aibu to think £100 isn't a lot of money?

[hebe242]

Did the weeks food shop today and it came to £102. I mentioned this to dp when he phoned and he said it was a lot of money as it was the same when I last shopped 9 days previous. I do have to top up on bread and milk etc sometimes between shops but that should last our family for a week at least. Our family is dp, myself and 2 teenagers. I do realise we often run short of money but I thought that this was a reasonable amount. Aibu or is dp?

MeanwhileHighAboveTheField you're going to have to give us a meal plan/general idea of dietary restrictions/does that include toiletries/cleaning stuff/pets/lunches etc because claiming you're not scrimping feeding 6 people on £80 a week is hilarious. To me not scrimping involves a few bottles of wine, organic meat, berries, expensive fish etc. Or do you just mean you have a well balanced diet?

That sound a reasonable amount for what is effectively 4 adults- not what you'd spend if you were super budgetting obviously but also not in any way extravagant. Is your partner one of those people who has no idea what things cost? I know some who seem to think a loaf of bread is still 30-50p and milk 40p for 2 pints, like in 90s, not sure how they manage to keep up the delusion (possibly get someone else to do their shopping). I would worry if you spent less than £25 per adult per week you wouldn't be getting much fruit/veg or fresh food (admittedly I don't- I get whatever fruit the kids leave over, and I don't buy extra for me because trying not to spend too much, but if you aren't on a tight budget then there's no reason for you to restrict things like that).

Ah, to me scrimping means buying value stuff including meat and eating very basic meals. Buying wine, organic meat, berries, expensive fish etc is splashing out

Doesn't include lunches for 3 kids, and mostly dh. We maybe go to the chippy twice a month. Might top up with milk and bread. Have chickens so don't need eggs. Pet stuff is bought separately.

Well I say hats off because we are 3 and I can't get it that low! Hummm, need to look at how I do the shopping as mine is usually £150 (includes about 4 bottle of wine per week : o ).

I spend approx £30-40 for two adults one child and a large dog. Good old aldi!

Wow. Can't believe you lot spend so much!

Once a month id spend £50 on the meat market, and every 2 weeks do a shop and spend £60 for me, dp & 2 cats. So £170 a month on shopping. No actually about £200 cause once a month I spend about £30 stocking up on toiletries litter ect

So always lurking... about £200 for two people, as opposed to £400 for 4 people? I still think the OP is doing OK. We're clearly spending quite a lot...

Mine is £100-£110 pw for 2 adults and 2 primary age children. I meal plan and buy for one packed lunch and my lunch every day and if I have the cash that week I buy the special offer meat and freeze it. So on weeks like next week when I don't have £100 I can use the freezer stuff to make it cheaper. I use Tesco and Ocado if I'm feeling flush

I often wonder when people post really low shopping budgets whether that is just good v all groceries.

Toiletries, cleaning stuff etc add on a chunk to ours, not to mention the odd item of clothing, DVD etc that gets chucked in the trolley on the rare time I do it in store rather than online.

A lot depends on how much is spent on food outside the house too. If the DCs have school lunches then I don't have to buy packed lunch stuff but then it costs me £90 a month.

Bread can be frozen and defrosted as needed so I don't see why you need to buy any during the week. I buy 2 sometimes 3 sliced loaves from lidl and put them in the freezer. I've always got bread. I also buy the wraps as they keep longer unopened

I'm in the US so food prices are bound to be different, but the Department of Agriculture publishes a monthly report on food cost for four different spending levels - thrifty, low-cost, moderate-cost and liberal - it's here if you want to compare. Your £100 would be roughly $162.50 here, which is just a LITTLE bit over the lowest-cost food plan for a family of four (assuming two adults and two children

I think you are doing well

I spend £70-£100 a week two adults, two school aged dc and a toddler

Eldest two dc have school dinners and dd eats dinner and tea at nursery three times a week

I dread to think what I'll spend when they are teen

i spend £50-£60 a week 3 adults and two teenagers.

I spend about £40-50 per week for one adult and two school age children (who seem to always be eating, despite being rail thin ). Generally at least every other month (sometimes more often) we have a week where we use what's in the freezer/cupboards and just spend about £20 that week.

OP, if you managed on £50 for a few weeks, could you whittle things down to £75 perhaps? Put the £25 in savings and there's £100 in savings a month. That covers all the basics you covered with the £50 per month, plus some extras so you don't feel like you're not getting any treats. That's if, of course, you're looking to cut it back.

sorry, £50 per week, not month. I think £50 per month is whittling just a bit too far.

It is impossible to answer these threads. it is all relative. If you earned say 200k as a good few women do then £100 a week on food is not a lot.
If you're as a family on £25k including housing benefit then it might well be more than it should be.

Our weekly spending at Tesco on line (£1 delivery charge) was about £80 until my daughter came to live back home and now it's just over £100 but there will be 1 or 2 top up shops too in the week so I would guess we spend up to about £200 a week on what are virtually 5 adults and that includes cleaning materials, shampoo etc.

I buy from a combination of different shops to keep the cost down. So a big main shop at Lidl (I get 75% of shop there) for 40 weekly so 20 less then from Tescos. 40 on meat from the butchers which lasts about a month.
I buy cleaning products & loo roll from home bargains / poundshop so thats about 20 monthly.
Spices, rice & lentils are about 20-30
for big bags which last 4-5 months.

So it's not straight forward shopping in the Diamond household but I find it the best way to keep the costs.

I don't think YABU at all.

I spend anywhere between 90-120 a week depending on how much I have in the freezer. That's for me, DH and 2 school aged DC's.

That includes lunches for DH, some for me (not for all week though) and the DC'S have school dinners and tea at the CM's 3 days a week. It includes all our toiletries, cleaning and booze. We usually do a bread and milk top up in the week.

I think it's pretty good going, we usually have bits leftover, which I freeze so I've got a fair bit of backup shopping and every couple of months I'll run the freezer down.