Weekly food shop… AIBU or is it still costing more?

[Foodshopthoughts]

Can’t get it under £100 for two of us. We shop at one of the cheapest supermarkets. That does include every meal though, and all toiletries etc. I don’t eat meat and DH rarely. Family of 3 but baby won’t be adding to the cost us for a while due to breastfeeding. I thought prices were supposed to be coming down yet it seems to be going up and up?!

I spent £85 this week and barely covered the bottom of one of those shallow trolleys. I did spend about £12 on conditioner, eye cream and herbal nytol (that do not bloody work) but still, the rest should have been about £40

Why did you think prices were coming down?

Inflation is coming down but that just means the rate at which prices are rising is lower. Not that they're coming down.

Cos surely they can’t go up any further!

The thing is that inflation has already increased the cost of your shopping. Inflation is now lower but that just means prices will not rise so quickly. Sadly, it doesn’t mean already increased prices will fall.

Yeah we spend about £150 a week on food. That's two adults and a 2 and a half year old. x

I've noticed small increases on lots of products this last month or so. We are a family of four ..two adults, two teens...we must be at £250 a week easily now.

Yes, yes they can. Things will only get cheaper if there is deflation which almost never happens.
Otherwise it just keeps going up. But ideally in line with wages etc so you don’t feel it.

£100 is doing pretty well I'd say. We average around £200/week for 2 adults and 1 (5yo) DC including all food, toiletries, cleaning supplies etc. Prices are just higher now unfortunately 🤷‍♀️

Do you remember when truckers went on strike because if petrol went above £1 a litre, that would be the end of their industry? Halcyon days ...

Doing the weekly food shopping depresses me so much. We are a family of 4 and I struggle to keep it under £120 - £130. The cost is going up so much that if it continues like this we will be living on just beans on toast.
Our joint income was £15k less 10 years ago, and we had a luxurious life in comparison. We never counted the pennies when shopping, could eat out, had 2 children in nappies and bottle fed. Everything has gone up so much, not just food shopping. The joy has been sucked out of living for a lot of people.

I feel a lot better seeing this! My friend was saying she can do it for £60, two adults and one child. I think when people give prices like this though it can’t be every meal and must not include top up shops or household items

It isn't going to come down. I few years ago I used to spend about £40 a week on food for me and 2 kids and I'm easily spending double that now.

Yeah, it never comes down. It will only go up marginally slower sometimes. But not often, or noticeably.

Wages aren’t double though. It’s so hard

It’s just crazy isn’t it! Things have changed so rapidly in such a short time

I've noticed some things have come down in price compared to last year. Tesco's own brand block of butter was getting on for nearly £2.00 last year/year but it's lower than that now. Also their honey was about 1.85/1.90 but is now £1.09. It depends on what you buy.

I have this sort of conversation with friends and acquaintances sometimes, when we bemoan how expensive everything seems to be nowadays. My experience is that people who say it's a very low figure will let slip elsewhere (usually on a different occasion!) that they're apt to eat a lot of takeaways, or that they nip out for a couple of frozen pizzas when no-one fancies doing 'proper' cooking. So the overall cost of putting calories down their necks is probably just as much if not more than we spend.

Once prices go up, they never come back down. Consumers get used to it and/or change their shopping habits. It's a harsh reality.

I almost never eat meat now, eggs are a 'sometimes' thing and treats are rare. Am also down to eating twice a day. Because soon I'll have to turn on the heat.

It's shit. I'm only glad I don't have to keep anyone else alive.

It's mad. We do a shop every Friday - £120 - £140 family of 4... maybe 1 bottle of wine and a chicken but nothing luxury.
ALL gone by Tuesday. Every week.

We’re a family of 5 (youngest is 16 so adults) the amount we spend on food is eye watering.

£200 pw for 2 adults and a child is very high, which is fine of you can afford it, but will include a significant amount of non essential/higher end items. So is hardly a benchmark grocery budget for someone who wants or needs to spend less than half that amount.

Even the OPs £100 pw could be reduced if you needed the money for something else. When you say you 'can't get it below £100' then surely what you mean is that you can't do this without giving up the treat/extra part of your spend?

I guess that’s nearly double for 7 days then, so £240-280. Eeek. People always say on these threads to eat less meat but I think most people do that anyway, plus, I’m veggie but if you like meat why shouldn’t you buy and eat it?

Not really. I could maybe shave a tenner off by not buying as much fruit or veg.

I don't do a weekly shop as the fruit and veg wouldn't last and I can't decide today what I want to eat in 6 days time! I can barely decide what I want for lunch most days!

I go to a supermarket everyday and just get what I need that day plus anything else that's run out for the house etc.

I tend to shop between 2 supermarkets and know which items are cheaper in which so balance it. Prices have of course gone up but some things have come back down and by balancing it, I'm managing to ride the wave a little.

We usually spend about £100 for 2 adults a 10 yr old, 7 yr old and 3 year old. Will eat out once a week and children are at school for lunches. We shop at Aldi. Not every night is a big meal as children have had proper food at school. JP or egg on toast a couple nights a week, but otherwise have a proper meal (usually containing meat).