£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.

Ok of course I forgot the only reason we would want to be in the EU is for trade. 🤣 Even pushing aside the fact that trade barriers that have cost us £27 billion when trading with the EU since Brexit….

I tried doing this, offering them just toast and milk at night. Then they started forward to the bread and milk at night. My toddlers are great with trying new foods, I think sometimes it depends on whether they have napped, etc. I'm not trying to make excuses, but if I have a hungry toddler going to bed, they won't let me sleep all night

So you just have to offer them something they will eat but begrudgingly. For mine that is bread, bananas, plain yoghurt. Nothing they would ask for but they will eat. You just have to find your equivalent! Honestly don’t offer them a different meal. You’ll get to a point where you’re making separate meals every night and it’s just not fair on you.

The London School of Economics say Brexit has caused household food prices to raise by a third- a third!!! That’s a huge amount of money. Op alone would have £3200 extra in her household a year…That's just food. The value of the pound falling means many other imports cost more too. Ditto energy, then there is the loss of jobs….The loss goes on and on and it’s the pockets of every day uk citizens that are feeling it and will feel it far worse in the years to come from fewer jobs, lower investment, higher costs and less trade..

🤣Did you not read the very good reasons why we joined in the first place? Oh and just so you’re aware now we’re out the EU doesn’t have to do anything they don’t want to as regards us and trade or anything else. Ditto the USA. We are a piddly little island, they are not.

It’s not expensive. I only shop at marks and Waitrose as it’s near me but meat is so cheap.

I was planning a lamb dish last week, diced lamb was £7.50 for 300g, and I’d have needed 2 packs. £15 may be cheap in terms of animal care needed to breed the lamb but it’s certainly not cheap for a midweek run of the mill dinner.

Chicken can be cheap, but the quality of the meat and the care standards for the animal aren’t great. Decent meat is not cheap.

We spend £60 per week for a family of 4. We meal plan and buy in bulk. We eat very healthily. Kids are given a meal and if they don't like it they can have cream crackers or cereal.
I bulk buy everything and we eat very little meat or fish and dont drink much alcohol - obviously makes a huge difference.
I've been very skint in the past and by the time I got to a decent amount of spare income I didn't want to spend it on food.

Eek I feel like I must serve gruel. We never spend more than £100 a week, usually it’s around £80 and that includes nappies for toddler. We have an older child too. They snack a lot but obviously don’t eat like teens. For reference we shop in Aldi. A rare Ocado shop as they keep sending me discount codes but recently found Iceland excellent for school holiday snacks and packed lunches

Yeah maybe

We can do a month on £400 if we’re careful, but we’re only 2 adults one toddler. Plus we’re vegetarians, shop at Aldi, and eat quite simply, always from scratch and lots of batch cooking.

Some children have sensory issues though which can make eating tricky, and I’m mindful of not wanting to create stress around food. I try to encourage my very young DC to eat what we make, but occasionally we will make them something different and I think that’s fine. We’re quite a flexible family and that includes with eating.

Veggie here with 2 cats on good quality food including chicken twice a week.
Lots of fresh veg and fruit. One meal a day plus banana and/or yoghurt, evening snack.
Shop for good quality but had to forget organic due to being careful around COL.
£160 per month.

Your DM is out of touch. She has also forgotten that teens have hollow legs! They eat huge amounts. Some posters are giving you money saving tips which I’m not sure you requested. However, here’s one: when I was cooking for a family with teens I often served up a starter of soup with warm bread. Very filling 🙂

By the way £800 is not ridiculous. I used to spend £100 a week for two of us (retired) Since the rise of COL I struggle to keep it below £150.

Agree. I don’t understand this either. And I never manage to avoid top ups. I’m not criticising you, HansHolbein, I’m genuinely curious how you do it.

Yes, Mumsnet is a bit bonkers sometimes! 😀

Yes but the poster doesn’t say that’s the case here - she said she has toddlers so occasionally rejecting meals is par for the course. All toddlers can be pretty fussy. You can be neutral about it and still offer them plain stuff that you know they will eat, just don’t start cooking another meal. Offering them something else like toast IS being flexible and it’s not forcing them to eat something. It’s making sure they’re full up and fed. But it encourages them to eat more of the main dinner because otherwise if you know your favourites will get made for you instead then of course you’ll reject anything new. Toddlers ain’t stupid!

Also there’s a difference between making them something different from the adults from the outset (which we also sometimes do, my kids won’t eat a super spicy curry for example) and making a dinner for everyone and then when they refuse to eat it, making them something else instead.

I just did a online shop at M&S ( just to see how expensive it is not to buy anything )

and spent £130
not inc household stuff
no meat or fish as we’re veggie but a lot of nuts
only premade food was Lindas sausages 1 pk and one pack of bourbons

I can do our shop for a lot less at Lidl and Aldi

Nuts are insanely expensive at both M&S and Waitrose. I go through phases of shopping at Ocado but when I do this I also do a monthly shop at Lidl for mainly dry goods because the cost of those products at M&S is pretty eye watering. So I would go and buy nuts, tins, oils, coffee, jars of stuff like sun dried tomatoes or peppers, as well as household bits like bin bags and spend about £150-200. Then I’d do a weekly fresh shop from Ocado and get all the bread, veg, fruit and dairy.

I didn’t do this to actually shop at M&S I’ve been a Aldi Lidl fan for nearly 30years

I did it because a pp said they did their 4 person shop at M&S for £125 a week inc louds of meat and fish

So
Im up late, can’t sleep and thought I’ll do a Google of M&S food prices for the hell of it.
It’s a bit sad I’m well aware

Id never spend that sort of M&S money. We spend £385 pcm on everything inc household and my lovely face creams and all toiletries. ( except magnesium bath soak 😁 from b & m )
but we are veggie so perhaps that’s why ours is cheap 😋