How much extra are you spending on food during lockdown?

[Usernamenumber6373]

2 adults, 2 children and a dog - who doesn’t cost us much as she’s tiny and barely eats anything.

Anyway, I normally spend around £80-90 a week on food plus a top up so maybe £110-£120 a week. 😱😱 this is with Tesco. There is absolutely no problem getting slots here anymore so I get my shopping delivered most weeks.

I’ve got a slot tomorrow. I have reached the 95 item limit and it’s costing me £150. Admittedly it’s has things like washing powder and cleaning stuff I don’t buy every week. Plus my freezer is looking empty so needs filling up. Could probably do with more but reached the item limit.

Plus I’ll be feeding the kids lunch every day. Dd is an infant and normally gets free lunches at school and we pay for DS’s school lunches. I put a months worth of money into parent pay on Monday which was a stupid idea. They always want cooked food like they have school for lunch... ££

Partner is annoyed at spending much but spending this much this week might mean I spend less next week...?

Often I get a shop delivered then partner does a top up during the week after work (I hate shopping in store, social anxiety). Trying to avoid doing the top up so is £150 really that bad?!

It’s not like I spend this every week. I’ll probably spend less next week!

Partner is also working long hours still so needs work food too!

No, it’s not that bad. I guess it depends on what’s coming in and what you can afford though.

I get my main shop from Asda as it’s the closest to me, with some top ups from M&S and Tesco. 2 adults and a hungry teen ds and we regularly spend at least £150 a week now altogether.

We don’t go out for meals now (obviously) and so I buy more treats and spend more lavishly on food as it’s the only bloody joy in life these days.

The same, but DS is still at school and I'm going out to work as normal. Last time I was spending loads extra on alcohol but I'm trying to keep healthy this time!

We spend about £200 per week for a family of 4. A Mix of Tesco & Waitrose. That includes toiletries/alcohol too. We aren’t on a budget as such and treat ourselves if we want (because life is a bit dull at the moment).
We might get a takeaway once a week on top of this.

I’d say we are are spending about £60 per week more than we used to before last March

I don't think it's bad, it's about what I spend on weekly shop for 2 adults, 2 pre-teens, cat, dog and hamster, but I get our cleaning products separately so washing powder etc on top of the £150.

We're spending a similar amount op, around £120-140 a week, for two adults and two dc (5&6) but if could easily be a few quid more when we need a big box of washing powder etc. We could get it lower as that does include some booze and the odd bunch of flowers but we can afford it. Does he normally have anything to do with the shopping? Does he know how much you spend normally ? An extra £20-30 isn't bad if you need to fill the freezer and have more meals a week to make as the kids are at home.

Thank you. We can kind of afford it. We don’t have a great deal of money and we are always overdrawn by the end of the month (by a couple hundred pounds) buy we get by. We don’t drink these days, if we did drink we’d be spending even more 😅 I guess in lockdown we will be saving in other ways - like fuel in my car as only partners car will be leaving the house every day for several weeks. In the last lockdown I barely used half a tank!

I’m just fed up of spending money on food. It seems so much to spend but by the time the weeks up the fridge is bare. But I am likely to spend less next week as the freezer won’t need filling and no washing powder etc.

We don’t buy anything luxury. There’s a few things we might buy branded instead of Tesco brand but nothing expensive or luxury at all!

Whether your freezer and cupboards had much in them makes a massive difference. I find my shopping bill varies hugely and I only know how much I am spending overall after a few months when I have averaged it out.

My family is spending less on food during lockdown because we have more time on our hands. Also now we don't do those impulse top-up shops simply because we fancy something particular - that used to result in wasting what we did have. So we actually get the food out of the far corners of the fridge and freezer - which might not be very appealing but is edible - and we waste very little.

I'm spending less.
Got more time to cook and less money so making sure we use things up properly.
It's just the 2 of us, on furlough, and a dog.
I'm also trying to use up my stocks of stuff before buying more.

I don't panic buy, but if I visit home bargains (For example) I'll always get more washing up liquid, washing tablets etc even if I don't need them, as I might not go for several weeks iyswim.

He’s not saying don’t spend it he’s just baffled why we are always spending money on food and very little to show for it 😅 the money comes out his bank every week so he knows how much he normally spends and I think he’ll be surprised how much we spend on a top up so hopefully there will be less top ups by making sure I get everything in weekly shop and maybe just popping to village shop for bread and milk!

@RumJerrySailorRum I normally do the same in home bargains, b&m etc on cleaning products, washing powder etc but I haven’t been in a long while. The local home bargains is an area rife with covid so I’ve avoided and stayed in my little village as much as possible 😱

For tesco type 'aldi' into the search bar and you'll get all the Aldi price match stuff. Also use the filter on price low to high.

Typing in 'Finest' has the opposite effect

The only difference for me is not getting tea and coffee provided at work, never realised how much coffee I drink in a week until it kept going on the shopping list! Food is the same as I'd take a packed lunch and snacks to work.

Other than free school lunches I don't particularly understand how people's food bill has gone up so much? Surely you ate before lockdown? If it wasn't on the weekly supermarket shop then surely that money was spent in office canteens, shop bought sandwiches etc for work lunches, restaurants / cafes etc?

Definitely spending a lot less than usual. Pre Covid we would be nipping in Morrison's after work each night for little top up shops of stuff we really didn't need plus Lidl shop every weekend. Probably wasting a lot of food too. And the daily Starbucks at work.

Now we do a fortnightly lidl shop for around £90-100. Plus around £20 per month on local fruit and veg delivery boxes. Top up the big freezer maybe every 6-8 weeks with a £50ish online Tesco or Asda delivery of my veggie and vegan goodies that I can't get from lidl. Still like a Starbucks or a costa treat but only on a Sunday morning.

Household is 2 adults, a 16 year old and an 11 year old and we are all at home.

I meal plan meticulously, save and freeze leftovers and we have minimal food waste.

I'm spending a lot less as eating at home is cheaper than at work or school dinners. We are also eating less takeaways as have time and energy to cook from scratch.

I think no eating out, no takeaway, no work or school lunch spending, no entertaining helps to offset the amount I spent.

We are essentially six adults, as have four teen/20 somethings home for lockdown so we get through a lot. I try to use less meat, make soups, bake own bread, make yoghurt, bake ham. If we had a chicken I'd add some sausages to pad it out, risotto or paella is cheap, fried rice, mince based things like lasagne, stews with beans in to stretch it, pulled pork. We eat a lot of eggs, and bake plenty.

@VaTeLaverLesMains great tip. I had no idea you could search by aldi price match on tesco.

Let's hope the supermarkets continue their promotions. Last lockdown I spent loads more due to no promotions and sometimes using Ocado due to availability.

Oh goodness op, where to begin. I have two DC at university 22 and 26 - the 26 year old will go for a 40 min run every day and do a full workout in addition.

From March to June there were 4 of us at home for three meals a day and I reckon I spent about £1200pcm; went down to about £1000 once dh, ds and I started going in for a couple of days a week. When the DC were away Oct to Christmas DH and spent about £500 to £600. Expecting £1200 again until and unless they go back for summer term.

Shops include all toiletries and beers, etc, and fortunately we don't have to stint.

We're spending less too. We used to eat lunch out a lot and that was much more expensive than buying extra food for lunch at home.

CottonSock shhh don't tell everyone!

I've been wondering if food prices have gone up.

We're a family of 4 (no dog, although I'd love one!) but the only difference in consumption is that my DS got free school lunches pre-covid.

Our weekly food bill has gone from ~£90 to ~£120 a week shopping at Tesco. I honestly can't understand why.

I'm tempted to try Lidl or Aldi but it would mean going to two supermarkets a week to get the stuff they don't stock at Tesco

I'm spending a lot more. When DSS is at college, he gets up too late for breakfast, and takes a sandwich with him for lunch, plus a cereal bar or something. When he's at home, oh my god, I cannot believe how much he eats. He'll have 4 slices of toast for breakfast, then another 4 slice sandwich at lunch with two bags of crisps and two cereal bars. Probably a snack in the middle (I suggest fruit if I see him going into the kitchen, but if I don't, it's more crisps/chocolate), and a snack between lunch and dinner. Normal dinner, but then he will snack later on as well as he's not going to bed quite as early (think 12 instead of 10.30) as he doesn't have to get up stupidly early for the bus.

I know the answer is to stop buying crap, but I like having the odd treat myself. Problem is, for me, it really is an odd treat - but it's like DSS can't have it in the house without ploughing through it.

So yes, it does cost me more.

We're spending about the same. We've always taken our lunches to work though, so we're eating the same things but just at home. 🤷‍♀️

We did spend a bit more on takeaways in the first lockdown because we wanted a weekly treat and we would normally go out to eat at a weekend. We're not doing that this time though.

With regards to parent pay can you request a refund? I have done this twice now, first time there was credit on the account when my ds had left school and the second refund request was for a prom ticket which was cancelled due to covid19. The college refunded me back via parent pay and so I requested the refund back into to my account.