weekly shop for family of 5? how much?

[frazzled74]

at the moment my shopping is chaotic, a bit of online tesco and ocado, daily trips to aldi and asda etc. I would like to be more organised and do a weekly online shop except bread and milk, how much would be a resonable amount to budget for 2 adults ,1 teenager and a 9 and 7 year old including packed lunches. I want to cut down spending but not be completely frugal.

Hi frazzled. We're also a family of 5. 4 of whom never stop eating. Older girls and dh all take packed lunches and dd3 and I eat all our meals at home. I find it's the snacks and fruit that really add up. I've recently tried to reign in the spending as well. I looked at my bank statement a few months ago and it was every other day £50 at ASDA. I have since started meal planning. I do this on a fortnightly basis and do an Asda shop of the bits I can't get at Aldi. I write the fortnights meals out and stick them to the fridge so there are no arguments. I then buy all the rest from Aldi and top up there for fruit etc every 5ish days. I try to buy the weeks supply of milk and bread all at the one time so I'm not popping into the shop every other day. It has improved my spending though and reckon if I average it out including toiletries and loo roll etc I probably spend around £100 a week. Some week's might only be £70 and others £120. My biggest downfall was top up shops but now I'm trying to be more organised and if I know I'm going to need something in a few days I just buy it with my shop rather than popping in for a few bits later in the week.

It is hard and needs planning but it's now working for us. I could definately get this spend down but at the moment we can just afford that amount and if I made it less then there wouldn't be such nice food in and we'd end up with takeaways that we can't afford which kind of defeats the purpose

I suppose really it depends on what you buy and what you can afford. We don't really drink but I don't really cook much from scratch so I do buy some jars etc. I probably spend money on stuff that other people think is a waste of money but I'm trying to be more frugal without feeling like we're doing without as well

Our shopping bill tends to average around £80 a week, that's for dh and I, 10yr old dd, a cat and dog, and 3 mindees that love fruit and are here full-time.
I meal-plan for the week, bulk cook and cook most things from scratch.
I shop in Aldi mainly and then Sainsbury's/Tesco's for the things they don't stock depending who's got better deals on or if I have vouchers.

It's getting so much harder to remain within budget and not feel as if we're constantly scrimping or trying to do without. What seems to be making a little difference is putting dd onto hot dinners at school, I then cook more of our evening meal to plate up for the mindees for the following day. Not having to buy packed lunch things seems to be making a difference.

We are a family of 5 (dh,me, 8,5 and 3.6yrs)

I spend £400 per month at Asda (and also school lunches/other school costs at £21.75 min)per week.

I also do a 'stock' cupboard shop at Tesco once every 3 to 4 months. And maybe a Costco visit every 6mths for soap powder, fabric condiontioner and some meat, and other long life tins ect.

I also menu plan including 'cheap' meals - homemade soup/jacket potato each week.