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?

I’m impressed you’re keeping it that low. We are about £130 a week for four, including toiletries and occasional booze. Prices have gone up.

I would ordinarily spend £120, with the kids having free school meals, and the eldest being out quite a bit. Then add on any take aways or eating out.

Same. We're a family of 5, 2x adults, 1x teen, 2x primary age. Our usual food budget is about £500 a month which includes alcohol but no takeaways or meals out.

We're currently spending the best part of £250 a week on food, so it's pretty much doubled. There are no offers, everything has increased in price and we're eating three meals a day plus snacks at home (five meals a day in the case of teenage DSS!) rather than just the adults eating an evening meal in the week as everyone else got fed at their childcare setting.

That’s very little in my opinion. I would consider 200 a week doing very well indeed

It’s about what we spend (2 adults, dc 8 and 11). More now that I am shopping at local independents - deli, bakery, farm shops, greengrocer. butcher - etc. Always had milk delivered.

It's a ridiculous amount of money, prices have gone up massively. I hate to think that these price increases are not going to go down after all this is over but I doubt that they will, I am dreading it because when it's over and I have the extra expenses of going to work (petrol, car insurance etc) then I won't have the money to pay the increased food bill.

If he thinks that you're extravagant then he needs to shop, or look online to see if there are cheaper options that everyone would be OK with.

I think it's more a question of if it's affordable for you-also if you weigh up what isn't being paid for atm it maybe balances out.

But its pointless him just moaning & not even looking at/thinking about what is being bought & why/how things have changed!

It's relative isn't it?

I don't think it's an unreasonable amount per se; it's similar to our spend for 3 adults.

However, it depends on your budget. If you can only afford to spend £80 per week, then spending £100 and ending up in debt/ having to economise or go without in other areas is unreasonable. I could probably manage on £50 a week if I had to; it would involve a lot of pulses, bulking out of food etc but needs must. However my preference would be to spend about what we do now.

Just to add my £100 is based on shopping in Aldi; if I was shopping at Tesco/ Asda I think it would be about £25-30 higher.

We’re extremely a no brand family of 3 under 8’s and we batch cook a lot and our food bill for May was £480!!!

Me and DH both worked in hospitality of where we had food for free on site, kids in school/nursery so when you break it down we probably all had just one meal a day at home.

Absolute bonkers at the cost and it really makes me understand food poverty a lot more because there’s no way you can feed children a healthy balanced lifestyle for much less.

I can't believe that everyone is getting their shopping so cheaply. We are just two adults and ours has gone up to £150 per week and we don't eat extravagantly or buy alcohol!

I have done a few shops over lockdown that have been nearly £200!
Teenage boys at home 24/7 =constant need for 'snacks'! And food. Just food. Its crazy.
Your husband has no idea.

3 adults here, we're spending about £90 up from £60.

I think because I can't regularly rely on a delivery I'm stocking up just in case all the time.

When things are back to normal with deliveries we'll be able to plan around the cupboards and freezer more. Hopefully it will even out.

Not at all. We are a family of 4 - two adults, two children of school age - and we spend at least the same amount (actually even a bit more but we have 2 pets).

No not extravagant, I find that low.

It's very very low at a time when prices have rocketed. I'm spending double that for me, DH and DD (9) who hardly eats anything. Tell your DH he is being ridiculous. Bet he hasnt volunteered to do the meal plan and shop has he?

We spend £150 a month for 2 adults including alcohol, so that seems bit much for me. We only buy from tesco and sometimes morrisons.

I'd let him meal plan and do 2 food shops to see if he can do better.

I think £100 per person is fair.
We spend £600 a month for 6 plus about £240 a month for a weekly takeaway.

Our budget is the same but now it's feeding 6 of us for all meals rather than 4 of us for all meals plus one extra (DH) for weekend meals. DC1 was away at university with her own funds and now is home but eating out of our budget.

Sounds fine to me. Mine is about £250-£300 for 1 adult and 2 teens.

My online food bill just for me has gone up at a third plus the increased costs of greengrocers. As another PP has said a lot of offers, which I used to rely on, have just disappeared or are on offer for a shorter time so by the time I see them and can place an order they've expired.

I also shop for my mother (separate households) and I know her food bill has gone up as she's very frugal and is used to going from shop to shop and to markets to pick up bargains which is not possible now.

no, it's a modest amount.
dc that age are basically adults from their food needs.

I think your DH is being unrealistic! There are 3 adults here (DS 20 living at home) and 3 cats. I used to spend around £600 per month but now it's around £700 per month. There is little or no alcohol in that but does include cat food, cleaning stuff etc. We do shop in Sainsbury's though so I know it will be more expensive but as DH and are are still going into work full time we haven't got the time or energy to shop around.

We have 2 adults and 3 children. We spend over £100 (think £120 to £150) at the supermarket every week at the moment. But that doesn't include our veg box (£15) or the milkman (milk, cheese, yogurt, bread, fruit juice but not sure what our weekly cost is - DH pays that bill!) or what we spend on booze (over £100 on a case but that lasts over a month).

We aren't cost conscious when it comes to food and eat a lot of meat but we don't buy ready meals. Food is a pleasure and luckily we don't have to skimp on it.

I'd suggest your H does the meal planning and food shopping for a month - see how much he can reduce the bill by.

Mine is around this for two adults and a teen, doesn't include alcohol or our once weekly takeaway, so I think you're doing well!

Mine is about £500 for 2 adults and a 12-year-old. We also cook from scratch. I don't think we're extravagant! no alcohol, purely food and toiletries.

Oh I meant to say OP hand the weekly shop to your DH to do but for a whole month. Let him do the mental load of buying things everyone will eat, meal planning, "household" non-food spending etc. to the same quality and enough of everything (and not just food) and bring the figure down below what you spend. I'm giving you a 👏🏻 and 🌹