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

[revealall]

£14 a week on for 7 punnets of raspberries is obscene though. Granted you may not live near a farm/ pick your own shop but even in lovely Chichester you could get 4 punnets for £2. Everywhere has a market.
I know you can afford £14 a week on just one type of soft fruit but some small part of you must know that's just throwing money away.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

even in lovely Chichester you could get 4 punnets for £2. Everywhere has a market.

You sound like a former friend of mine - she was always telling me how good the fruit and veg at the market was. I kept telling her that I was at work when the market was on. She couldn't get that I wasn't able to just walk out of work and toddle out to the fruit market on the once a week day it was on. It's not always that simple.

[LagunaBubbles]

Revealall, everywhere doesn't have a market. The nearest one is miles away from where I work.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Lol@ everywhere has a market!

[GarlicMistake]

Lavender, thank you for caring about what I eat! (Really.) I've got most of a chicken and a pack of mince in the freezer, and I'll probably buy some more mince (yawn) next week - or splash out on a pair of Aldi's Wagyu burgers. I'm medically dairy intolerant, can't digest dried beans & pulses or oats, and am supposed to avoid soya. Hence the coconut cream - I'm making a celebration cake and that's the topping :)

With ME/CFS it's important to get enough protein which is my biggest challenge on "taxpayers' money". Sardines & eggs are a godsend. And I use lots of mince. Make my bread - still have flour from the last shop - and don't eat breakfast cereals.

This thread's making me pine for the days when I bought whatever I fancied! At least we're in the best month for fresh fruit, so it's cheap to add variety.

I have no idea what the people spending £50pw on a family must be eating. Or I have, but would lose the will to live. My budget would stretch to another adult with little extra but the kids'd have to subsist on baked beans

[PickAChew]

Sainsbury's loose (fair trade) bananas generally work out about 12-13p each, so. yes, 8 for a quid. Not all stores sell loose, though.

Nearest market sells a limited range no cheaper than supermarket, ditto greengrocer. Bananas are at least 20p each for non-fair trade at said greengrocer.

[PickAChew]

In the days of online, newpapers are easily cut out, mind

[flirtygirl]

For £50- £60 £200-240 per month
we eat bananas, plums, grapes, strawberrys, gala apples, nectarines, satsumas
Uht milk, kellogs and nestle cereal always bought only on offer, porridge, lasagna, lots of cheese, quorn products, pasta, bread from lidls or tesco 4 large baquettes for £1, ribena and vimto only as dont buy anything with no added sugar, potatoes, 50p loaf sliced wholemeal bread, margarine, baked beans, tinned tomatoe, tinned sweetcorn, tomatoe puree, passata, onions, mushrooms, carrots, spring onions, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce then frozen peas, frozen broccoli, frozen spinach, frozen leeks etc

We eat well if a bit boring but i shop differently to most

Every week is fresh bread fruit and veg from aldi and lidls between 10 and 15

I then buy whats on offer and stock up so almond milk i only buy when a pound or go without, uht for kids so £12 per month buys 24 cartons, cereal, heinz baked beans and ketchup when on offer, i use mysupermarket.com and go to the place that has what i need, i like brands also but buy when half price or even better then stock up

For instance iceland had kellogs this week half price and large boxes so i bought 8

Last month waitrose had almond milk 3 for £3 so i bought £21 worth, i probably wont need any till end of august

This is how i keep my spend around 50 - 60 average per week with fruit veg and snacks, main meals

It averages 50- 60 as one week its 70, the next 35, the next 45 as my basics stay the same but offers move, my mum had no supermarket loyalty and neither do i, the price is whats important

Examples of meals this week and next are tuna and cheese salad made with lettuce, sweetcorn, cucumber, tuna and cheese, large portions as its quite fillings if large and can be had for dinner or lunch, quorn and veg meatballs, wraps with veg, lasagna made with quorn mince, sausages and broccoli, pizza with carrot sticks, chicken soup, bolognaise, jacket potatoe with cheese and beans, tagliatelle creamy mushroom sauce, tuna pasta, most meals are pasta with veg on the side or something like the meatballs would be served with crusty bread or spaghetti, my kids often choose bread.

I add veg toppings to plain pizza, i dont cook from scratch everyday but batch cook once or twice a week, they also eat eggs, sandwiches etc

The fruit makes smoothies about once a week and i bake a cake a couple of times a month but stock up on biscuits crisps, ice lollys and treats when really cheap or from farmfoods and b and m, i also sometimes go supermarkets at marking down time and get pastries cookies and doughnuts and freeze them.

Kids eat chicken so spend about £3 on chicken per week, once a month dh will spend £8 on lamb, local ethnic shop on delivery day and this does 2 meals for him but i dont cook meat ever.

Im vegetarian no eggs or cows milk, kids eat eggs and a little chicken, husband eats everything, this is 3 adults and 1 child, 4 of us.

No school dinners and this includes lunch as i homeschool.

Sometimes toilet paper is included and showergel if on offer, otherwise its a separate shop from savers and wilko.

But just wanted to give some info on a £50 food shop as people really dont think its possible.

Id be interested to know peoples actual food shop or do they really buy all toiletries and cleaning products in one place. The nos quoted seem to include everything not just food. It seems wierd to me when savers and wilkos are so much cheaper or get stuff from amazon. Buying in bulk really does save money.

It is by shopping around and only buying either cheap reduced or on offer.

Cheap does not have to mean low quality and most things are branded in my cupboard but not things like pasta rice tinned tomotoes etc.

[Basicbrown]

Flirty we eat differently, and eat more meat. I really don't want to eat a baked potato and beans for my main meal to save a couple of quid. If I had to I would, but I don't. I also feed another adult at least 2 nights a week. My week's meals usually include something like:

• Beef curry (last night)
  
• Roast chicken and fruit crumble (tonight for 7 and I doubt we will have leftovers)
  
• Spanish Omlette and salad
  
• Cajun salmon with chips and salad
  
• Spagetti Bolegnese made with Steak mince
  
• Tuna Pasta bake with vegetables
  
• Cheat night of pizza and salad.
  

The thing about buying toiletries and cleaning products elsewhere to save another couple of quid is it is time consuming. I would rather get the whole lot delivered from Tesco and get on with life. Clubcard is really good for cheap days out anyway, so you get something back. I use the Tesco shampoo and conditioner that costs 80p a bottle so not much to be saved there but ours really good

I spend about £100 a week on shopping but that includes everything. Interestingly most people I know spend more not less. I have a mixture of branded and non branded stuff depending on what it is (as obviously sometimes it matters and others it doesn't) and what's on offer.

[WaitrosePigeon]

I don't want to go to a market though, to be honest.

[flirtygirl]

Yep it definitely down to likes, lifestyle, time and many other factors, thats why this thread is so interesting.

We all shop differently as have different lifestyles, etc, even down to to the supermarkets and markets available where you live.

There is no one size fits all.

[Mummaaaaaah]

£200 a week more or less including wine. Lots of wine. Also including toiletries cleaning stuff etc. I try to be good and take left overs to work but often fail. Leftovers go into the freezer and once a month we have a freezer week with only fresh fruit and veg bought. Tbh I could probably live off the freezer and cupboard for a year if I tried. Maybe I should!?

[BeJayKayven]

pick I assume that face was aimed at me and my newspapers.
Yes, news is online (is the price of broadband included in everyone's budget?) but we like an old fashioned newspaper with good reading, crosswords and puzzles. Each to their own eh?

[RalphSteadmansEye]

And those of us who buy physical papers are subsidising the online only readers...

[trufflehunterthebadger]

Buying reduced food is how most of us manage to make a tiny budget go round. Being canny with offers as well. Eg tonight the 8 people in my house are having:
waitrose new season welsh leg of lamb (whole leg) which i spotted reduced to 1/3 of the original price (i think reduced from 20 to about 8.50. I then combined that with a waitrose card holder offer giving 25% off lamb shoulder and leg. I ended up paying something like £6 for the leg, which is massive, i cleared the shelf and froze them.

• Baby carrots i got yesterday from £1.50 to 41p
  
• 3 bunches of asparagus which i paid about 40p for because they were reduced from 1.60 to 40p but also had a special offer where they were 3 for £4 so the till took the 80p discount off too
  
• a tray of waitrose yorkshires x 8 i got for 15p and froze
  
• a cabbage that a friend gave us from her vegbox
  
• king edward potatoes reduced from 1.80 to 38p
  

Pudding is a cheesecake and fruit salad that was brought home from a church BBQ that DH went to yesterday.

So 2 course sunday lunch with organic new season welsh lamb for just over £1 per head. That is representative of most days. I shop very carefully and have an encyclopedic memory for price comparisons, who has the best x,y,z. I use coupons and always look at reduced counters first. I never buy meat or fish full price and we eat plenty of it.

This month i have £450 to feed our family of 4 adults, a very active permahungry 6 year old, 3 older teenagers, 3 cats and also buy all the washing stuff. This means breakfast, lunch and dinner for 6, my BIL and SIL sort out their own lunch but have breakfast and dinner with us. Packed lunches every day for our students as well. They get croissants, eggs, bagels bread, yoghurt, cheese, fruit salad and fruit juice for breakfast so i'm not mean.

It is possible to eat very well on a very low budget. You just have to put the work in

[GarlicMistake]

Yes, you are, Ralph! Thanks :)

[GarlicMistake]

I never buy meat or fish full price and we eat plenty of it ... You just have to put the work in.

True, truffle, and I've noticed much bigger budget gaps now I can't traipse around getting the bargains. Of course there are not only mobility issues: people working full-time can't do it either - and few of us can afford to clear the shelves of bargain lamb joints!

[Kr1stina]

Great post truffle hunter

An excellent illustration of how much work it is to eat we'll on a tight budget . Which is why I'm kinda about the

" it's very easy to feed a family of 9 on £90 a week and work FT, you just need to be organised " posts

[00100001]

Mummaaaaaah, you should try that, yiiud be surprised how much food you have!
We do "mother Hubbard" weeks a lot and clear the cupboards, takes aniit three weeks!

[trufflehunterthebadger]

" it's very easy to feed a family of 9 on £90 a week and work FT, you just need to be organised

Well... I do work full time (24/7 emergency services) as does DH and a lot of my "headspace", lunchbreaks and time on journeys home is taken up with Reduced Bargain Shopping. Eg.
6pm finish - tesco on my way home for 7pm bargains
7pm finish - tesco at my mums for their bonkers bargains
Sunday - break planned around 3.30pm waitrose bargains

I can tell you the Final Reductions time of all big 5 supermarkets in a 20 mile radius :D

I also feel as if i am permanently meal planning/shopping/cooking and sometimes fantasise about cramming atrolley full of full price Finest raspberries and ready made cakes. But i know i couldnt. We could easily afford to spend a lot more. I just don't want to - although the budget has been relaxed by 50per head a day since istarted working full time to reflect that i dont have as much time as i did before

[JemimaMuddledUp]

It is a simple economic trade off, isn't it?

It all boils down to what you value the most, time or money. If you are living on the breadline or saving for something important then money is the priority and it is worth it to spend hours trawling through the reduced to clear sections. But if you are OK financially but really time poor then the opportunity cost of bargain hunting is just too much to make it worthwhile.

For me, although I stick to a rough budget and meal plan, I would rather shop online after the DC have gone to bed and have it delivered once a week than be popping to the supermarket every night on the way home from work. DH and I both work FT and we have 3 DC who are at the age where every evening revolves around football, Brownies, piano lessons, drama classes, orchestra, rugby, hockey etc (eldest is 14, youngest is 10). To me the opportunity cost of spending time in the supermarket looking for bargains is greater than the financial cost of missing those bargains.

We're all different!

[Artandco]

Truffle- but if you 'clear the shelf' of the bargains, then surely you can see how others can't benefit from reduced products either. Yes buy one , but taking all the lamb in your example to freeze means nobody else can do that, so of course the next person has to pay full price

[Basicbrown]

To me the opportunity cost of spending time in the supermarket looking for bargains is greater than the financial cost of missing those bargains.

Me too. But it's refreshing to have honesty rather than the usual trilling of 'go to lidl and you'll only spend 20 quid'. I don't know anyone who has never tried Lidl and Aldi. I don't spend less although I probably stock up on things (well at Aldi anyway) Our local Lidl really is utterly crap but I am happy to accept that others have larger ones that don't just sell chicken and those revolting stinky cheese bun things.

Tbh I could probably live off the freezer and cupboard for a year if I tried.

I think the freezer is a big source of food wastage with a lot of people. I always try to control what's in mine as I worry about it breaking, or the electricity shorting while I'm on holiday.

[Middleoftheroad]

I spend about £100 or so per week, maybe more ( don't really count tbh) for 2 adults, 2 10yr old boys and 2 cats.

I find food shopping tedious, so rush round whatever supermarket I'm by.to get it over with, possibly after work though usually rushing to get kids from a club etc. Tend to get my crisps snacks and toiletries from poundland. May pop into the mini Waitrose during 30 min lunch break for sthg overpriced, because the store is convenient and fast
I'm a veggie and cook the meat eaters a limited slow cooker repetoire of spag bol chilli etc
We'll also have chip shop one night and maybe some ready meals, shocker. Find market fruit over ripe and there isn't a market by me, so buy supermarket fruit for equal price.
We are not foodies. I have friends who spend a fortune on meat and are always shopping for food, which I see as a waste of time/money, but my friend laughs at me with my clothes shopping and time/money wasted doing this. Each to their own budgets and choices I say!