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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How much is your grocery bill

96 replies

Helphum · 20/12/2023 20:07

We are a family of 3. DC is toddler. Our grocery bills used to be £40/week until last year but now it's almost £80. We eat veggies & fruits mostly and one portion of fish/chicken each week. We find it unbelievable really how bills have gone up so much for grocery shopping. We mostly shopped at Lidl but even that feel very expensive.
How much were your grocery bills until last year and how much they have gone up now?

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Merryoldgoat · 20/12/2023 21:42

About £200 - 2 adults, 2 kids and a cat

CarolHath · 20/12/2023 21:43

Ours is about £150-£170pw now. Used to be just over £100pw before all the price increases. Including toiletries, cleaning products etc. no alcohol. That's for all meals usually including packed lunches. No takeaways. We are in NI so prices are higher.

2 adults, 1 child, 1 toddler

I eat whole food plant based so my meals are mostly legumes/ rice/ soups/ salads. Only substitute I buy is soy/coconut yoghurt. I make my own granola/protein balls etc these can be expensive to make however.

Minimal meat bought for the others. I roast a whole chicken on a Sunday and occasionally buy small amount of mince or stew meat. They eat plant based too mostly.

We make our own bread in bread maker. I buy 1kg pots of Greek yoghurt and sweeten with honey, 1kg pot of peanut butter. Buy minimal treats, odd pack of chocolate bars, squash, pancakes. Breakfast is porridge, weetabix, yoghurt. We get through a lot of fruit though try to buy in season and buy frozen fruit for smoothies.

Use bar soap instead of shower gel. Don't buy lots of cleaning stuff, use mostly fairy liquid.
Own brand nappies.

I honestly don't know how I could reduce my bill without compromising our health.

Dacadactyl · 20/12/2023 21:43

@FishersGate well I'm not counting macros and all that jazz if that's what you mean.

The whole chicken does sandwiches for all 4 of us for about 5 days. Depending on what we are having for tea, I'd buy 2 chickens (so say if I was doing a roast one week, the 2nd chicken would do us for the roast and then a curry the next day)

Imamumgetmeoutofhere · 20/12/2023 21:45

Between £100-£150 a week. 2 adults, 1 teen and 1 primary age child. Also 1 cat. That's for all food, drink, toiletries, cleaning products and cat bits

Lemonademoney · 20/12/2023 21:46

family of five. £120 ish a week main shop and probably another £10 or £20 in top ups through the week. Does include washing/cleaning stuff and wine and meat. My eldest child is a teen so is a bottomless pit for food and eats more than me or dh.

Edinburghguy · 20/12/2023 22:28

Probably about £200 / week for family of 4 not including alcohol. Both WfH and so eat everyday in the house. Meat is on the plate almost every day; sometimes twice per day.

This is a combo of Aldi, Asda, Tesco and a number of items from the internet such as olive oil and ghee.

Cosifantutrifrutti · 20/12/2023 22:32

Family of three, 2 adults and a three year old, and two cats. We spend about £120 a week on average.

It seems hugely expensive to me. We are vegetarians, almost never buy alcohol and cook almost everything from scratch so who knows how it adds up to so much! I should maybe switch from Sainsbury’s to Lidl or Aldi but it makes my life a lot easier to have shopping delivered so I’m loath to.

I could also be better about meal planning to avoid waste, that’s my resolution for next year.

It does feel like food prices are incredibly high these days. I’m astounded at how the cost racks up.

Cosifantutrifrutti · 20/12/2023 22:34

Dacadactyl · 20/12/2023 21:43

@FishersGate well I'm not counting macros and all that jazz if that's what you mean.

The whole chicken does sandwiches for all 4 of us for about 5 days. Depending on what we are having for tea, I'd buy 2 chickens (so say if I was doing a roast one week, the 2nd chicken would do us for the roast and then a curry the next day)

I don’t eat meat so maybe I’m just ignorant but I’m stunned you can get 20 chicken sandwiches from one chicken!

gemloving · 20/12/2023 22:35

£120- 140. I don't work at the moment, so 2 year old home with me and everyone eats dinner at home, husband works from 4 days a week, so we eat at home a lot. 4 year old eats school dinners but I'll start packed lunches from January as he's not eating well at school sadly.

Dacadactyl · 20/12/2023 22:36

@Cosifantutrifrutti I get an aldi extra large chicken (think it's 2kg) for 4.99 and that's how many sandwiches I get out of it.

gemloving · 20/12/2023 22:36

Sorry, it's gone uk from about £85-£110 x

Cosifantutrifrutti · 20/12/2023 22:37

stargazer02 · 20/12/2023 21:03

2 adults, 2 kids and various dietary restrictions but no alcohol and still manage £150 -£175 most weeks. Fresh fruit is a fair chunk to be fair.

I stopped bulk cooking for a while because I thought it took too much time and effort, but now I've run out of my frozen meal stash I'm realising it's far cheaper (because we snack less) and better use of time when I plan properly and freeze.

Fresh fruit is a killer for us too. Keeping our toddler in berries and satsumas is bankrupting us 😂

Fionaville · 20/12/2023 22:38

Family of 4. £120 per week. Used to be about £90.

SuperGinger · 20/12/2023 22:38

We spend about £180 per week family of four, ĺwe only buy organic meat, veggies and dairy. Plus my DH is gluten free. We buy paper towel, loo paper etc in bulk and have a veggie box. We buy from Waitrose, Abel & Cole, Aldi, and Lidl. Bread for me and the kids is from a local bakery. LEvery meal is cooked from scratch.

Cat food is separate as our cat is on an insanely £120 per month medical diet. She is 17 so I don't begrudge it.

PingPowKaPowWow · 20/12/2023 22:44

About 70 per week for two adults, a child, cat. Includes everything, including any top ups. Used to be more like 50.

Mercury2702 · 20/12/2023 22:47

1 adult and DS is 7. I try and budget £55 a week. We eat meat and fruit and veg but I try and batch cook to save money. Now have more stuff like scrambled egg, omelettes and jacket potatoes for lunch but admittedly don’t buy as much fruit as I used to and try and eat more protein. It does tend to include cleaning and laundry products other than the odd picking up of those things in b&m/home bargains. I normally do the shop at Asda with a food delivery and have the Asda rewards connected to my blue light card

SuperGinger · 20/12/2023 22:49

Ours does not include alcohol we get wine separately, we usually do about three orders of several cases at a time per year.

Youcannotbeseriousreally · 20/12/2023 22:50

We average out as a family of 4. Used to spend about £100 a week now more like £150. Me and my husband eat out twice a week on average too.

Pottedpalm · 20/12/2023 23:52

CharlottePimpernel · 20/12/2023 20:37

£40 a fortnight and top up bits in between- milk, ham and baked beans (DD will only eat them from Asda and I don't do the big shop at Asda!)
Me and five year old DD.

Seriously? £20 a week? I’m not sure I believe you!

CharlottePimpernel · 21/12/2023 07:04

@Pottedpalm yep. I could show you my receipts!
I eat mostly beans, vegetables and potatoes. I make our bread. 12 eggs lasts a month. DD is ridiculously fussy and her food costs hardly anything.
We have a packet of digestives a week, I make any cake or puddings we have.
There isn't any more money for food in my budget so £40 a fortnight it has to be.

Scottishdreams1991 · 21/12/2023 10:12

Is everyone counting everything for a week ? We hardly do top up shops and everyone gets a packed lunch. My ds7 is severely autistic so hus diet is quite limited and my ds 4 has a milk allergy so i buy i lot of free from so i dont have to cook separately. I buy a packet of 20 ciggies a week ( used to be once a day )

Pottedpalm · 21/12/2023 16:07

CharlottePimpernel · 21/12/2023 07:04

@Pottedpalm yep. I could show you my receipts!
I eat mostly beans, vegetables and potatoes. I make our bread. 12 eggs lasts a month. DD is ridiculously fussy and her food costs hardly anything.
We have a packet of digestives a week, I make any cake or puddings we have.
There isn't any more money for food in my budget so £40 a fortnight it has to be.

I would actually love to see what you buy, out of interest, not to criticise 🙂

Grumpusaurus · 21/12/2023 16:18

For a family of 2 adults, 2 kids and 5 large dogs we spend between €350 - €400 a week. We live in an expensive area but to be fair, we do get a lot of deli cheeses, seafood and other gourmet items. Here people do seem to spend more on food in comparison to the UK. But then, we do not have a mortgage or rental costs, nor do we take expensive trips, as we are in a lovely seaside area.

Caspianberg · 21/12/2023 16:30

About €200 for 2 adults and 1 child. Food always has been way more expensive here than uk. With the price increases it’s just got more expensive, the uk food seems really cheap when we visit.

We cook most things, don’t really drink alcohol and no toiletries in that bill.
500g carrots were €1.80 today, so when people say ‘eat soups or carrots and beans’ well they aren’t any cheaper than anything else tbh. Eggs are €0.55 each now

CarolHath · 21/12/2023 18:43

@Caspianberg where are you?