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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

522 replies

FluffyUnionSocks · 30/03/2023 12:42

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.

OP posts:
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FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 30/03/2023 14:27

There are 3 of us. I reckon we are on £650 ish. We don't drink, other than a couple of bottles of ale and have stuck to menu planning this month. I reckon before the menu plan and the sticking to one big shop a week, we were easily spending £1000.

emmathedilemma · 30/03/2023 14:27

@Myjobisanightmare why do think adults don't need fruit?? I meal plan and cook from scratch all the time but my food bill is still high. It would probably be cheaper if I ate junk and microwave meals!

mast0650 · 30/03/2023 14:28

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.

None of that, apart from the fruit and yoghurt. And I only buy large amounts of cheaper fruit (bananas, apples etc). Once the nice berries, peaches etc have gone they have gone. We make our own flapjacks, so they are very cheap. When the kids were at home we had some nak'd bars, and some fancy ice cream. But again, limited amounts and once it had gone it had gone. I tended to direct them to toast, cereal or bananas if they were hungry!

crossstitchingnana · 30/03/2023 14:28

We spend about £650 a month with four adults, two cats and a large dog.

We seem to most definitely be on the lower side for grocery bills. I'm shocked at what people are spending !!

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 30/03/2023 14:28

Bloody hell, that's a lot! We spend about £300/month - 2 adults.

MyGirlDaisy · 30/03/2023 14:31

On a 5 week month around 850 for 4 adults. Thats 3 meals a day for me & dh and 2 meals a day for adult sons. Supermarket shop plus butcher. Includes all toiletries and cleaning products, alcohol but not pet food.

butterfliedtwo · 30/03/2023 14:31

I have to admit, I wish I could afford all that fruit. Looks delicious.

Myjobisanightmare · 30/03/2023 14:33

Sorry I was referring to all this talk about fruit lol none of us are interested in eating fruit to buy it regularly

Fuckityfuckfuck123 · 30/03/2023 14:33

We're spending about £500, feels like there's fuck all in the house though.

JupiterFortified · 30/03/2023 14:34

FluffyUnionSocks · 30/03/2023 14:20

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy apart from the selection of snacks that I top up every week no not much processed/frozen stuff. The freezer is full three drawers of fresh meat I have frozen and the bigger bottom drawer of frozen veg like peas, sweetcorn, sweet potato etc.

After looking on tomorrow’s order I spend a lot on fruit, the kids eat a lot of it and like all sorts.
2 for £5 extra special strawberries
2 for £5 extra special raspberries
2 for £5 extra special blueberries
2 for £5 extra special blackberries
4 mangoes £3.60
3 packs of Granny Smith apples £4.50
4 punnets of grapes £4
1 water melon £3.50
2 packs bananas £2.20
2 packs easy peelers £2
2 packs of kiwis £2
1 pineapple £1
That’s £43.80 on fruit alone and it all gets eaten over the 7 days between the 5 of us and the kids friends which visit regularly. My sons friends mum asked him why he likes hanging out here so much after school and he told her it’s because we have better snacks 😂.

Herein lies the problem OP; things like spending £20 a week on berries is ridiculous. I mean not ridiculous if you can afford it but if you’re worried about how much you can spend then it will be dead easy to cut down. And sounds like you’re buying loads of extra special and branded stuff - just cut down on those x

Rebel2 · 30/03/2023 14:34

Get wonky fruit and not extra special
Strawberries are crap this time of year anyway so I would scrap those and get something else

StopStartStop · 30/03/2023 14:35

Couldn't tell you for me, haven't counted it yet. But I keep a tally for my dad, 90, because he provides the money and I shop for him. He has simple tastes. £350 a month for food and household items. I'm trying to cut it down by buying cheaper cakes, biscuits etc and not getting anything unless I am sure he will eat it - no trying new things.

Hankunamatata · 30/03/2023 14:36

£200 a week easily on shopping. 2 adults, 2 teens and older child.

TurnedOutOrangesAndLemonsAgain · 30/03/2023 14:36

About 950 a month. 2 adults, 4 teenagers and 2 cats. Mainly shopping in Aldi and Lidl, and including non-food items and alcohol.

connie26 · 30/03/2023 14:37

About £200 per week. Family of four. Prices are increasing all the time and not just by a few pence.

ElfDragon · 30/03/2023 14:38

I spend about £800 a month. That’s for me, and dc aged 18, 16 and 11. 18 yer old eats a lot, 16 year old average, 11 year old still tiny portions but that’s going to change soon!

we don’t have massive slap up meals, but eat more than adequately, occasionally have posh ready meals, etc. I don’t think I could spend half as much again without wasting an awful lot.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 30/03/2023 14:39

Just had a shock looking at the bank account to check. This month we spent £750 but £200 of that was at Costco which we only do every few months. We also bought a lot of baby food this month as it was on offer. I'm sure we usually spend less than £500 a month.

We're 2 adults, a 3yr old and a 1yr old plus a cat. Both kids use nappies day and night. We get 10% blue light discount at asda so that saves a bit.

Lachimolala · 30/03/2023 14:40

I can do a weekly shop for me, a teen and two toddlers for £70/80ish. Mostly because they have free school meals and all attended breakfast clubs, so I’m buying stuff for dinners, my lunches and snacks really. Though I’ve just done the shop to arrive on Sunday for the holidays next week and I’ve only spent £90. I’m quite frugal and I’ll buy stuff I can stretch and generally don’t buy branded items. It can be done if like me you have no choice.

Mumsafan · 30/03/2023 14:41

About £400-£500 - three of us plus dog, plus most Sundays have my DM or one of the DS round.

Realised a couple of week ago how extortionate Tesco has become so tried Waitrose/ M&S/ local farm shop and butcher - has brought it down quite a bit.

InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream · 30/03/2023 14:41

Spoilt fat fucks would make a fantastic user name Smile
You could cut your bill hugely just by shopping much more carefully- things like blackberries and out of season strawberries and raspberries are horrendously expensive. Do you kids really need that huge variety all the time? Just buy a smaller selection of cheaper snacks.
We spend about £160 a week for a family of 5 with 4 pets. I buy barely any brand names, NO really expensive fruit, always trawl the special offers, only buy cheap biscuits and snacks, always compare price per kilo/litre to make sure I'm getting the best value etc etc. it takes longer, but literally saves hundreds a month.

Duhduhdub · 30/03/2023 14:43

It’s gone mad hasn’t it. I popped to Iceland this morning to get the DCs a few bits - nothing extravagant just a couple of bags of chicken nuggets, box of fish fingers, 4 frozen pizzas, bag of oven chips, loaf of bread, butter, ham and 2 multipacks of Penguin bars. £40!

Oceans1000 · 30/03/2023 14:44

Strongboat · 30/03/2023 14:22

About 320 a week for one adult.

A week or month?

ifonly4 · 30/03/2023 14:47

Other than if I'm doing a freezer shop, we keep to less than £50pw for two of us including cleaning items, wine or lager and some toiletries. This month I've spent £173, but will do another shop tomorrow which will include loaf of bread, fruit, lettuce, peppers and probably ricotta cheese to add to lasagne (have all other ingredients) - also I'm always on the look out for a brilliant offer or reduction (the other day I bought 900g white frozen fish from Lidl for £4.55. I reckon this month will come in around £185 at most.

Adifferentheadspace · 30/03/2023 14:47

That is a lot (although if you can afford it that’s fine). I don’t consider us deprived at all as a family of three spending between £70 to £100 per week at Sainsburys. I do also top up and spend a maximum of £80 per week on sundries as we have a gluten free allergy and DC has a packed lunch everyday at school. So £180 at most per week and we eat lots of fresh fruit and get any item we like within reason.

QuickNameChangeForMeToday · 30/03/2023 14:48

AlexaFeedMyKids · 30/03/2023 13:02

What type of meals are you eating? Are you buying thinks like canned drinks and unnecessaries? Family of 2 adults and 2 teens is £500 per month on big shops, prob another £50 on bits.

We are essentially 4 adults and 1 teen (12), all do sport and I realise we spend a lot and I’m sure short of basics lots can be classed as unnecessary but it includes all weekday lunches, snacks, a couple of bottles of wine, fruit juice and 8 cans of fizzy drinks a week.
1 with a dairy allergy so alternate products too.