Just had a shock, how much do you spend on groceries a month?

[FluffyUnionSocks]

For March so far not including tomorrow’s shopping delivery of £230, I have spend £970 on groceries this month. Including tomorrows shop the last of the month the grand total will be £1200! Wtf this time last year it was about half that amount.
How much are you all spending? We are a family of 5 the 3 kids are aged between 11-16.

I spend less than £350 a month for 3 adults and 2 teenagers, but one adult hardly eats here. I have no idea how people are spending so much! That includes packed lunches for the two DC.

We eat well, and I cook some stuff from scratch, but we also have days of eating crap.

Packed lunches are ham or cheese wraps, own brand crisps, an own brand club or similar and fruit, normally an apple or banana.

Breakfasts are cereal or toast with a variety of spreads.

Dinners are sporodic depending on time. Sometimes it stew in the slow cooker, another it's jacket potatoes and beans, chilli and rice, pasta bakes, spag bol, pizza and chips, sausages and salad or mash, we have a roast most Sundays. Reuse leftovers. We also eat a lot of omelette or egg based things and I love fish but the kids are less keen.

But tbf the kids would live off ramen noodles if allowed

Between £650 and £750 a month. No alcohol, just food and cleaning products/toiletries. 2 adults and 2 primary school kids.

Blimey!
we spend between £700 & £900 a month, for 4 of us. 2 adults, two teens, including a boy who eats for two! …. Price fluctuation depends on 4/5 weekends a month.

I shop online at Sainsbury. Everyone has breakfast lunch and dinner out if that (except me, I buy lunches in Waitrose 😂) but it comes out the same budget. And we usually get a takeaway or two and/or a meal out within that budget too.

I think I spend too much as do buy branded fizzy pop and branded crisps! 🙈

everything else is supermarket own and we bake nice snacks …. By we. I mean the teens!

also make great use of my freezer & chop anything spare & freeze it.
tonight’s dinner was left over veg, chicken and pasta in a (value) cream cheese sauce (never buy Philadelphia!!).

it ham OR cheese each eek for packet lunches. Not both, or some goes to waste. I buy sliced cheese as it’s quicker, easier & provides portion control. Blocks of cheese are cheaper, but gets eaten faster!!

we don’t eat lots of soft fruit/berries. Apples, bananas, satsumas, raisins & other dried fruit.
we eat berries in season and grow them in the garden! Or have cheap mid-shape frozen berries in smoothies/puddings.

if you want to cut back, look into using your freezer better and eating seasonally! Also batch cooking doesn’t mean you have to spend all day cooking. Just cook a bit extra and you’ll have some for “free” another night! ….. look up “the batch lady”.

@FluffyUnionSocks we use chicken thighs, never breasts as they're too expensive, buy big packs of mince and batch cook things like bolognaise and chilli which are bulked out with carrots, peas, sweetcorn, kidney beans etc. we're going to start buying a sack of potatoes too.

I know people laugh about the Mumsnet chicken but we get 2 family dinners and 2 people's lunch out of an extra large chicken so they really are good if you're on a budget.

We cook from scratch but have a full cupboard of flour, herbs and spices so it's much cheaper for us to do it. Also having a meal plan means I know exactly what to buy and there's no waste.

I look for special offers so for example this week the kids have branded yoghurts as they were cheaper than own brand. This is the only time we buy branded stuff.

We recently bought an extra freezer as we realised that top up shops were costing us fortune because you never just buy the thing you went in for. So I buy bread for the week and freeze it. We use a loaf every other day. Kids lunches are sandwiches or wraps and they have veg with hummus and some fruit. I have a shelf in the cupboard which has raisins and mini rolls and some own brand chocolate bars. Those are reserved for lunches and are not to be snacked on.

For breakfast it's cereal, toast or something like scrambled eggs.

I do online shopping and I put everything I want into the basket then, once I'm done, I go back through the list and remove things to make sure it stays below £110 a week. Some weeks where I need to get toiletries and cleaning stuff, that means there is nothing left for any luxuries but since we have a full "pantry" it means we can make cakes and biscuits anyway.

See I like to eat well. I’m a chef (Michelin level before I had Dd) so I physically cannot bulk out food unless it makes it taste better. Like a bolognese for us is beef and veal mince, pancetta, chicken livers and mirepoix. If I started shoving in corn and peppers and mushrooms it would just be so awful to eat!!

Bulk buying is a great idea, especially at butchers. My local butcher has 2lbs of brisket for £6 which is a fucking bargain. That can make pot roasts, pies, pastrami, croquettes etc if you get a decent amount. Also 2 wild rabbits for a fiver. Rabbit cacciatore or southern fried rabbit if you know how to butcher them.

I know everyone loves to bulk things out with lentil and beans and whatever random thing but it’s not always the best way to do it.

I tend to only bulk out stuff that's ok with it
So ragu, no, but I eat less of it and have more pasta or a side salad
Pasta bake is for the left over bits of bacon/chicken/random veg!
Cottage pie I won't bulk out either but I add more veg on the side plus pickled red cabbage
Rather have a nice ragu then scrambled eggs the next day type thing!

Is it just me or is workplace bullying the norm now?

£200 a week ish - 2a2c. I’m sure we could reduce if we planned better but rarely have time to batch cook etc
tbh we rarely drink - so we like having nice snacks/ berries/ cheese/ deli meats as a treat.

Your bolognaise sounds overly foodie and expensive. I agree no corn, but livers sound unnecessary and grim. Lentils all the way

It’s not ‘overly foodie and expensive’, it’s just a traditional bolognaise sauce. Lentils are fine if that’s your thing but it’s not a traditional bolognaise.

I don't really mind if an Italian chef is horrified that I leave out veal mince and chicken livers. I make mine with beef mince from my butcher, onions, celery, garlic, a bit of bacon and some red wine if I have it plus a beef stock cube (kallo). Last time I made it I put some lentils in and they were very good.

We spend about £150 a week on groceries (2 adults 1 toddler) and at least £200 a week on food delivery.

@Ostryga Not only do you sound a total snob with your 'I used to be a Michelin level chef' and 'bolognese would just taste so AWFUL with mushrooms' (wtf), but you also seem to be talking shite. Adding lentils barely affects the taste if you don't add too many, makes the meat go further, and adds a healthier element.
Also, you clearly don't give a shit about animal welfare if you're willing to eat veal.

These threads really open my eyes to the depressing way some people eat.

We spend 450-500 per month depending if its a 4/5 week month. We are 2 adults ,4 children (10,8,6 and 3) 2 labs and 2 cats. That is all meals x3 a day per person (including packed lunches for children) pet food cleaning products and children’s toilet/toothpste night nappies etc. If we want booze, we buy out of our own ‘spending’ fund. It’s always been tight and, increasingly it’s a juggling act and requires multiple supermarkets trips amd deliveries as well as reward/discount schemes, combined with lots and lots of cooking ! Our massive freezer is our friend.

At the beginning of the summer I joined our local food larder. It’s like a co-op, pay £10 annually to join & then £10 each week you go. I come away with about £40 of really good quality food.
I joined because I’m into reducing food waste & it’s mainly supermarkets near sell by date goods. Lots of Ocado, Waitrose & M&S stuff, you never know what’s there each week but that encourages you to try different foods.
Our local council is really promoting these community projects.
Now I can’t imagine coping without it, I still spend about £30-£40 a week at Tescos & £5 a week top-ups milk/bread etc as well as £10 at the larder.
In total about £50 /week spend for 2 adults & 2 teenagers.
Search community larders to see if there’s any near you.

In what way? Not a sarcastic question, genuinely interested!

80-100 a week - 2 adults 2 cats
I’m always bargain hunting though and fill the freezer with clearance items

We are about £450 per month for two adults! The prices are crazy.

We spend £300 tops for 2 adults and a 5-year-old. £165 of this is a Gousto subscription service (4 portions of 4 meals per week, but it easily feeds us for 3 portions, 6 days per week - we always get at least 25% off per box because we keep taking advantage of offers). The rest we spent at Aldi plus a couple of takeaways per month.

We spend about the same as you - 2 adults and 4DC, shopping in Waitrose. Ours doesn't include lunches though as they're eaten out the house.

One of the ways we cut down was by trying to get own brand snacks rather than walkers etc. The DC honestly haven't complained at all.

Another thing we've started doing is buying some frozen fruit. I wouldn't buy all frozen but they're great for putting with porridge. I was also guilty of buying it all prepared but now I'll buy a whole pineapple instead.

You could probably get some money down by moving the kids onto the same packed lunch as one another (I know not always easy, one of mine eats different food to the rest of us due to ASD) and a bit more basic. I tend to just do all chicken or ham if the situation arises. Then give them a nice yoghurt to compensate.

I once got invited on that eat well for less programme. I wonder if you could apply for it.

£60 a week = £240 a month for 3 adults, 2 dogs, plus DD’s boyfriend who eats with us twice a week.

That includes washing powder, wash up liquid, toilet blocks, toilet roll, kitchen roll, bleach, shampoo, soap, surface cleaner and all the other boring stuff that nobody wants to buy.

I cook from scratch and evening meals always consist of meat/fish and veg. Breakfast is cereal, toast and fruit, fruit and yogurt, fruit/veg smoothies or egg based meals. Always a Fry up on Saturday.

Lunch is soup, sandwiches, yesterdays leftover veg made into something else, omelette or something in the freezer (leftover curry etc from a previous meal).

No food goes in the bin here. If there’s not enough left to freeze the dogs get it mixed in with their food.

I won’t allow myself to spend more than £60 a week. I plan meals and draw the cash out before hitting the supermarket.

On top of that DD spends around £20 a month on toiletries - bubble bath, shower gel and sanitary products. For her - from her own money.

Normal household toiletries - deodorant, soap, bubble bath, shampoo, shower gel , toothpaste - are included in my weekly shop.

About £550 a month. 2 adults and a dog. A vegan and a pescatarian. Dog's food is roughly £80 a month including treats.

That would include all cleaning products, toiletries and alcohol.