...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?

About £120 a week and there are 4 of us

Waaaaaay too much

Everything goes in including bleach, fab con, etc.

Six of us plus a cat

100 per week every Saturday

Then about £20 plus 30 plus 25 on top up crap each week:

So 175 per week.

Ridiculous

Lidl weekly shop of about £60 p/wk plus a monthly top up in Asda of about £80, which is nappies, wet wipes, toiletries, tinned stuff we prefer not to buy from Lidl or is cheaper in Asda and some freezer stuff - frozen veg, fish fingers etc. That also normally includes some cleaning products like softener which again is cheaper in Asda. I try to only top up with milk and treats (after school sweets / ice lollies) in the week. Recently I've been going to Asda for the weekly shop to save doing two runs and I'm spending more and getting less food.

This is for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats.

I do find if I'm well stocked up with essentials like tins and frozen veg, as well as buying cat food in bulk I can do a weekly shop for far less - around £40. It's the non essentials that bulk up my shop.

Why do many people assume you can't get variety and the necessary nutrients from cheaper, more seasonal fruit and vegetables? When I was a child we ate much more seasonally than people are used to doing now which meant you really looked forward to particular fruits in season, they were much cheaper and it was much better for the environment as well as being nutritionally superior because they didn't all need to be flown halfway round the world.

So how do you all manage it. Including four beers and a bottle of wine for 4 adults this weekend and three next week I have spent in sainsburys today £115. Dinners are:

Today: Chicken with mayo, cream and grapes, salad and new potatoes. DS/DH will finish for supper tomorrow.

Tom: Lamb braised with wine, thyme, red wine, cannelini beans, spud dauphinoes, purple sprouting and rhubarb crumble n custard (home made)

Mon: Cod and spinach bake with cheese sauce, croquet pits and peas

Tues: Meatballs, tom sauce, pasta and salad

Weds: Sausage, mash and beans

Thurs: Omelette, chips and salad

Fri: Chilli con and salad

And also bought: Cottage cheese. Ryvita, garlic oil, easy peelers, salad stuff Jaffa cakes, crisps, cereal, muesli, milk juice, butter, cheese, crumpets, yoghurt, mayo, cream, custard, elderflower cordial, Lu ozades, cat good, bacon, eggs, pesto, cannelini beans, passata thyme, ginger

There will be top ups

Family of seven and I spend about 800 a month!! Would love to be more frugal and reduce this 🤔

I budget £10 a day for all food. We rarely eat out. 2 adults a 6yr old DD and 3yr old DD. I do online delivery and have it delivered every 5 days so spend around £50 every 5 days. This ensures no waste as most fresh food is gone by day 5 and i can stock a clear fridge when it arrives.
That figures includes all cleaning products and cat food. I also cook everything from scratch and do not buy freezer food like nuggets.

I'm trying to think how we keep our costs down.

We don't drink fizzy drinks (we use super cheap squash or just drink water). Neither of us drink alcohol.

We're happy with basic fruit and veg - bananas, apples, oranges, raisins, peas, sweetcorn, carrots, plus whatever's in the Super 6 at ALDI like melons, pineapples etc.

Wonky potatoes from Morrisons rather than paying loads.

Only DH and DD have bread (I'm coeliac and avoid buying GF bread if possible). Value brown bread + cheap cheese spread = lunches for a week. One box of Schar crispbread things are £1.20 for me, that's my lunches for two weeks.

One big bag of cheap crisps - £1.59 in Aldi for 18 I think it is - lasts two weeks.

A bag of GF pasta is £1.20. DD has normal pasta. Boil in the bag rice is 75p for either 4 or 6 portions (can't remember). Tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, tinned spaghetti, tinned peas, tinned sweetcorn. Tomato puree. We'll buy a cheap French stick and DD and DH have mini French bread pizzas with ham and veg on there.

One pack of cheap mince, two packs of chicken thigh fillets (cheaper than breast) from ALDI. That becomes a bolognese or shepherd's pie, chicken tikka and chicken & potatoes & veg. Cheap Bolognese/tikka sauces.

Toiletries wise we get loads of shampoos etc at Christmas, once those are used up we use cheapy cheap stuff. 99p fabric softener, 85p washing powder from Morrisons. Think washing up liquid is 50p at ALDI? We get toilet roll from Morrisons and nappies & wipes from ALDI.

Meals aren't the healthiest all of the time but we do our best. I'm starting a new job next month and hoping to be able to go up to £150/200 a month on groceries, so we can do it a bit healthier, but needs must :)

It depends on how much overtime I've managed to do for the month

I've just had a huge delivery from Tesco that was £150, and that has to do us for the month as I can only afford to do a shop once a month

That's for DD, four cats and me

DD works full time and pays me board money, but every penny of that has to go towards our rent

I'm getting better at meal planning and budgeting, I used to be hopeless due to long term mental illness

Oh the Roses - you could go meat / fish free a few times a week. It's not to everyone's taste, but I find buying meat quite expensive and I like to buy free range rather than the cheapest meat. Budget won't stretch to organic, and I don't like to buy big joints either. I like to buy more expensive cuts / products from the reduced fridge at Asda / M&S either to freeze immediately or eat that night.

I got given a bread maker for Christmas. Most weeks I now make at least one loaf.

I also reckon you need to consider swapping supermarkets, particularly for branded items (if you can't do without). Proper brand party rings were double the price in Sainsbury's than Asda!

Don't know per month but we buy meat that's on offer and then freeze (Waitrose is our local). Buy veg fresh every morning. DH spends money on beers/wine - maybe 6 beers and 1 wine a week. Then there the crap food I buy like biscuits and sweets and chocolates, those in itself maybe £10 a week. If I had to make an educated guess it would be £400 a week, give or take. This is for two adults and one toddler (who seems to eat more than me) When my son starts eating I'm sure costs will go up.

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 haven't read all the replies on purpose, as wanted to give an honest answer without being swayed!
£150 a month sounds about right to me and in this household there's me, DH, and two dcs! We have a great, healthy diet too.
What the hell do you have to buy to spend up to £700?! That's ridiculous.(Saw that amount from another poster as I went to send my message,)

My budget is £150 a week
I'm me, DH and 4YO so same as you.

£150 a WEEK on food for you, partner, and one child. Just what the actual fuck are you buying?! Do you find you have lots of waste? Or do you consume the entire lot and have no leftovers?
Genuine question to all asked.

£260 pm for two adults. Not including any alcohol as that is from our own money. Some weeks it is 80 odd quid and others 20 depending on how well stocked we are. We could definitely do it for less if necessary. Nobody NEEDS squaffles.

£800 per month for 4 people plus approximately £100 per month for cat food and litter. No alcohol. Everything fresh and organic, fair trade and free range etc. I'm happy with the amount as we always eat healthily and can't get what I want for any cheaper.

I spend about £160 to £180 per month, for 2 adults and 2 cats. It could be less but I use delivery saver so need to spend £40 minimum, and don't have flexibility for delivery day.

I am impressed with some of the monthly spends on this thread. I cook everything from scratch and yet for me, DP and 2 teens our monthly grocery shop is at least £600. More in a month when we have people over for dinner or lunch. Even though we go to the cash and carry for bulk buys like toilet roll, tinned tomatoes, etc. And I often go to Aldi for cheap cereals, biscuits for the DC's packed lunches etc. The £600 includes all household cleaning products but not very much alcohol. About £60 a month goes just on stuff for the DC's packed lunches. They have a sandwich, fruit and 2 x lunch box bars (like a Tunnock's) per day. We don't eat meat every day either!

Two adults and three DC (8.5, 6 and 3). We are on a tight budget at the moment as saving for an extension, and we are averaging £70 a week for food (inc cleaning products and toiletries excluding my skincare). We cook entirely from scratch and mainly vegetarian, and I reckon I could knock another fiver a week off if I really tried, but it would be a bit grim. So we're averaging £300 a month.

I'm ashamed to admit I don't actually know.

OH does half the shopping and all the cooking at weekends, He tends to splurge on fancy stuff.
We don't eat much meat so that keeps costs down.
I guess we spend £300 a month.

Family of 5.

Sorry if you were offended OP. I didn't mean to offend you. I am just amazed that £150pm gets a variety of fresh fruit and veg that meets the five a day or 10 a day now. But like people have said, maybe this can't be your priority right now - or maybe you do manage it! I was just curious as to how.
I think the main thing for us is that we don't live anywhere near a cheap supermarket like Aldi or Lidl, where the fruit and veg and everything by the sound of it is much cheaper!

And for people wondering what you but if your budget is £150pw... I'll confess it's things like a couple of £8 bottles of wine, branded cereal, all fresh fruit and veg, including more expensive things like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries daily. A fair bit of meat. This does include lunches for dcs

and we have no waste and use leftovers

The 5 a day was just invented by the Government on the spur of the moment. It is not too hard to get enough veg at a cheap price. We spend a fair bit in Waitrose (although as I said above I would be more than happy with Tesco - it was just teenager pressure for Waitrose and I earn a fair bit so it's not an issue) but I can live on a lot less if needs be. We only drink tap water for example although one boy has almond milk on his porridge - the vegan one.

This may not work but I just took a picture of yesterday's receipt as it can be interesting to see what people buy. My older (adult) son was with the teenagers but he put his own things in his own basket and paid for himself. I don't buy his food. So this was the twins and I.... Wow I didn't realise the bread roll was 9 pence. It was near the end of the day although not deliberately so - the boys had been out.

Pur best system with younger children in the past was delivery to the house after an on-line from Tesco with each person putting in the on-line basket what they needed and then it arrived when the cleaner was here and she put it all away; so I wouldn't even have to put the stuff away and no going round a shop with small chidlren using pester power. That worked very well for at least ten years as a system.
Receipt:

Unless you can make that picture bigger, e.g. on a phone, I don't think that really has worked. Too small to see.

£400 a month for two adults, toddler, baby and cat. This is at aldi! But we buy a lot of chicken which mounts up and it includes all toiletries too. We also like treats... we could definitely make it cheaper if we wanted but we don't spend money on much else!