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?

For 2 adults before lockdown we spent about £80 a week excluding alcohol. Now we spend £100-120 a week due to price increases, eating at home for lunch as well as dinner and trying to eat more fruit and veg.

We're £300 a week just now!!

Family of six, two adults, two teens, two younger (8&10) so no napppies etc.

I'm trying not to think about it as we're all in the house 24/7 and the teenagers are starting to cook one night every week for the family so add their ingredients.

A big chunk of that is alcohol (prob close to £100 a week) but that will end when we go back to normal

@spagbog5

We are a family of 5. 4 adults ,14 yr old and a cat. We are spending £250-£300 a week !! and last weeks was an eye watering £498 but included lots of alcohol. We seem to have very expensive tastes and I'm thrilled to have got this weeks order sub £200 !! It's amazing how much they eat and I'm sure when their at uni / own flat there's not as much cured meats , cheeses,fine wine and organic stuff on the menu !!

That's 6 weeks of income for me at the moment, £1000-£1250 a month on food !

How can you feed everyone on that?? Especially in lockdown

That is about the same as us and we are a family of 4 albeit with much younger children. I think it is conservative tbh as your children are much older than mine. You are doing well to stick to such a budget.

For the posters who have a similar sized family if you are shopping in Ocado compared to Lidl you are bound to be spending more!

Suggest that he tries doing the shopping and see what his budget comes in at?

@Washyourhandsyoufilthyanimal

How can you feed everyone on that?? Especially in lockdown

Some people have no choice. We can't spend what we don't have.

My family have once again told me I must be 'doing something wrong' as my food and electric bills have gone up. They can't seem to understand how

@manitobajane
I'm aware it's a huge amount- hence I posted .
It's due to being a full house with all our children home due to lockdown.
We obviously don't spend that much when it's just us and the youngest but we've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we are lucky enough to both still be working.

Yeah good point. You’re right. I do feel 400 a month is hard going though but as you said it’s not a choice for some.

I spend more than that and I'm a single adult.

Before lockdown we ate most meals at home and it was £50 on average per week, plus £20 on something from Greggs, subway or Mcdonalds.

Now it £50 to 70 at aldi, Lidl, bm and Iceland. Farmfoods and Morrisons if no queue.

Things have not gone up much at aldi and Lidl. They have gone up a little at Iceland. Apart from salad, Cucumber and Carrots, all out veg is frozen and we eat lots of it.

This is our luxury budget with lots of snacks and treats as we can't get a Mcdonalds, etc

But I rarely buy alcohol maybe £50 over the whole year, I don't always buy juice as we drink water but when I do buy it at 70p a litre squash or 55p per litre fresh apple or orange juice as a treat.

I buy Quorn from Lidl and aldi at £1.59 a bag, whereas elsewhere it's £3 or more a bag. Stock up when it's a £1 at Morrisons.

I shop offers so used to go to tesco and morrison on a monthly basis to get a few extra items still within the budget. Also Iceland (or Farmfoods) was monthly bulk buy/freezer shop.

I don't buy the same every week, is if something was on offer I would have got a few then I buy something on offer the next week, so for instance, heinz baked beans 12 cans for £5 at Farmfoods, may last 6 8 weeks. £20/22 of soap powder lasts a year or more, either 4 x big boxes when reduces to £5 per box or 2 x the xl boxes from Farmfoods for £22.

Disclaimer I buy chicken, eggs and turkey but I don't buy any red meat. I'm vegetarian and kids don't eat red meat.

My shopping has crept up over the last few years, we used to eat well for £50/60 max for a family of 4. £30-35 per week sometimes. Then £35 per week for a family of 3, now around £50 for family of 3. Plus the 20 treat budget at the moment which is usually our £20 Greg's, subway and mcdonalds budget.

My mum and grandma went to multiple places on foot for the best prices. I learnt how to shop well from both of them and they always had an abundance of food ad healthy food too. Lots of veg and pulses. It's easy as I'll pop in when passing so no wasting petrol and I plan well. It's far easier for me as my mum only drove from when I was 10 and my gran never drove.

I now buy more and more frozen fruit and berries, which I never bought before as they were too expensive. Fruit before was limited to apples, bananas, tangerines, pears and seasonal strawberries. Avocados and mangos when on offer. Since lockdown the girls have had avocado's, different nuts and biscuits and some fiizzy drinks as treats.

It will be hard to get them to give these up but they will have to if they want the Greggs and Mcdonald, etc as treats. I have always bought muffins or biscuits or crisps in this budget.

My meals are things like chicken steak with mashed photo's and veg or Quorn with mashed potatoes and veg. Veg Lasagna, Quorn Lasagna, chicken and broccoli and sweet potatoes fries. Cheesy pasta and veg. Fish with veg. Bean stew with rice, wrap or bread. Bean stew has kidney, chick peas, bitter beans and pinto beans in it. Sometimes do something similar with Quorn Mince or add Quorn sausages for a sausage and bean stew. Cauliflower and/or veg curry. Keepers with Wraps and veg. Cauliflower or Broccoli cheese. Cauliflower mash. I could go on.

Only one child likes rice so that lasts ages. 2kg of potatoes last a month but also have curly fries, potatoes waffles and sweet potatoes fries in freezer. My kids are happy with a wrap filled with chicken, salad and side of veg for dinner. Halloumi fries I bought fortnightly before lockdown but I'm weaning myself off them but love Halloumi. Meals also include large salad and with 4 different leaves, Carrot, sweetcorn, Peppers, Cucumber then with either chicken, turkey or prawn for the girls or cheese for me. I love cheese and also and Lidl do very reasonable prices Cheeses so I buy 3 different types per week. Also aldi and Lidl do good priced frozen Prawns.

We eat a mix of healthy food with some snacks and treats thrown in. I honestly cannot see what I would spend on with more money (except if I bought meat maybe an extra £20 then.) Even then I would not allow myself to spend more than £100 per week (even if I was rich) as we eat well for far less and enjoy it, why would I choose to spend more?

Family of 5 adults and older teens, 3 dogs. Currently spending about 800 a month on food and drink! Normally about 600.

Actually dh has pointed out its more like 250 a week, so 1000 a month.

My super long post is mainly for the "it's not possible to eat for less than £100 per week" and the "£100 per week is very or super frugal" people.

We spend about 500 - 600 for 1 adult, a 15 yo, a 12yo, a 7yo and a cat.

Thats 3 meals plus boredom snacks all round. We have had a few BBQS though so spending more on meat than we usually would.

@spagbog5. We’re about the same. Family of four plus dog and we’re spending £250-£300 a week on food then at least £100 on alcohol. And yes I’m fully aware that this is profligate and many will be horrified at the overindulgence.

I would struggle to produce decent meals for 4 every week on £100 so hats off to you. Agree with others that it’s easier to do a cheaper one off shop but it’s keeping the store cupboard ingredients and washing products topped up too which is the tricky bit.

2 adults 2 teenagers here. We're spending about £160/70 a week just now. It's ridiculous.

Prices have gone up and we’re all eating at home. £250 per week here (£1K a month) for two adults and three kids under 8. It’s shot up

not at all. i spend more than that on me, 3yo and dh who is away a lot/gets fed by work.

That sounds about right to me. We shop in Aldi and Lidl and we're about £70-£90 a week, 2 adults and a 6 month old so he's mostly still on formula which I get from Aldi too.

Made me feel so relieved. We've tried to set a budget of £400 for us and DC3 and we've gone over, to £500, bit that includes alcohol and more snacks.

We also get all veg and fruit from local shop, eggs from whichever neighbour has some for sale and are veggie, so always have a full cheese selection.

Feeling relieved ... We're not just fat greedy sods..

At less than £4 quid per person per day it’s pretty decent. Ask him how much he spent on lunch when he was at the office.

@flirtygirl it is extremely frugal but like it’s been said it’s a choice. Your way of shopping doesn’t sound good to me but it’s your choice to shop like that and mine not to. We both think our way is better and neither is right neither is wrong.

Family of 6 here. 2 adults and 4 kids. I normally try to stay at the 130- 150 mark. We buy meat from a butcher. We make our own yogurt and cheese and cook from scratch rarely have takeaways or eat out. But it doesn't actually last up to the next shop. This week I spent £180 So I am hoping it will stretch further

There are 4 adults here at the moment and we are spending around £400-500 per month, that includes 6 bottles of wine & I get a farm shop, as they do contactless click and collect and it tops up the shopping inbetween supermarket delivery or click and collect