How much does your groceries cost you?

[annielostit]

Regardless of being frugal, cutting back or just buying what you want?
How much do you spend weekly or monthly on food & toiletries/cleaning stuff.?

About £60 on the main shop, plus about £10 as a top-up midweek. I know people avoid doing this but I am not sure how. We run out of bread, milk, bananas and tomatoes. Buying enough for the week would mean stale bread and off milk, bananas and tomatoes!

That's for 2 adults and 3 secondary aged DC including packed lunches for all but 1 of us.

I shop at Aldi btw, and buy about £10-15 of things I can't get there at another shop (Asda, Sainsbo's) about once a month, going round like this at the prices .

There is a wide range of answers here! I wonder if some of the lower-end spenders are not having to do pack-ups? In my house if we all had lunch at school/canteen then my bill would be about £15 a week less (but I would be spending at least an extra £40 in cash on lunch!).

Clary, we spend 45 a week average this year as dd gets free lunch at school, last year it was 55 so I think you are right with that but I make my own bread and buy long life milk and like a previous poster I meal plan so that when salad runs out we switch over to soups etc. That way we avoid doing a mid week shop. I do however live opposite one of the biggest supermarkets in the country and I pop in all the time to see what is in the reduced section and I frequently buy from there and freeze stuff to keep the average costs down.
I would love to spend a bit more for wine and other luxuries but we only bring 13k into our house a year so it is just not possible. Still on those prices I don't feel our dinners are frugal at all. We have two adults, a 6 year old and a cat on that.

Sounds good gamora, making your own bread much nicer than buying it anyway!

Yes I agree, I am stocking up midweek on luxuries, could put sliced bread in the freezer ditto milk I suppose. We can afford the midweek shop so I am fine with it. My bill has come down by about £30+ / week since I ditched Asda for Aldi.

About 120 to 150 a week for 2 adults 1 very hungry child. Plus nappies

£50-£70 per week for 2 adults, 1 toddler and 2 cats. I buy mostly own brand on a weekly home delivery, and a couple of regular branded items that I My supermarket check and bulk buy when it's on offer at other stores.

I have a large freezer, so I put extra bread in the freezer and stock up a little when frozen things are on offer. But if I run out of something like eggs or butter during the week (which is rare, but occasionally because I've forgotten to add it to the regular shop), I buy it at my nearby corner shop. Then I'm not tempted to wander the supermarket and buy extra.

We are 2 adults and one toddler.

I'm not entirely sure on my spend as my shop is spread between the supermarket for dried goods and our butcher, greengrocer and milkman. I imagine it's about £120-£150 a week all in, depending on what sort of week we are having. I could do it cheaper, but I'm a fuss pot and I like things a certain way.

On average at the supermarket I'll spend about £90 but that includes all nappies, cleaning products and a few bottles of beer for my DH (I don't drink).

I spend a fair bit at the butchers, I've been spoilt now by the quality of his meat (stop sniggering at the back there) and I can't bring myself to go back to the supermarket stuff. It doesn't really save me money as I could get more meat by utilising supermarket special offers . . . but the quality is amazing and it's nice to be able to order exactly what I want rather then the pre packaged amounts the supermarket offers which avoids waste. Also my butcher has an excellent record for high welfare/local meat and he even cures his own bacon, which is important to me.

The greengrocers is cheap as chips though, really good value and much better quality then the supermarket. He does more local stuff which is nice as I like to help the farmers in my county.

I could get milk cheaper at the supermarket, but I do like the convenience of having a milk man. We get local milk and eggs at a very reasonable price. I think it saves me money in the long run as it stops me having to pop to the local shop, where I inevitably end up spending more money!

I'm lucky that I live in a somewhat old fashioned community where these resources still exist. I wasn't able to live like this when I lived in a different part of the city.

We were out driving the other day and we saw a rag and bone man with a proper shire horse. My DH commented that it was like living in 1965!

Two adults and two boys, £100-£140 per week depending on whether it's a week we need to stock up on toiletries, washing powder, dishwasher tablets etc. I also often have to top up on fresh bread, milk and fruit (which gets eaten by the bucket load) which is about £10 per week. I've never managed to do a food shop for less than £90 and I meal plan and am quite careful. I feel very envious of those who manage to do it for £50 or less. Don't go to Aldi as I find I can't get everything I need there so end up spending the extra anyway in petrol getting to another supermarket. I usually go to Tesco, morrisons or Asda - always get more for my money in Asda.

About £140.00 per week for two adults, two young children and one baby, including milkman, nappies and wine/beer but doesn't include DH's Costa coffee habit. Sometimes a bit more, v occasionally a bit less. We grow a lot of our own organic vegetables and use our own stored potatoes/onions/pumpkins/garlic etc much of the year round. Also have a few chickens which keeps us in eggs, and I make my own bread half the time. We don't eat much meat or chicken but buy high welfare organic when we do.

I know I could get our shopping bill down a bit. This thread might give me a kick to do it.

About £100 a week for me, dh, DSD I'm pregnant so will go up later on. 2 dogs and 2 cats.
About £40 In the butcher on dogs food (are raw fed)
That doesn't include toiletries or washing liquid & powder. Does include fruit & veg and alcohol though

We budget £50pw - that's me, DH, 2DCs, the cat and the one or two adult family members who come appear for dinner several times a week.

Value everything, no meat (except for cat!), only the odd bottle of wine but plenty of fresh fruit and veg. Healthy-ish.

It's do-able, but I often find myself buying lunch at work because the fridge looks so boring.

One massive Lidl bulk shop on payday for about £150 for all our non-refrigerated stuff (e.g. cleaning, toiletries, tinned food, cereal, bread flour, sugar etc) I'll bulk buy a massive thing of dried pasta, ditto rice, and get spices etc in bulk from local weigh and save. Once every three months or so I do a bulk buy on Approved Food for things like curry paste, mustard etc.

Then weekly shops are usually about £30-£40 for cheese, veg and free range meat from Lidl and/ or local farm shop. By the end of the month a weekly shop might only be £20 for fresh veg and one decent meat meal.

I like the fact that if I'm careful then the last week of the month can be very nearly food bill free as we can happily eat lentils, chickpeas and potatoes with a decent free range chicken serving us for two meals.

We make all our own bread, cake/ biscuits, pastry etc and always buy whole free range chickens and joint them ourselves so we've got the carcass for stock.

That's two adults and two DCs (5 and 3) and one cat.

ArtandCo, there are only three of us and we are vegetarian, so that makes a big difference. We also don't have puddings - dd has fruit and so do we if we fancy it.

We spend £50 pw - that is with sticking to a budget, but does include lunches for all, plus toiletries and cleaning products etc. Could get it down to £40 but that would be miserable (and we don't need to).

Today's meals:

Muesli/porridge

Lentil and veg soup (homemade) with bread and butter; piece of fruit

Chickpea curry with onions, green peppers, mushrooms and courgette, with brown rice and plain yog; fruit for dd

£200+ a week, two adults and a toddler. My toddler and I are at home most days so eat three meals in, and DH is home for dinner every night too. We rarely eat out and both love fresh meat / fish and good veg. No wine in this cost as I'm pregnant.

Katherine - we don't really have puddings either. The Greek yogurt with fruit is the most dessert wise we go usually and that's usually just the kids. 50% of the time they won't have anything either. So I doubt say x6 kids portions of greekbyogurt and fruit makes the £50 difference

No, I think it's the extra person and the meat! But obviously everything adds up a little.

I think age of children also depends on costs. Many here with say £60 spend have x1/2 children under say 2/3 years.
Mine are also still young at 3 and 4 ( nearer 4 and 5), but def eat more than say 2 years ago.
When age 1/2 they would often have say 1/3 each off of mine and dh chicken/ salmon/ steak. So we still brought x2 pieces and shared. Now we buy say 3 pieces and they share half of one each. However soon they will be eating x1 full fish/ meat portion each so bill invariable will double.

I remember for ages they would share one banana as one was too much each, so a bunch would last the week. Now they easily eat a whole one so we need double. Etc

As Babies thy really coat little as in reusable nappies and breastfed, so the bill never increased then with those items but I think has probably by £10-15 per child, since they were eating proper meals

I am in awe of those who spend under £100 a week on a family. Even when it was just dh and I, I spent more than that. Now with a 2 -and 4 year old, both of whom have developed a pallet for very expensive fruits (strawberries, raspberries, kiwi fruit. And I buy all organic and they eat it to excess, as do I if I am honest) and enjoy salmon as their favourite meals, I rarely get it below £160 a week.

Today for instance we have gotten through...

A box of organic grapes £3.50
A small punnet of blueberries £3.50,
A pack of four organic pink lady apples £3. That's £10 just on fruit!
Four organic salmon fillets (£10) for lunch.
And now dh and I are having a chicken salad, with the little deli pots from marks contained cous cous, mini beetroot balls etc. I reckon the salad for the two of us totals £8. So just for today I estimate we have eaten £35 worth of food. And we only ate at home.

WOW £3 for four apples!

The way I get my food shop lower than yours is cos I would never pay that. I buy organic milk and butter and meat but not fruit and veg, just can't stretch to it. So our box of grapes costs £1.50.

It's shocking, isn't it? But seeing how much fruit and veg we eat, I feel that I must by organic.

Well sure I would too if I could afford it. Good luck to you if you can :)

I prioritise dairy and meat for animal welfare reasons ; there is no way we could spend triple what we do on food unless the DC stopped doing football/dance/Scouts etc. Or stopped wearing clothes/growing out of them

60-70 per week for 2 adults, 1 toddler and a dog. Includes nappies, dog food and toiletries.

DS eats tonnes of fruit but can't afford organic unfortunately.

I spend about £80 a month on food for just me and maybe another £10 between toiletry bits and cleaning stuff. This doesn't include wine but does include lots of salmon and venison sausages!

I get it low by shopping in Aldi and picking up yellow stickered meat/fish in Morrisons. Eat tons of veg but have to confess I wouldn't thank you for fruit really, can take or leave it.

I do eat out maybe once a week and this comes from a different budget so the £80 doesn't cover every nights food but it does cover the bulk.

Typical days meals might be:

Omelette with cheese for breakfast

Homemade soup plus a yoghurt for lunch

Salmon fillet with noodles and a roasted head of broccoli for dinner

No puddings but do keep cheap crisps in and enjoy an odd bit of chocolate

I totally agree that age of dcs makes a big difference. My dcs all have pretty healthy appetites and 10yo ds eats more than me. We are feeding 2 adults and 3 primary age dcs and I'd say a recipe for 4 adults only just about feeds us all these days.

I spend about £500pm, inc breakfasts/evening meals pretty much every day and about 80% of our lunches. That includes the odd bottle of wine, although dh shops separately for most of that. Obviously we don't have to buy nappies any more which helps, but it does include most of our toiletries and all cleaning stuff.

We don't eat much meat, I buy lots of own brands but I do buy decent meat and organic dairy where I can. I know I could reduce this if I had to - I've had to before and I did.

I am in awe of the people who can manage on so little (although I imagine it can wear you down a bit as well, having such a tight budget).
We spend £150-£200 a week, 2 adults, 3yo and 1yo. Includes nappies and milk. Lots of fresh fruit and fish (both DC like fish). We have some kind of meat every day. Don't drink much alcohol so rarely buy that at the mo, but we always have chocolate/treats.