£800 pm on groceries for a family

[popsickle555]

recently had a conversation with my DM (lighthearted) but I explained our weekly shop is now around £200 for a family of 2 adults and two teenage children during summer school holidays. She said she thought me ‘overspending’.

Anyway here’s what we spend:

£150 ish weekly shop (has to be weekly during the holidays as they eat so much)
£50 on top up shops fruit and veg and occasional extras eg wash powder and such things. This also includes cat food (1 cat on cheap food).

this includes lunches for me and DH (wfh) and also packed lunch stuff for DC’s who have been on a drama camp.

AIBU to think it’s actually quite hard to eat reasonably well (I do cook most days and I am buying decent ish ingredients but also plenty of ‘basic’ range options) for less than this sort of price now for 4 full portion people eating 3 meals a day? We hardly ever eat out unless on holiday.

For reference my DM hardly eats a lot now she’s older and when she does it’s really simple and generally quite boring stuff eg omelette, jacket potato etc. My DH and DCs needs more protein than that as are all very active.

I just came away feeling like I’m wasting money but genuinely can’t see how I can do it for much less without really scrimping on ingredients and protein.

I can't " go to the continent" becuase Brexit.

The post war generation have not paid in nearly enough to cover their health and care costs. They paid in enough to cover those of a much smaller generation with a lower life expectancy.

Err the boomers most definitely haven’t paid in nearly enough to cover what they cost. The welfare system was more generous for their generation, providing more support during their lives.They have also benefited from more tax breaks and other forms of state support throughout most of their working lives. Many women never even worked as having a SAHP was far more common. They are the most pampered generation. EU immigrants do NOT over run this country.

£250-£275 a week here, two adults, two teens, one primary age

Some of the older generations think they can ( although the numbers who want to remain out are drastically shrinking) but younger generations will have no choice in the future. We need the EU which is becoming more and more clear as the months and years go by and we look at the shit show in the USA. We are teeny tiny island with limited self sufficiency and the USA doesn’t give a shit about us, nobody goes. We need the EU. You seriously need a reality check.

Just me and DH in our house and I’m at anything between £250-300 per month on food shopping. DH buys his beer directly from a brewery, I tend to stock up on wine when Tesco has the 25% offers on, otherwise it’s a cheap bottle a week from Lidl, where I do my main shop. We usually eat dinner & lunch out once a week and some weeks, we also eat dinner at our DD’s once a week.
The food I buy tends to include chicken breasts, minced beef or pork, fish, then fresh vet, some fruit, eggs, bread etc. We don’t tend to have desserts but I usually thrown in a few treats each week.

Edited to add that cost includes most toiletries, cleaning products, washing and dishwasher tablets, loo roll. I mainly shop at Lidl then go to Tesco for things I can’t let in Lidl and I budget quite carefully.

So approx £1.1 to £1.2K pcm? 😵‍💫

Sounds about right.
Im 2 adults & 2 teen boys.
1 has school dinners & 1 takes packed lunch.
DH works from home 4 days a week (buys lunch the 5th) & I try to take packed lunch 3 or 4 days a week.

We probably spend about £750 a month to cover it all.....plus we have take aways or meals out maybe once or twice a month too on top of that, which is around £35-£40 for a take away or £80-£100 for a meal out which means we are probably spending about £900-£1000 a month, so you are doing well.

Whoops, forgot to add that DH and I are both retired so no work lunches to think about and we don’t drink spirits at home so no cost there.

I'll just go and end it all then shall I? I have slogged all my life, I'm still slogging now at nearly 70.

I've " used " the NHS for a couple of broken bones caused by negligence.

Pampered? Staying at home? I don't think so.

Nope don’t need to end it but if you voted for Brexit you need to own the shit show you’ve created, expect a shitty few years ahead,contribute more to your care and health provision and stop blaming everything on immigrants.

I think that’s about average, you could spend less if you tried I’m sure and you could easily spend more. We are 2 adults and 2 kids 9 and 11. Spend about £110 in Aldi and £15 a week in Home Bargains on toiletries and cleaning stuff, tissues, loo rolls etc. So that’s a fair bit less than you but having said that my kids have one or 2 school dinners a week and on top of that we probably have one meal out and one takeaway a week. If you added in the extra packed lunches needed and 2 extra evening meals instead of the takeaways and meals out we would be about the Same I reckon. Although. I shop in Aldi I do get the nicer stuff like the most expensive tomatoes, mini cucumbers instead of much cheaper big cucumbers, the poshest bread they do etc. So I think we eat well and could spend less if we didn’t eat as well as we do, and we imagine you could too if you wanted to. But if you can afford it really isn’t any of her business. Is she the type that ‘couldn’t possibly eat a whole salad leaf?’

1. No I didn't vote for Brexit
2. I have worked with people seeking asylum for years.

Asylum seekers are an enntirely different matter to EU migration the 2 things are not connected

When I was told to stop blaming everything on immigrants, it wasn't clear.

Sorry I know you didn’t ask for advice but I’ve always thought this is not a great idea - what’s the incentive for them to try new things if they can just get whatever they want made for them instead? And then you’re running around the kitchen like a headless chicken trying to please everyone. If mine don’t eat what I’ve cooked then they’re offered bread and butter, a banana and/or some plain yoghurt. Zero effort and nothing exciting. However they’d always eat at least one element of what I’d made so for example if it’s Fishcakes, veg and potatoes they might reject the fishcake but eat some veg and the potatoes. If so, again they are offered plain yoghurt or banana afterwards, no big deal, no extra cooking.

🤣Oh the naivety.Have you looked at the world recently.

We spend about £100 a week for two adults and two children (both under 12), and a dog.

I shop in Tesco and Aldi (Tesco for fruit, veg and meat; Aldi for everything else). I buy dog food online.

We never buy big brand items except some snacks like those fruit roll things, and occasionally bagels as the ‘nice’ ones are nicer!!

The adults eat a lot of salads, lentils and veg based food. Family food is the usual spag bol, roast chicken etc. Kids also eat a lot of simple meals like chicken and noodles, homemade pizza etc.

And you still come out with such a ridiculous statement.