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

dontlikejam

You're just a pleb like me, then, Cake :( And there was me hoping to finally see inside one of the big houses with the electric gates :(:(:(

Omelettes and sandwiches are quick snacks they count as meals in our house.

Hownotto - absolutely.

Lunch in our house is almost invariably soup / cheese / sliced meat and some kind of bread product (so could be sandwiches, could be rolls, could be wraps, could be a cheese and tomato flatbread) followed by fruit. Occasionally something like a pasta salad.

'Snack' (elevenses or tea) is a biscuit, a small pot of hummus + breadsticks, or a homemade flapjack.

DD (dancer) does occasionally have 2 suppers - a small bowl of e.g. tortellini or a couple of poached eggs before 3.5 hours of dancing, then our main supper on her return. That's the only point at which something like a sandwich or an omelette becomes a 'quick snack'.

Omelettes and sandwiches are quick snacks shock they count as meals in our house

Which proves my point. That we can't compare food bills because we all eat differently.

So in my house an Omelette or Sandwich is something someone would have if they were on the way out the door in a hurry and they were hungry. Or they knew they'd be late home for the next meal and they wanted to fill a gap. They're also before and after food if someone's been to the gym.

But we also do omelettes for a breakfast.

stonecircle 4pints of milk is a huge amount to drink in one day!

Oh and Saturday and Sunday you barely eat anything

Yes, quite. There seems to be a meal/ sandwiches missing. My teen ds would be weeping

We only ever have 2 meals on a Sunday but that does include a pudding

I think that programs like "eat well for less" pick the low hanging fruit. reasons. It is easy to show someone who eats lots of junk and preprepared food how to save money. Not so easy to save money if you spend a lot just because you prefer organic or good quality food.

Admittedly my eldest is only 7, am sure it will change when they're teens.
I found the constant round of feeding when I had DC a difficult adjustment though. I just can't do 3 meals and 2 snacks a day it bores me to tears. They have milk for a snack.
I do put effort in to the meals I have to provide though. And I do plan on a few 'nice' ones a week interspersed between the fish fingers, boiled veg, omelettes and tuna pasta mayo.
I could soooo easily spend £200 a week if I had the funds. Although I'd probably waste a lot due to being lazy and drink far too much wine. So probably best I can't afford it.

I vary - some weeks I have a lot to get, some weeks I stock up on wine, other weeks it's just meat/fruit&veg/milk/bread so very little.

I work on the basis of trying to get good value, using up what I buy rather than throwing out food, buying decent quality. I try to grow as much of our veg as possible (small back garden). But also knowing that DH and I work stupid hours, DD is fussy (and as she is ASD and also underweight, I pander to that more than I would like to so that she will definitely eat especially at school). And that there is a need for quick dinners some nights, making sure I have what everyone will eat, and being able to juggle other things so internet shopping some weeks (which usually means making sure there's enough in the trolley to get it delivered and not shopping around that week to F&V shop, butcher or Lidl etc).

I cook from scratch as much as possible but also keep a good few jars of decent sauces to be able to do quick dinners. And I've learned a few other ways to do fast dinners (fresh pasta with carbonara or creamy sauces, lots of oven-cooked dinners using the timer, or oven chips and fried eggs etc). I try to keep takeaways to a max of 1/week (we don't have them every week).

I use points in Boots to get some sanitary items.

I use the loyalty schemes of the supermarkets I frequent.

I do go to the local butcher, F&V shop, fishmonger, baker etc the weeks that I have a chance.

And I freeze leftovers (whether I've done a double batch of a dinner for another night as well or just bits and pieces I can use another way another night), or make things like Spanish omlettes, stir fries etc to use up small bits and pieces.

But we can afford to spend what we do, and we have gone up a bracket on our wine consumption and do have some luxuries in that budget. I still don't think that our family of 3 goes anywhere near £200 a week though.

We spent €199 in Sainsburies when on holidays, as food for the week and some bits to bring home - which included things like bottle of gin, a few beers and a box of wine. But that was a massive shopping spree really. I budget for €700 a month, in general, and including my grocery shopping in M&S near my office (for milk and fruit and some lunches, and some easy dinners or cured meats selections for Sunday dinner), I generally come in or around that amount.

I am not as good at the "rubber chicken" as I used to be (don't have time to make stock really anymore), but I do occasionally still do 1. Last night I spatchcocked a large chicken for dinner with salad, there's another night of leftovers in the fridge for salad or a stirfry and DD will use some for breakfast at least 1 morning (she loves cold meat and cheese for breakfast).

I'd love to do better, but I know I could be a lot worse at the same time.

Every time I see one of these threads it goes like this :

OP says " I can do the weekly shop for a family of [ large number ] on [ small amount of money ]"

Op is eventually persuaded to give a list to prove this .

Lots of posters point out a large number of essential items that are missing or unreasonably small quantities .

OP then drip feeds like this

• oh well of course that doesn't include toiletries, nappies and cleaning

products , we buy them at the cash and carry monthly

• oh well we don't buy veg, my dad grows it on his allotment

• oh there's no food for breakfast because mum mum takes the kids to school and she feeds then first

• no I don't have to cook a meal at night because the kids get free school dinners and DH and I eat at work

I think on a thread like this,its not really like for like.

You cant compare a 2 year old and a bf baby with you and your dp.To someone like me who has 4 adults plus 3 kids you can put away a fair amount.Plus our main meal would be 2.30 or 3 o clock.IN Ireland and there are no school dinners here.

I suppose I'm one of the earlier posters being referred to as lazy for saying if find cooking from scratch every night impossible. DH is rarely in before 9pm, when he's home at all as he works away a lot. I have 3 pick ups for 4 children so we normally get home around 6.20. My children are 14, 12, 5 and 2.5. Ds3 (5) has asd. He needs almost constant supervision. I try to ensure that his issues don't impact constantly on his older brothers so we still drag everyone out to get them to Scouts and ds2 to football practice. On these nights I use the meals I cooked at the weekend.

It is near impossible regardless of what other posters say, for me to prepare and cook from scratch most nights. Apart for DS3's issues, I also have a toddler DD and also need to help ds2 with his homework. I basically have around 50minutes on the nights we don't need to get back out to get food on the table then run bath for DD. Assuming 15-20 of those minutes for eating leaves around a half hour to get something done and out. All the while I'm trying to contain a over tired, cranky child with autism and an over tired, cranky toddler.

So yes, I'll use a wee bit more money to purchase those high quality fish fingers made by my fishmonger. And use a wee bit more money to purchase the odd, good quality ready meal because, whatever you may think, getting us all through the day is more important to me that what some sanctimonious person on the internet thinks.

"stonecircle 4pints of milk is a huge amount to drink in one day!"

I agree. But if you're 17 or 19, go to the gym regularly, play loads of rugby and cricket it's not so much. A couple of big bowls of cereal a day, a couple of pint glasses of milk a day, plus a few swigs straight from the carton (i know) and you're pretty much there.

This includes deodorants, loo rolls and all that jazz.

I have a thyroid problem so don't want to be eating loads in a day or any pizzas and ready foods often. I'm only 24 and health must come first, so I try to keep in balanced.

Me and DP don't drink much and are not coffee or tea drinkers.
I do buy coke/coke zero every week plus juices and squash.

Saturday there's plenty of food there I think.
Breakfast: banana and strawberry smoothie (a bowl of fruit basically)

Light lunch: rice cakes and Musli bar

Dinner: BBq gammon paninis with salad and mix fruits.

That seems enough to me? I'm not a small eater by any means (like, at all!!) But that's plenty.

Someone suggested what if I buy organic, some of it is, it's not cheap food at all. I buy mostly own brands and finest products.

As for eat the same things, well I have smoothie every morning as I work and don't really have time to make breakfast every morning and this is a healthy way to start every day.
I eats snack a jacks a lot, it's my treat and I eat different flavours haha.

I often shop at tesco, but sainsbury too.
I live really well. If I want a takeaway or meals out that comes out of my spending money and not the food money.

I am not by any means saying anyone else is wrong for spending hundreds of pounds a week on food. I just wanted to know what nice bits you buy with that.

Like I say, my budget can easily stretch so I was open to ideas. I didn't want to offend anyone

To be honest, foods might be only 2/3 of the grocery bill for us, there are always many other householding little things. I am so interested in this thread because I'd like to cut too however not compromise the quality and convenience we are having. We mostly shop in Waitrose as we are heavily meat/fish eater and we'd like to prioritise on the quality of meat/fish, unless if you can tell me there are much cheaper places to go with "the same or better" quality then ofcourse I'd like to save some money too.
We still try to save by bringing our left over for lunch however I need my 2 coffee rounds from the coffee shop(it's not the same as the instant coffee).
I dont find UK food price is that bad, however travelling and housing is unbelievably expensive living in London. Our food bill is only 1/3 compare to our mortgage(and it doesnt have a gate, its only a terrace-however 5(ok size) beds

Another thing is energy bill. We pay £179/month, I was looking at comparing on supplier this weekend however we are with npower and the appear as cheapest in our area

Dont let me start with the London nanny cost(we have to beg grandparents to fly over to help out sometimes otherwise it's unbearable)

After all these bills then there isnt much left...we still have to think hard about every £10 we spend outside all these basic needs even we both work in the city and on full time basis.

Popped in to marks after the gym.
£26.
That's some deli chicken, beetroot, fresh soup for me. Fruit salad for dessert. Bottle of water.
2x sandwiches and 2 X fruit salad for my 2 children. Bottle of water.
Prawn stir fry bits for dinner

£26 without even blinking.

You really have unbelievably cheap food in the UK, you don;t know how lucky you are.

A swig from the carton is half a pint of milk.. teenagers!

I'd much rather he drank milk than fizzy drinks or squash/ juice.

Kate - your meal plans sound very low on protein and veg for 'most' people - I can't imagine just eating rice cakes and a muesli bar for lunch. .

You can never agree on these threads as people's eating habits are so different.

As with everything, you cut your cloth don't you. I don't have that to spend on food, so I don't. We're two adults, toddler and a dog, usually spend about £30 a week on food, don't know about toiletries, cleaning stuff, nappies etc as I bulk buy them every so often, food shop is just food, just dinners really as toddler gets fed breakfast and lunch at child care, husband and I get lunch at work.
I'd love to have more to spend on food, we drink tap water (Scotland so it's decent!) but right now our money has other places to be!

Monkendrunky £30!!! Could you share sample food plan?! Am genuinely interested as many years ago I attempted to spend £20 a week on food for myself and found it really difficult.

Veg and meats are most of what I eat haha. Most days I eat 3 fruit portions, 2 salad portions and at least 3 veg portions :)

My jambalaya alone has 5 portions of veg in and 3 types of meat.

Is this really lower than average? Any advice on how I can get more into diet? :)