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Original poster

Family of 5 Weekly food shop cost?

26 replies

Emflou · 15/04/2023 15:54

Just wondering how much people are aiming to spend each week for food/household items. Our weekly Tesco shop is around £150-£160 for 5 of us. Two adults, 6 year old, 4 year old and 1 year old. This includes things like nappies, cleaning products etc… but we also probably spend about £20 a week in top up shops. I feel like we are spending far too much.

Is this extravagant or reasonable? I would love to cut costs but just don’t have the time to go to lots of difference shops to get bargains. My husband is coeliac too, so I’m finding gluten free products push up the price too.

OP posts:
3WildOnes · 15/04/2023 15:56

I spend £100pw for a family of 5. However, two are quite young and dont eat that much and the children all have lunch at nursery or school.

FlyingGoose · 15/04/2023 15:57

I spent £170 today for a family of four. Includes a couple of bottles of wine and some beer. That's average spend for us.

ElmTree22 · 15/04/2023 16:09

We're a family of 3, dd doesn't eat much at all as only 6 months and we spend £100-£120 a week. Although I do buy eco cleaning products and laundry detergents and that does include food food tins.

BluebellBlueballs · 15/04/2023 16:22

We budget £180 family of 4 including packed lunches for 2 x kids

Xjshdvf · 15/04/2023 16:26

We’re a family of 5 - pre school, primary and teen age child. We spend £130-150 per week; I shop at Asda and Aldi but don’t have to buy nappies.

Kim82 · 15/04/2023 16:28

We’re a family of 5 with 3 girls at home aged 18, 15 and 8 and our weekly shop has risen to around £140-150 per week from Tesco. That includes all cleaning products and toiletries but no alcohol (I buy it elsewhere).

OhMyCherriePie · 15/04/2023 16:29

Family of 5 we spent £200 a week but mine are older / preteens and they eat a lot 😣

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 15/04/2023 16:30

Family of 5 - I did our weekly shop in Aldi today and it came to £86

BigMamaFratelli · 15/04/2023 16:33

Between 120-160 for a family of 6. And a cat. Mostly Aldi, some Sainsbury's and Tesco.

brokenstone · 15/04/2023 16:34

Family of 6 - £130-£150 per week including nappies, cleaning products and lunch boxes for 3 children. I usually have to do a top up of the fruit bowl during the week so maybe an extra £10.

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 15/04/2023 16:37

We have 2 adults, 7,5 and 1 year old so same as you really.

Just did a Tesco shop today and as usual it’s £120ish. £115.75 this week to be exacts

4x lunchbox a week, DH wfh, baby not on formula. Pack of chicken and a side of salmon, other than that vegetarian meals. We usually end up doing a top up shop too for milk, fruit, bread too. Might add some baby readymeals actually. No nappies or household stuff at all this week.

Indont think YABU to spend that much. It costs what it costs and we in the UK have cheap food - compare to US or Aus for example, it’s extortionate there!

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 15/04/2023 16:40

And tbh I’d rather spend my money on healthy food than other things. Yeah it kind of stings to pay so much but thinking of it that way helps personally!

gogohmm · 15/04/2023 16:43

£100 all in for 3 adults plus sometimes a 4th. This includes 3 hello fresh meals for 3 (4th is veggie) but not eating out once a week

Echo40 · 15/04/2023 17:14

Family of 6 here
2 adults
Kids age 17, 13 and 12 eat adult sized portion.
Smallest is nearly 5 and doesn't eat loads
Plus dog as include pet food/ cleaning and bathroom. Items into budget.
Ideally it's £150 per week or £600! Month but some months we go over that.

But the way I shop bit complex these days as work 4 days so do 1 big monthly shop at sainsbury and Iceland / home bargains every 2 to 3 months.
Weekly I do variety of shops as have so many locally so morrisions/ tesco express/ sainsbury local/ coop aldi and lilds.

Used do big shops at aldi or lilds but lilds become so expensive with availability issued and sainsbury have more choice and price match with aldi.
I really do try shop for reductions every week to freeze zo some reduced meat brought April won't be eaten until May.

I also buy some items in bulk as find sometimes cheaper own brand not on shelf and I bulk brought pasta/ rice / tomatoes products and tinned.
If I see a good offer I buy in bulk this sometimes skews some months much higher but saves me money other months.

I bulk buy commonly used items squash/ sugar/ coffee/ketchup/ cheese/ chips / toothpaste as hate running out of stuff.
I keep backups like dried mash/ tinned potatoes, tinned and frozen veg as find fresh fruit and veg only lasts a few days.
We get through 4 to 6pints Milk a day which been painful with milk price rises.

HecticHedgehog · 15/04/2023 17:24

Ours is around £110-120 atm which I thought was bad but is definitely lower than some here.

Pootle40 · 15/04/2023 21:33

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 15/04/2023 16:30

Family of 5 - I did our weekly shop in Aldi today and it came to £86

I can't imagine that ever being enough for my family of 4 and we don't buy any alcohol or extravagances. What sort of dinners do you have?

whatkatydid2013 · 15/04/2023 22:00

If you want to spend a lot less without thinking much about it have more veggie meals. We’ve noticed a significant drop in spending since OH turned veggie and we started having a lot of veggie curries, Mexican food & pasta dishes.

hettiethehare · 15/04/2023 22:10

Family of 5 here - we probably spend £150 a week in Sainsburys, then a couple of top up shops as well.

That is pretty much all meals though, other than DD1's school lunches which are paid for separately (and are nosebleedingly expensive).

livingthegoodlife · 15/04/2023 22:12

We're currently on a tight budget because of a financial blip but I only spent £70 this week. 5 (2 adults, 1 teen, 2 kids).

We are eating boring food & mostly vegetarian meals.

Fri - Mac n cheese with side salad
Sat - chilli beef, tortillas, sour cream
Sun - pork & apricot casserole, rice, broccoli
Mon - curry with roasted root veg, spinach & tomatoes
Tues - homemade bacon quiche & salad
Wednesday - jacket potatoes/beans/cheese/salad
Thurs - pasta, pesto, bacon
Fri - pizza

Breakfast is toast & boiled eggs. Maybe crumpets & croissants.

Lunch - roll with cheese or ham - pickles/salad. Crisps. Piece of fruit.

No alcohol. Snacks are homemade cake & leftover Easter chocolate. Fruit. Carrot sticks.

Savings a lot of money not buying lunch box treats, kipling cakes & alcohol.

alyceflowers · 15/04/2023 22:13

We spend about £80-100 a week in the supermarket and then top-up shops for bread/milk/fruit in between. I budget about £500 a month.

Bibbitybobbitty · 15/04/2023 22:18

I'm about £180 pw , food + cleaning supplies. - 2 adults , 2 teen DS (hollow legs) & young teen DD. Doesn't include any booze + extra top ups for milk/bread mid week, oldest DS is student so doesn't need lunches & often eats dinner out. This is usually vegetarian options for several days.

stepstepstep · 15/04/2023 22:30

i’ve just done a weekly shop for 4, but everything had run out (toothpaste, oil, washing powder, fabric conditioner etc etc) and it cost £177. It’s scary.

specialk9 · 15/04/2023 22:46

Family of 5 - 2 Adults, 1 teenager, 1 Infant School + 1 toddler.

We spend £200 per week, on average. That includes toiletries, nappies, wipes, formula, cleaning products etc. Small amount of alcohol

eastereggs12 · 15/04/2023 23:44

Family of 5 1 teen, 2 older primary. We easily spend £180-200, im often cooking for 6 due to eldest boyfriend coming over too.

Iamnotanugget · 16/04/2023 11:38

Family of 5, 1 teen, 2 older primary. We spend £125 on average for all meals, eco cleaning products and various supplies for the pets. I make everything from scratch, we eat vegetarian and meals are not exciting but they are healthy as we don't eat processed stuff really. I guess food alone is about £90, we don't buy alcohol in that