To ask why surviving costs so much?

[splendidisolation]

What is your monthly supermarket spend? Per person if possible?

I just did a shop for the month and it cost me £200. I looked at the receipt and thought fucking hell. I've barely got anything really. Canned goods, pasta, rice, a few vegetables some meat, cat food, stuff like shampoo, loo roll, bin bags. The only non essential item I got was a bottle of wine and a bottle of pop.

WTF!!!!

I'm only shocked because before I used to do small shops every day, seeing it laid out like that makes me think we really get fuck all for our money!

Oh and btw it's not Waitrose-sourced artisanal handrolled tortellini, elderflower cordial from Penelopes Grove Ltd and farmers' market camembert I'm buying here if you get me.

I have a family of five. In the US, I spend $800 per month (£591.84). That's mostly organic produce, ethically raised meat, etc.

Well surely that's only a stock up list you will now need a fresh food shop every week on top ? I find dates are so bad now in the supermarkets it's hard even to do a weekly shop before everything is out of date . Most fruit and veg tends to only have 2 or 3 days on it.

I remember when £100 would fill a big trolley in asda , you can struggle to fill a small trolley now.

I'll be honest I'm not entirely sure how much I spend. I should really take note one month. I will say though that I tend to shop in places like home bargains for toiletries and cleaning supplies. I do a shop there which lasts me a while.
Food is definitely going up in price but I do try hard to meal plan as much as possible. For example bulking out Bolognese with any veg I have in (frozen sweet corn and peas, peppers, carrots, celery and mushrooms) then freezing extra portions.

Tesco have just increased the price of my favourite porridge by 10p. Within the last week or two. I am feeling fucked off with them.

Exactly right @numbmum83

On top of that I will need an extra 3 weeks' worth of meat and veg.

Around £40 per week for 3 people cos we shop around

I can easily spend £50 in a top up shop. My fruit and veg shop alone for the week is £40. Soya milk and yogurts easily another £10/15 for kids. So £100 for a weekly shop

We're a family of four and we spend roughly £60-£80 a week on food shopping. We go to Tesco, Iceland and Home Bargains. It is expensive and we probably buy more than we need but meal planning, batch cooking and dieting has helped keep it in balance. Our dc are still only young though; I'm fully expecting it to go up as they get bigger and eat more.

200 a month? The uk is very cheap - most of Northern Europe has supermarket prices double and up of what the uk has.

We don't buy organic artisan produced shit either, and we can spend that in a week. And for a crap selection of slightly off veg as well :/

I miss uk supermarkets

Supermarkets only make money because they assume most people buy everything in one go, so they can suck you in by some headline grabbing offers such as bogof or 3 for a fiver etc and then grossly overcharge for everything not on special offer that week.

If you shop around, say 3 supermarkets, you can save a fortune by taking advantage of the different special offers and minimise the stuff you buy at the inflated full price. I.e. 6 pack of beans from sainsbury, 12 pack of loo rolls from asda, and BOGOF cakes from Tesco.

Doing all your shopping in a single supermarket is a mug's game that will cost you an arm and a leg.

Doing all your shopping in a single supermarket is a mug's game that will cost you an arm and a leg

It may be, but 1. We don't have the choice of supermarkets the uk has and 2. Who has time to schlepp round three different places ?

just still scraping £2 per person per day. (prices going up)

about £180 per month.

Start shopping around. If I was truly honest about what we spend (including lunches for work) it would be about £80 a week.

I do an online shop at Sainsburys - use the £18 off a £60 shop.
I buy canned goods from B&M and probably spend £15 a week on top ups. The rest lunch for work.
This week however, we have so many meals in the freezer that I did a £20 shop in Aldi for snacks, fruit, veg etc and am using my freezer for the rest.

I am in Oz and I spend about 200 dollars a week...which is twice what you spend more or less. I buy only very basic things for four...two adults and two kids.

Three days we eat meat...4 we don't. No wine..no pop or juice...loads of fresh veg and salad and fruit. Pasta, rice, coffee is our biggest luxury.

Family of four here and can easily spend £250 a month, We don't have the option to shop at 3 different supermarkets etc. It definitely costs more now than it did a few years ago.

Because the price of food has gone up, and by quite a lot as well, while the value of wages hasn't increased at the same pace. The rise in food prices is partly because the value of the pound has tanked after Brexit.

i don't have the inclination to shop at 3 different supermarkets - i don't want to wast my saturday going from shop to shop

It's hard to judge if £200 per month is unreasonable because it's not a full month's shop if you're not including 3 weeks of fresh stuff.

I spend about £80 per week for a family of 4 during term time (more during school holidays). That's probably less than you per person, but hard to tell because I do a weekly shop for all I need rather than a monthly shop and weekly top-ups for fresh stuff.

These threads amaze me as I can't imagine buying enough food for the 4 of us for £200 a month. We eat a lot of fresh food but are tied to online shops because both kids have autism and real life shopping is impossible. We can sometimes manage a 15minute run around Aldi but no way I could supermarket surf for all the bargains. I dread to think what we spend a month but it is considerably more that's £200 a month

If you still need 3 weeks worth of meat and veg on top of that, what on earth are you buying?

I'm trying to live off of £50 a week (£200 a month) for 3 of us, dd's now eat adult portions but do have cooked school meals so I don't need to cook for them weekday evenings. I do buy a few extras during the week but mainly bread and milk. I don't shop around as I don't have the time, can't think of anything worse than visiting 3 supermarkets in a day, I do a online shop at Tesco so I'm not tempted to pick up things we don't need.

I spend about 500 euro a month for three of us.

It might well be possible to spend less but when I walk in the door after being at work all day I don't want to have to cook from fresh every night too (that's another job) so we do eat processed lasagnes and so on, but with frozen veg. Nothing extravagant going on. Always conscious of costs whilst still allowing the things I don't want to give up, like, rombouts one cup coffee filters! That's a quality of life issue !!

But food aside, I do think life is too hard for too many people. Working five days a week just to pay rent/mortgage and travel / car to get to said job. Or, eking out existence on benefits, being cornered further and further away from the workplace and opportunity to earn a salary that allows more than existence.

A roof over one's head should be an easier process. People shouldn't have to work five days a week.. I would like to see more basic properties available to all but subsidised and more jobs being 3 or 4 days a week. I work in an office of people who would LOVE to work 3 or 4 days a week but all have to work 5 days.

Life is just a grind sometimes.

200 a month? The uk is very cheap - most of Northern Europe has supermarket prices double and up of what the uk has

Try telling the people on the Brexit thread that :)

Ugh. Supermarket shops. Groceries. The bane of my life. I don't tally it up, but we roughly spend £60-75 for a fortnights shop for two adults and a 4 year old (though he's the size of a 6 year old and eats like there's no tomorrow. I've no idea where he puts it). Some days it does mean we end up eating cheapy frozen foods. It's not often though. I do the fortnight shop online, its a lot easier to only buy what's needed, and to be honest, if things aren't on offer, I don't buy it. I either look for an alternative, elsewhere, or just don't bother. Then little top up shops will be done if it's needed. We will get luxury items now and then, like icecream, chocolate, fancy yogurts or something, but again, only if it's on offer

I hate to break this to you but food in this country is ridiculously cheap compared to places like Scandinavia.

I visited Norway and Iceland last year and the cost of food and drink - both in restaurants and in supermarkets - made me change the way I shop and cook.

I now meal plan, cook from scratch, and plan how to use up any leftovers.