Monthly Expenditure

[GingerCoi]

I know these threads come up a lot but I'm really interested to know how much people are spending on food / groceries a month. We are a family of 4, including 2 adults, DS16 and DC2. The 16yo has the same food requirements as an adult.

If there is anyone in a similar family set up, please could you share with me how much you spend a month on groceries, including all food, drinks (we don't drink alcohol), loo roll, washing up liquid / sponges, cleaning cloths and sprays, washing liquid and fabric conditioner, shower products, nappies and wipes etc a month - everything you'd expect to buy in a typical supermarket shop over a month.

I will share what our current budget is later but I am struggling on it and would like to hear from others first, to see whether I'm being unreasonable to be struggling and how I can manage things better, especially where food is concerned. I try to make the same meals for everyone but do sometimes have to do something different for the 2yo.

Also this needs to include lunch for three of us - I am SAHM and 16yo has just finished school after GCSEs.

I spoke to my husband yesterday, that even though food bill is rising, fridge looks more empty.
I think we're fine with shopping until the end of this month (maybe some odd lettuce or bananas will need top up), so I'd say we're going to spend £370 for food for 2 of us and £30-40 on toiletries, loo roll etc. I'm running out of ideas how to save on food with current prices if you want to eat sensibly (we eat lot of fruit and veg and husband is gluten-free). The only thing we could probably cut on is McDonalds that we go to 2x a month, but it'll save me maybe 30 quid, not more, so not exactly life changing amount.

We’ve managed to get it down to around £50-£70 a month for 2 adults and an almost 2 year old but sometimes have to make it lower if we’re really struggling that week which is hard 😩

A week not a month sorry 🙈

We budget £500 per month for all food for a family of 4 plus toiletries, cleaning products, and nappies for our 2 year old. We are me, DH, DD4 and DD2 so in theory we should eat a bit less food than you as one of yours is a teen. However in our family there is one person with coeliac so requires expensive bread etc and we also have to provide lunches for all 4 of us because our two DDs are at a childminders so take a packed lunch.

However we almost always go over this budget... it's very hard to stick to. The only way I can actually stick to it is by doing a meal plan religiously every week but we often fall off the wagon.

free/cheaper food on GreenJinn app

olio app there’s so much food for free around 9pm.

community food larder. Our local one is £3.50 a week for 10 items plus fruit and veg. Worth about £15 or more depending on how much fruit there is. They also give out free coffee and cake.

@GingerCoi So how much is yours ?

My family consists 2 adults (we are both overweight and eat too much; one female teen who eats like a sparrow; and one little lad who eats more than female teen!

I do not buy Alcohol unless we have guests visiting (dh buys his own wine and beer, I do not drink).

I budget £500 a month but we overspend, especially in summer when we have more bbqs (meat is so expensive) and I make less cheap soup, fewer slow-cooker meals etc.

Sharing ideas that help me save money which are a little bit offbeat :

• toilet training my youngest (we have night time nappies for emergencies eg if he is unwell, and plastic bedcover under his sheet - works well!)
• jug of cold water in fridge - but canned drinks and cartons are in a high cupboard. In summer my kids go for cold water/squash over tepid canned drinks nearly every time!
• have our main fridge freezer in garage and a little basic fridge in kitchen. I Keep most cold storage food in garage - stops fridge raiding as garage is dingy and my teen won’t go out there! Also as garage fridge is only visited couple of times per day the door is shut and fridge runs efficiently - the food stays properly cool all day and stays fresh noticeably longer. In winter when garage is cold I also store the Christmas treat food on a garage rack in boxes. I can stock up when I see offers and again, less chance of raiders

We are £150-£200 a week for 4 of us similar ages. That includes lunches for the most part, cat food, odd bottle of wine and seasonal stuff like Halloween/Xmas sweets, flowers, birthday cards and bits like tea towels or whatever for house. We have very little wastage and fridge never hugely full as I buy food twice a week to keep on top of budget. We do eat lots of fruit/veg and good quality meat etc. I have to work to keep it to this amount. I do like to cook good home cooked food though. We don’t get takeaways as I prefer to know what we are eating.

£200 a week for 2 adults, DS 17 and DS 15.

At that level we're not scrimping - decent food from mid-range supermarket. We don't really go in for lots of steak and expensive meat, and do home cook most meals. Could definitely reduce if we needed to.

A snapshot on here isn't that helpful as everyone has different budgets, priorities and shops available (and time/inclination to shop around).

The budget you are struggling on could look quite generous to some and others will spend way more than that and not consider that they have need and/or room to cut back.

Someone who eats mostly vegetarian home cooked food from Aldi/Lidl will be spending a fraction of the family who gets all their organic protein and imported fresh fruit and vegetables from Waitrose/Ocado.

Plus many on here spend what looks to me like alarming amounts on cleaning products/toiletries etc both in volume and amount paid. I get whatever is on offer and it lasts a couple of months, they buy a certain brand which is triple the cost and use it up in a couple of weeks, which means that their deodorant costs ten times what mine does. Then multiply for shower gel, bleach etc.

You'd be best looking at what you spend and what money you have available and seeing what changes you can make to balance the books a bit more. Whether it's to spend less on what you're buying, or to cut costs elsewhere to free up more to spend on groceries.

£250pw 2 adults, 1 teen, 2 younger kids