How much do you spend weekly on food? AIBU to spend?

[early30smum]

Just that, really? For how many people and does that include cleaning stuff/toiletries? Just stuff bought in supermarkets/online/small shops etc not including any meals out/coffees etc. We seem to spend a lot and I'm beginning to think IABU about the amount... Interested to hear what everyone roughly spends.

Around 150 per week - 2 adults 2 children and a cat. We shop at Sainsbury's but often do top ups during the week when running low on the basics. We are spending too much but not sure where/how to cut down as we rarely buy 'treats' and we don't drink either.

Approx £75 a week. 2 adults and 2 kids. THat includes all breakfast, dinner and all lunches for both of the adults and one of the kids (the 8y/o will tolerate a school dinner, but the autistic 5 y/o will not)

I could quite easily spend double that (I did on Xmas week and it was WONDERFUL!) but we can't afford it, so we scrimp, save and go without treats. I hate it, but needs must.

2 adults, 1 6yo and one toddler, averaging £50 a week at Ocado. No booze and v little meat or I wouldn't manage that.

I'm not loyal to any brand or shop. I bulk buy offers when I see them as I have 2 x 6ft chest freezers plus one above the fridge, so some weeks my shopping is nothing at all as I'll use stuff from there, but on other weeks it may be double my average weekly shop as I snap up offers when I see them.

I recently bought a 3.7kg leg of lamb for £3 along with a free range bronze turkey for £4 ( 5-6kg), lean steak mince 450g for 32p, 3 packs of 2 salmon fillet pieces for 9p each, 2 x 180g mackerel fillets at 9p each, 3 packs 8 wraps for 9p each, 2 seeded loaves for 9p each and 360g king prawn for 99p each (x 2 packs).

Everything gets portioned out where required and then frozen with best before date written clearly on the outside.

Everything in my freezers is repackaged into containers and zip lock bags and then neatly stacked and organised into different categories so that is easy to find what you need, eg, bakery, fish, seafood, meat, poultry, home-made meals, veg, etc.

I cook things like shepherd's pie, various stews and casseroles, fish pie, pasties, meat and veg pie, steamed fish, pasta, risotto, roasts, chilli, etc, and I bake my own bread. I follow a weekly meal plan based on what I've got in the freezer and apart from reduced items, which I buy when I see, I stick to a shopping list.

Breakfast is generally porridge oats or another cereal made with water or milk and served with small handful of fresh fruit (eg, few grapes, few segments of tangerine, a couple of raspberries or whatever was on offer).

On the weekends it might be toast with scrambled/poached eggs or for something special: bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Lunch for dc is 1 round of sandwiches with ham or cheese, etc, small fruit juice, 1 or 2 pieces of fruit/salad veg, 1 individual treat eg, 20g pack mini fingers or 1 gold bar, etc (snacks vary according to what was on offer) and maybe a chunk of cheese. Plus they take a homemade flapjack or something for a snack.

Dinner is homemade. Meat portion is around 150g per person, sometimes a bit more (eg, when a steak or slices of roast meat), sometimes much less (eg, when in a stew). I make my own basic sauce, etc, in bulk and freeze them in portions that are enough for 2 and I add different ingredients to them after defrosting to make different things, eg, bolognese, chilli, arrabiata, etc.

The DC have a snack after school which usually consists of 1 slice toast and jam. We don't always have dessert but when we do it's either homemade (eg, sticky toffee pud) or a yoghurt.

I avoid yellow sticker shopping after getting assaulted in Tesco by a man for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was I minding my own business looking for something on a shelf, then an announcement came over the tannoy thing saying final reductions were taking place and I got stampeded by a small crowd and one chap went shoulder first through me, he was grabbing armfuls of whatever was there, without looking (as were a lot of people) and I was on the floor very battered and bruised. It was a Tesco employee that helped me up.

£120 for 2 adults and 2 DC.

we shop in Lidl and Saintsbury's. Lots of fresh food (fruit, veg, fish, meat). Not much processed stuff which makes our shopping bill probably a bit higher. We don't buy brands and are yellow label shoppers.

2 family members are gluten intolerant so for some stuff we have to double up from the free from section.

DC have lunch at school but all other meals come out of our weekly food shop. DH and I take food to work and we don't really eat out and never have take aways.

Recently it has been £200 to £300 per week for 5 of us (3 teenage DCs) so £40 to £60 per person. That's shopping in Waitrose / M&S and includes toiletries, cleaning stuff and (wine. We buy free range meat, lots of veg etc and too much semi prepared food. Experimenting with getting some stuff from Sainsbury's / Aldi.

2 adults, 2 teenagers, 2 primary age kids. £80 a week but kids all have school dinners.

That's not just food but cleaning stuff etc from supermarket.

75-90 pw depending on whether we're buying non-food add ons like nappies, wipes (I shamelessly buy all my make up apart from foundation on the Asda shop as they stock rimmel and I don't have time during the week/no places that sell cosmetics near work). That's for a family of 3 inc a 2 year old. I also buy all snacks and lunches during the week for me and DH rather than buying at work.

Do those of you who spend £60/week for a family of 4 (or similar) for all food & groceries do so because you have to (I.e. Money is tight) or because you like being frugal, because I don't see how you can spend so little if you weren't being extremely careful and disciplined.

Bit of both, bananabread. The actual budget is £100 pw but I would rather treat the kids with the leftover 20 or so quid (nb £14 for DS school dinners on top of the £60). We eat v well -lots of fruit, veg, meat etc. Mostly cook from scratch. We shop around, use vouchers and cashback shopping apps etc and it all helps. Havent had to shop this week at all

*Do those of you who spend £60/week for a family of 4 (or similar)...

and does it really cover all or do your DC have dinner at school, do you go to a canteen or get a sandwich from somewhere for lunch? eating out? take sways?

I have friends who don't spend more than £60 but they don't take sandwiches to work but buy lunch, have take aways and regular meals out.

Banana why would you not want to keep your money instead of needlessly handing it over to one of the big supermarkets?

About £100 pw for 2 adults and a cat. But also feed a teenager once a week and 4 other people once a week.

Eat out once a week or so and have lunch out at the weekend, not included in the above.

Need to cut down on the eating out.

We spend about 85 a week in the supermarket, plus £22 a week on school dinners and probably, £20 a week on other bits liked milk and bread top ups and a lunch at a station/airport when working. So really about 135 ish as I probably forgot something.

Should say 2 adults, 2 children and a cat

£60-80 here. I think I have got in to a frugal habit tbh. Family of 4- doesn't include dcs lunches, but I always take food from home, dh about half the time. This week's menu:
Saturday lunch -veggie soup, left over Xmas cheese and crackers
Tonight- pizza, garlic bread, pop corn in front of movie
Tommorow- big breakfast ( waffles) then having friends over will do big lasagne, salad and may make a pie ( thinking lemon merigne)
Monday- left over smoked salmon, creme franchise, pasta
Tuesday-French onion soup
Wednesday- Salmon fillets in oven woth green beans and cousin cousin
Thursday- stew/curry from freezer
Friday- tomato risotto

Snacks are crackers with peanut butter or cheese, fruit.

Breakfasts tend to be muesli or eggs.
1 litre of juice lasts the week (correct portion size is 150mls). Otherwise we drink water.

Around £150 a week, that includes nappies, wipes, dog food, cat food x 2 and cleaning products (I have OCD so probably spend too much on cleaning products), plus packed lunches for work/school for DP and DS1. The odd top up of milk/bread etc sometimes in the middle of the week.

About £80 a week in Tesco for 2 adults and 2 kids. That's all lunches as well (one DC has free school dinners though). I plan all meals, right down to how many carrots etc! Buy a fair bit of value stuff, although not everything. Never buy ready meals, not too many snacks. Could easily spend more but try not to! It's just about buying exactly what you need.

Family of 5 here. 4 DC ranging from 17 to 2yrs. I spend £75 a week because that is all I can afford.

For 2 adults & 4dc- £120-£150 a week depending on cleaning items & toiletries. That includes the dog food, from a local supplier, that we buy monthly for the 2 dogs. Dh has a packed lunch most days & dc3 has them twice a week. 2 school age dc are currently y1&2 so get lunch for free. I'm at home everyday with dc4. We occasionally top up but it's usually just milk or a loaf of bread & occasionally fruit. We meal plan.

Jilted

Don't be silly, there are many reasons to spend more than a very, very basic £60 pw on family of 4 than wanting to 'line the pockets of supermarkets'. I might want to eat more fresh fruit and meat, or I may not have time to cook from scratch, or I may like something more exotic than the 'value' brands, or even a couple of bottles of wine.

banana are yiu sitting comfortably or are your judgey pants on a little tight this morning?

What in earth makes you think we live on a diet of value brands, no fresh fruit or veg and no wine?

It's just me, DP and four cats. We spend about £80-100 per week.

It would be much lower but DP is a personal trainer and eats five meals a day all with some form of protein so we buy A LOT of meat and poultry.