having and freeze some for next week.

I feel your pain. Just spent £74 in Lidl and didn't even get everything we need.

The problem with freezer suggestions is we have a tiny two shelf freezer on top of the fridge. Usually we freeze leftovers in here, but also fish fingers and frozen potato products for low effort meals. And ice cream in the summer as it's cheaper than buying individual ones. We do put meat in if we realise we can't use it by the use by but as we meal plan that only happens if we unexpectedly have a meal elsewhere.

From reading some studies the vitamin levels are so much higher in organic fruits and vegetables plus no chemicals on them either that we don't really know how they might affect growing bodies. We shop at Tesco which gets us free days out with the clubcard vouchers. Nearest Aldi is about a 25 minute drive away and I found Lidl fresh produce went off much faster than other supermarkets, particularly the fruit and meat which wasted even more money!

Family of 3, it used to be £80 ish a week. It was £128 last week, £133 the week before!

re organic, there are some things that you maybe don’t need to so could save there.
www.hellomagazine.com/cuisine/2020042088348/food-you-should-buy-organic/

I think we do the meat thing, for spag bol I used 500g mince, and grate carrot and courgette into it before adding tomatoes. This does at least 3 meal times for the four of us sometimes 4 meals depending on how hungry we are at the first sitting, so it gets frozen for another week.

Thank you I had read before and even some of the dirty dozen aren't available in Tesco as organic so I try not to stress too much and already never bought organic avocado as I knew about the clean 15 but I'd not read the list in a long time and will switch to non organic onion, sweet potato, leeks and cauliflower.

We get frozen so that we don't overbuy on veg. It is hard to predict how much will be used. Things like carrots that last a long time as opposed to say courgettes that go off.

Could you make a fruit crumble with the fruit if it looks like it’s not going to be eaten?
Or bake veg on a baking tray while the oven is on? I often do mushrooms, onions, peppers, corgettes or any veg I have in the oven with some olive oil. Sometimes I bulk it out with frozen peas for the last five minutes of cooking.

Two adults plus two tots, or two gannets teenagers?

By the way, although some studies suggest that organic fruit & veg has considerably more nutritional value, other studies have found otherwise and there is practically no difference at all. Take your pick.

How about making soups?

Yeah, been creeping up over this a few times recently. Everything is really increasing.

Two adult plus one 8 year old who eats not far off an adult portion and one toddler who eats small portions. 8 year old does get school lunches too, so doesn't even include that!

As for making things does this not require me to buy or use more things in order to make something out of the fruit and veg. For example buying flour or butter for cakes and onions/stock for soup. I don't make soup much so don't know how I'd turn leftover broccoli or cauliflower into soup. Not to mention the extra washing up it creates.

Our weekly shop is around the same for a family of 4. I already mainly buy supermarket own brand products, so not really sure where or how to cut back tbh!

We mainly buy own brand stuff too. Except crisps or cereal when on offer but alternate with own brand. Own brand Weetabix just isn't as nice.

We have own brand cereal but not crisps.

I have no idea how you only spend £100, I see it all the time on here with people saying it includes toiletries, cleaning and pet food, and I do most of my shopping in Aldi.
If it is £25 per person for A Whole Week then I think you are doing well, in fact I think we have become too accustomed to cheap food, three meals a day for 7 days at £1.19 a meal and that's if it is only food. If its toilet roll, cleaning etc then it's under One Pound A Meal. In reality this could never be sustainable.