To think it's really hard to spend less than £100 per week on groceries

[Myplateiswhite]

I have a family of 4 (one in nappies). I have shopped around at all the major super markets and cannot ever bring our weekly grocery bill in under £100. We are all veggie although do eat fish and this cost covers 3 meals a day plus cleaning products, toiletries etc.
I don't think we eat anything particularly extravagant, maybe fish twice a week plus some prawns or salmon for lunch a couple of times a week. Rest of the time it's veggie meals mainly from scratch.

Genuinely don't know where I'm going wrong. I'm interested in what you spend and also what meals you make?

I would love to know what, if you spend £50 a week for a whole family, you actually cook and eat?

On a weekly basis I buy meat or fish for about 5 or 6 days. We try to include oily fish each week, lean free range chicken, red meat once or twice, etc. Veg for every meal as well, rice, potatoes and pasta, a big bowl of fruit, yoghurts, milk, juice, snacks etc. I also buy things for our lunches in the week eg tins tuna, ham, cheese, bread, soup, houmous, butter, etc. I always buy salad stuff like cucumber and tomatoes for lunch and snacks. Then there is washing powder, toilet rolls, hand wash, toothpaste, mouthwash etc. Tea, coffee, and a couple bottles wine.

I really feel I couldn't cook the same meals and include the same variety of nutrients on less than half what I spend now.

And then there's breakfast stuff too, eggs, cereals, oats, crumpets, etc.

I bulk buy things when on offer/clearance, currently have about 50 toilet rolls under our bed for example.
Also not too embarrassed to search the reduced section and freeze loads of stuff. Think several packets of ham last week down to 39p each! Will last all summer.
Bleach cleans the bathrooms (shops own) no fancy anti bad sprays, one general kitchen cleaner for floors and work surfaces and never ever buy fabric conditioner.
Things that really don't matter IMO I buy the absolute cheapest. Furniture polish, bin bags, kitchen cloths etc. I always re-use plastic bags as kitchen bin liners so never have to buy those at all.
There are 4 of us here, no nappies but older kids who eat adult portions and our weekly bill (excluding alcohol) is usually £60-70.

We spend £25pw on groceries, not including washing powder or toiletries. Would probably be £30pw if we included toiletries/laundry. This is for DH, teenage DS and me, we are all meat eaters. We're lucky that DH gets breakfast and lunches paid for at work, and at DS's school he gets lunches paid for as well (not free school meals but part of school's policy). We rarely drink at home, so no alcohol unless buying as a gift, we only drink hot drinks occasionally, and usually buy meat very cheap when it's reduced.

We live in a city centre, so there is good transport to get to all different supermarkets, but I rarely have time to travel for a big shop and we don't have a car. We often buy food from smaller metro/express type supermarkets which are in walking distance, and food is definitely more expensive and there is a more limited range/fewer promotions. But as we buy small portions anyway for the three of us, and it suits our lifestyle better to pop in on the way home, we accept that we're paying a bit more than if we spent another hour on the bus to get to Lidl. If I wanted to go to Aldi I'd have to spend up to 3 hours on a bus.

I think it's perfectly possible to spend less but it has a 'cost' in other ways. So I could spend a lot less than I do but only if I spent time menu planning and batch cooking. Which at the moment I don't want to do all that much of.

So, what meals do you cook for £25 for 7 meals? seven??

I don't think you are going wrong, really, OP. As long as the amount you are spending on food each week isn't placing unnecessary strain on your finances, then I wouldn't worry if I were you. £100 per week doesn't sound a lot for a family of 4, especially including toiletries, cleaning products and nappies!

You could probably eat more basic food and spend less each week, e.g. cut out the herbs, only buy the cheapest veg, but I wouldn't feel that you have to in order to fit into some kind of template for how much you "should" spend on groceries per week.

(obviously if financially things are a bit tight then it might be worth looking at where you could save money on your grocery shop).

Mackerel - tinned
Berries- frozen
Night nappies- Tesco everyday value
Herbs- dried

Plus amazon bulk buy things like washing up liquid

I'm always amazed by how often people buy cleaning products. Excluding washing up stuff I only buy cleaning products about once a year.

Things like chilli con carne, beef casserole, chicken casserole, fajitas, chicken curry, stir fries, spag bol, baked salmon. We like slow cooker meals as it suits our schedule. I generally cook about 5 nights a week, then reheat leftovers the rest of the time as we get home late some nights.

VirginiaTonic
So, what meals do you cook for £25 for 7 meals? seven

That's only just under £4 per meal, for 3 adults portions (the poster you asked this of has 2 adults one teen), which I think is quite doable? - e.g. ratatouille, lentil bolognese, chicken chargrills/oven chips/veg, jackets/beans/cheese, omelette etc etc? Or do those not count as proper meals? they do in my house!

ToBee surely you use other products to clean then, as I cant see a bottle of Flash bathroom or toilet cleaner lasting you a year?! I am slovenly with housework, and I still have to buy a bottle once a month or so

It is possible to do it for less as I have discovered since hitting financial crisis. Tofu is cheap, good source of protein. Some leftover veg, or frozen ones, chilli from the freezer, bit of green Thai curry sauce (pot lasts ages in fridge) and some coconut milk, water if needed. Bulk buy rice, lasts ages.
Look at the world foods section in supermarket. Things like tinned toms are third of price.

Nappies from Aldi - £15 per month max. Most food shopping done at Lidl for 2 adults full time, 1 adult 3 days let week and one very hungry 17 month old comes to about £60 per week if I add in cat food which is always branded (and bloody expensive!). Planning what we will have each day does make it easier as I am less likely to just shove stuff in the trolley

Also a household of 4 (one in nappies at night, one baby in reusables). We spend about £60 a week, online shopping. To achieve this means cooking everything from scratch, no processed foods and only occasional treats, 90% veggie, frozen veg and fruit, no alcohol and focussing on cheap, healthy meals, e.g. Based around pulses, eggs, rice etc. Examples from our menu are bean chili, veggie sausages and wedges, jacket potato and beans for dinners and homemade soup, cheese on toast or eggs for lunch.

When a bit skint I shop later in the day and check out the 'reduced' sections in Tesco. The fruit and veg reductions can be amazing. Meat too, if you time it right. I have heard that Asda reduce items to 10p each at the end of the day, and customers queue around the aisle to get to it all, but I have never been.

We are pretty much veggie, family of 6 2x adults 10yo,7yo,3yo,1yo. We come in under £100. By shopping at aldi and Iceland for frozen veg we do eat a lot of tomato based dishes which id like to change but the kids really like. chilli(jackmonroes recipe) bean burgers(jack Monroe ) chickpea butternut and frozen spinach curry, homemade quorn pie mash greens, spaghetti Bolognese, daal, leek potato soup, cauliflower cheese, rissoto (basically pea and cheese) wraps with roasted veg . That's how we keep costs down. Also looking in cupboard and freezer before shopping.

Myplateiswhite, I think you're doing really well. Your meals sound enjoyable, like a proper meal, and if you can afford why bother trying to reduce your food bill because its like someone else said - there's nothing to say your bill should come in at less than 100 pounds per week.

I agree with the person who floated in the time/cost equation.

I have a teenage dd at home and a husband (and a cat). I cater for breakfasts, after school snacks and three meals a day at weekends, albeit one of those meals is "help and graze" (lunch).

We eat nice food and our weekly bill includes toiletries and domestibles such as loo roll, dishwasher tabs, bleach, etc. I meal plan religiously.

When it's just the three of us the weekly bill comes to between £100 and £130. When DS (19) is home from uni the bill jumps by at least £50 pw.

I don't feel we are massively extravagant but I do try to be careful (within reason). I shop at a combination of Asda and Sainsburys and try to avoid Waitrose. I'm sure I could cut the expense and have food just as good if we had an Aldi or Lidl to hand. Our closest one of those is about four miles away but London traffic means that can be a 190 minute round trip plus shopping time and it just isn't worth it for me.

In the shopping there are usually some beers and some wine and a few treats (and I know those are optional but we don't do take aways or go to the pub as a matter of routine).

If I didn't work full time and if I had less money, I'm sure I could cut £40 - £50 from our weekly shop and we would still eat tasty food. But I do and I don't but I do appreciate the huge privilege that is choice.

I don't think the OPs doing a bad job and her shopping list sounds lovely; providing she can afford it I don't think it needs to be changed.

Eek that should have read breakfast and dinner and three meals at weekends. It's also a 90 minute round trip plus shopping time.

this is where the netmums "edit" button would come in handy

Every time I shop I offer up a little prayer to thank the Lord for an Aldi that is five minutes from our house because it means our shopping bill has gone from at least 140 to 80 a week, and we eat far nicer food- salmon, fish, prawns plus the odd steak now and again every week

I honestly don't know how anyone manages to keep it under 100 if you are shopping in the big supermarkets, I salute anyone who does!

When shopping (online or instore) at the big supermarkets head to the World Foods section to buy canned tomatoes, canned beans, spices and coconut milk. It's much cheaper there than in the other parts of the store!

We are 2 adults and 3 DCs (18, 15, 12). DH works from home so he eats 3 meals a day (most days) from our budget. I take a packed lunch to work so what we buy feeds me 21 meals per week too.

I do a huge shop at Lidl once every 5 weeks and stock up on stuff that keeps or can be frozen (tinned toms, tinned pineapple, tomato soup, huge chunks of cheese, their brand baked beans, honey, tomato ketchup, mustard etc), plus packs of biscuits, toilet rolls, kitchen roll, washing up liquid. During that shop I also buy enough for a full menu the following week (tortellini pasta and sauce with cheese, beef meatballs, a chicken etc etc). Their spaghetti is 20p a packet! That shop costs around £150 (two trolleys' worth!), so take off £70 (say) for the following week's menu and the other £80 spread over 4 weeks is £20pw. I stock up on joints of meat for Sunday roasts from an online butcher when they are on offer and fill my freezer. That equates to around £10 per week (so that's now £30 pw). I then do a weekly online Asda shop or a Tesco instore visit on the other four weeks and spend around £50-£60. So it works out to be £90-£100 per week for all our food and household products.

We eat white meat/fish around 3 times per week and veggie meals on the other days. I bake one or two cakes/traybakes a week as the DCs and DH all want a 'pud' as they all do massive amounts of sport and seem perpetually hungry. DH eats four bananas a day. I am always amazed at how cheap bananas are.

I do remember around 5 years ago watching my weekly shop climbing to around £150 per week, but Lidl and doing more veggie meals has really helped bring it back under control.

The fruit and veg is what costs a lot here though. We probably have 3 veg with each evening meal -
cabbage at 70p for a decent big one, carrots, 40p for half a kilo, and cauliflower at 90p for a small one. That is £2 on veg for 4 before we have even got the meat and carbs.

Then we will have 4 apples (60p) + bananas (50p) + bunch of grapes(£1.50)(sometimes oranges/peaches/kiwi/blueberries/strawberries/raspberries etc) That is £2.60 on fruit a day.

So £4.60 and potatoes/pasta/rice - cheapest part of a meal - up to £5 say
and meat/fish - £3 for the 4 of us

oh, and breakfast and lunch....

Say a tenner a day - just on food... The prices quoted are Aldi prices, and I would need to pay £3.50 for a bus ticket on top.

We could eat 20p of pasta and a 20p tin of tomatoes with a few herbs, but I bet we would not be the fit healthy people we are.

A good way to reduce the shopping bill can so be to have a week every month where you buy the bare minimum and use what you already have in the cupboards and freezer etc.

If I'm trying to have a 'cheap' week I can usually get away with buying just perishables such as fruit, beg, milk and bread if I look hard enough and accept a few meals that may be an odd combination of things.