To ask you how much you spend a week on shopping

[Bunnyfuller]

I am trying to negotiate with a very tight DH that he needs to contribute more than he is doing to our household expenses. He says I could cut back on the household shop then I wouldn’t need him to.

Family : Him, me, 2 teenage girls, a dog and a cat.

what’s your average spend for your weekly shop, and which shop?

He has conveniently forgotten that there’s a cost of living crisis and my tolerance for this part of his nature is running out rapidly.

About £120. Two children, 1 adult all week, then extra adult half the week. No pets. Asda/Lidl

About £90, split between Sainsburies and Aldi. 2 adults, 2 DC aged 6 and 2, no pets (usually a top up shop mid week for milk, bread and fruit).

Is he worried about money or just stingy in general?

£90 a week, we’re just a couple, no alcohol, no petfood

About £160 a week sometimes a little under sometimes a little more depending on toiler roll/ cat litter/ cleaning supplies etc. Family of 5 plus 1 dog and 1 cat

£200 per week. Includes booze and cleaning and toiletries. Also another £20 top ups if run out of bread or milk. 2 adults, 2 hungry boys, 2 hungry cats.

Live in Ireland, 3dc aged 10,12 and 14,two kittens. I spend 160 euros in Aldi but can top up most days for bread,fruit,milk etc. I would estimate easily 200 euros a week. I cook a lot from scratch but throw in a few ready meals if kids are late home from hobbies and starving.

£150 a week, 2 adults, 2dc, no pets but does include cleaning products and shower stuff. No alcohol though.

This works out at roughly £5 per person per day. Includes breakfast and packed lunches.

But my £150 used to cover lots of snacks and treats and extras. Now it just covers meals. The price of things really has shot up.

I thought it was much less than it was but my bank, who is helpfully now telling me how much money I spend in supermarkets, it's up to £200/ week for 2 adult/2 teens (one with a gluten free diet) and one child.

What other people spend doesn't help you with this problem as everyone has different budgets, priorities and dietary requirements.

Eat Well for Less always quote ONS data for the size of family featured in the programme. For 2 adults and 2 children, I think it's just over £100 pw, but that's without the pets and before the recent price rises, so that would probably make about £150 pw reasonable for your family size.

But you need to work out together what is an appropriate budget for food, based on what you have available to spend and what else you need and want to spend your money on.

You say your DH is 'tight' so the first place to save would be anything that he likes that's more expensive. EG, don't buy lots of meat/fish/snacks etc. The last 'tight DH who has no idea how much food costs' I read about on here was moaning about the cost of groceries but eating enormous amounts of meat daily, that took about 70% of the amount he said food shopping should cost, before buying food for anyone else, or anything except the meat he ate.

Or you could also handover meal planning and food shopping completely to him and let him be responsible for buying an appropriate amount of food to make meals for everyone, plus making sure that the house is stocked up with cleaning products, toiletries, washing powder, toilet paper, pet food etc etc.

I'd kick him up the arse. Don't tolerate such behaviour.

About £40/50, me and my 19 yr old DS.

Tell him to take a typical week's meal plan and survey typical cleaning and toiletry products usage (which makes him do some mental admin for onceand then he can fill up a basket on any supermarket's delivery app. Check his work for omissions and bad purchases. There will be at least two outcomes - first a reality check for him, and second if he can really do better he can take ongoing responsibility for the task going forward.
Honestly we are very very low income two adults and one teen; no pets & no alcohol. We invested in freezers and budget for running them. We batch cook with the oven it doesn't get switched on for single items, we eat leftovers. We spend £90/week averaged over four weeks including weekly bargain hunting on Sainsbury's bargain brands and Aldi price match, fortnightly trips trips to either Aldi or Lidl, one trip to home bargains per month & one Iceland or Farmfoods trip every two months. Even my teen already knows to check price per 100g, compare value, not buy offers that can go off before use, make sure there's room in the cupboards for bulk buys. The cost of living never goes down.

£50 a week for food and basic toiletries, for one adult, one child. No alcohol.
I also pay for school lunches.

Cut out any alcohol, stop buying his shaving stuff or other toiletries. Buy cheap loo paper. When he moans, explain that is what the housekeeping will stretch to.

Between £60-£100 a week at Asda. Two adults, one baby (3 months). It tends to be more when buying formula, wet wipes & nappies as normally buy them in bulk so dont buy them every week. Maybe £15-£20 a week on a takeaway.

Why is this all on you, op? Give him your share of the food money and tell him to make it happen on the agreed budget.

I’m going to go on cooking strike. He loves my coming, but I can shop cheaper if I don’t buy ingredients for lovely meals. Easily fucking done. I’m happy to live on jacket potatoes. He has always been stingy and I HATE it. So tempted to cancel a few subscriptions that he likes too. That’ll save me some fucking money.

About £150 per week

About £140 a week. Me, DS (20) 2 cats and a dog. Don't need to top up though, so not too bad.

80 to 90 pound a week. 2 adults (one of us is 20) 15 and 12 year old dds, a yorkie terrier and a Guinea pig

very little alcohol on a monthly basis and that includes breakfasts lunches dinners and snacks etc.

can’t afford any more, i meal plan, use up left overs and cook really basic meals most of the time. but it’s really hard. Very few takeouts a year

He does the food shop for the next month, he will soon learn what it costs.

About £150-160 a week but in top of that I buy about £10-20 in top up stuff and a takeaway once a week.
we are a household of 2 adults 20yr old ds 16yr old dd. We have a dog as well.

I work in a supermarket so actually take 20% off that total but I’ve tried other supermarket and didn’t around £150 still.

If I was feeding two adults, two teenagers, a cat and a dog I'd expect to be spending at least £200 a week for a middling level of quality and convenience. I agree with other posters that if your DH is going to be a tightwad about the food budget it's the nice things he likes that should be sacrificed.

OPI am sure he does love your coming btw !
He probably likes your cooking as well ! 😁

175-200 a week? Ish.

£140 a week. 2 adults. 2 kids. 3 cats.