To think it's too much?

[Ellatreetop]

We spend £400 on our weekly shop, granted we have a family of seven, shop at Ocado and try to stick to organic fruit/veg/meat but still it seems ridiculous!

How many people in your family, where do you shop and how much do you spend?!

I call bullshit

That’s really far too much. Family of 5 here. We don’t scrimp on food and are making a huge effort to buy locally produced / low packaging food and household supplies (which can be more expensive), often buy organic etc. All in, including some (1-2 each) bought lunches from sandwich shops for the adults and one takeaway coffee / cake each, we spend close to £180/ week on household shopping. I find it cheaper to buy fruit and veg from the greengrocer, and only use the supermarket for store cupboard stuff. We eat very little meat and fish (2 of us are vegetarian, the others will have one or two meat based meals a week), but when we do we buy from the local butcher / fishmonger.

OP you need to talk to the poster who was on here a couple of weeks ago - she spent £20 per week for a family of four. She could give you some tips

That’s really far too much. - who says? OP - good on you. I expect you buy organic meat and veg and single malt whiskey. I'd rather eat well than have Maldives type holidays (errgh).

Screenshot your receipt yes great idea OP.

I mean I've no doubt it's possible to spend that much a week. You could buy an organic grass fed cut of beef for £35 or two organic roast chickens for £49 if you so desired. You could spend £3.99 on small bottle of Organic fresh cold pressed orange juice.

it seems ridiculous! Yes it is.

We spend around £120 a week in tesco. 2 adults, 2 secondary aged children, 3 primary aged children and 2 cats. That doesn't include nappies as we buy those online but does include baby wipes, cleaning products, toiletries and the occasional dvd.

Yeah, photo of receipt or it didn't happen! (Actually we haven't had a good Found A Receipt! Thread for ages, have we?)

Actually, with a large family including multiple teens myself, I could almost see how you could do this. Especially if you shopped at Ocado.

I would love more than anything to do a weekly shop where you just bought whatever you wanted without looking at the price, or having a budget. It would be heaven.

I would love to get so much ready to eat/prepared fruit, I could spend a fortune on that alone for all of us. Organic veg also expensive. Organic meat - very expensive! Two organic steaks are between £12-15 at Ocado. With prepared veg and sides and drinks that could be £100 just for one meal! I don't drink but a couple of bottles of good wine, maybe champagne and maybe some expensive gin (and expensive tonic) would cost a lot. Method or Ecover cleaning stuff. All the laundry stuff you need. Lovely expensive soap. All the snacks you would like, olives and nice crisps etc. Lots of fresh juice. Delicious ice cream. Lots of cat food. Drinks for the DC. Lunchbox stuff. Wanky artisanal bread etc. Lots of cheese.

Also, you could also buy expensive toiletries including bath stuff. (There is a Neals Yard bath oil for £15 and my DDs could probably get through two of them alone!) Ocado do scented candles, home stuff, make up. Maybe a couple of magazines.

I think I may possibly be enjoying this daydream too much I actually want to fill a basket on Ocado and see if I could do it

Fresh flowers! Ocado do them too. I could spend £50 a week on flowers alone.

DH & I plus DS13 (who eats three times as much as me!) and I spend £90ish a week.

Apologies for picking on this particular poster, but that's 3 people. OP has 7. So you can double your 90 and add a bit - say £220. Then she;s buying organic - it's easily done.

Only "too much" if the bills aren't affordable.

Ocado for main shop £100-120. (few extra items from Lidl and M&S each week under £20)

2 adults, 2 preschool age children, no pets (DH buys lunch at work 5 days a week and we have a weekly takeaway).

No nappies. We do buy household and toiletries in the main shop. We all have some dietary restrictions due to food allergies so buy special foods for that which makes it more expensive, especially if we want something everyone can have, but rarely buy meat/fish (3-4 one person portions) which keeps it lower. We do buy alcohol there but it's more an occasional bottle of spirit a couple of times a year a couple of bottles of wine a week. We keep a shopping list of more costly items that don't go off quickly and that we use on an ongoing basis, like laundry powder, alcohol, DHs gluten free cereal, loo roll and then stock up if we see a good discount price.

Can you post your Ocado shop receipt? I bet we can help you get it down a LOT.

I spend about £130/week with an organic Riverford veg and fruit box, Ocado for everything else, and a top-up. Another £30 extra if we are having a party (wine, more food etc). That's for 2 kids, 3 adults. I do meal plan ferociously though, I hate food waste.

Family of three, mainly shop at Ocado, buy organic veg/meat and we spend less than £400/month on groceries (inc cleaning stuff). That includes top up shops, milk delivery and veg box.

Family of ten spend £90-£120 one baby so only food for 8.

Food for 9 sorry .

I budget €800 per month for our family of 3 -- a growing teen who is getting very fussy but needs good nutrition for high impact sports, and DH and I who both work FT and are travelling a lot. I'll often get it under this, but when life goes crazy, I need that cushion to be able to pay for convenience and reasonably nutricious at the same time. And it is a budget that I am happy we can afford.

When I can, I clear out the rubbish in the freezer and batch cook meals that I freeze in single person portions or the odd family portion. Sauces can be defrosted in singles faster and thrown into a large pot together, but also allows me to only take out 1 if the other 2 are travelling or staying late at school etc. But having a few lasagnas or shepherd's pies in family sized pyrex's are also very handy for nights I know we'll all be in.

Normally, I prep veg at home myself, but sometimes I need to go to M&S and get the ready prepped ones that just need cooking, or potato croquets or something rather than peeling and boiling potatoes at home.

We buy a fair amount of organic - some meat, some veg, all milk.

I buy yellow sticker items that I know we'd eat if I have freezer space.

When I have time, I will do prep ahead of time for other times when I know I won't have that time. So one night after dinner I might get the veg ready for the following night's dinner, or make a sauce. Some Sundays I can get a mix of roasted mediteranean veggies prepped and either roasted and frozen, or frozen before cooking, to use on days I know I won't have time to prep. Or buying packs of chicken breasts and dicing them up before freezing. Or buying large bags of uncooked prawns that I can throw into sauces still frozen to cook on rushed nights.

but still it seems ridiculous!

Not sure what the point of your thread is, tbh.

Do you want tips to reduce the amount? Want to compare with others to see if it really is ridiculous? Want to boast? I’m not seeing the point, myself.

Oh my gosh! I've just returned to see too many posts to read right now. I'll read and reply later on!

Just done weekly shop 3 adults and a dog who eats human grade meat, £100

Mumsnet gold. The perfect post to get a reaction.

2 adults 1 toddler. £100 per week this includes a takeaway and nappies/wipes. Shop at lidl with the odd thing from either asda or sainsbury's.

I know this is beside the point but why are people so keen to pay off their mortgage

Because then they don’t have that monthly outgoing anymore!!

£150 per week

Well then go to Aldi and stop buying everything organic

Me, two young boys. I just spent £58 in lidl inc cleaning stuff - will last well over a week.

For a family of four -youngest is a teen so really four adult sized portions, with one non breakfast eater ( but will have a glass of juice or a smoothie on occasion) , one who has lunches at school, one vegetarian who often has different meals, and feeding one extra adult one day a week, i spend aprox 100-110 at tesco including delivery. Usually there is a mid week top up of bread and milk in lidl or Aldi, and any odd things i've forgotten, maybe chippers and a bottle of wine on a friday, or we'll pick up some pizzas on way home so , so i budget another 100- 150 over a month including alcohol, treats out etc

As part of ongoing debate at home that we were spending too much, to be fair debate is we are wasting too much as for example kids pour huge bowls of cereal and dump half down the sink, dh did this weeks shop in lidl he made a big point of coming in below my budget, and he spend 90.68 but i feel this is an important- (but he doesnt) , he got no vegetarian specific food like veggie sausages, his total meat was chicken fillets- a pack of 4, three pork chops and 2 small packs of mince. Thats makes 4 nights of dinners in my opinion , so we are depleating the freezer a lot this week, also no pasta , noodles or rice bought, and only fruit was a pack of 5 kiwi and 6 apples so no where near the two portions a day we would usually have, also he forgot laundry detergent and dishwasher tablets, he did buy at least 5 packets of biscuits that i dont recall on list, extra microwave popcorn and some sandpaper!!

we looked at it online added cost of one extra dinner, some veggie food and extra fruit and more juice -he only got one carton i usually get two, the diswasher tablets ..and he was over my usual total.