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?!

£100 a week is £14 a day.

That's plenty for 3 meals if breakfast is/ was porridge/fruit or eggs.
No fancy branded cereals.

Lunch- home made soup, tinned sardines on toast, omelettes, jacket spud and cheese/beans.

Dinner- plenty of cash left over for meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, yoghurt.

I suppose it all very much depends on what you eat and how you eat. I’m very lucky that the vegetables I buy for dinner I can also use for lunches for my children.
For today’s packed lunch, they had
a roll with sliced chicken
A raw vegetable mix of carrot , cucumber, red pepper, and sugar snap peas.
A small chocolate bar (because it’s Friday) usually I make a flapjack.
Half a bag of popcorn
1 plum and 1orange
1 yoghurt

They usually go to Afterschool for awhile and there they will get toast and more fruit.

when I make dinner in the evening, I try to have at least two veggies. Even when I do a pizza night, I will chop up raw vegetables such as carrot and cucumber to have a long side they never moan. It’s just the norm for us.

Yes things have gone up but we are a family of 5 (incl 3 male teenagers) and our food shop at Ocado is £115 a week plus another £15 on lots of fruit from the market. This includes packed lunches for 3. I cook every meal from scratch and meal plan and we have some form of dessert with every meal. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and have meat 6 out of 7 nights.

YANBU- my food shop is 70-80 for 2 adults and a toddler. Will include like hand soap, baby wipes but it doesn’t include nappies/pet food,

i think it’s incredibly hard to spend a reasonable amount. Plus I also find it hard to find reasonably priced everyday food eg bread that isn’t packed with ultraprocessed nonsense. Why should I pay double for bread that is actually bread? Only started noticing it all when weaning.

also I’m spending a LOT more time planning and going without things that I would normally buy due to cost. Plus we rarely eat out now/ get take away. I feel the poorest I ever have,

@Missmarplesknittingbuddy less smug, more disbelief. 2 adults, 3 children. I don’t even try hard to not spend much. I really don’t get how people are spending so much. I know you’re taking the piss, but thought I’d have a go at pricing anyway….

Literally just made tea just now for later. Tuna pasta. Will make enough for tonight plus lunch for adults tomorrow.
tin of tomatoes 59p
2 cloves garlic 10p
mixed herbs 15p
bay leaves from garden
tbsp olive oil 10p
tom puree 15p
2 tin tuna 2 * 66
pasta 30p

Total £2.71 for 7 meals…

Might go nuts and add some cheese… third of a block is about a £1.

So let’s assume I spend more than that each night. Sometimes will be less for a JP or egg on Toast. Sometimes might have a roast chicken. So let’s assume £6 a night on average, a lot more than the above, it’s still only £36 ( we eat out once a week).

Kids usually have wholemeal bread and eggs for breakfast. Assume 2 loaves at 79p and 6 mixed weight free range eggs (only 99p in Aldi). We are on 2.57 for the week. Husband and I usually have porridge, so let’s assume a whole bag of oats 90p and 2pints milk 1.20.
4.67 for everyone for breakfast.

kids eat at school. We’ve then got 100- 4.67-36 = 59.33 for fruit, lunches, toiletries, cleaning, snacks etc.

I don’t really find it hard to stay under. We aren’t strapped for cash but still wouldn’t want to be spending more than 120. Some of the comments in this thread re spends are eye opening.

Probably spend £100 a week for two people easily, but that’s eating well. Steaks once a week, an organic chicken, sea bass, salmon etc. Meals all home cooked with lots of fruit and veg.

If money is tighter then I can cut back but I always feel a bit grotty eating too many high carb cheap meals for long periods. So it’s something I’d prioritise over other things if at all possible.

Currently sick as a dog with hyperemesis and my food shop has never been so cheap as I’m only eating toast and sweets. Never felt so grim eating like this.

We spend around £200 pw 4 of us, sometimes 5 if DS home for WE.That includes cleaning products ,shampoo etc. Dont eat out unless birthdays etc,dont have takeouts .All from fresh.Also many products seem to have shrunk! Always buy own brand too.

I think I am just really lazy, I buy lots of frozen ready meals

It's broadly because lower inflation doesn't meant lower prices it means the rate of increase has reduced.
If you have 10% inflation followed by 0% your £100 would still cost £110. If you have 10% inflation followed by 5% your £100 will cost £115.50.

We are a house of 3, 2 adults and a 4yo with allergies. We spend £30-40 every 3 weeks just on an oat milk delivery! Our main shop is between £60 and £100 usually around the £100 mark when we have grandparents to stay for the weekend or we are getting wine when its on offer. We have to buy bread in Tesco as the main one doesn't do soya free bread. That shop is usually £10-15 as we might get some meat and milk in Tesco too as they have a better range of grain fed chicken and my daughter can't have chicken from soya fed chickens. We probably are at £100 a week average.

We have to bulk buy oat milk as the oat milk my daughter needs in £2.10 a litre in the supermarket and we get it for £1.40-1.70 a L in bulk. Thankfully we manage to avoid most free from foods and cook from scratch as she has too many allergies for packaged foods. It keeps costs down too!

I think the way to keep it down is to have a couple of meals of toasties, jacket potatoes. Still grim though, I grew up 'poor' in the eighties, my dad was out of work, but my mum would have considered toast for a meal desperation. It's true what PPS have said the joy is sucked out of life for a lot of people, living week to week, can't even go to the pub for a couple as that's astronomical it's shit.

I spend £120 a week 2 adults 2 children with a few bits in between, but My top up shops are coming closer to £50 whereas it used to be £15-20 ish

Oh thanks @Namechangetotalkaboutmysleepingpillsproblem
I roast the sweet potatoes and pepper in the oven first but it's not essential. You can do it all on the hob. Add a tin of reduced fat coconut milk. Sometimes sub butternut squash for the potatoes.

That’s not a healthy meal plan though, lots of carbs and processed food.

You also mentioned that the lads tend to eat fast food at the weekend , so a rather unhealthy diet 😥

£100 a week for two people what are you eating? I do two online shops a week, different supermarkets. The big shop is around £100 the smaller one around £60 but that's for 9 people.
no No alcohol and no toilet roll, but that includes other toiletries and cleaning supplies. Do people just buy a lot of convenience food?

Sorry, @Foodshopthoughts, it's only going to get higher! Climate change has been trashing the harvests of recent years, resulting in much lower yeilds and higher prices. The war between Russia and Ukraine affects one of the mjor cereal and sunflower oil producing regions, and Brexit will add more costs to inported food as the paperwork and transport costs continue to bite.

There isn't an upper limit to what things cost (short of a revolt and that's not terribly likely.) If they cost a lot to produce or there aren't ennough to meet demand, prices will continue to go up.

I've been changing what I cook to try and reduce the regular outgoings. A Munsnet favourite, Ottolenghi chickpeas, is off the menu since the large amount of olive oil in the recipe is too expensive and 75 minutes in the oven isn't cost effective.

If we aren't having any wine or takeaway it's pretty easy to keep the shop below £100. However, add booze, treats or instant meals and it gets significantly higher. Higher still if I haven't planned the menus to make sure nothing is wasted.

Yeah I have been saving a little buying potatoes and beans lately

I spend more than you do for 5 people. No convenience food at all, but I do try and go for the highest welfare and quality meat possible, so farm shop/butchers etc which is expensive. I don’t scrimp on food because 1) I don’t have to and 2) what I put into mine and my children’s’ bodies is important to me.

I've been thinking the same. We spend around £120-150 a week depending on if we've run out of things like laundry detergent, toiletries etc.
2 adults and a 17 month old - I can't believe how much I spend on berries and fruit now but she is a bottomless pit for yoghurt and berries!

Actually I wasn't taking the piss but wondered if you had overlooked something when pricing. The OP has four children so has an additional person to feed . Your children also eat lunches at school . I think if you are eating something on toast for dinner a couple of days per week and eat out once per week it will certainly keep the grocery costs down. All of these things add a significant decrease in your spend versus the OPs each week .

@AnonymousBleep sure, we eat pretty boring stuff but generally the bulk of the list is something like this (although we often go to parents for dinner one night):

Breakfasts & lunches:
2x packs own brand crumpets = £1
Butter or jam (whatever we're out of) = £2
Loaf of sourdough bread = £2
4 tins of soup @ 60p each = £2.40
Chicken tikka sandwich bits = £1.50
Cheese = £3
Couple of tins of beans = £2
Tub of Greek yoghurt = £1
Pack of berries = £2
Milk = £1.20
Porridge oats (every other week average) = 50p
Coffee / tea / sugar whatever we're out of = £2

Dinners:
500g pack of mince (does 2 nights) = £3
Pack of chicken breasts or thighs = £3
Chorizo sausage = £2
Salmon fillets = £4.50
2 Ready meals = £4
Big bag of rice or cheap pasta = 70p
Big bag of large potatoes = £2
Carrots = £1
Frozen peas = £1.50
~2 other kinds of veggies = £3
Chopped tomatoes, stock, sauces whatever we're out of = £3
Lentils = £1
Herbs & spices we're out of = £2
Pre-made desserts = £2
Ice cream = £2

That comes to about £55. Then there's always the odd specific ingredient and one or two toiletries / cleaning products I need. If we buy wine it's usually a £7ish bottle. Usually total comes to around £70ish total. Admittedly I do go for the cheapest brands for a lot of things.

Plus the cost of gas and electricity in every space the food goes before reaching your plate and the rising minimum wage needed by every worker in the process.

I've been changing what I cook to try and reduce the regular outgoings. A Munsnet favourite, Ottolenghi chickpeas, is off the menu since the large amount of olive oil in the recipe is too expensive and 75 minutes in the oven isn't cost effective.

I make chickpea curry in the instapot which is very cost effective and healthy. I do realise not everyone wants to eat curry all the time though! It's not as samey as you think though as there are many varieties. For instance, I make four things out of chickpeas
A "curry" with tomatoes and onions, the usual one people know
A salad for lunch eaten with pitas or sourdough toast
Another type of curry with coconut milk from Kerala
Then I also throw it in tray bakes.

hence my name!

1. Inflation is still above 0 so prices continue to rise...

1. If you can't get it under £100 you're either terrible at planning meals properly and buying what you need, or you must be buying premium branded products.

Our weekly shop for two for all of our weekly meals (three meals a day) Including toiletries and around £10-15 on alcohol comes in at around £80-85 a week.

Do you cook your own meals from scratch or buy convenience foods? I will normally do a lasagna, Bolognese, shepards pie etc which will make four portions. Raw ingredients costs must be about £6-7. We will freeze and eat one the following week alternating. Too easy.

Yeah, I can see why my shop is twice as expensive as yours, and it's because I basically buy that x2! We're essentially three adults, and one of those is an extremely sporty teen who eats like a horse.

Teens still.need decent nutrition though as well as filling up.