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 don't have that much money.
I work from home and cook from scratch. We don't really buy meat or dairy, we have it very occasionally that's by choice not because of money, but it does help.

I look out for deals and have that time as WFH. I also have a few supermarkets on the school run so have options and some have decent offers.

I cook with the philosophy of very basic with lots of flavour.

My daughter's favourite meal is spaghetti hoops, they are 16p/tin.
She also loves pasta so I blend a sauce that costs pennies, for instance a bag of carrots is about 20p.

So our food budget is one of our lowest expenses. There's two of us, one adult one 7 year old.

£100/month

That is a ridiculous amount of money! I'm assuming a lot of processed stuff, ready meals etc.

Approx £400/£450 per month, two children and two adults. Use ALDI, top up at home bargains and B&M for branded items. Meal plan. Always going through my cupboards and fridge to use things up.

About £1000 a month, family of five, including booze.

I have no idea. I would guess less than you spent, but we also eat out quite a lot. Just two of us at home and DH out at the office Monday - Friday. We don’t have a joint account and we both pick things up as needed apart from the weekly fruit and veg box.

We spend at least £1000 a month- two adults and two teens. Food prices are ridiculous where we live.

Just totted up £796 for March, including 3 takeaways and two mcds while out.
2 adults 5 children (11 - 1).

Around £600 for 2 of us. That will include a couple of bottles of decent wine a week (well £11.99 kind of stuff)

Looking at your list OP, it's really healthy but will cost a mint with all those berries, extra special ham, high end stuff .

We eat really well but I think you are giving them too much and obviously pandering to the 'I like' foibles. If it was up to my H the fridge would be full of smoked salmon, peeled prawns, sushi and fresh squeezed orange juice- (just for snacks!!!)

Probably around £130 a week including popping to the corner shop ect. 2 adults 1 child and 1 toddler.

Family of 3, £350 a month

£110-130 a week on groceries (we do it online to make sure we never over buy and its just so much easier). We top up milk/bread and anything else we run out of throughout the week so probably up to an extra £20 a week. Plus cost of school dinners for the kids. Usually have one takeaway a month (we are strict on that) and a few meals out at the weekend throughout the month.

So approx £500 a month on online supermarket shopping plus top ups. 2 adults and 2 children.

£190 food shop
£70 take aways, coffees ext

1 adult 1 6year old and a chubby cat.

About £400-£450 a month
3 teens (1 at Uni)
1 adult
6 cats!

Usually £120- £140 in Aldi click and collect a week plus £30-£50 elsewhere. Not just on food though, that's non-food items such as washing powder and toiletries, pet food for two cats and a dog. Three adults and two teenagers so five adults basically - two of them very hungry indeed! Probably about £700 a month then.

Similar amount, mostly because we go for convenience so pre prepared veg and the like. There’s not enough hours in Rev day to do everything from scratch.

Single parent here with 4 children, one’s disabled and tube fed, one preteen with a food allergy which bumps costs up and two teenagers and I’m spending about the same as you OP, on the months where I need to do a top up of cleaning products and toiletries it’s even more. Same as you was spending half the amount last year. Weeks with holidays like Christmas and Easter I can spend £200 per week, I’ve tried to cut back, but feel it’s important to have a fruit bowl that’s full and a few healthy snacks that kids can help themselves to after clubs and activities, particularly the teens who eat for England.

About £600 for 2 adults, 1 young teen and 1 pre teen - includes most toiletries and alcohol and no pets. Used to be a lot less but I try and be savvy to keep the costs down.

£200 a week for 2 adults, plus 2 teenage boys who are with us 4 days out of 7. Includes wine, loo roll, cleaning products etc. I think we eat quite well but I try hard to buy things on offer. We do get organic fruit and veg boxes, but we really like the quality.

That includes basic toiletries, snacks and wet/dry cat food
if the teens want fancier stuff or extra snacks they buy there own from their wages

I wouldn't like to work out or admit how much we spend on crisps a month as a household though. We have such a crisp problem.

I cannot get below £130 per week for 2 adults and 2 children. That’s with a strict meal plan too and a takeaway once every fortnight.

There’s 8 in my house two adults two teens two primary age two toddlers and I spend roughly £120 a week on shopping including cleaning products and toiletries. We all eat everything from home 3 meals a day I make most things from scratch including cleaning products rather than buy bathroom spray kitchen spray and so on I buy a bottle of bleach and a bottle of disinfectant the cheap asdas own ones then dilute them myself in spray bottles for cleaning. And then with food I just make most things from scratch including things like banana loaf I’ll buy a few large bags of carrots and cut some into carrot sticks for snacking then use others for roasting boiling grating large sacks of potatoes so I can make mash roasts jackets chips just buying thing a that generally can be made into a lot of different things I don’t waste stuff so when veg is on it’s way out I’ll make soup with it I’ll buy mince and use probably less than most people put into a meal but I’ll bulk it out with veg as it’s cheaper it’s just how you use things and if you have the time to make stuff my kids still eat pizzas I just make them from scratch I can make 20 pizza bases for around £4 then I make the sauce maybe £2 it’s enough to cover the 20 bases cheese I always have in then I’d use say I’d made a full chicken day before I’d pull off every last bit make a marinade for it then use that on the pizza but I do realise all the things I do maybe arnt for everybody it’s a lot of thinking and planning and making involved not feasible for everyone but works for me and my kids eat well and are never hungry I think it’s just what you can do. The biggest money saving thing I did was to swap shower gels and shampoo for bar soaps it takes a bit to get used to especially the shampoo bars id recommended dove bars for body as the lather up better but they are so much cheaper last way longer and saves so much space in your bin.

Well I've just added up March - supermarket shopping (includes toiletries and cleaning products etc) and 3 takeaways, 2 trips to McDonalds for 2, school dinner money, coffee & cake for 2 and the milk bill and to be honest it wasn't as much as I though it would be, bearing in mind that we're lucky enough to have no budget.

£757.73 for 2 adults, 17yr & 16yr old

Our main meals are possibly a bit cheaper than some as I chuck cheap stuff in the slow cooker and/or cook stuff rather than opening boxes or packets and putting in the oven.

Thankfully we don't have to worry too much about money, but I meal plan and shop online as its the only way I don't go off the rails- I also grew up very poor and think it still affects me now. Family of 3 and spend £400 a month including top up shops. Planning goes a long way to be honest.

I buy some things in bulk: hand-wash, shower gel, toothpaste, dairy alternative milk etc (but have to check it actually works out cheaper as it doesn't always), that saves a fair bit. I buy the biggest pack of chicken breasts for example and decant them into freezer bags to pop in the freezer, this saves a fair few £ per kg and isn't much more effort; also do this for mince, sausages etc.

Buy some stuff seasonally, berries during winter for example and so expensive and not usually that good quality- so buy more pears etc and then buy them in the summer, do get frozen berries in winter sometimes though.

Plan meals around what's on offer and snacks. DS likes cheesestrings and babybels for example, one is usually on offer so I'll just buy whichever is- of course appreciate this isn't always possible for children who need the same brand all of the time etc.

I get cash out at the start of the month for top up shops, we don't go without so if I run out of cash I'll get it on my card, but it's so easy to lose track of those small shops and just popping in for one or two things.

Essentially though as long as you can afford it then it doesn't matter what you spend, there are ways to cut down though if you need to. The different lunches sound lovely as do the Snacks but no wonder you're spending loads!

About £750 for 2 adults and 2 teens .. that doesn’t take into account what DH spends going to the local store for wine and treats though