to think that £500 is far too much to spend on groceries in a month?

[fartlek]

I just totted up what I spent at supermarkets this month and realised that this is why I am £20 away from the end of my overdraft the day before payday. DH has also bought groceries this month so this isn't even our entire bill! We don't share accounts so it gets a bit murky as to who spends how much on what (this is a whole other thread to be started in relationships, we won't go there just now) but I'm pretty sure this is extortionate.
I have never been much of a budgetter when it comes to food shopping, I just buy what we need and try not to go for the most expensive item. What do others spend if I may ask?

Op your thread title is as meaningless as 'how much does your 5 month old weigh'. There is such a wide range of incomes in the uk. £500 to one family is a lot and to another it's not.

August with two Dc off school I spent £375. September with fewer snacks and treats £550. Why? I didn't organise my weekly online shop from sainsburys so I nipped in and grabbed something. I've also put on weight. Lesson - meal plan.

How do you all meal plan? Just decide what you'll make for a week?

theclick, I have general ideas, but meal planning wouldn't work for me. I literally don;t know how many people will be eating from one day to the next. A busy house with OH often gone for days at a moment's notice, kids deciding to eat at friend's houses or sleepovers or work. I have to keep all meals flexible.

I think with meal planning there is a sliding scale. From at one end going round waitrose or m&s sticking what you fancy in the trolley and then deciding what to eat at 6:45pm each night. To planning every breakfast,afternoon snack and piece of fruit consumed. I think most of us are in the middle ( although have done the second when really broke!)

The click we have a list of meals (28) which everybody has agreed to eat without argument ( we each listed 8 and everyone had the power of veto for 2 meals) . Dh cooks 3x per week so he chooses what he wants to cook (pizza usually makes it by popular demand) I then fixed the meals for the weekend, as they often either involve something that might go off or takes a lot of time. If we have a roast we have a left over meal on Monday ( stir fry, risotto etc). Then just fill in the gaps if we had beef or lamb roast will have chicken later in week if roast chicken then a mince meal.

It's reasonably easy for me to meal plan as the dc are still little so no clubs etc and dp keeps regular hours. I sit with a pen and paper and decide on a meal for us and the kids for every day (we sometimes have the same thing but they eat before us) and order the ingredients on line. I then just order basics like eggs, salad stuff, tins hummus, porridge etc for breakfasts and lunches. I tend to include one or two meals that are easily abandoned if plans change, so something that can easily be frozen or is mainly store cupboard based so nothing will be wasted.

I don't know where I'm going wrong on average I do £1,000 a month. 2 adults, 2 children, this doesn't not include take always or meals out

Wow!...Do you have a lot of waste? Have to throw stuff out? I know bigger families than yours whose income is not much more than that.

You can still do a rough meal plan and keep things flexible - plan things that could be frozen (either as meals or as ingredients that don't get used), base the next week's plan on what didn't get used/eaten the previous week etc.

theclickI ask everyone(there's 7 of us)one at a time what they'd like to eat,so everyone gets to choose meals.

I usually try and do my meal plans every 4 weeks so I'll have one list where I have all the different meals down under different headings ie,mince,beef,lamb,chicken,pork,fish,eggs and cheese.

Then I take meals from that list and make a meal plan,that way we never eat any very similar meals 2 nights running,I know what I need to buy and everyone's happy with what's for dinner every night.

We run about £500/month on food, that's two adults and two teenagers. One of the teenagers is wheat intolerant, which makes things a bit more expensive. We do get nice things though, and if we needed to cut back we could cut back a lot.

Omg! My post got in the daily mail? Why did they bother? They just copied and pasted the thread. I'm mortified.
Lots of great ideas here but also it seems that food is just bloody expensive these days!

75/week for 2 parents and 2 young primary kids. Shop at Aldi/Lidl with a bread and milk top up midweek at the co-op. 125/week is believable at sainsburys or waitrose but probably can be easily improved

I'm really shocked at how much people spend. My house has 2 adults, a 14 year old, twin 9 year olds, a 4 month old, a dog and two cats. I spend between £60- £70 a week on my online asda shop. I cook everything from scratch and we eat very healthy and well. I probably spend an extra £10- £20 at my local shop getting bits in, but on a whole I think I do really well with budgeting.

In my house hold there is me, my husband, 19 year old son, 16 year old son, 13 years old daughter and 4 year old daughter. We also have 6 cats (long story) a labrador and a shih tzu I probably spend about £750 a month on food. I do mainly only buy the offers :)

We budget £320 a month for food and petrol - have one little car, 2 adults and DS 5.

We get our meat from the butchers and meal plan, both things have made a huge difference. I find it really is possible to have plenty of fruit and veg and nice meals on that amount.

2 adults and 2 babies and about that. £300 on supermarket shop, £100 wine order and £70 meat box.

Yes, YABU. 1 adult, 3 kids here....just spent almost £190 on groceries for 2 weeks and realised I've forgotten quite a few items so will be popping over to the store to get those. I easily spend £500 or more every month! Depends on what you are purchasing of course...