How much do you spend on your weekly shop?

[Noglassjustthebottleandastraw]

I am just wondering if what I spend a week on my shop is average?

£160/£200 per week for food, drinks, alcohol, dog treats and usual house stuff like cleaning products and toiletries for 2 adults and 1 child.

I shop at Tesco and don't do top up shops etc.

The reason why I am asking is, my friend thinks this is a really high amount. But they shop in different shops eg Asda/Aldi plus do top up shops. So when I pointed out she must be spending more than me, adding in petrol etc to get to different shops, plus more time going to different places. She was adamant she wasn't. I get home delivery.

Thanks very much wise ones

This kind of thread always has answers in the extremes on MN. From those who spend loads, to those who find a mythical mn chicken which will feed the entire family for a week.

We are a family of 4, our budget is roughly woried out at £5 per person per day. So £20 a day x 7 = £140 a week. This includes stuff like cleaning products, shower gel, etc. Mostly shop at waitrose.

Ive found that the cost of food has risen massively since the start of covid. Pre covid we'd pretty much always have change left over from £150 per week in the food shop account, now its all used up and needs an occasional boost.

I spend £60-£70 a week at Tesco for two adults. Includes 5 dinners, snacks/lunches, fruit & veg, toiletries and cleaning stuff. I have a club card and use my vouchers if I spend over a certain amount.

That's only a working week though as we normally go out Saturday night and get a takeaway on a Sunday. Trying to cut back on that though!

I spend at least same as you for same number of people. I know it’s high but it’s all relative:

We only buy high welfare meat
We have to buy gluten free bread (£3 per loaf) and other GF products. Also have to buy lactofree stuff
It also includes alcohol which pushes it up

We cook everything from scratch and enjoy ‘dinners out in’ so buy ingredients for that type of treat meal

It's around £200 a week for four adults, one with dietary needs due to allergy. I meal plan for about 7-10 days, dog food it bought online separately but her treats are bought in the shop as is the cat food. All toiletries and cleaning products are also bought in that shop. We do go through a fair amount of alcohol so that does bump things up. The same shop used to be about £1 an item and that has now doubled for the same things. I buy own brand for pretty much everything apart from our coffee and washing powder and fabric conditioner.
In spending this much, though, I have not been doing mid week top up shops at the local shop, which I was doing before.
We rarely get take away or go out for drinks etc, maybe every 6 months?

Ours is 120-130 and I don't scrimp we get a lot of the brands and premium label stuff but I think that might because we don't drink alcohol at home only on holiday or occasionally out.

I actually found shopping at Tesco more expensive than Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's always give me money off coupons for online shopping, Tesco never do 🤣

I can't believe how much Yorkshire tea had shot up ! Ended up buying ' own brand' today as it was almost 3 pounds cheaper , but I know it won't be quite as nice :(
I know it's not a huge problem, but I like a decent cuppa.

I can’t even fathom how you can spend that much money in Tesco’s for two adults and a child! We eat primarily organic food and even when we shopped at Ocado during lockdown we didn’t spend that much on two adults and a child!

Given up with alcohol; maybe Christmas I might buy some then!
Tissues are also expensive now too!
They used to be fairly cheap

We don't buy any alcohol, that certainly makes a difference. Careful planning, e.g. the MN chicken or similar. What that actually means is a large, 2.5kg ish chicken makes both a roast and then a pie, with the possibility for a tiny bit of chicken left to make into chicken & stuffing sandwich filler. I use the carcass to make stock and so I can make soup sometimes, but it wouldn't be chicken soup, probably a veg based one.

When it comes to things like packed lunches I don't buy packets of crisps, I buy a big bag and split into portions (cheaper, goes further). Make sweet treats in batches & freeze. I buy things up when they're on offer: for example, this week I've ordered 2 packs of pastry as it's £1 instead of £1.30 ish, so when I need it I can just grab it out the freezer.

I don't really know what else to suggest, I'm not sure I could spend £160+ on a family half our size if I tried.

About £90 per week for 3 adults which includes food, cleaning products and all basic toiletries. At Tesco's and neighbourhood Asian shop.

Frozen fruit and veg cheaper, I buy peppers, onion, butternut squash, chips and fish at Aldi.
veg about 80p a kg

I can honestly live off £50 a week for 2 adults, 2 teens and 2 kids. No pets and no alcohol.

But I do get my cleaning stuff at Costco every two months.

I have as of today spent £215 in Lidl for the month so far. But I'm trying to run my freezer down so that helps.

I feel a weird comfort knowing that if only had £50 we could eat for a week. We eat mostly one pot meals due to cooking for 6 so pasta, stir fry, fajitas, jambalaya, more pasta, carbonara, some more pasta.... roast at the weekend. Hardly any snacks as unless I buy tones they eat it immediately so I dont buy them.

I guess on adverage its £100 a week maybe

We spend £5-600 a month in Tesco for two adults and a child, but that's everything food, cleaning products, toiletries, pet food, litter, bits and pieces like kindling, odd bits of clothing for DS, books, magazines etc, we dint really easy processed/convenience foods and try to buy higher welfare or organic where possible. We've got Tesco plus which is £7.99 a month but gives you 10% off Tesco non food brands all the time and 10% off two 'big shops' a month up to £200 so I tend to do two nice shoes a month and two top up shops. If you're spending that amount anyway it's worth the £7.99 to save the £40 on groceries, even without the 10% on Tesco brands. I used to shop around like your friend but ended up spending more on impulse purchases and just don't have the time now. Still use the local butcher on occasion.

About £40 a week which is just me, but it also includes a couple of bottles of wine.

in terms of keeps in costs down:

• Keeping meat to cheaper cuts (chicken thigh rather than breast etc) but also not making every meal meat-based
• bulking meals out with vegetables that are cheap and/or in season (carrots, broccoli, onions, spring greens and potatoes are usually quite cheap)
• Vegetarian dishes - for example this week I’m cooking baked onions with pearl barley cooked in stock then pan fried with garlic and shredded spring greens
• pulses and the like: lentils, couscous, pasta etc. All are cheap and can be used as the base for meals
• meal planning. I can’t emphasise this enough because it allows you to make sure that you use everything up.

I spend £60 a week for myself, a teen and a 10 yo so it seems an enormous amount to me! However, I don't buy alcohol and also not much in the way of cleaning products. That would be £50 on a big shop either a Sainsbury's delivery or I go to Aldi or Lidl. Then £10 for top ups of milk and fresh fruit.

@AledsiPad I generally only buy 3 bags of the sharing crisps and no chocolate or biscuits. I do make different meals each evening and use up leftovers for lunches.

@the80sweregreat I don't buy tissues.

@elbea during lockdowns we were more per week. I was spending about £350 per week at Tesco.

I buy all household cleaning stuff and toiletries from Home Bargains, all fruit/veg, basics from Aldi (like pasta and rice, kitchen roll, toilet paper, all tinned stuff) and NICE food (fresh bread, pizza, treats, deserts) from M&S.

I go to HB once a month, M&S and Aldi once a week.
I spend on average £40 in each shop.

It works out at around £90 a week.

I don’t buy alcohol but I guess if I did I could add another £40 onto the total.
Is the booze pushing up your bill?!

This also includes alcohol but I'm not a huge drinker and DH just likes poncey fancy IPAs

@BrightYellowDaffodil thank you very much for your great list of suggestions. I do meal plan weekly before I put my order in.

I spend about £60 a week in aldi for main shop and maybe £10 for extra bits in Sainsbury (as it's closest) for missing ingredients or fresh bread etc. Family of 2 adults & 2 kids. Doesn't include alcohol but includes cleaning products and toiletries. It covers 3 meals a day for adults, 2 for kids (they eat school dinners) plus all snacks. I mostly batch cook from scratch and meal plan, chest freezer is great. We also have at least 1 meat free meal a week and have Friday "kids choice" which is usually pizza, burger, hotdogs etc.

@Soresoresore I spend £10 on each bottle of wine. I buy 2 bottles.

You’re welcome 🙂 I had many a time where I needed to cook on a budget so I’m more than happy to pass on my budgeting tips!

And in terms of the wine, I’d check Aldi out. They have some good stuff for waaaaay less than £10 a bottle!