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?!

That does seem quite high. We can comfortably do £70 per week (including delivery) except alcohol - DP usually separately buys a couple of bottles of wine. That's 2 adults, all meals, all toiletries, cleaning products etc. Meals are cooked form scratch, but DP does add on shit like cakes and biscuits otherwise it would be lower. I haven't noticed it getting higher in the past 6 months or so, but it's much more costly than a couple of years ago.

You haven't seen the end of it - wait till the chancellor puts the promised 5p back on fuel duty, or worse decides to opt for 10p. Add in VAT that's 12p , add in filling station profit + speculative how high dare we go and the price will creep above £1.50/l.
It's already waay above the price it should be at the pump -= our company fuel card price is about £1.26/l
Then we'll see the supermarkets adding a random further 10% for fuel profit margin on top of current prices.

I do an online shop, was always around £90 for 2 adults and a teenager. Now is £120 and this does not include alcohol. It is so depressing when it arrives as it looks as if there is nothing there.

I’m afraid they can and they will. The growing season has been crap this year, and there may well be another oil shock shortly.

I know exactly how you feel though. We’re a family of 4 and it’s now really £120 a month. It was hovering at £100 for a while, but that barrier is definitely broken. I try to keep it down, but I already shop at Aldi, minimise meat and grow my own where I can.

We're still adjusting to it just being the two of us but our shopping is coming in at about £70 a week, on average, including a couple of meals with guests. I'm having a supermarket delivery one week, a greengrocer delivery the next, and being ruthless to only buy what we need to top up.
It's working well so far but we're only a few weeks in.

I'm noticing some more offers back, whereas during peak 'HOW MUCH?!' times nothing was on offer. Also fuel is more reasonable now which is a relief (I've probably jinxed it).

Yep, and as PP said, poor harvests this year etc., means we're probably looking at another squeeze on basics.
Money just bloody disappears.

No idea how people are spending £100 -£200. We're two adults and toddler and it's usually £70 - £80 in Lidl

I'm very resourceful with meal plans though

ours is extortionate, we don't drink alcohol or smoke, we eat mostly vegetarian as my daughter is veggie and it's still over £130 a week. we do have 2 cats but their food is isn't even £10 a week. It's disgusting how much basics cost.

Agree - I can't do an online shop for one at sainsburys that comes in at 60 quid and comprehensively covers a whole week. I never buy alcohol, don't smoke, and buy cleaning products elsewhere!

Ggrrrrr, I’m still waiting for Tescos block butter to be in stock for my on line order, it’s been over three weeks now since I’ve been able to get any of the basic brand. I physically cannot go shopping and rely on a delivery.

We have started swapping things from our gardens with our neighbours.

We have a pear tree, they have an apple. I have grown enough tomatoes to keep us going and neighbours for two months, another neighbour has chickens so sometimes we get eggs.

my freezer has two full trays now of frozen fruit.

i am going to try growing the main herbs we use next spring. And have rhubarb crowns to divide and give away in the autumn.

Sorry should have added, due to prices we are eating much more like we did as children, to reduce costs!

I spend about 250 a week on a family of 6 - 3 adult sized people and 3 older kids. That includes all toiletries and snacks for childminding kids too.

Yeah you can get it down. but its bloody depressing what you can get on a limited budget and your choices are limited. You have to meal plan religiously, get creative and with a full time job and kids not everyone can do that.
No treats, limited fruit , its not an enjoyable way to live. It also requires some skills and a decent pantry cupboard of herbs, spices, etc.
I do batch cook and my bills are fairly low, but its taken years to learn a repertoire of recipes, to have the ability to make a meal without a recipe, to know what goes with what and how to season.

I commented this week in store while buying bread that prices have gone up this week. I was told that as gas and electric have gone up from the beginning of the month, it’s costing more to produce the food and it’s passed on to the customer.

5 of us, adults working from home, 1 with IBS (sorry for the TMI!)… we get through a lot.

God no - I budgeted £50 a week for one adult back when I was still single and child-free in the noughties, and even that wasn't from Sainsburys! And that definitely didn't include cigs!

Presumably she isn't buying all toiletries every week but as and when needed. So maybe toothpaste and soap one week, conditioner one week, shampoo and hand cream one week and so on. It is all still toiletries being bought.

Then you have got an idea how people are spending £100-£200. It's because they're 'not very resourceful with meal plans', the big lazers!

Yeah, it's bad. I've been left with £50 for this weeks food shop, and we (me and DS) are really going to be eating stripped right down. 5 years ago it would have been okay

We spend about £60 a week for 2 adults and a toddler, sometimes £80-£100 if we need expensive stuff like washing powder, toilet roll, olive oil etc. I don't eat meat, DH does occassionally.

The only way I keep it under £100 is by meal planning everything and cooking everything from scratch. It's incredibly boring and takes years off my life 🤣

I spend about £600 a month for 2 adults and 4 kids under 13, which includes £30 a week on a takeaway for us all at the weekend. The children usually take packed lunches but do have school dinners twice a week which is an additional £60 a month. I shop almost exclusively at Lidl, which is £100 a week ish. Then a couple of small top ups at the Co-op, using the app to get a bit of money off. I stock up with the 10% of voucher on the Lidl app at the start of the month and collect all the freebies as we go on.

We do eat simply, with a couple of beans on toast level meals per week, but lots of fruit and veg - more apples and bananas than mango and winter strawberries though.

I think food was very very cheap for a very long time. It's unfortunate that it's now gone up to closer to the actual cost right at the point everything else has spiralled too.

We've saved quite a bit of cash by going to an old fashioned greengrocers for fruit and veg. It lasts a lot longer too.

Food shopping is so expensive - usually between 200-300 here. I’ve gone back to meal planning and still can’t get it less than 200/ week