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.

Not this again 🙄

We’re about £700 this month. 2 adults and a toddler in nappies so that includes nappies/wipes etc - and Pampers is the only brand that seems to work for him. No alcohol but does include laundry/cleaning/toiletries etc. We had nearly run down our freezer stock of batch cooking too so I have bought extra this month and batch cooked to fill it back up again as we have lots of stuff on next month and will want easy meals.
@FluffyUnionSocks We spend a huge amount on fruit & veg too! DS (2.5) just about eats us out of house and home. I have made a few changes to try and cut that part of the bill down (frozen berries for his porridge in the mornings rather than fresh for example, and buying a £20 “seasonal box” each week from a local shop rather than buying loads at the supermarket) but it hasn’t saved us a huge deal tbh. And I’d rather he ate that than unhealthier snacks.

I was going to say approx £130- £150 on the main shop and then £25pw extras but looking through my online banking it’s closer to £800 this month, hopefully just as it’s a long month! That’s food, cleaning products, toiletries and sometimes it includes alcohol (bottle of wine or maybe once a month spirits). Probably eat out or takeaway twice a month. There’s 3 adults and 2 young teens, but 4 of us take a packed lunch every day too. I’ve started popping to Aldi for snacks, freezer and cupboard bits some weeks then just getting my fresh food in Tescos but I might need to go back to 1 online shop and keep a closer eye on what I’m spending. I remember when I was a single parent and the kids were small if I was on a tight budget I could feed us for £40 some weeks!

We are spending about £500 a month on groceries, including cleaning products and toiletries, for 2 adults, 2 teen,a 4yo and 1 cat. We shop mostly at lidl. We meal plan, cook everything from scratch and freeze what is left over to be reused at a later time. It takes a while to get used to planning ahead at first, but it does get easier. I just can't bear to be spending extortionate amounts on food like we used to.

£300-350 for two adults per month (excluding toiletries and cleaning products). We don't buy anything crazy, but no takeaways or restaurants (except special occasions) means I don't want us to feel deprived and won't say no to good Lindt chocolate, Camembert for husband or sourdough bread for me.

Around £250 here for one adult, a 12 yo DS and a cat. DS does get free school meals. I shop in Aldi, and batch cook. We have a roast dinner every Sunday (usually chicken which makes one or two additional meals). When I didn't have to worry about money so much and had a two income household, I was careless with grocery shopping and spent a fortune. I can't do that now so I plan ahead. I buy wine at the weekend only which adds an extra tenner I guess. Also I religiously check cupboards and fridge to avoid buying stuff we already have. I used to be terrible for not doing that and at one point had 15 cans of baked beans! Also always write a list and stick to it as best you can!

@FluffyUnionSocks Where do you do your shopping? I buy all fruit and veg for packed lunches from Lidl as we go through it so quickly it doesnt have chance to go off (it does tend to go off faster than asda or Tesco). They still get a really good variety of fruits and veg though.

My DDs packed lunches are usually a sandwich (ham or cheese), yogurt, baby cucumber and a baby pepper or carrot sticks, 1-2 portions of fruit (raspberries, strawberries, grapes, pineapple or watermelon) plus a pack of raisins or small cake or cookie.

No more than £100 a week on food shopping (inc, household stuff and most toiletries) for two adults and one child. However the child has school dinners which I think really helps! I could probably cut this further still as I do get some treat items like coffee pods, alcohol etc.

Ours is about £500-600. We mostly buy from M&S with some items from Sainsbury's/Asda/Tesco. Some weeks are more expensive as we take advantage of offers and stock up but it evens out to the above over the month. We are two adults, one 14yo and a cat (whose meals aren't included, hers are over £1 per meal now). We meal plan in advance and don't buy many off-piste items.

This blows my mind, I’m £150 a month in life for myself and one cat.

Sainsburys is definitely cheaper than Lidl and Aldi for a large proportion!

In LIDL not life

Maybe around £450 per month. 2 adults, 2 small children and cat. Smallest still in nappies.

We spend around £130 a week which includes Gousto for 3 of our meals. 2 adults and a primary aged child. And a cat. That also includes toiletries, cleaning products, my gin, etc. But doesn't include bits we pick up during the week/meals bought at work/school dinners, meals out etc.

I still spend around £60 a week. Family of 4 with 2 cats.
Pretty much all my fruit and veg is free so that helps.

Reading that post no wonder you spend so much. Your DC all have something different and the food is like what you’d buy at a nice cafe instead of a packed lunch. There’s less of us in our house, two adults and a kid, but we eat well and I don’t skimp on food, we spend around £350 per month.

We are two adults a toddler and a baby. We spend ~ £60 a week including nappies, toiletries etc. so I guess that's around £240 a month? We might have 1-2 takeaways too so call it £300 a month on food and other consumables. I'm not sure how you spend a grand!!

I just spent £70 on one carrier bag of food & 1 Easter egg & 1 bunch of £1 daffs at M&S.
No meat, no wine, no toiletries, just a top up shop.
I know there's much cheaper places to shop, but I am genuinely surprised how much inflation there is in food. I would say that's 30% more than I would have expected it to be.

I budgeted £270 per month, for one person including booze and cleaning stuff and odd “household item” I pick up in main shop.
I set my budget from May to April annually. Was £250 per month year before.
I was doing ok with this until last month, when I spent £290 . I was really shocked as I didn’t have any “extra” shops (I plan on a weeks shopping but usually hold out to 8-9 days using up leftovers). I did buy a couple of luxury ready made items that I don’t do normally but it was such a massive jump proportionally . It wasn’t even booze as I only bought a single bottle of cheap ish white in whole month as I sort of went off wine. 😉
think I’m going to need to hit the gin now to deal with stress of inflation 😱🤣🤣

I’ve always , well until this year, taken a rough calculation of up to £50 per person per week even when married, and teens at home. That always covered everything including food, cleaning, cosmetic stuff like shampoo, soap, deodorants, shaving etc . Hardly needed to go up at all until 2 years ago. And that supported buying nice ingredients at bigger expense, for good quality dinners. My budget now just stretches to basic

After reading everything the problem is me, I clearly spoil the kids, until now I thought my buying habits were normal/typical but they are clearly not.
What snacks do you all have in on a weekly basis?
We have a wide range of fruit, 5ish different types of chocolate biscuit bars, I let them pick two choice of crisps each per week, 5ish choices of cereal bars, sugar waffles, chocolate coated waffles, variety of brioche, brownies, flapjacks, Galaxy ripples, Cadbury Caramels, chocolate finger multipack, 3/4 types of biscuits, jelly pots, yogurt, dried fruit, select of ice cream treats. Obviously I’ve just made them sound like spoilt fat fucks, they don’t eat that all in a week but at a minimum that’s what snacks we have available at all times.

Around £100 a week. This week £70, but last £140.
Then small shop too ups about £20 in the week.

2 adults, ages 13, 10 and 8 kids. Odd night with adult kids or siblings here

It’s getting harder and harder. I could manage on £50-60 in Aldi 6 months ago.

We are a family of 3 .. 2 adults, 1 DC and 2 hamsters! We used to spend £75 p/w on everything and now we spend on average £110. Admittedly £75 p/w was before we had the hamsters! 😂
But I do wonder how honest those saying they spend £70 are being. You have to count all the bits in-between the main shop.

Have moved over to a lot of unbranded stuff, cereal, ketchup, fish fingers, spread, cheese, chips, washing powder, yogurts etc which I find helps a lot. Use all the coupons I can on lidl and any morrisons more discounts. Fruit is the killer really as the kids go through it!