How much do you spend on shopping weekly/monthly?

[Shopaholic111]

ok, so I'm trying to prove a point to DH and give him some what of a reality check on how much a food shop a week is or find out if i am over spending.

We are a family of 6. Myself, DH (eats a fucking lot), 2yo DS, 4yo DD, 4 month old baby, 8yo stepson (EW)
I spend roughly £150 a week on food, washing, shampoos, nappies, wipes, everything household based etc and that's without top ups of what we run out of.

I think this is about average? I do want to cut down but I'm not sure how because DH and kids eat like horses. Baby is going to be starting baby food in the next 2 months so its going to go even higher. I also cook DH lunches for work so he doesn't have to buy lunch everyday.

What do you all spend roughly a week/month? And is £150 a week to much, average or not alot for 6 mouths to feed?

I budget £100 a week for family of 4(kids 12 and 7). I think your amount is fair esp of he eats that amount at once. We only buy alcohol occasionally, so keeps ours reasonable too.

Thats bloody good! When was the last time he did a shop? Meal plan or cook?

I live alone but am also housebound with ocd and I get most things via supermarket online shop I use Tesco I'm around £100 a week which I know seems a lot but that's not just food it's cleaning products (which I get through a lot of), toiletries, household products (I'd say when needed but there seems to be something most weeks) stationery, otc meds and first aid items etc

Food alone (going off my next delivery) would be £68.06

The average in Uk for a family of 4 for food alone is around £65 a week. But of course there will be regional and personal variances.

Eg I'm veggie so save on meat but I'm also doing better financially than I have for some years so I am buying better quality and few budget level these days and indulging in lots of lovely fresh "exotic" fruit as I'm trying to lose weight and this is satisfying my sweet urges and I'm buying a wide variety of more expensive veg and herbs for the same reason. My choice and I'm finding it's helping. But I also don't drink alcohol very often (like birthday and Xmas and the occasional other very special occasion like family milestone birthdays) and don't smoke and I never get takeaways now and obviously don't eat out and very very rare I do a top up shop (I've had to do a few more recently due to shortages of basics)

I shopped, cooked and ate differently (and sometimes didn't eat at all!) when dd was home and younger and my money was MUCH tighter. So now that I can afford it and I've only myself to worry about and food/cooking is one of my few pleasures then why not.

I could get it down if I chose/needed to but for now it's fine.

Product prices (not just food) have also significantly risen in the last couple of years for a number of reasons inc the pandemic and brexit.

I'd also say take the claims of "feeding a family of 5 on £50 a week" with a large pinch of salt!

Ime from real life and also observing consumer tv shows and seeing comments on forums etc most people massively underestimate how much they spend on food and groceries.

They fail to include eating out and takeaways, don't include buying grocery items from non supermarkets etc

A friend of mine once claimed not to understand why she was always skint as she "only spent £30 a week on groceries" for a family of 3 - she ate out every day at work for lunch and they had at least 2 expensive takeaways a week and she wasn't including what she spent at B&m/wilko/home bargains on grocery items like laundry detergent. I managed to get her to record every penny she spent one month and on what and she was shocked!

People really don't realise how much they're spending especially as few people use cash these days

If your DH thinks he can do better, let him try

Excellent idea BUT if he mucks up and "forgets" stuff or gets items that won't/can't be used the cost of top ups/replacements have to be included in his spending total too! So he can't cut corners!

My dad was similarly useless at understanding how much a grocery shop actually costs!

There's a family anecdote about the first time he realised this when he was looking after me while mum was in hospital having my brother. Mum was a sahm at the time and dad gave her an amount for "housekeeping" based on his low income at the time. Mum had never complained or raised it with him as she knew there simply wasn't more money available.

After the first grocery shop he did he appeared in hospital apologetic and ashamed saying he'd already spent the weeks housekeeping and knew he hadn't been able to get everything we needed and that he didn't know how on Earth mum managed it! The discussion that followed revealed that mum of course shopped around, clipped coupons, even bartered her skills/time for veggies from neighbours etc.

Dad wasn't used to that at all. They worked it out but dad soon after started moonlighting as a bar man to boost their income and mum told me/us that ever since then he was in awe of how she managed to feed us all at that point in their marriage.

@SevenOldLadies I agree shopping/cooking for one is very hard to do economically. I try and keep food waste to a minimum and not be too extravagant but it can be hard

Economy of scale very much applies to food.

Dh is training so if I cook say a curry, he will have a whole pack of 5 chicken breasts to himself for 1 meal AND STILL RAID THE CUPBOARD AFTER.

That's insane! What the hell is he training for?!

Also, the last time I sent DH shopping he come back with absolutely nothing on the list, and got complete irrelevant shit like lube so he will not be going again

So he's fucking clueless but shoots down what you achieve?!

I'd be telling him to stop being an arse!

I'd also be calling him out on the strategic incompetence crap! I fell for that too, sent ex with a list for a grocery shop just after having dd and he spent the entire MONTHS budget on a WEEKS shop cos he got branded fucking everything and put us back in an overdraft I'd worked damn hard to claw us out of! Wish I'd had mn back then. I should've made him take all the non perishables back! Dick!

2 adults and a 2yo, approx £60 a week.

@Shopaholic111 Your DH sounds greedy eating 5 chicken breasts in one sitting tbh. Maybe try a few meat free days to lessen the bills and also show DH that even with his training he can get adequate nutrition without eating the breasts of 2 and a half chickens in one single meal.

Not veggie or vegan by the way, just try to save money and the planet by not eating meat at every meal.

And if he's not happy with eating meat free a few times a week or eating normal portions of meat he needs to buy in bulk with his own money. That would certainly help your bills :)

For me, my husband, 4yo DS and 2yo DD we spend between £50-70 a week. This includes all our cleaning products and a couple of treats for our 2 dogs as well.

It was at one point £140 a week but we were buying all branded and wasted a lot.

We waste very little to nothing now x

We spend about £80-£100 a week for two adults and 3 year old, including nappies and most household stuff (except cat food). So I don’t think you’re doing badly at all.

You can have him do a hypothetical online shop then. Bet he can't plan 21 meals and other household bits and bobs when he eats ridiculous amounts himself.

5 chicken breasts is outrageous btw - it would be far cheaper to roast a whole chicken for him. (I'm assuming that he's not training like he's Chris Hemsworth or Dwayne Johnson )

We shop at Aldi so spend less than you despite having 5 DC here full time. Maybe switch to aldi or Lidl if you can? Definitely saves us a pretty penny. I’d say we spend between £100 and £120 a week, DC are between 1 and 11.

Family of 5. £180 a week.

Ok tour follow up post shows it doesn’t matter what anyone else spends, your DH is awful. Why are you letting him get away with such outrageous behaviour?!

If DH went to do the food shop and came back with nothing on the list he’d be responsible for cooking the family meals from what he did buy, ordering and paying for takeaway or heading back to the shop.

@Hemingwaycat

We shop at Aldi so spend less than you despite having 5 DC here full time. Maybe switch to aldi or Lidl if you can? Definitely saves us a pretty penny. I’d say we spend between £100 and £120 a week, DC are between 1 and 11.

She shops at Lidl but her h eats 5 chicken breasts in a single meal and is then looking for more food later. I shop at Aldi so know the price of chicken breasts

We are me, DH, 2yo, 4yo and cat.

We spend around £120-£130pw but that doesnt include wine which DH buys separately. No nappies, probably around 50% of shampoo/conditioner but 100% of hand soap & shower gel. Includes cleaning products and loo roll.cat litter rarely as she doesnt often use the tray.

We are omnivores.

I think for your family 150 pw is fine.

Ps 5 chicken breasts in a meal for 1 person is sickening. Its wholly unnecessary, bad for the environment and bad for his body

To be honest I’m ashamed to say that’s the same as us and we are a family of four🤷🏼‍♀️ Two babies in nappies and one on formula but the food and essentials add up!I buy own brand bar the baby milk so it’s not as though I pay over the odds for our items , it’s just we seem to need so much. We don’t really have any wastage either.

Family of 6 here . I think 150 quid is about right . It's roughly what we spend a week and a few other larger familys that i know. I tend to be quite frugal and don't waste anything and meal plan. There's 3 of them on packed lunches , plus 2 cats . So I think you're doing pretty well actually.

Also forgot to add my DH is a trainer too and trys to get his protein (and whatever else it is he needs ) in a cost effective way. Bulk buying his powders on offer and a sh*t load of eggs a day.

£70 for 2 adults

It depends but probably an average of £100. If we go to aldi then it's close to £70 but we get a meat box separately ever few weeks for about £50 and occasionally have a shop that's much more than that- our Sainsbury's shop at the weekend was £170 somehow for example (I thought that was huge but apparently it was because we had run out of nappies and cat food). We aren't drinking at the moment but when we are we tend to get a Naked wine box every couple of months so far. We both earn really well but I'm always shocked by how much just living a "normal" life is. We are two adults and one toddler.

There is myself, hubby and a primary aged child and a cat. I like to think I can do a shop for £30 a week with the small amount of items on my shopping list....turns into a £60 - £70 one though. Plus the top ups of around an extra £25.

Myself and dd (2) - husband currently on hospital. My last weeks shop was £120, this week coming is £70 (Tesco online)
I am absolutely aware that I spend far too much, and buy branded a lot when I could buy cheaper options and save money. I like food, my daughter is fussy so that makes things harder too as she'll only eat certain things (asd).

Tbh I think you’re doing really well. I spend £100-£110 per week for three of us - me, my husband and a 9 month old baby (plus two cats!). I don’t even have to buy nappies or wipes with that because we use reusables.

And we’re veggies, so would be even more if we were paying for meat and fish too

Family of 4 (2 adults, one 3 year old, one baby). Our food bill last month (including all booze, eating out, nappies, toiletries etc) was £1,400

We need to tackle it urgently.

We are 2 adults, a 2 year old and a 9 month old (eco doesn't eat baby food as we did blw), we spend £100 a week on a big shop, then about £10 a week at the local shop. Not including a takeaway which we probably have every other week. Not sure what happened really as when it was just me and DH we spent about £45 only 😮😮

It sounds like everyone is spending very similar amount which I feel quite reassured by! I think the cost of food has gone up generally too so it probably is costing more than it was only a few years ago.