Weekly food shop for a family of four… what are you spending?

[Icanttakethisanymore]

I’m embarking on some family budgeting which I’ve never really done before. I’ve put £150 a week for food for 2 adults and 2 small kids and DP thinks we spend more than that. What’s everyone else spending?

£80ish at Sainsbury’s. That’s for everything, but we don’t have pets, don’t drink, and DDs aren’t in nappies anymore which reduces it. Also DD1 is in year 1 so gets free school meals, and DD2 is fed lunch and a small tea at nursery 3 days a week. In a few years when they’re both out of the free school meals years at school, and not getting a tea at nursery we will have to buy more.

But if you’re setting a budget, you need to understand what you spend, not other people. Can you look back at your bank transactions for the last couple of months and add up everything at the supermarket? You also need to know what you can afford to spend - £150 is fine if you can afford it, but if you can’t, it can be reduced.

Easily £700 a month here but would be £500-£600 without top up shops from more expensive local supermarket.

Roughly £125 for 2 adults and 2 older children(1 adult sized). That doesn't include school dinners though. In the school holidays it is probably £150.

£120 of I do it on line, nearer £160 when h goes to the shop.

then there is £160 in lunches.

and I don’t even want to think about the top ups.

I so glad I came across this thread.
I live alone with just 2 little dogs, and my food bill is close to £100 most weeks.
My friend commented that that was a lot. I hadn't really thought about it, but reading this I think she is right

So we are a family of 4 Me, DH, Ds23, Ds26. All 3 in busy, hard working, manual jobs.
On payday, the first shop I do for the month is bleach, kitchen room, loo roll, shampoo, soap etc etc can be £200 or more depending on what we’ve runout of.
Weekly £150, very occasionally less.

Hmmm - thanks everyone! We are fortunately not counting the pennies but we've never even bothered to plan / budget at all and I think we should be.

We spend probably £200 a week for a family of 4. Would like to spend less but never seem to get it down much.

I aim to keep my ocado shop to around £150 per week, but usually do a top up shop at waitrose or sainsburys. That’s for two adults and a cat, with no alcohol..

I think it depends how you shop. We spend £100 a week for three of us but could easily accommodate another child with a few tweaks.
So I think £150 is a generous budget and would enable some treats

£55 a week, for an adult and a hollow legged teen boy.

I shop in Tesco, cook from scratch and we eat a good mix of seasonal fruit & veg, meat & fish.

£150 should be enough for four even if the little ones are a bit fussy.

Between £60-70 per week for a family of 4 ( 2 adults, 2boys 16yo and 17yo)

How long is a bit of string

That is surprising! Don't know how you manage that

Family of 5 with 3 small kids — we average around £100 a week, and spend up to £150 if splashing out on more fish/meat or hosting people etc.

i do an online shop with a budget of £180 a week this is for 3 adults with 2 more adults for dinner once or twice a week, and 3 children for dinner 3 nights a week. I normally do a quick Aldi shop of about £60-80 as well every 3 or 4 weeks. I do a market veg shop every week about another £30. I also go to Costco every 3 months and spend about £3/400.

but this covers all food / drink / toiletries / cleaning for 3 adults with 3 children and 2 sometimes 4 more adults most weeks.

About £100/week I reckon for two adults and a young child. I think £150 would be fine if we were four.

I spent £90 in Sainsbury’s on Saturday on all the standard stuff and then had a Waitrose delivery today costing £112 (meats, cheese, salads and pizzas).

£200 all in a week l would say that's for 4 adults

I use food waste prevention apps(olio, too good to go etc) as well as making my own veg, fruit and herbs in the garden with using my own compost. £60-70 is included my children's packed lunch.I used to make character-themed packed lunches but my children grown out of them. I go shopping twice a week on foot and I make sure that I get some gift cards to get cash back (mainly airtime). I spend within the budget.

Depends on a lot:

Is alcohol counted in?
What about cleaning products/laundry?
Toileteries? Pads/tampons?
Any allergies/gluten free?
Vegan/Vegetarian or carnivore?
Do you take packed lunch or buy each day?
Pets?

Where do you shop? If I would shop only at Lidl I think I would save money on everything but meat/fruit/veg. But I prefer the convenience of Waitrose to driving around a lot further for a cheaper supermarket. I also don't like online shopping unless it's a huge shop for a party.

Around £90 for the weekly shop, but then we do several top up shops of milk/bread/fruit so maybe add another £90.

2 adults, 2 primary age DC. DS1 is getting near to the stereotypical 'always starving teen boy stage'

I mean add another £40

Family of 4 - 2 DC - 7 and 3. DH does alot of CrossFit so eats more than average, DS7 does alot of sport so again probably eats alot more than average.

I average £125 a week - some weeks more if we need cleaning/toiletries, some weeks less if I do a 'use the freezer leftovers dinner night'. Kids have school lunches (free still) so no lunch budget in that. We maximise left overs in our house - either in the freezer for another dinner or lunch the next day.

I also price match between Aldi and Tesco - if its the same price, I use Tesco to get the point for Christmas Food Shopping.

I have been keeping a running tally since January payday and at the minute it's averaging out at £58/week for 2 adults and 2 boys (4&6), includes basic cleaning and hygiene stuff, pack lunches for both boys and dad but not alcohol. We probably have a takeaway once a month and I buy myself a couple of work lunch out a week but that comes out of personal spends not food budget.