to think this is an ok amount to spend on the weekly food shop?

[minimaw]

Family of 3, ds aged 12, me and DH - £100 - £110 p/w
DH has been chatting to women in his work who only spend about £50 p/w for the same size of family and now he's starting to talk about Farmfoods and mass buying frozen chicken fillets (!) to save cash.
DH doesn't cook and doesn't understand the cost of food. I do buy good quality food and lots of good cuts of meat but he's jumped on some economy drive bandwagon for some reason and it's driving me nuts. Anyone else have a hubby who just doesn't understand the importance of the food budget?

In what way does being a bit frugal equate to "punishing self" ?
Maybe she enjoys really good quality food, so buying cheap crap would seem like punishment? What's the problem? I'd agree. When I fancy some chocolate I'd feel cheated eating asda smart price instead of Lindt!

Oh my I clearly spend too much just me and DH I spent £110 yest, normally £80-90 a week. Cheaper when DH goes but he forgets about toilet rolls, fabric softener etc!

It depends on what is included. I spend £50 a week, but that doesn't include alcohol, OH has lunches and the odd dinner at work, we often have Sunday dinner at MIL. I also don't buy much processed food like fizzy drinks, crisps or ready meals. I do most of my shopping at Lidls.

How many meals are the work colleagues cooking for?

We eat not very much meat at all. I maybe spend £30 a month on the 3 for £10 offers at supermarkets and buy chicken breasts, lean minced beef, stewing beef, pork, some turkey, some bacon and a roasting chicken. I mostly use frozen or tinned fish. I can manage to feed me and two children for about £30 a week, with some extra goodies and frozen bits from Iceland in that price. Most stuff is homemade, has veggies in and little processed stuff.

I prefer to spend more, usually closer to £60 a week, but £30 is my base amount for when the budget is tight, like now.

Why should OP be so nasty about it though? Couldn't she just say yes I can economise so for example buy cheaper coffee. So if you want me to okay - and then do it. I don't understand some of the vitroilo aimed at OP's DH

I have always spent at least the same as you Op and I don't think we eat particularly extravagantly. I've really seen the difference in what you get for that amount recently though, so have been trying to do cheaper meals so that I don't spend more than that. I take my hat off to those who manage it on much less. Fresh fruit and veg cost the earth (even cheaper ranges) as do other fresh ingredients for meals made from scratch. I rarely throw food out and don't drink much so how do you do it? Kids cereals etc cost a fortune. We too make pack ups but don't buy individual juice cartons/ yoghurts etc which a lot of people do. I wouldn't even look at my trolly and say that there are many treats in there.
I know Tesco isn't the cheapest but I need to offset that against the points and our free holiday each year.
But no YANBU

ALDI does good quality free range organic chicken - £5 for a medium chicken.

There's no right or wrong about it, spend your money how you want.

It is a fallacy though, that spending more = eating better. You just have to be a good cook and a good shopper.

Fresh fruit and veg from supermarkets can be expensive. Greengrocers and markets are much much cheaper with usually much more locally grown produce as well. Topped up with frozen out of season stuff, fruit and veg can be cheap.

I find that most of our budget goes on stuff like oil, cheese, butter, cooked meats, fresh veg and breakfast goods (OH has bacon, eggs and sausages every day as he trains). On that alone I spend about £25 p/w. I'm always astouded at M&S ready meals that cost a fiver each, who's buying this crap?!

Agree greeneyes. The only time spending more= eating better is if you buy mainly processed food.

To be honest you can eat well on a lot less than that if you have to.

For a family of 4- Myself, OH and 2 DD's plus the 2 cats we spend between £50-80 a week depending on what is needed (ie:toilet rolls etc).

If you buy a huge chicken it can easily do 2 meals. So a roast one day then make the rest of chicken next day into a chicken curry.

We buy most fruit/salad/veg from saturday morning market. It costs half of what supermarkets charge and is much more fresh.

We only buy decent cuts of meat but do try and buy bulk so we can freeze some.

We will buy a huge joint of beef and divide it into 2/3 so we have more in freezer for another day..

Same for mince. We buy the biggest pack of lean mince then halve it to do 2 meals.

We also do a lot of thinks in the slow cooker like sausage casserole/beef stew/spag bol etc which we bulk out with a lot of veg so it is filling.

We don't tend to have to have meat with every meal either. We will make jacket spuds with tuna and salad, or cheese and beans. Or make a cauliflower and broccoli cheese with potato wedges etc.

I think it all depends on the meals that you do.

If you are happy with what you are doing then carry on.

Oh and you can make healthy, filling meals without paying the earth.

You have to be careful when comparing with others.

Some people don't spend much on a food shop, but then give their teen money to buy drinks when they are out, so in fact spend more, over the whole week. I have the same said in work, then my work mates go to subway, where as i take my lunch in with me.

I spend about what you do, if not a bit more , but we take our own snacks/drinks when we go anywhere.

I spend a lot on decent fruit, i would not ecomonise on this unless i absolutely had to.

I have stopped buying cakes/flapjacks/croissants etc weekly and now it is nice to have them as a treat, because they aren't part of our normal diet.

Look at your overal budget and decide on what or you can cut back on. I would rather cut back on other things, rather than food. I don't buy plug in air fresheners/fabric softener etc.

If there is no financial reason why you need to spend less on food, and you waste no food, then there seems to be no pressing reason for you to change.

However, the amount per week that you spend on meat / fish did make my eyebrows rise a little! I too only buy decent quality meat - free range chicken, steak mince, decent salmon - but make a little go a long way. A roast chicken makes 4 meals + soup for 4 of us. A pack of mince makes 3 4-person meals. A single chicken breast (I buy 2 packs and freeze each breast separately) will do stir fry or curry for 4 of us, equally one pork loin steak makes a casserole that will feed all 4 of us. I don't compromise on the QUALITY of the meat, but in return I focus on the quantity, adding lots of veg, doing lots of dishes where the meat is an ingredient rather than the centrepiece etc. Also, across the week, I might aim for 3 main meals containing meat, 1 containing fish, 2 which are either wholly vegetable / pulse or are built around eggs / cheese, and 1 which might either contain a very small amount of e.g. bacon or might be made from meat stock (e.g. risotto).

However, it is entirely up to you - if you can afford it, if you really like 'big chunks of meat / fish', if there are no health issues that might push you towards more vegetable / pulse based dishes, or if it is simply a matter of what you like cooking and find fits into your timetable, then that is fine. I'm just saying that there is a 'middle course' between '£40-50 on meat' and 'Farmfoods multi-packs' - which is to continue to buy high quality, free range meat and fish but simply to use less of it in each meal.

Blimey - I feel quite about the amount I can spend...

I really need to budget better

one pork loin steak makes a casserole that will feed all 4 of us
That's taking it a bit far!

Honestly? easily double your spend here. all home cooking although we are a giant appetite house! Agreed that not all good food is expensive but plenty is price. We don't even eat meat!

I don't think £100 pw is a lot if it includes booze/cleaning supplies/cat food and household stuff like nappies/toiletries i.e. everything you buy as long as you can afford it.

I spend that on 2 adults, 1 kid and 1 toddler - but that is all our meals for the week (breakfast/lunches/dinners) apart from 1 breakfast for me and the kids. Plus we have guests on average twice a week so it includes them as well. Breakfast is toast/fruit and lunch is soup or leftovers accept for ds (packed lunch for school - not expensive)

Dh won't eat a meal without meat and I don't particularly want to. I buy the meat from the butchers (better quality - I mostly use cheap cuts although most of them aren't that cheap anymore) and the rest a mixture of local shops and lidl/morrisons. The kids get a lot of fruit but its all apples/bananas/satsumas unless for a treat or something is on offer. I buy big sacks of potatoes and carrots and onions and the rest is mostly cheap veg.

I cook pretty much everything from scratch - though I will admit to buying some of our pasta (no frills stuff of course). I could get it down lower if I cut out some stuff (and I will have to in a month or so) but we won't be eating as nice food. Me and dh used to live on £10 a week (pre kids) - £5 on a particularly bad occassion but it wasn't nice food and I wouldn't go back to it unless I had no other choice.

Considering its our entire food, household (beside things like gas/electric/water type bills) and entertainment budget tbh I don't think its that bad.

Do what suits you and your family budget.

If DH has criticism, either:

• buy value cheap stuff and see how he likes it ( he may, he may not)
• ask him to do the next few food shops.

Imo, men who never do the food shop have no clue. they will go into the supermarket and come out with bragain chocolate eggs, fancy beers, sirloin steak and ice cream. They wil not have bought washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs, toilet roll, tinned sweetcorn and toms, or babyfood

Have seen a few men do this!!!

armadillo - It is up to you of course. But having meat for every meal is not a healthy diet.

We take lunches to work as well and do packed lunches. But as long as you are not buying ready made stuff like string cheese. this is ime very cheap to do.

My parents spend your budget just on the two of them OP . I would say i spend more than you for a family of five , including everything , which means school dinners for primary and secondary , nappies and wipes , toilet rolls , washing powder etc , cat food and milk, milk, milk , milk ! oh and petrol .Plus two newspapers a week and lottery , oh and more milk from the milkman .

I think it also depends on appetites. Ds1 is only 8 but eats adult portions. He is skinny and probably underweight for his height though, I just am astounded at what he can eat and then he can be hungry again an hour and a half later.

We like our luxury food though so if we have salmon fillets for example then it's one each so that bumps up the expense. Plus we like things like olives, sun dried tomatoes, nice cheese and yoghurts, smoothies from the chiller cabinet, nice muesli etc which are all not cheap. I am aware we are lucky to be able to afford goodies like that, but I would really miss them if I had to really economise.

I HAVE lived on a tenner a week as a student and so know there is a big difference between what it's possible to live on, but I guess it just depends whether you WANT to cut back on luxuries and treats, OP, if u can afford to carry on eating what you eat. I personally would rather spend extra on foodie treats each week than spend lots on going out for meals, for example. It just depends what your priorities are.

Oh and think unless dh wants to shop and cook then he ought to restrict himself to compliments.

So basically you are a foodie and he's not
You love cooking and enjoy preparing luxurious meals with good quality ingredients
This is a "thing" of yours
He has decided on an economy drive (why?) and has decided that it's going to me cruelty-max frozen stuff all the way

That's not on IMO

I am like you - I love cooking and buy really nice stuff and it makes me feel happy. DH feels the same though so expensive & good quality food is something that we prioritise over other things in the budget.

The problem here is that he doesn't seem to understand you love of this. Eating for some people is not just a necessity but a real highlight in the day and to remove their leeway on what they cook when there is no reason to is mean.

You need to find out why he has decided there is a need to cut back and quite frankly if there is no reason then as you do the shopping and cooking and it is a passion of yours then you bloody well get to cook what you want.

Your budget BTW yes it could be cheaper it could be more. It is neither very small nor very large.

But having meat for every meal is not a healthy diet
do you have evidence of this? The paleo/primal diet has high lean meat content and has a proven record of lowering cholestorol and reducing body fat, particularly around the middle where fat gathers when a high carb/sugar/processed diet is consumed.