£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 spend close to that for 2 adults and two cats.

Just checked my bank and I’ve spent £365 on Asda / tesco deliveries in last month , plus a few bits corner shop. Maybe £20. So about £385 for 2 adults and 2 children.

that was school holidays as well so kids eating a lot at home.

We don’t drink, don’t eat meat or fish and cook from scratch every day (which is exhausting).

That sound pretty accurate to me. I’ve just done a Sainsbury’s online shop for us, it was approx £185. Were two adults, one 19 year old daughter but also cat and dog food in that. Also cleaning products etc. Food shopping has shot up.

Thanks for all the replies - it’s so much isn’t it! I feel less bad about it now but just seeing how much we are all spending makes me want to move to Portugal (went there recently and food was much cheaper and good!)

We spend around that, two adults, two kids. I’ve made peace with it as I want to eat fresh, good quality food, a large variety of fruits and vegetables, almost zero UPFs, and as ethical meat as possible, and that will cost.

Totally normally here too (I probably spend more). Your mum is out of touch. I find I get similar comments from my inlaws - food, gas and electricity, water bill etc. Meanwhile they're sitting on a very nice pension (multiple) in a massive house they bought for 190 and is now 2.5x that amount now, installed air pump, triple glazing, house insulated with top notch stuff! Yeah, its really frustrating.

Oh that includes toiletries and household stuff too. Except my face cream and stuff I get from boots.

We spend the same - if not slightly more.
Dh and I and 2 older dds.
Dd2 is vegetarian.
Dd1 likes steak 😃
I buy lots of fresh fruit and salad which is £££
But the shop includes cleaning products and occasional toiletries.

That is cheap, but we don’t drink either and I’m also cooking from scratch 95% of the time. We also bake own bread (although do buy that too).

I don’t batch cook because I’m already cooking big amounts for DH and DCs but I could and I could bulk out meat with more veg eg chilli etc. And happy to eat more veggie - please share any tips and recipes you do that are cheap because £385 a month seems super cheap.

The days of a family eating for £300-400 per month are long gone. I spend £1-1.5k per month on groceries (food only). Not possible to get cheaper. Well, it is but I choose to buy higher quality produce so I’m faced with the financial hardship it entails….

I think it’s normal. We are at least that and there’s just the two of us and 2 big dogs. We don’t eat out much. But we enjoy cooking and always buy quality food. Good food has massively increased in price lately. We even make our own dog food and they regularly have steak, fresh salmon, fresh chicken. We could spend less if we didn’t spoil the dogs and us, but we don’t want to.

I would only be concerned if you couldn’t afford it. If you can, ignore what others say.

we spend similar. 2 adults and 2 teens. We rarely eat out. cook fresh most days. Take packed lunch/leftovers and aim to eat healthy and fresh. I don't see how you can do it on much less.

We’re around the same (not even including Dd’s school lunches which are around £40 a week). Used to be able to get exactly the same monthly shop for £600 a month about five to six years ago. Now it’s easily £800+.

The difference? Food price inflation, largely caused by Brexit, partly by the war in Ukraine, and partly just from profiteering by food importers/commodity speculators/big supermarkets.

Well, nobody expected the war in Ukraine six years ago; but we can blame all the Tory / Brexit voters for the rest — they were all told very clearly that Brexit would lead to food price inflation and they chose to ignore it. Similarly: if you vote Tory for fourteen years you get food treated as a commodity for profiteering by speculators, producers, supermarkets and food conglomerates. These are just the consequences of the British public’s voting choices coming home to roost.

Seems totally normal to me OP. I also have a teen who never stops eating. She’s out of touch.

I went to M&S this week after my friend told me about the deals they have on - I’d always thought it was very expensive but the deals on were great and got some other of their basic items - no more than tesco and amazing quality

Do you have teens? They are eating machines in our house and eat insane amounts.

2 adults, 2 teens (boys), 1 cat.
Probably more like 150-180 on the weekly shop (including alcohol and cleaning stuff), but less on top ups - literally £5 of bread and milk unless DH goes, then there is £20 of sushi added
So, I'd say if you are eating well, it's probably about right. We could cut the alcohol or meat bill (or sushi!) if needed

You spend less than £100 a week including household bits, do you mind sharing a rough weekly breakdown because even with not eating meat or drinking that seems insanely cheap.

I'd say you could eat for quite a bit less. But that would mean compromising on quality and variety. Endless cheap oats, lentils, yellow sticker bargains etc. Unless you can't afford your current shop I'd stick with it. Being restricted with food is miserable. At risk of sounding ageist some (I said some not all!) older people have lost sight of how much food a family can get through and how much that costs at today's prices. My 14 year old is at the hollow legs stage 😫

£380 pcm according to receipts on our Lidl app ( averaged over the last 3 months)
We don’t shop anywhere else
This is for food, toiletries and cleaning
for dh and I, two early 20s sons, 2 cats and a dog

We are vegetarian

It is insane, isn’t it. When you put it like that. But yeah - that sounds about right tbh. Food and household costs have gone up so much in the last few years.

We spend equivalent to about £220 a week on food and household shopping for 2 adults and older teen in Ireland, which is definitely more expensive than UK. Shopping spread out between Aldi/Lidl and Supervalu.

However, DH eats very little and teen doesn’t have a massive appetite but does eat lots of snack foods in the evenings (which I’m not happy about but DH provides them!!)

Thanks all,

tips I can share which have helped me a bit…

Kiss snacks - they know it’s only biscuits (cheap) or toast, that’s all I allow now (and fruit, nobody goes for that!)

aldi - always go here for our top ups, don’t for my main shop as I don’t like the meat.

we cut out juices, they cost a lot and kids manage with water and milk and squash occasionally and we just have water.

swapped loads of things to ‘basic own brand’ this year. Not great but ok and it’s helped lower the bills a bit.

desserts - started buying some Waitrose basics eg rice pudding and everyone loved it. Much cheaper than pricey tarts etc.

make own bread - DH makes sourdough a couple of times a week.

we arent struggling but I hate the thought of all my money going on food so just try to make small changes to I’m not spending £1k a month!

1999! 😂