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Has your weekly bill gone stratospheric ?

422 replies

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 01/05/2020 01:42

We are a family of four - 2 adults and 2 DC. Last week we paid £260 Shock
This does include household cleaning stuff but still....
Just shopping at Sainsbury's and a top up at the Co op.....

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9
Easilyanxious · 03/05/2020 01:47

Food shop has gone up as seems to me prices have bit also we are away from home whereas now all meals are at home
Going through cleaning stuff quicker than normal so using bit more of that too

NaturalBornWoman · 03/05/2020 08:23

NaturalBornWoman have you heard yourself

Just countering ‘oh I can’t imagine how anyone could spend £200 a week on food’

It’s tedious. We live how we live. Not being able to imagine how others live differently isn’t a virtue.

Xenia · 03/05/2020 08:29

Yes people differ. I don't even know as it is a tiny cost compared with say £50k a year to keep the twins at university and that kind of thing. I can work it out particularly now we go once a week. I think it's about £80 for me (I don't drink alcohol but eat things like steak) and my vegan son is a lot cheaper than his twin - neither would buy or drink alcohol (except at university when going out with friends). They are probably in total about £100 a week so that's about £180 I would guess and less than usual as we aren't popping out every day having what we fancy any more.

We are not going through cleaning stuff more quickly..... eek but then I suppose if we aren't really out there is no CV here unless it has flown in over night by magic. I do wash my hands when I bring in parcels and letters.

ChipotleBlessing · 03/05/2020 08:35

I’m bemused at the idea that higher food bills mean unhealthy food. Stuff that makes our bill higher than it could be is things like high welfare meat, nice tofu, avocados, organix snacks, fresh olives, decent wine, nice cheese and loads and loads of nice fresh fruit and veg. High calorie, low nutrition food is generally not expensive (and we buy some of that as well, like normal people do). And you can double your food bill by choosing to shop at M and S instead of Aldi. You can’t tell what people are buying from a total figure.

BarbaraofSeville · 03/05/2020 08:52

I saw this link on another thread, it discusses the average household spend, pre lockdown, but the interesting part is how it breaks down average spend by income bracket and states that the average spend for households with incomes in the highest 10% bracket, which a lot of Mumsnetters will fall into is more than four times that of the lowest 10%, which is as expected.

Low income households need to stick to a smaller budget, but still need to spend a higher percentage of their income on food. People with more money are less constrained by a budget, so are able to afford higher priced products that are probably not even on the radar of lower income people who can't afford them.

But level of spending is not an indicator of the quality of a family's diet. Eating well can cost very little, as illustrated by foodbills receipts, entirely made up of fruit, vegetables, pulses, fish etc from a cheaper supermarket.

You could pay several times more for exactly the same food, simply by buying the premium versions from a more expensive supermarket, and it's unlikely that food will be five times more nutritious or five times nicer, but those who can afford it might be happy with the cost.

Similarly you could eat a high calorie, nutritionally poor diet for not very much or for a lot of money, depending on whether your premade food is the standard Aldi versions or the Premium ones from Waitrose. A Charlie Bighams macaroni cheese or Waitrose 1 pizza will almost certainly be nicer than the standard budget supermarket versions, but the macaroni cheese at least will have far more calories, fat and probably salt than the cheaper one.

justkeeprunning5 · 03/05/2020 09:10

Ours has gone up from around £50 with Ocado to £110 a week, 2 adults. But before this was only for 5 dinners, a weekend lunch, some snacks & cleaning stuff as we paid for breakfast & lunch at work and ate out a lot at weekends. It also includes booze (we never drank at home before this).

Expect we are ‘saving’ over £150 a month - in reality it has shown us how much we waste at Pret & M&S food hall!

kingkuta · 03/05/2020 09:21

There are a lot of offers back now on Ocado, probably more than pre lockdown so I'm hoping the food bill will reduce now things have calmed down a bit. Its been about 30% more up to now though.

MamaGothel · 03/05/2020 10:13

Ours has gone up a lot considering in theory, there are only 8 more meals being g taken a week in the house. From £60 per week to £110-ish. Mostly because we are getting deliveries from Tesco rather then going out to Aldi. Will go up even more this week now OH has been furloughed. 2 adults, 2 small children.

Itwasntme1 · 03/05/2020 10:44

i agree some people on this thread have a very narrow view of life. Someone further up the thread actually believes if someone spends a lot on their food bill it will impact the nhs because they are so unhealthy😂.

Mumsnet does open your eyes to others views on life, and how they must live and view others. I find it fascinating and deeply depressing at the same time.

SnugglySnerd · 03/05/2020 10:48

Yes. We are spending more on food. We have 3 dcs. 2 who would normally have breakfast and lunch at nursery and 1 who is in KS1 so gets universal free school lunch. So that is 3 extra lunches and 2 extra breakfasts a day. Plus more snacks like fruit and crackers. It is offset by the fact we haven't bought fuel for the car since the end of Feb!

Jayne921 · 03/05/2020 10:59

Financial advice leaving husband

I am considering ending marriage. Both unhappy and trying to make it work for kids but don't know how much longer can go on.
We have a good amount of equity although house and mortgage is in his name only. I am a stay at home mum with no income. He works.
If he agreed to sell half equity with me half would be roughly 100 k . I think he will make it very difficult as he will not want to give me half equity.
If he did agree 100k is not enough to buy a house alone
. I am looking for pt work in hope I could get tiny mortgage and buy small 2 bed for me and 2 kids for around 160k.
I need advice as I have no savings or income
. How could I leave? Would I be able to get help whilst looking for work to rent a house if I had 100k or whilst waiting for divorce. Thanks for reading I am in impossible situation so want to make marriage work for kids but can't go on like this.

OhTheRoses · 03/05/2020 11:12

@greenpop21 To a degree you are right. I have braised a joint of silverside with root veg for today which I'll serve with roasties, yorkies, cabbage and carrots and it will be delish. The lefovers will go into a tomatoe based sauce to make rice stuffed peppers tomorrow so 8 meals for less than £20.

However a double rib of beef with the same trimmings served the following day with roasties, salad and good accompaniments wpukd probably come to about £65 to £70 for 8 meals.

The taste is entirely different but equally delish. A good but economically poor cook would rarely stretch to the latter.

To the poster who said fresh pasta was wanky I agree but there is still a worldof difference between a dried Italian import and Tescos own and I think the extra £1 or 50p a Pack is more than worth it.

Onlyherefortheconspiracies · 03/05/2020 11:14

I'm too embarrassed to post what I've spent in the last ten days. But I'm saving on eating out three times a week, two holidays a year and lots of gigs and theatre tickets. Also there's bugger all else to do and I love cooking and eating. Just me here happily puttering in my kitchen.

MrsJBaptiste · 03/05/2020 11:37

A poster earlier said she'd spent £1700 last month on food - does your food bill top that Onlyhere?

Aridane · 03/05/2020 11:40

I’m too embarrassed to post what I spend - especially as I can’t pull the ‘oh it includes. 3 large dogs, x2 teenage boys etc’ excuse

90bisodol · 03/05/2020 11:41

I haven't read all 17 pages, but a PP has hit the nail on the head in saying we are back to shopping how we did 10 years ago. That's exactly it for me. 10, possibly even 5 years ago I would do a big weekly shop at Tesco as it's half a mile away from me. Then I gradually started shopping at other places where certain things were cheaper. Up until this situation started, my weekly bill was around £100 for 4 of us (eldest lived in uni accommodation) and was divided between Asda/Tesco, Aldi, Iceland and Home & Bargain.
However since we were advised to shop as infrequently as possible, we decided to get all shopping at a shop where we could get everything in one place, so we've been doing one big shop at either Tesco or Asda. I hate shopping like that and I hope it doesn't carry on forever. It's much more expensive that way, in addition to the fact that we've an extra adult to feed now eldest is home, and we are here 24/7 so providing up to 105 meals a week plus snacks!!
Most weeks I've been spending around £150 which is a huge percentage increase.

Onlyherefortheconspiracies · 03/05/2020 13:27

@mrsjbaptiste Oh God no. I'm only feeding myself!

lilgreen · 03/05/2020 13:56

I’ve always shopped once a week in Aldi. Don’t want to spend more than part of one day of my week in supermarkets shopping for bargains. Probably not offset by the extra time and possibly fuel.

SistemaAddict · 03/05/2020 14:01

Yet another £150 Waitrose shop. That's for my mum too although hers generally comes to about £30. Ive bought some e TRAs this week like herbs and some extra cheeses for a dish I want to make. Onions and garlic too. I don't normally eat those as my ibs does not appreciate them but there's no one around to care how much I fart Grin I'm
Enjoying not worrying too much about how much the weekly shop is because I have nothing else to pay out for on a daily basis. I'm quite excited about cooking something new. Shame, I know.

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 05/05/2020 00:56

I haven't read all the pages and I am the OP Blush but it is really interesting to read how others are finding their way and their food bills.
I can see though that though I haven't really budgeted, I ought to as we could I am sure save a lot more money.
Also the food bill did include hair clippers of £35 as the main shop was done in a big Sainsburys.
Also all the dishwasher tablets, laundry liquid and I forgot to include about a £10 of stuff for the local food bank.
Also as there is a lot less going out of the bank, the statements show clearly what we are spending. I think we might spend a bit more on food tbh in a non lockdown week if you include meals out.
A lot of my friends spend more due to home delivery from specialist butchers and bakers.

OP posts:
AdoraBell · 05/05/2020 01:09

Mine would have doubled but I’m not buying alcohol other than wine, and that will be secreted in the garage. I’ve ordered 1 reduced white wine for 18yr old DDs, they ain’t getting their grubby mitts on my red wine.

Other than that I’m cutting things out due to being furloughed on 80% pay.

ladybirdsarelovely33 · 05/05/2020 01:12

But yes unfortunately I have to admit we have had more unhealthy snacks in the house. DH does the shopping That needs to stop as I have done a bit too much emotional eating but that's a topic for another thread.

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