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!

I have 2 sons aged 11 and 14, plus DH and I are working from home.

I have never bought so much food in my life. It's like locusts have been through the cupboards. I can't buy it fast enough. It's 3 meals for 4 people = 12 meals a day, plus snacks, plus the 3 secret meals 6ft1 14yo DS thinks I don't know about.

If I think about it, it's only slightly more expensive than giving both boys dinner money and getting packed lunch stuff in for DH. Also, I shop as cheaply as possible and try and make a lot of stuff from scratch and I'm still spending more than the mortgage!

No more than an extra £10 if that. We meal plan every Sunday and then do the shopping on the Monday. That accounts for an extra carton of soya milk and lunches.

@emmathedilemma

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?

Exactly my thoughts. We are actually spending about the same when we count outside food and drinks, some weeks even less.

We spend about £90 a week. 2 adults, a 4 year old and a baby (that needs nappies but not formula). That's shopping at Sainsbury's as DH gets a small discount through work.

The cost of food has gone up, we can't go to the supermarket any longer (shielding) so an extra £9 minimum a month on delivery costs and there are far fewer offers around. No more BOGOFs.

Sadly, we're on a fixed income so it's tough.

Fucks loads

Spending a lot more on food but normally eat out at least 3 times a week so spending a lot less overall

Sorry forgot to say that’s two adults. We eat three meals a day plus snacks, heavy coffee drinkers and eat vegan. No alcohol. £30 a week usually.

Two adults, one young adult and one teen. Gone from £80-90 weekly shop to £160-£170

Same as usual £200 a week, for a family of five. That includes all toiletries, alcohol, cleaning stuff. Don’t have takeaway coffees or anything and used to take own lunch to work. 2 out of three children on packed lunches, haven’t noticed the other adding to the spend.

I am a bit embarrassed at how high ours is.

@Usernamenumber6373 I have read the thread but in case I’ve missed it....

You can withdraw funds from parent pay- it goes back onto the card/ account you paid on.

I found this useful when the trip is paid £52 got cancelled before lockdown last year.

@Orchidflower1 thank you. Last time the school refunded but I’ll look into it!

Thank you all 🌸

It's like locusts have been through the cupboards
Haha same here! I'm not quite sure where £300 a week goes, but we're not wasteful! Eg last night was curry night so today for lunch we're having leftover dal and naan breads. Tonight it's gammon and dauphinois potatoes and tomorrow we'll be using some of the leftover ham in omelettes.

3 adults, 2 cats and a large dog, shopping is £250 this week but it's one of those weeks where I need absolutely every expensive sundry item all at once

usually about 150 to 180 p/w which is about £30 pw more than pre covid

We are spending a lot more on the weekly shop, but I think overall it's about the same. We're not buying lunches out or doing top-up shops for random stuff we fancy. So it probably evens out in the end.

@emmathedilemma

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.

Same here. Had to increase the milk order by three pints a week.

£200.
£140 online shop and £60 in M&S.

This is for 2 adults, 3 children and a kitten (who eats a lot more than I would have thought and we buy him the more more "expensive litter")

This doesn't include alcohol (DP doesn't drink and I'm doing Dry January) and DP is working out of the house so he buys the occasional coffee / lunch if he hasn't taken sandwiches but this includes everything else. We aren't having takeaways at the moment normally have one a week

It's a lot but we aren't spending in any other areas (although 2 of our 3 children have January birthday's!!)

That's not bad atall I spend more then that and that's with 2 takeaways every week. Yes I'm lazy but theres nothing else to do but eat nice things.

Less overall because lunch is at home, no restaurant meals either.

Food has gone up but the main things are heating - ridiculously expensive in an old cottage as single walls and no insulation, also light etc due to others in the house being home all day and needing heat on. Food because more snacking all the time for all of us, food at school/work canteen is cheaper/subsidised.

I'm spending less...........
We use up leftovers for lunch and nothing goes to waste. I have more time to cook and plan. I make lots of soups and stir frys to use up things from the fridge too!!

If you are overdrawn each month then you can't afford your spending. We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids and I spend £40-45 a week as Asda. I then spend another £20 on fruit and veg from Aldi, so the average spend is about £65 a week. This does not include meat which I buy every quarter and freeze. If I was to buy washing up powder and fabric softener I would be looking at another £20.

Do you buy a lot of ready meals or convenience foods? We are spending about the same as normal food wise but I expect my heating bill to be through the roof this month!

It doesn’t sound too expensive per head, and food is a good source of entertainment during lockdown. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself if you can afford it.

I get a veg box delivered and occasionally a meat box for the freezer. We cut down on meat consumption but buy better quality and have found some good veggie recipes we all like which are now part of our routine. Dairy products, bread, coffee beans, pasta, flour, juice and eggs are delivered by the milkman. I only buy pet food, cleaning products and the few staples I can’t get delivered by supermarket click and collect.
e are eating better quality food but it is no more expensive overall. I have got my teens cooking in lockdown, but if I was doing it all I’d be spending more time cooking than I did before. If I think about what we no longer buy, it’s ready meals and convenience foods like ready made garlic bread or hummus, in store offers and reduced items. I also got into the habit of making substitutions to use up what’s already in the cupboard rather than buying new ingredients all the time.

Sounds fine to me...

The only thing that stood out in your OP was this line:

Plus my freezer is looking empty so needs filling up.

I'd just watch that and make sure you are filling it up with things you are going to use that week than out of habit.

The way we do this in my house is by putting together a meal plan for breakfast, lunch, dinners and a few snacks for the week and just buying the things that we will need for that. We're two adults and we're spending an extra £10-15 per week than we did before lockdown.