£250 per week on shopping. Is this nuts, or reasonable?

[Twobigsapphires]

The jury seems to be out amongst people I’ve spoken to (not many, basically my family). We are essentially now spending around £250 a week on the food shop (one main shop a week and one top up). Household consists of my and Dh, ds20, dd18 and ds16. Often ds1 gf will stay for dinner on a Sunday and one or two nights in the week. We have 2 dogs but Dh pays for their food separately.

shop covers park lunches for Dh and I plus ds1 and ds2. Dd I give an allowance too and she pays for lunch out of that. Also covers a couple of bottles a wine a week and household cleaning products and most essential toiletries (shower gel etc).

Dh thinks this is excessive, I think at £50 pp per week this is what it is. My dm said I should be aiming for £150 per week! Dsis says she spends around £150 per week on her food shop for her, Dh and two small dc (doesn’t include dinner money and her Dh buys lunch out each day).

what does the mums net verdict think?

I don't understand how some people are concluding it's a lot. Not intentionally picking on you specifically but for example in this post yes it's double what you spend a week but equally it's also catering for more than double the amount of people you're catering for.

2 adults and 2 kids is obviously going to much less than 5 often 6 adults.

This is us... 2 strapping teenage boys. Me, DH and a dog... too much on booze really, but we literally don't go out out anymore.

Wait till your kids are teens (especially boys) - there will be no waste - they are like fucking locusts who can empty a fridge faster than it can be filled. It's insane how much they can eat!

OP £250 a week initially sounds like a lot but actually I think you're doing well for 5 adults plus lunches plus GF.

I use Lidl Plus and haven't got up to the £250 in a month for ages now. We're a household of 4 adults. We do have a very well stocked freezer so I haven't bought any full price meat for a long time.

@Sexnotgender still, proportionately it is a lot! Even if my 2 children were older and ate more it wouldn't come to that much! (They eat a lot already!)

Just ask your husband where he would like the savings to be made then let him see the reality of it. You never know, it might be ok but then again he might have to say ok, it was just an idea.

Just dont let his thoughts on reducing your food bill be something you have to do. Let him be the one to put his thoughts into action instead.

Yeah agree with PP let your husband meal plan and shop for everything for a couple of weeks (because there is bound to be leftovers, let him try it for more than a week when the cupboards start needing restocking).

£250 a week is £1,000 a month so £12,000 a year not including lunch, meals out & celebration meals. Now I've calculated it like this then yes, you are spending a lot and could reduce it.

Upload a shopping list/receipt so we can suggest where you can make savings.

For me I do these cost cutting tips:
Cook from scratch
No ready meals
Oven food only as a last resort
Packed lunches for school/work & days out
Buy from Aldi & Lidl
If I buy from Morrisons or Tesco then I buy more own brand
More fish & veggie meals than meat
We don't drink 🍷 so that's a saving

We're a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teens) plus pets. Your budget didn't include pet foot so that's another additional cost you have to budget for.

I think it’s high but if you can afford it, why worry. We spend about £60 for 2 adults

Was shocked at first but seems reasonable thinking about it. We are £150ish a week, plus hello fresh (recently) and a takeaway or 2. 3 under 8s. So will probably be that or more once we have teens!

seems excessive to me
can you have meat free meals?
are you a brand obsessive?

I think that’s a lot. 4 adults and a dog here. Ours varies from £150-£200. Aldi for the bulk, Sainsbury for things Aldi dont sell. That’s all lunches, cleaning ( Ecover) , wine etc. doing jackets and veggie pasta once a week for both helps. Also a roast on Sunday with another meal from leftovers.

Also, check how much you waste, do you use everything and do you throw out a lot? Unless food has actually spoilt, items can be eaten past their expiry dates.

Make a note of what you throw out and buy less or don't buy it at all the following week. Use your leftovers to make another meal for example a roast can be made into a biryani on Mon night.

Plan meals with what you already have in your cupboards and fridge before restocking. Just buy fresh & ingredients needed to complete the meal & calculate how much you save.

I don’t see how some people are concluding it’s a lot

As a similar family (2 adults- 2 adult sons- lunches included) it wouldn’t be affordable for us. You live within your means as a family.

Its very possible to reduce the cost of a weekly shop. We go without many luxuries/ treat items.

For example- I buy 2 x 1kg porridge oats for 90p in Tescos. That’s breakfast sorted for everyone. I might make some flapjacks out of that- that’s sweet treats covered.

We use Value items and cheaper toiletries, washing pods? no way! just a huge box of powder- the cheapest toilet rolls- a big bottle of supermarket household cleaner diluted and a 59p bottle of bleach is all the cleaning products we need- look for reduced price goods and buy in bulk where possible.

Its a bit shit living on a tight budget but for many families that’s the reality at the moment because the cost of living has sky rocketed.

So yes it’s doable on £150 a week for 4 adults but a bit miserable 😂

I’m spending an absolute fortune OP. I think £150-200 pw for two adults, two children, one teenage DS and a cat.

I meal plan every week, so I mostly have an empty fridge by the time the next shop arrives. One DC has nursery meals, the other prefers a packed lunch (despite me and DH encouraging him to have the free school meal for reception).

DH seldom drinks and I have max a bottle of wine a week but mostly EOW. I use mostly frozen veg. I can’t trim it anymore unless I feed the kids junk.

The only thing I do spend on is meat from the butchers. But we don’t eat loads, this week it’s 500g mince, 4 chicken breasts and 850g stewing steak.

We spend similar over a month once I have added up everything food cleaning toiletries. It's hard with these questions as some say they only spend under a £100 but then eat out pay for school lunches etc.

Ours is £150 for 3 adults. We take packed lunches to work and rarely get takeaways or eat out. I try to buy everything in one go so that figure is pretty accurate. I suspect some people will have lower main supermarket bills but can add on an extra £10 top-up at the local Spar or £4 on Costa every morning at the station or takeaways twice a week.

@TumblingTower I bulk out my mince with a can of cooked green lentils and veg and can get 2/3 meals out of it.

We spend around £200 per week, 4 adults although this includes most lunches, all breakfasts and most dinners. Dog food is separate. I have a Tesco delivery each week which is usually £160/£180 but does include maybe £25 on household stuff, then I do a top up shop 4 days later and spend roughly £50 each week at butchers. I cook from scratch, DS2 cooks his own dinners and lunches. We do enjoy good meat and fish so that’s where a lot of our money goes.

Our weekly budget with 2 adults 2 teens/pre teens is £150. I've increased it from £130 but tbh it's a struggle to keep to that and we often go over. We're not even buying alcohol atm. Includes packed lunches. We shop at Sainsbury’s.

How vulgar.

Me too - I put carrots, celery, peppers, aubergine, mushrooms and courgette in my spag Bol and chilli. To chilli I always add an extra tin of beans - so I get 3-4 servings (as in for 4 people) from 1kg of mince.

Cottage pie I add two tins of beans.

i cook from scratch and consider myself savvy. The one thing that’s definitely not helped is trying to reduce UPF which has meant baking my own bread, being careful of things like stock cubes, yogurts and granola. That’s all really expensive and I make most things myself but I don’t have all day to do EVERYTHING!

Wait till you refund out how much older children cost! £50 pppw isn't excessive, if OP can afford it. If not, cutbacks need to be made.