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?

Thing is, I love food, I love cooking, I love trying new dishes. I also don't want to skimp on fish and a variety of veg and fruit (and nuts and seeds). Food is just so darn expensive these days. I am sure a few years ago when I had no children, I would buy an abundance of food (and a lot more booze) for less than i spend these days. Costs are crazy these days. When I do an online shop I keep referring back to my basket throughout the shop and try to cut out things where I can. I think I need to rethink our diet as the food we like seems too expensive for our pocket these days.

I love good & cooking, I often have people over for supper and enjoy trying dishes I haven't cooked before. That doesn't have to break the bank though. I also have a dp who eats everything put in front of him and is happy to have several meat free meals per week and eat left over - so possibly this helps.

I saw you mentioned salmon. The best place to get it is tesco on their discount shelves. Look for the ones between £10 to £14 for a whole fish. Sometimes it's £6 or £7 for half price. Believe me you cannot beat that. We foot all the time. I would like to say what time but I won't because I rely on it a lot.

It sounds very stodgy to me LePetit- not much protein and fresh fruit .
Also how much do you spend on meals at school for 3 DC ??
Surely that should be added ?

i suppose it depends if you can can afford that sort of budget. i think you can eat for a lot less that that i know our food budget for 2 adults and a toddler comes to under £40 a week but its because I work to keep it that way.
some of the little things we do - add grated veg to bulk out Bolognese and its healthier.
turn left overs into meals
bye and freeze bread when its cheap.
bye potatoes and make wedges.

don't be loyal to any one shop

Its easy to spend that if you fill up on empty calories - bread, pasta etc.

We have a nutrient rich diet, so spend 200-300 a week for 2 adults and 2 children. That is mostly organic and lunches too. If you don't have health then you don't have anything?

I think this is a lot for a family of 4.
I don't spend much more and we are a family of 7. We eat what is on offer and shop around, rather than meal plan then shop for it. Waste nothing, even if it is a small portion, four or five small frozen meals with veg and everyone takes something.

We spend around £70-80 for 2 adults and one teenager.
Veg/fruit box( 7 veg,3 fruit) -organic plus organic eggs( 18) large chicken/pork joint and cheese/yoghurts - about £45 per week.
Chicken and pork does 2 meals each for 3 of us.
Shop for extra fruit and veg at our local market- £1 for about 6 pointed peppers,£2 for 3 avocados (massive) raspberries/strawberries/ blueberries £1 a punnet,£1 rocket.
Big bag washed spuds every 2 months for a tenner from farmshop.
Fish from the local fishmonger once a week.
Bake own bread and the odd cake.
We don't snack or drink soft drinks.

I have twins in nappies (well actually one is now potty trained but only last month) and i manage to spend less than £100 a week on shopping, including nappies, wipes and all household stuff.

I do meal plan though and don't buy any pre made connivence foods, everything is made from scratch. We eat meat though i do try and limit it to three times a week and make veggie meals/pasta etc for the other meals.

I refuse to buy berries unless from the greengrocer (and only if cheap) as my two could easily get through 1 tub of blueberries and raspberries each followed by some strawberries and then i wonder why i spent £10 on breakfast lol. I do love my avocado though so do get through 2 or 3 of those a week, however i do one big shop at Morrisons online once a month and they have 4 ripen at home avocados for £1 so i normally buy a few packets and they will last a few weeks (since they take so bloody long to ripen).

Summer is cheaper for us as we grow a bit of veg (potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, corn and some berries etc) and we have a big herb patch so don't need to buy those either.

Fish and prawns are also really expensive so i imagine that is where most of your money is going. I would save it for dinners and not lunch. Maybe have tinned tuna (much cheaper in B&M's BTW, i got two 4 packs for £5 last week so half the price) or eggs for lunch as a cheap (er) and easy option.

The one who is still in nappies has Tesco value pull ups (£1.50 for 20) so that costs less than £5 a week for nappies and wipes.

Meals here are normally, meat and veg, stir fries, fritatas (cheap and cheerful and veggie), pasta (meaty or veggie), we eat a lot of curries (again both meat and veggie versions) paella is a popular one, soups, stews and dumplings, chillis, slow cooker casseroles.

It is possible with planning and shopping around. I am aware that not everyone has the time to do so though.

Have you thought of tinned fish ? Sardines or mackerel in tomato sauce are lovely in a pasta sauce and you can get large tins for just over £1 I think. I use the small oval tins and philadelphia in mine.

Did a shop yesterday for family of four (inc 18 yo DD). £58. Aldi.

It depends if you can afford it, some people do have a higher food budget and maybe spend less elsewhere, it sound like you enjoy cooking and it would be a shame to scrimp if you can afford it. £100 is not excessive for a family of 4, though is a lot if you have a limited budget. There are 2 of us and we spend about £70-80. I shop at Waitrose mainly but enjoy their essentials range which I find not too expensive. Also occasionally do a big Asda shop.

We spend around £80-£100 for a family of 5. We eat a good, varied diet, but I use Aldi - amazing place. I always, always menu plan and find I don't waste food that way.

I don't know how people grocery shop for less than £100 a week. I delude myself that we spend roughly £100 on groceries but I strongly suspect it's more like £150.

DH spends £15 a week in Costa FFS

I switched to buying our cleaning products and most of our toiletries from Home Bargins about a year ago, and that's saved us quite a bit. It's all the same brands I was buying from the supermarket anyway but about half the price.

We make the occasional stab at being more economical but we're just too lazy to sustain it for long. We tend to buy quite expensive convenience foods but because they're quick and easy to prepare we rarely throw any food away either.

I think that £100 is quite reasonable. It depends on what you enjoy eating really. You could spend less but (assuming that you don't grow your own food) you won't have as much variety.

We spend £60-£80 a week. 2 adults and 2 two year olds in nappies.

It is doable.

I suspect to be cheap you have to be quite boring. A lot of fruit and veg is healthy but expensive. There's a good reason we all grew up eating cabbage, carrots and potatoes (OK I did grow up in Lincolnshire that was probably all you could get there in the 1970s). You'd have to have economy everything, which is not always a bad thing but it's hard to also have interesting and varied food. Time, cost, quality. Pick two!