Monthly food shop is this expensive?

[Foxysoxy01]

Today I spent the day helping a friend out with her monthly budgeting (they are saving for a new extension so need to have a realistic monthly budget to stick to)

One of the costs was £400 a month on the food shop. My first thought was that seemed huge and it could be cut down maybe even nearly halved. There are 3 of them my friend, her husband and their teenage boy that is a bottomless pit!

She explained it included washing powder/comfort, cleaning products and packed lunch stuff for DS and didn't think she could do it for less.

She shops at Tesco/Sainsbury's and normally has it delivered.

Having thought about it I actually think maybe she was right and food is just more expensive than it used to be and prices have just sort of crept up without me really registering.

So my AIBU is...do you think I was wrong and £400 a month is fair or is she way off?
What are your weekly/monthly costs in comparison?
And what do you do to make it cheaper?

We have a monthly budget for food of £500. This is for two adults and two DC (13 and 11) and is for everything including toiletries. We don't deliberately cut back - I'm pretty sure we could spend less if we tried (would need to check but think we average around £450 or so a month)

Teenage boys really do eat you out of house and home.

Having said that, she could probably look at the 'lunch stuff'. If she's buying deli meats, sliced cheese, bags of crisps, etc., then that could all be tweaked. Roast some meat and slice it, bake, buy bricks of cheese instead of individually wrapped/sliced or other convenient items.

Cut out any fizzy drinks and excessive sugary stuff.

Cleaning supplies - she could investigate using white vinegar and homemade concoctions.

Get familiar with Aldi and Poundland for groceries and supplies..

Does she have a freezer?

There are some things worth buying local for. Bigger nicer eggs are one of them.

Its not all about cheap.

Does she actually drive? Just wondering as you will take her to tag along with you.

Thanks very much for the replies I will pass them on to her!

She does have a freezer but not a chest one so a reasonable amount of space but not big enough for proper bulk buying.

She does drive so can get to Aldi but as a poster said earlier it would probably cost more in petrol than it would save especially as she gets the cheaper delivery slots (she works from home so flexible)

Costco for bulk washing powder etc is a great idea! But I thought you had to have a business or qualify in someway? I may have to do some googling

Sounds reasonable to me. Ours is about £150+ a week but we have 4 kids ( 3 of them teenage boys) and a fussy dog that has expensive tastes.

The average weekly food shop for a family of 3 is £60 a week

Sounds cheap to me, I spend 750 a month.
But organic vegetables, meat from butcher and packed lunches for everyone, no takeaway.

For four adults id say about right. We spend £40 pw on 2 adults.

If she wants to save money off that then she can. Suggest two cheap meals a week, and the rest her normal. Check out how much is spent on cereal- that can be really expensive.