Is this a silly amount of money for our food shop?

[lancsgirl85]

Sorry - I know there have been a few threads about food shop bills but I am just astounded by ours at the moment and wanted to see if we are overspending and where we could make savings. We already shop in the likes of Aldi, Tesco, and B&Ms. We are a family of 4 - 2 adults, a teen and a toddler - plus a cat. We are spending in the region of £130-150 per week (circa £600-700 per month). This doesn't include anything like eating out or luxuries/alcohol etc - just the essentials really.

Are we spending a lot? Or is this about average now costs have risen?

We are two adults and a toddler plus a cat. Now spend about £70-£80 a week (since the price hikes). Your shop does not seem excessive, but if you do need to, you might be able to make some savings by buying own brands etcetera?

I spend just over that, I think that’s about the norm these days. I know I could knock the price down a bit cooking from scratch everyday but I like to have a few easy meals for busy nights.

We pay around the same and I think it's definitely more than we need to pay. The cost has gone up considerably since DP got the password to the online shopping account because he fills it with sweets and chocolate and crap.

Easily spend £120-150 a week for family of four (two hungry teens) shopping in Sainsbury's and Aldi - no pets, don't drink booze, not many treats.

I used to be able to keep it to around £100 but the last few years food has gone up and up.

I spend the lower end of that for 7. One veggie. Most are 'adult' age and then a lower end teen and a 10 year old.

You can bring costs down with careful budgeting and meal planning

Well dont comment to my neighbour about groceries. I was unloading a shop for my family of 5, 2 kids r teens 1 kid is 11. She commented on how many bags i had.... She will only spend £30 per week to feed her and her husband. I couldn't help around shocked, and said wtf do you eat..... she said week days its mainly plain omelette with sweetcorn. Only meat at weekend and thats a small amount.
This isn't because of money, she said she's not lining supermarket pockets 🤔

Two adults, two dc (11&9). Our budget is £120 for the week. We're sticking to it but it's not easy or fun we're going without certain things we'd usually buy. (Includes all cleaning and toiletries but no alcohol).

Yep.anf the awful bit is with the price rise you can't just miss a few treats or go branded or meat free.it would mean missing a'll a days food to actually make a dint anymore.there is no more cuts to make.

We spend €300 a week for a family of 4. That’s eating fairly basically. We do buy a lot of fruit though.

I spend that or more on average across the year. 2 adult 2 hungry boys.

Sounds about right. We're spending similar for 2 adults and 2 primary age dc. That's for practically all of our meals (dc have packed lunches), cleaning stuff and some booze.

If you can afford it op try not to worry or be miserable.enjoy it.as it doesn't seem excessive at all.

The thing that makes the most difference to your food bill is meal planning and shopping on line....no temptation to buy random 'good' offers

Once toddler is off the formula it gets cheaper. Do you use branded nappies,if not the aldi and lidl ones are worth a try.

It depends what exactly you're buying but it doesn't sound ridiculous as you probably buy cleaning products etc too? If it bothers you though try meal planning and have a baked potato a couple of times a week.

I agree, online it's easier to see where it's spent. Or alternatively if you find a smaller supermarket I also find it easier as less choice so easier to see the cheapest options.

I don’t think that’s obscene considering you’ve got a teen as well as adults.
Theres me, 2 primary school age kids and 1 toddler in my house, and I usually spend around £70 a week in Aldi - I meal plan so I can get a big pack of mince for example to do us a lasagne and a shepherds pie. Or I’ll get a bigger chicken than I need and do a roast one day then curry with the leftovers the next day. I’m expecting my shopping bill to rise though, along with everything else 😭

Cleaning products and toiletries whack it up. A friend buys all that in home bargains and B&M she said it's cheaper

We spend about £200/ week for four but that does include a couple of bottles of wine. No pets.

If you have a friend with a wholesale card buy cleaning stuff in bulk a gallon of good washing up liquid for instance

Can you afford it? If so does it really matter? We easily spend £150-200 every week - 2 adults & 2 primary dc. But it’s well within our budget (currently) so I don’t really care if anyone else thinks it’s too much…it’s just what it is.

Not super excessive, we're about £100 for 2 adults, a preschooler and a baby who's just started solids/purées.

You'd be surprised what things we think are essential that actually aren't.

I've started cutting back/stop buying (or will now buy occasionally instead of weekly):

-Packs of D. Coke.
-100% orange juice for breakfast (DC wastes it anyway and my dentist keeps telling me it's bad for my teeth).
-Multiple different packs of cereal.
-snack cupboard with lots of different things in it
-alcohol of course/crisps/chocolates/puddings etc

I also found myself going shopping every five days and spending £60 for a 'top up' shop when in fact we still had a fair amount of food in the house (tinned pulses/frozen veg/rice etc) but it just needs more prep to make. Effectively we were being lazy.

Trying to only go when cupboards are really empty now.

Probably more like £120 actually

It doesn't sound right to me
Family of 6. 4 children 7 and under and I could never spend £100 or over
It's always around the £85 mark

We're two adults and two toddlers. We spend about £80 a week including cleaning products. We only eat meat twice a week maximum and the kids have lunch at nursery twice a week.

I'm determined to only shop three weeks of the month though. So this week we're having odds and sods out of the freezer which have accumulated over the month.