To wonder if people actually spend 200+ on a weekly shop

[pleasemothermay1]

Watching eat well for less and I just can't believe people actually spend 200+ a week on a food shop

One lady was giving a teen 20 a week to get chips and chicken 😟

We have 6 in our family

One baby
One toddler
One teen
Me and hubby
And a cat

I spend £65 a week including nappies and toiletries

This gose up to £90 during holidays and the teen is eating at home not collage

It's mad what are these people feeding there kids

My children have breakfast lunch and dinner I don't encourage grazing all day they can have fruit in between meals and I cook from sctrach pretty much 5 days a week junk on a Saturday then roast on a Sunday

Yes I know that Art two to five tablespoons, the picture is most likely the serving for a one/two year old. I assumed people would read the words not just look at the picture!

In answer to some questions. I work 40 hours a week.

Lasagne takes half hour to prepare, while it is cooking in the oven I get on with other things or just watch tv.

Lidl beef mince is 1.59 for 500g, doesn't need any rinsing.

Really? We spent £22 on Chinese for2 last night-
Chicken balls
1/4 crispy duck and pancakes
Chicken chow mien
Special fried rice

Thanks, Moonrise. I can't believe it's actually "a thing" though; it's like home made stock in reverse... washing away all the flavour in the water. Odd.

RJ ha ha no I wasn't going for visual affect it was a screen shot of the website with actual words.

The sky is the limit with food shopping really! I do a weekly online shop, pick up some fresh veg/fruit midweek and DH and I probably get half our lunches at work. Get some meat at butchers, and pick up some things in planet organic/farmers market. Toddler DD gets meals at nursery during the week, eats with us at weekend (and she eats the toddler sized portions above!).

We spend £75-£200 depending on whether we are getting household stuff too, how much meat we eat and whether we have frozen meals from a previous batch etc.

As for comments about slow cooker- I think they are great as long as you adjust meals accordingly. You need more seasoning, start things on the hob. It's brilliant for pulled pork, shredded chicken etc. As for tinned tomatoes I have many Italian friends who use them all the time for Bolognese/lasagne.

We both work full time, and I often work long days (9-9) so we will have duplicate meals at times. This is an example of our meal plan for the week ahead (we have an adult guest staying for the weekend too).

Monday- prawn/chorizo paella (leftovers for lunch)
Tuesday- Butternut squash+lentil curry
Wednesday- long day at work so leftover curry
Thursday- piri-piri chicken thighs with spicy potato wedges/veg (leftovers for Friday lunch). Probably homemade houmous with crudités at lunch thurs/fri.
Friday- Cod with almond/coconut crust, homemade tartare sauce and minty peas+salad (husband and DD will probably have potatoes too)
Saturday- roast chicken dinner (leftovers for sandwiches/salad next day, and I'll make stock too). Probably lunch out with guest.
Sunday- Beef brisket (slow cooked with just a little stock and wine/herbs) with canellini bean+leek mash.

Breakfasts will be eggs/turkey rashers/overnight oats.

This weeks shopping was about £75, including fruit. Will spend more on lunches (subsidised and light so not too much). But we have all the spices/storecupboard ingredients. We have ordered the chicken and beef brisket from local butchers and will pick up at weekend. Chicken thighs are cheap, as is the vegetable curry two nights. I love cooking and meal planning, and while I don't like to overspend am happy not to have to scrimp and save.

Andnowisseven the words don't equate with the tiny portion photos though. 5 tablespoons pasta to represent a serving they need 7 times a day? Bit different to 8 peices of penne

Why do I think people are over feeding their babies anyway? You seem quite focused on it, but there is no sign of it in relation to this post

It doesn't say it's based on government guidelines though, at least not what I can see?

I haven't a clue how much we spend a week on groceries. Talking with DH today, we can't tell if the £200 a week includes or excludes non food items. Like many people we buy all our cleaning and laundry products plus a few bunches of flowers plus the occasional newspaper in our supermarket 'shop'.

We've decided on the strength of this thread to track our shopping over the next month and calculate how much we spend, because we honestly don't have the foggiest!

To add my two pennies re takeaway. We spend about £23 if we get a Chinese (Indian more like £30) and that's curry, rice, chips, chow mein, dumplings and smoked chicken shreds and prawn crackers! LO won't have any but the 4 of us will be stuffed! Good value 'round here!

We spend a shed load on food here - not sure how much but wouldn't be surprised if it was towards £200 a week (2DCs 3 and 1). And that doesn't include Dh and my lunches in the week (though it does include nappies and toiletries)

We mostly cook from scratch. We just buy expensive ingredients - organic meat, wild fish, speciality cheeses, lots of fruit.

Just because someone is spending a lot doesn't mean it's all junk!

rinceoir your weekly meals sound yummy!!

^Really? We spent £22 on Chinese for2 last night-
Chicken balls
1/4 crispy duck and pancakes
Chicken chow mien
Special fried rice^

That's 4 different meals and the first two would come with rice or chips and whole lot would from the chinese we go to would cost around £20 and be plenty of food for 6-8 people.

I think I might also track my shopping over a month as I also get lots of cleaning stuff from Wilkinsons but where does it stop, I also buy gardening stuff and car stuff from the supermarket or Wilkinson or is it just food. I also sometimes buy bulk if its a particularly good offer, I have been known to buy several months supply of stuff.

Crispy duck definitely adds to price. It's yummy but only me and D1 like it so I don't bother we always get it delivered too!

crispy ah, 30 mins to prepare is very different to 30 mins to make.

30 mins to prepare then an hour in the oven is no good when the DC need to eat quickly before Brownies/choir/piano/football/rugby etc.

Thanks for making it clearer.

I happen to have a menu from the Chinese takeaway across the road next to me. I'll pick the cheapest versions of all those.

Curry (mixed veg or mushroom): £3.80
Rice (boiled, small): £1.60
Chips: £1.70
Chow mein (plain):£3.00
Dumplings: £4.60
Smoked chicken: £4.30
Prawn crackers: £1.50

That's £20.50 so your prices make sense, but how does that feed four? That's three portions of carbs and three main dishes (plus some prawn crackers). Maybe you're buying a bigger box of rice, or the portions are massive?

The takeaway thing goes to show how much it varies though. Chinese for us would be 8-9 quid per head for main + rice (no extras). The one my brother goes to might be around a fiver but it's pretty atrocious quality.

Miracle, like you we sometimes buy several of a special offer item and keep in stock esp toilet paper when it's £5 rather than £7 a bale.

We'll probably just buy as we normally do, for the next month then do an average over the 4 or 5 weeks. I think we may shock ourselves!!

AYD2 the portions are massive, especially the rice and chow mein. The rice comes free with the curry and the prawn crackers are free when you spend £20+ also free delivery! When we lived in a little village though with just one takeaway, prices were much higher!

Thanks gritty! I love meal planning (sad!). Spent my childhood eating overcooked meat with overcooked salty veg and being labelled fussy for not liking it, so I think I overcompensate a bit now!

Barbara the meals don't come
With chips or rice. Believe me I know you buy them separately.

rincoir me too!! I must be sad also but I love meal planning, looking in the cupboard and fridge to see what I've got then back to the laptop to buy what I need for meals haha oh dear! Maybe I need to get a life?!

Posted too soon. If that meal were served to 8 people each meal would be:
1 chicken ball, a table spoon of rice a table spoon of chow mien each. 4 people would get a small duck wrap.

How crap would that be??

Fair enough, Gritty. Portions can vary enormously. My parents live somewhere where, for two people, they buy a fish and chips and a single fish for under a tenner, because the chip portions are ridiculously massive and you only need one portion. Where I live we buy fish and chips twice and it's £16, which is why we don't do it much