Do you think £400 a month for groceries is too much

[emodi]

We are a family of four, two adults and a 14 and 11 year old . Since the lock down our grocery and household bills have increased to approx £400 a month. I have tried to explain to my hubby that the kids are not eating in school so it’s 3 meals , snacks no restaurants or takeaways and he thinks I’m being extravagant. I think this is perfectly reasonable as this includes all food plus cleaning products etc . Is this reasonable or am I being hopelessly extravagant?

We're spending about the same at the moment with children home. We mainly shop in Lidl. I think I could probably add another £50+ on a month if we shopped elsewhere. I can't see it going down much after lockdown either. The cost of a weekly food shop has definitely increased in the last 6 months.

I spend that much on me, OH, and 3 cats. I think feeding a teenager and a pre-teen on it would be pretty rough. If he thinks it's too much tell him he's welcome to take over meal planning and shopping and see if he can get it down.

Meant to say that we're a family of four

We are a family of 5 but we spend about £650 on food/ month.

Our shopping for similar family size is about £150 a week plus 2 take away (£50 each month). This is probably less than we were so spending going shopping multiple times a week, buying food at work, ad hoc money on oldest school account etc. It feels like we are spending more as it is in one shop but I don't think it is.

Our shop tomorrow is over £160 and we are going to log back in later to add a few more bits.

I think that’s very modest, we spend alot more

Prices have increased significantly. I'm probably spending easily 500 a month now, 2 adults, 1 preschooler, a baby and a spoiled car. We use washables mostly so that's not even including nappies etc.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Today we are having:

2 eggs each for breakfast (in whatever shape everyone loves them), we have eggs for breakfast once a week on Wednesday

For lunch: salmon side, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, sauce for fish made of fresh dill, capers, yoghurt, lemon juice.

Dinner: egg noodles stir fry.. I add bean sprouts, fresh peppers, organic mushrooms to the noodles. Plus for the sauce I will need garlic, ginger, soy sauce.

For snack we had a plate of fresh strawberries, cherries, raspberries, pears.

Very reasonable to me, especially if it includes all toiletries, cleaning products etc. We're a family of 6 (but with smaller children including a toddler) and even being careful our weekly Tesco delivery is £150, plus a weekly/fortnightly takeaway plus a £10-15 top-up shop mid-week as we always hit the 80 item limit and need extra bread / milk / veg mid-week.

Well I'm probably spending double that and then some if you include alcohol, dog food (prescription diet).

We're saving money with no commutes, school dinners, work lunches / breakfasts, meals out etc.

I worked out it's about £7.50 per person per day. Which doesn't seem so bad as when you look at the overall total.

£400 is pretty frugal imo.

Family of four also and we are spending approx £120 a week at least plus having a take away once a week
Prices have gone up plus we are all eating at home and kids are def eating more as they are home so much
I don't think £100 a week is too much at moment

And another one who's spending around £120 per week for 2 adults and 2 active 12yr olds. No offers at the supermarket and forced to branded stuff too.

Me and ds aged 15 go through at least £100 weekly. You are doing well if it is just that for the four of you. I have always had a hearty appetite and ds eats well too. Plus we are fussy as to makes.

Let him do all the shopping for a week and cooking etc.
It s very modest

We are spending about £140 a week so think that's ok!

We spend about £800 for two adults, 4 kids and a cat. That includes alcohol,cleaning stuff and nappies for the toddler etc but not all toiletries as several of us have eczema so they tend to be bought separately.

That's £800 per month, not weekly!!

YANBU OP. only DH and I, no pets and we are spending anything between £80 - £150 pw at the moment (including nice 'treat' food but no alcohol). That includes cleaning stuff and toiletries and the odd takeaway. We eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg/salad and cook from scratch too. Usually Aldi shoppers with a Sainsbury's top up but we've been managing to get delivery slots for Asda or Morrisons when we can so I think that will have pushed costs up slightly as well as both being home etc

I'd love to know how you manage to spend so little op, I can't.

We’re a family of 4 and my food shop has increased to around £200 per week!! I think prices have gone up, plus you need to order more to cover the extra lunches and snacks and drinks, etc, because you’re all at home all the time!

Two adults, a dog and two cats here and our shop is about £80 a week at Morrisons. The dog and cat food probably comes to £10 a week so £70 for two adults, including cleaning stuff and toiletries.

Tell him to plan the meals - 3 a day, 4 people, 30 days.

3 x 4 x 30 = £360. £1 per meal. As you also buy things like soap, washing up liquid and presumably he also eats snacks, you're probably spending nearer 80p per meal.

As he wants to reduce the spend, he can presumably do it on 60p (or £216 ish a month) - hand him £2.40 and tell him he's sorting dinner for everybody with it.

I spend less as a family of 6 but we are veggie/vegan and I mostly cook from scratch.

Your amount is by no means extravagant

Definitely sounds quite modest to me!

I’m spending shit loads and there are only three of us!

Have you posted about this before op? The situation and £400 rings a bell. I can remember the previous post well.