to ask how much your weekly shop is and how much your two year old eats?

[RalphLaurenLover]

Just that really.

A friend told me she does her weekly shop for £25 this includes her husband and her 2 year old and her 4 week old she said that this includes her veg, fruit, fresh meat at £2 a go etc etc all from Iceland.

It's only me and my nearly 2 year old son and I spend about £40 a week on fresh meat, veg, fruit etc and I thought that was reasonable, I don't buy fizzy, chocolate, sweets froozen food, ready meals etc.

She made out I was way over spending for no reason and my son doesn't eat enough because she feeds her two year old the same portions she does herself and her husband and she's been told he's overweight for his age.

I'm nbu am I?

erm I think yabu to give a shit - does it matter?

for what it's worth I spend between 60 and 80 a week on everything including pet stuff (3 guinea pigs, 3 cats) for me and 3 kids aged 11,9 and 5

£25 is extremely frugal. Have you asked her what they eat?

As for the portions, I don't serve my9 yo an adult portion. YANBU.

Meh, YANBU I suppose.

She must be budgeting very successfully on £20 pw if she is serving 3 'adult' portions. All depends on if that includes every meal for all three of them and what she tops up with. We spend considerably more but that includes toiletries, some medicines, and nearly all our meals.

My two year old isn't a picky eater but she doesn't consume anything like an adult portion and often eats lightly.

I've seen a lot of frozen ready meals and the usual chicken nuggets, sausages for her DC it's usually deep friend sausages and chips, nuggets and chips, ketchup, cakes etc however she said she buys fresh meat, veg, fruit toiletries etc

I shop in a mix of Sainsburys, Tesco, M&S and Asda depending on what I fancy

£25 a week, that is some seriously good budgeting and self control.

Her comment that your son doesn't eat enough is ridiculous and quite rude IMO.

Fluke She said It's £25 a weeks and she won't buy anything else in the week so no top up.

I thought £30-40 a week roughly wasn't bad for me and my DC

Well yes then they are budgeting very closely and mustn't waste much food. You can do lots of meals with little waste with frozen food, often inexpensively. With the rate that food has increased in cost in recent years it's hard to eat home cooked fresh food on that kind of budget, but some people do manage it.

Or she and her DH are eating 2 yo portions! My 14 yo eats an adult portion, but my 13 yo doesn't. Depends entirely on the child in question.

I think Billy has it! You can't possibly make 3 adult portions of 3 meals a day for £25 per week unless you grow your own food or something!

£40 a week is good going too, I always spent more than that when it was me and DS and I tended to top up as well

The only question you need to ask yourself is 'can I afford to spend what I am currently spending on food?'. If the answer is yes then sod her frankly.

People are so bloody sanctimonious about spending as little as possible on food as if it is some kind of competition, it really annoys me.

Who gives a shit what anyone else spends? What one household spends has no impact on what another household can afford to spend.

£40 is not a huge amount, I'm sure I used to spend that much ten years ago when I was just feeding myself!!

I could if I only shopped in Lidl and only bought chicken thighs.

However, that also excludes bread and milk.

People only tend to count things when they go to the supermarket, they forget the corner shop, nipping in a for a pint and loaf.

Bertie - congrats! How's married life?

I don't believe u can do it on £25 a week! I have had a massive economy drive and am spending £90 a week for my family of four. I buy value range products, fruit and veg at the market etc.

I bet you can, Bertie, if it's mostly frozen as the OP mentioned.

We however spend a good deal more most weeks - there's always too much food in the house as DH goes out to buy a whole new meal's worth of food if he can't immediately see something to cook in the fridge. When he has been away (often) he has no idea what we've been eating as I just make meals from stuff in cupboards/freezer/veg box. Tis madness.

I don't to bad I brought 6 chicken breast and 6 pork chops at ASDA thursday for £10 I was impressed with myself. I could most probably spend less If I did a lot of the basic brands like value, and stopped shopping in M&S lol

Thanks Ali All good!

We've just been to Aldi and bought food for me, DH and DS (5) for 75€. That included a pair of 10€ jeans. I reckon it will last us about a week.

I think £25 in Iceland for week is doable, but it wouldn't be particularly healthy though. Op's friend has a 4 week old who wouldn't count in the food shop and i bet the two year old doesn't eat much either.

If I were going to challenge myself:

Milk, bread, eggs and cheese are £1 each.

Frozen veg - sweetcorn, spinach, mixed veg etc would all last more than a week and are also £1.

Huge bags of frozen chips, sausages, chicken Kiev and chicken nuggets are £1-£3 and could do 2-3 meals each.

Fresh Mincemeat is £2, plus 7 chicken thighs for £3 - each could do 2 meals if careful, a roast chicken is £3.

spend about £120 a week for five and still do top ups throughout the week!

If you can afford what you are buying, then I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds like you are eating very healthily and enjoying the food, so that is what matters. However should you find yourself needing to cut back, then you could always stop shopping in Sainsburys/M&S and stick with cheaper shops. You could probably still buy the same sorts of things but for cheaper then. However if you don't need to cut back, then just keep on as you are. My 2 year old eats a lot of the course of the day, but doesn't eat big meals. She is more of a snacker to be honest.

I am going very wrong somewhere as I spend many multiples of this and there are 3 of us, DH, myself and DD, 7. Could I ask where you shop? I'm sure I could cut my spend in half. Don't get me started on DH shopping, his criteria is "it looked nice".

I wish I could spend £40 a week! It is me and 3 DDs (12, 5 and 3). DD1 eats pretty much adult portions but the other 2 probably don't even eat an adult portion between them.

I spent over £50 in Tesco today for a week, not including school meals, and had quite a lot of what I needed in already! The only meat I bought was sausages and they only cost £1.99!

I'm sceptical. Does that include food for packed lunches too, or are they buying lunches? Maybe she forgot to include bought lunches as part of their food budget.

Does Iceland do fresh stuff? I thought it was all frozen rubbish stuff

If you are keeping within your household budget and your 2 your old is growing well then there's nothing to worry about. Comparing with others gets you nowhere.

She is including baby milk in her £25 btw! she swears that's all she spends
it can't be thought milk is like £10 lol

I shop in Asda for meat now but I still spend the same even if i shop in Sainsburys and Tesco's I would go over if I spent in M&S but I LOVE their Parmentier potatoes, garlic mushrooms, and their low cal pasta salad!