...to ask how much you spend on groceries per month?

[glitterglitters]

For me, dh and dd (toddler) I get and spend £150 for groceries. Dh also bulk buys chicken from wholesaler every couple of months at about £15 pm.

When I talk to people about this they think it's stingy, too little, utterly crazy?

I make a meannnnm tarka dhaal from scratch too 👌🏼

Yes, I thought you'd say that.

We have plenty of flavour in our diet thanks very much - and our toddler has a very wide diet, at childminders' and at home. I absolutely love cooking, am an academic at a leading British university and am perfectly able to decide on what constitutes a flavourful and nutritious diet. Our diet is rich in the right kinds of carbs, cuisines from a range of countries, including the two continents DH and I come from, we grow our own fruit and veg for the better parts of the months, our own herbs and tomatoes indoors all year round, and eat very little meat for health reasons, and plenty of variety.

You may think its wonderfully liberated and high and mighty of you to come and judge people on how they are feeding their children on frozen jackets while your take dainty bites of feta, but I assure you - first, you are factually wrong, and second, vast numbers of people cannot afford to spend 150 quid a month on fruit. We can - for instance - but we don't. And imagine - we eat healthy, balanced, cooked from scratch, flavourful meals, salt, sugar and meat free - seasonal and nutritious with home grown fruit and veg for much of the year, and manage to stay alive, and contribute meaningfully to the workforce.

Plus if you've ever been to Aldi, they do fab fresh fruit and veg very cheaply as well. Vegetables that are frozen are still good. A bag of frozen kale is just as healthy and useful as the fresh stuff.

Three of us here, me, DH and 4yo Ds. We spend around £60 per week on Tesco online shops for the midweek meals to arrive on a Sunday night ready for the week ahead and then do top up shops for the weekend so we can keep it flexible as we tend to be out and about. So probably £100 in total per week on average.

@Jaagojaago 👏🏼 Yes!

Yes, I thought you'd say that.

As I didn't see this last comment. I see - you're here for a reason, aren't you. Wish I hadn't bothered to respond to you, for.....you know you aren't looking a response really. Come on. Tell us poor folk, what does an avocado taste like? Imagine our impoverished kids, licking their lips, go on then, tell us, what even is hummous? I can only imagine, never getting to eat any of this ever myself...

Probably £60-80 a week. That's two adults and many veg-eating small creatures though. Probably spend ten pounds a week on their fresh food alone. Plus DP likes a drink, so that probably accounts for another twenty pounds. The other problem is that the only supermarket nearby is the Co, which is expensive.

£400 - not inc alcohol. Two adults and an incredibly fickle three year old. I cook from scratch but I won't cut costs with ingredients so that and the binned rejected children's food it mounts up.

It covers lunches for the three of us at least four days in seven as well though.

I spend about £100 per week for a family of 4.

I could do it on less (and have done). But I don't really want to. I want to have a few choices and a bit of leeway. I want to spend my time and energy cooking food we enjoy and fancy. As well as being nutritious.

I don't want to have to use every last odd and sod in the fridge. Or freeze half portions. Or have freezers taking up space. I want to enjoy cooking and eating and experimenting.

We have swapped from tesco/ocado to aldi and have seen real savings which allows us to have more seafood and lamb and pate and berries regularly where they were a treat before. We don't quite eat like kings but we eat very well on a reasonable budget I think.

£400 a month including a bulk meat delivery for 2 adults & 2 kids (9&7)

My DH would love you Glitter! I spend about £150 per week which is for me, DH, stepson who is 20 and then two dc's age 8 and 2. That includes all toiletries and cleaning stuff but it's way too much.

My problem is that I don't eat meat but the rest of the family do so if I'm making bolognese/shepherds pie/chilli etc then I have to make two, one for me and one for them 🙄 We also have a small freezer so batch cooking is out of the question oh and DH refuses to eat the same thing two nights running

I have just advance searched the wonderful blinky.

It all makes sense now - the swathes of money for exotic delicacies, the high horse, and the fruit tea on hummous from Sri Lankan chickpeas. All of it.

Enjoy all the money blinks - you've earned it after all ;-)

Too bloody much!

We do an Ocado (£80pw) and still spend £30 a pop on Saturday and Sunday in Sainsbury's because we are idiots! Me, DP and DD (18mo)

I love my food and would hate to have to 'bulk' out meals with frozen veg, it's sounds so depressing. However, I do need to cut down on our weekly spend. Inflation not helping matters

Per month for a family of 3,

£100 on a meat box from the butcher
£60 on a fruit/veg box from green grocer
£20 on fish from local fishmonger
£60 on dairy, bread, spices etc from supermarket

@Wilberforce2 oh what a nightmare for you having to make multiple meals 😣 It's tough going but I make it work. I'd prefer to make more meat free meals if I'm honest but dh would moan 😂

£40-60 per week for everything... dont do monthly shops but £150 for a month does sound low. We did when living in london suvive on £20-30 per week just shopping at ldll and no pasta as hate pasta...just veg and meats. Eat well but not sure i could get it under £150 now as food prices have gone up.

@KnackeredOldWoman I do bulk out a lot but it is with nice, complimentary veg that suits the meal. Butternut squash, courgette, aubergine. Using herbs and spices etc.

@fishybits I'd love to do that. I try and buy from our butcher as much as possible (it's quite cheap) but the greengrocer is gone and I can't find a fishmonger (despite living by the sea). We do get "proper" bread from dfil but I'd happily spend more from local businesses like that if I could.

No avocados in my house Blinky, not because I'm too poor/stingy, but because I'm very allergic to them. I realise this means I will never achieve full hipster status, but I'm comfortable with it.

I do however make a lovely homemade hummus.

Between £60-£140 per week for 1 adult and 2 teens. Most meals cooked from scratch and includes toiletries and laundry powder etc.

Well I must be doing something wrong... I'm £600 a month for me DH and DD.

That's alcohol, toiletries, pull ups, cleaning products ...

I spend about £600 a month. I need to cut down but it's hard. I love good quality food, lots of meat and it's all the cleaning products that add up

Jaago, love the thought of someone doing an advanced mumsnet search on me! Thank you, that really made me chuckle

It is actually not possible to come on one of these threads and say anything other than "well done, you're feeding your family for a fixer a day".

I didn't name call, not even close. I just pointed out that's such a very tight budget I don't see how much variety is allowed.