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

Back to the shop today as i realised i forgot bin bags, dishwasher salt, dh's lunch chocolate bars, orange juice, honey and greek yogurt. I will probably get more milk too as we all had a lot this morning.

Like Cake we also have meat/fish at most meals - all lunches and dinners and about 50% of breakfasts. The breakfasts without meat have a lot of eggs, milk, butter and yogurt. I don't think we have a meal which doesn't have animal products as the main component.

Haven't read all the posts but those I did read were with interest.

I'm the opposite - have always wondered how people do a weekly shop for less than £100!?! We are a family of 4 and I have a 'budget' of £150 a week but often go over by £20 or so - and that's being careful, could easily spend more. That does include food, alcohol, toiletries, cleaning products and (as it seems to be relevant to the thread) cat food. I shop at Ocado as live in the middle of nowhere - but do find online shopping more economical than supermarket shopping - less temptation by offers!

I used to be close to that as I did my entire food shop in M&S, I don't work near it anymore.

Real question is what % of your income is spent on food? For some £200 is their entire weekly income and for others it's just a small part. Without giving away my weekly income a rough calculation means I spend aporox 6% of my income on food. I read a study that's outcome was that poorer people spend a much higher % of their income on food. This was an academic study in a social science journal but I'm dammed if I can remember the source. That is really the relevance the %.

For how many people piermenator? Just worked ours out and it is 22% for family of four on one income. Doesn't seem so bad wonders where the rest of the money goes

I agree, we spend about 20% of our take home.

However that 20% doesn't include fils income of his pensions etc and we feed him and he doesn't pay anything. So if you included it then it would be about 15% i suppose which actually seems very low!

We have 6 teens and students (23, 21, 18, 17, 14, 12). DSS1 lives with his GF, so that's 9 of us, when they all come. It's only a couple of times a year - one week at Xmas/NY and one week in the summer usually, but when they're all here at the same time we easily spend far more than that on a week's food - especially holiday food or BBQs!

The rest of the year we're very frugal, though, so we can afford to splurge a couple of times a year and enjoy our time with them all here

Sorry haven't rtft.. I actually like the programme, and I really like the stuff about how brand loyalty isn't always worth it.. But I do wonder if the family in that episode would have got the same amount of stick if they'd been spending £200 on organic meat / fish / fruit / vegetables? Fwiw I've been poor, had to use value everything, count every penny; and now I'm a bit more settled I do enjoy being able to buy things I love in the supermarket. I think it's all about personal situation at any given time, and not being judgemental about folk who're on a different chapter.

We spend around £100 a week. That's for three adults effectively. It has gone up recently, as we're buying more organic.

That would include a couple pf bottles of wine and maybe some beer, some loo and kitchen roll, but not any cleaning products as we go to Costo once a month for that.

I shop everywhere.
I love Aldi as much as Waitrose and this week will be shopping in both plus M&S and a few bits at Sainsburys.

I could easily spend £200 a week if we had a special meal or friends coming over etc, or we just fancied a few extra special treats because it's the holidays.
We also eat out fairly frequently and have a take away once every two weeks, so the £100 would not include that.

OP, who are you to judge what other families spend on their grocery shops... If roles were reversed and someone was commenting on how little a family spends on their shop that wouldn't be ok, so let's not judge those who CAN and WANT to spend more...
Someone mentioned above 'reverse snobbery' and that's totally what your post is all about...
If your happy with your slow cooked spag Bol sobeit but if other families want to spend more on expensive brands that they CAN tell the difference from cheaper ones, let them go... Each to their own.
On another note, if you can feed your whole family and provide nappies, wipes etc for 40, I commend you because I certainly couldn't!
Everyone's different - let's not forget it!

It's been interesting reading this thread as it has unfolded.

I think Ihave come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no viewpoint on / attach no value judgement to anyone spending lots, or spending very little on food, as long as all of that food is eaten. I don't mean 'eaten down to the bones and those then boiled for stock', i hasten to add - just finished up in a normal way.

We are all different, we eat different menus and have different family circumstances, food 'history' and available preparation time.

The only time that I might hoik my judgey pants ever so slightly would be if someone threw away a lot of what they had bought (whether that be value fruit or wild salmon). That WOULD seem to me to be wasteful.

I agree re waste, especially meat. We were always told to finish our meat/fish. Not only because it was the most expensive part of the meal but because an animal has been killed for that food. To waste it would seem like it's life had no value and I really can't stomach that to be honest. Even though I should probably be a vegetarian etc etc. The rest shouldn't be wasted either though. Very little goes in our food recycling apart from veg/fruit trimmings, bones etc.

greenyogagirl

Me and 6yo here. I've spent £10 a week on grocery before for a long while. I now spend £30 a week just because I can and fridge, freezers and pantry always full. I could easily spend more and could cut back if i had to

Can you list what you buy for £30 that leave fridge freezer and pantry full. Honestly interested

mrs koala yummy recipes. Thanks

Just made a bacon sandwich for ds using the microwave- lovely crispy bacon and no grill pan to wash!

15 % of net income here. 2 adults 2 school aged kids. SAHM.

Dame we did that at the weekend! Total failure! What bacon did you use?

£50 for 2 adults and a bf baby here...no alcohol usually, few and basic toiletries (allergies) but a handful of treats like nice fruit, m&ms etc.

When I was doing my MA I lived on a bursary and spent max £20 a supermarket. I lived off baked beans and cuppa soups. Don't miss those days

Dunno, just what I grabbed off the shelf at Tesco but I used Aldi as well the other day too.

3 rashers on 2 sheets of paper, covered with another 2 for 4 mins or until it's crispy.

Sorry, I meant to post about the bacon on the microwave thread

Yes, 15% from income here including grocery and (expensive) Asian/foreign ingredients(noodles, sauces, rice, sticky rice)

Wdon't buy a large quantity and could hardly waste as a little piece from the counter nicely cut is too nice normally small and never be wasted. A fowl(is usually £7-£9 is enough for dinner and some left over for 2 lunches next day, a join organic beef is usually much smaller. They are all finished. Its not the quantity here that I am paying for. I although know couple of my friends who have more free time to hunt for a better bargain and equally excellent quality (fish from Billingate buy as a bulk etc

About 17% here. I can (and have) manage with a third of that. But we choose not to.

Biggest out going is fruit. Lots of berries, etc. Followed by high welfare meat and fish. We balance out the extra cost of this by eating less. I'm one of those horrible mums net sterotypes who get 8 adult portions of bolognaise out of 350g of beef mince or make a roast chicken feed a family of 4 for three to four meals (note my DDs are in primary school, not hulking teenage boys).

About 10% here, I'd like to go back to the days of finest and organic but childcare and household renovations are taking up the cash so I've had to compromise and eat the cheaper chickens for now. I did try streetching better quality meat so having it less often/as a flavour only but myself and dp were hungry and filling up on junk - he does a manual job and I have always had a high metabolism

to those posting their %, can i ask how that is comparable to the % of other household outgoings? ie 40% bills, 20% childcare etc

We are 15% food
22% bills (utilities/mobiles/insurance/council tax/car tax)
0% childcare
0% mortgage/rent

The rest is either other stuff such as clothes/haircuts/car servicing/meals out/christmas & birthdays/holidays/pension or other investments/pocket money for kids and savings.

Not rft. We are 4. I've set myself a budget of £80 daily for everything (i.e. £560 weekly) of which roughly £120 goes on a weekly shop and another £20 on inbetween shop food items. So around 25% of expenditure. I shop usually at Waitrose, but also like Morrisons and Lidl. Comparisons can't be exact, but overall I reckon Waitrose is about 20% more expensive, so I am increasing the frequency of Morrisons visits. But Waitrose fruit & veg is noticeably much better.

I have no mortgage, and after food my biggest expenses are council tax and phones. Not keen on holidays which everyone else seems to spend a small fortune on - heortaphobia.