AIBU to ask how much you spend a month on groceries?

[dreamingaboutcheese]

I'm trying to budget for an incoming mat leave/new baby and don't know if I'm budgeting too much for groceries. I currently spend around £500 a month (in London) on 2 adults, 1 toddler and 2 cats. Is that about normal or do you think I could do it much cheaper? Would love to know how much everyone else spends on groceries for context...

I get dog food from Amazon Skinners Field and trial £25 lasts the dog 2 to 3 months.Two adults spend on food is £40 to £50 Ocado plus £15 organic veg plus odd bits of milk etc and extra meat for weekend.Probably all in £75.I make everything no ready meals, no cheap processed meats etc,

£600
Mostly aldis.

2 adults, 3 kids (13, 19, 8), zillions of entertaining.
That includes almost all lunches and snacks for us all. 2-3 bags of filter coffee a week, couple of bottles of wine a week, loads of fruit, the odd present thrown in from sainsbos...

£80pw, £320 pm for just the two of us. I tend to do one shop at Waitrose, one at Aldi and two on line Tesco shops a month. we get eggs and some veg from a local farm shop. We are vegetarian and DH is coeliac which makes it a bit more expensive. total includes packed lunches for both of us.

Weekly shop is £70 and I top up daily but usually only bits like bread, milk I roughly spend between £5-10 a day Mon - thurs Friday as our big ish shop
We feed 2 adults 5 kids ranging between 2 and 16 the 2 youngest have lunch in the school settings.
Dog food I spend £40 a month .

600 pounds 2 adults 2 kids, most is beer and wine ;)

I might add we live Devon and I shop Tescos and Waitrose ,

About £800 a month for 4 of us and a big dog. I like to buy 'nice' food, and cook from scratch most days. We all do a lot of sport so eat quite a lot, but no booze or junk in there at all. Mostly Tesco (I tried Aldi but hated it! And had to go to Tesco anyway as they didn't have half of what I needed!) and live in that SE. It's a lot of money but important to me that we eat well.

About £75-£100 per month for myself plus 2 dinners a week for non live in partner and 22 year old daughter sometimes helps herself to my food.Do most of my shopping in Aldi/Lidl and make a lot of casseroles.I'm also not squeamish about using road kill as it's free meat with no guilt attached.

£300-£400 for 2 adults, a 5 year old and a dog. That includes doing husband and I packed lunch every day.

800 per month for us too including nappies and toiletries. We are 3 adults and 3 kids. We couldn't do it any cheaper - I try to keep it as low as possible. We don't eat junk and everything is cooked from scratch.

grumpy I used to spend that at Tesco too, dropped dramatically when I switched to Aldi and I have nice things included in that like their aged steak, salmon, nice cheeses etc. and maybe 1 bottle of wine. So, £80 average per week for 2 adults and 2 teens(girls) I make the girls' lunches for school and I eat at home too. DH sometimes takes leftovers from night before or makes food to take to work. I might have to top up fruit and milk midweek . I get dog food on Zooplus online for £20 per month.

BTW Aldi is getting better and better. They now stock brown rice and pasta as well as cous cous. So, now I don't have to top up at Morrisons! I cook meals from scratch nearly everyday.The quality is fantastic there. No complaints but the best thing is that I can do a big shop in well under 40 mins because there isn't the mind boggling choice that you get in Tesco etc (Aldi , I accept cheques )

Probably around £400 a month, we work full time so some of it is convenience food like ready cooked jacket spuds/pizza but I try to get things on offer and have a well stocked larder. 2 adults and 2 primary aged kids (one on free school meals)

We don't live near Aldi/farmfiids/Iceland/Lidl so it's Tescos and Asda.

I reckon I spend between £700 - £800 in a month. There are 6 of us (2 adults, 3 teens and a 10 year old) and that includes all meals. We rarely eat out/have a takeaway. It also inlcudes laundry & cleaning products.

Prior to the divorce we or she rather was getting through a £thousand a month two adults two children, in their teens and a cat.

Since then much less:)

Mind you who can afford to shop at Waitrose that's where the grand was a goin' i reckon!.

I don't believe any of these posts where it says they're spending £50 a week. I'm sorry, but I really don't.

£130 a month????!!! Behave. We easily spend that in about 10 days. And yes, We meal plan. Can these posters put up receipts to prove their low spends?

Having said that, I count all things like nappies, shampoo, washing powder etc as being part of the food shop. Maybe some of these cheap posts don't include these?

Prices have definitely gone up lately, at least 20-30p an item. Aldi is not as cheap as it used to be.

£600/month
2 adults 2 kids
We hardly eat out and don't do takeaways.
Most months we buy no alcohol at all.
The £600 does include stuff like detergent, shampoo, razors, sanpro, kitchen role, etc.
Still seems a lot. We do eat a lot of high quality food. Lots of fresh fish and I will buy whatever fresh fruit the kids ask for. Nuts instead of carby-snacks, etc.

Two adults - packed lunches for work every day.

I spend between £25-£35 a week. £35 if I get cleaning stuff/shampoo/loo roll etc as well as food. But I cook most things from scratch and we don't have meat, eggs or dairy, which does keep the costs down. I also buy the huge sacks of rice/lentils/spices which are tons cheaper than smaller packs.
I try to choose the cheapest per KG to keep the price down, and I freeze veg if it's on an offer. I also buy all the 'wonky veg' - about 35p for a bag of huge carrots/onions and 1.17 for a bag of six peppers - the three packs are 96p and individual 60p so it's a big saving.
Things like Cous Cous and quinoa are really expensive when already cooked - those Jamie Oliver sachets etc. However you can easily get a bag of these things dried for a fraction of the cost and they're quick to cook.
If possible get stuff in jars or tins instead of the fresh antipasti bit - olives roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes etc. much cheaper there!

No tips for pets I'm afraid but I bet you can get your bill down loads :)

StarUtopia - I used to live on £800 a month - that was rent, bills, travel, toiletries, food. I'm on better money than that now (not much but significant to me!) but it does become deeply ingrained. I use all own brand stuff, probably always will haha!

No not a typo it's £150 a month with some milk/bread top ups in the week. I wish I could afford that per week I really do. I don't have any more spare per month to spend anymore. I buy value where I can and offers where I can. I buy washing powder in sacks as it's cheaper that way and as we do 2-7 washes a day it really helps. I buy comfort et al bottles of softener, the big ones when they go on £3/4 offer. Food wise it really depends whats on offer. I stock the freezer with things like pies, sausages, kievs aswell as hash browns, waffles etc but also buy a lot of fresh and frozen veg, potatoes, gammon, pork, chicken. I don't know what else to say. If you haven't got much money you make what you do have stretch.

Fair play Tobii but I still honestly can't fathom how it's possible to feed 8-10 people for £5 per day, especially if that also includes washing/cleaning stuff. We couldn't do 3 meals plus fruit/snacks for the two of us for that amount. You are literally a shopping hero to be able to pull that off.

About £450 including all toiletries/basic household cleaning stuff etc but not lunch except for two days a week. 2 adults and 1 child.

£500 a month for 3 adults and 2 hungry toddlers. Includes some booze, some work lunches but not all.

Between £150 and £200 a week. 5 adults, 1 child, various pets. I shop at Lidl , Aldi and home bargains too except for meat which comes from a local butcher. That's probably anything between £80 and £100 in supermarket, £20 - £30 in butchers and then calling in for things on the way home (my downfall).

About £200 a month for two adults plus one large dog.
The dog gets skinners working dog, so vat free, it's good stuff, grain free.
I meal plan, use mysupermarket app to find cheapest place to do weekly big shop, between tesco and sainsburys. Into healthy eating so loads of veg and nuts. I will only buy meat from wairose or sainsburys, though will but fish from all shops. Top up shops from waitrose or tesco. About eight bottles of wine a month, I stock up decent wines when on offer.