Grocery bill getting out of control

[Gardencentrevoucher]

I've just had a major row with DH over the credit card bill. Its his card that I don't see the statements for and he is really bad at letting me know what the bills will be. The money comes out of a joint account and this is the third month in a row the bill has been way higher than I expected. Apart from a one off big purchase the entire bill was food shopping and petrol. DH does a weekly online shop at Asda and also drops into Aldi most weeks after his football practice. I need to somehow get the next bill much much lower without another huge row!

I've worked out we are spending £20 per day on food on average, or £5/person per day.

We're a family of 4 (2 adults/2 kids at primary school) and I just can't believe we need to spend that much on food. We don't drink alcohol or eat out often. It seems like a crazy amount of money for just normal family grocieries.

What is a reasonable amount per person per day or per week to budget for spending on food? Ideally I'd like it to be £10-£12 max to get the credit card back under control

Extremely:( all beige food (nuggets, waddles, chips), but if different too soft, too hard, mark from grill or can see the nugget inside, feels wet, etc

Will only eat "approved" nuggets had before but each one is thoroughly inspected and very rare Will eat all, usually about half what is given.

One Has ARFID as well as ASD

We budget £180 pw 2 adults 2 kids 2 cats
I consider myself lucky if I can get it below budget

From everyones replies its sounds like £140-£150 a week for a family of 4 is the norm so that's reassuring although depressing in itself. I think the major issue is the fact the bill always seems so high when I'm ending up eating basic stuff like baked potato or breaded chicken and oven chips, and I'm not seeing where the money is going until.its gone. There's fresh fruit and veg every day (not every meal) but there's no gourmet cooking going on and we rarely have wine or anything super expensive. We do have meat almost every day which is DH choice not mine.

Easily that if you inc soaps/loo paper/sprays/toothpastes/etc

Our bill for 2 is averaging 183 a week over a three month period

We shop Tescos online, Icelands, Mossiosns, Savers, and Sainsbury's

Seriously, I fed our family of 4 for less than £7 one week by getting two Aldi Good Too Go bags. Download the app and not only are you saving money but you are helping by not letting food go to waste.

We are a family of four....I shop around...in Lidl/Aldi. I try to avoid brands. Very very rarely buy alcohol. I'm afraid food is just unbelievably expensive at the moment. I wish I could get it down to what you're spending!

breaded chicken and oven chips is SO lazy if he's not working at all?

we have two adults two teens, maybe one bottle of wine / week and only vegetarian meals. I pay for ocado, DH gets the top up shops from lidl. We spend around £100 / week but the kids sometimes get lunch at school (depends on the phase of the moon as to what they prefer)

eg meals:

feta pasta
ribollita
soups - spiced carrot and lentil, minestrone, etc
lasagna
roasted squash and sage risotto
flatbreads, hummus, salad
beany chilli - with rice, jacket pots, nachos, in wraps. with shredded lettuce, sour cream, cheese
toad in the hole with veggie sausages
cannellini bean, sausage and veg casserole with bulgar wheat
HM pizza
burgers, salad, wedges
dal and rice and greens
chickpea and spinach curry

etc etc

I think we eat really well. I'd be so cross to work FT to support a family and eat breaded chicken or baked potato every night.

Why won't your DH let you see the bill? Does he control all finances?

He does the shopping and wants meat everyday - perhaps he needs to consider that it's him that's increasing the bill.

Do you work OP? Do you have your own money?

Apologies I hadn't seen your second post.

If he's not working then the bill needs ti he lowered. You need to get the credit card login so you can see spending

The money might well be going on brands.

I used to shop at Tesco and my food bills just went up and up. Now I mostly shop at Aldi with occasional excursions elsewhere for specific stuff,

My standard shop in Aldi is about half the price of Tesco.

Even in Aldi, if you want branded chips as opposed to cheap chips the brands are still a lot more....

breaded chicken and oven chips

So, ultra-processed foods galore, when you have someone at home who could be making better, more nutritious versions from scratch?

Sorry - possibly I care about this more than you do, @Gardencentrevoucher - but you should all be able to eat better at home than at the nastiest fast food joint.

Is your DH aware that a chip is simply cut up potato + oil + heat?

As I say - your grocery bills are pretty low, but your DH’s food choices are seriously crap if that’s what you’re regularly eating.

Or what @KevinDeBrioche said!

It’s funny you say that amount as in Ireland the recommended minimum spend is that in euros! We went to a money advice charity and they said for a reasonable standard of living a family should spend a fiver a day per person

My strong advice is to do online food shopping and to meal plan.
If one of you isn't working, they need to plan and prep the meals. Cook from scratch
I have saved circa £10 - £20 per week doing this. I have the same household members as you.

What you are spending at the moment is not excessive BTW.

We got one of these from Aldi a couple of weeks ago - it was full of wilted lettuce with 75% off stickers (rocket, romaine, packets of iceberg, mixed lettuce leaf, packets and packets of the stuff) I could’ve cried, I couldn’t even freeze it! It also had a couple of lemons and a manky aubergine - that was it, no meat or anything of substance, not even a sandwich or a couple of bananas 😩

We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 teens and I find it really hard to get the shopping under £150 now. Probably £170 in total with the odd bits and bobs in between. It's so expensive!

What are you eating exactly? Eg if beef mince dishes, we've found swapping half the beef for canned green lentils, or all of it for vegemince both cuts costs and doesn't change the taste. Could you be making more food from scratch eg use passata not store bought pasta sauce? 1kg of natural yogurt and then add frozen berries and honey? What about using tofu for stirfries rather than chicken? All of these swaps coincidentally will make you healthier too!

Thankyou for this, just downloaded the app, I'd never heard of it before.

I spend £50-£70 a week in Lidl for two adults inc cleaning products and the odd bottle of wine, with the occasional top up in Asda/Tesco/Aldi for bits Lidl don’t sell.

We eat really well for that - mainly cooking from scratch, plenty of nice snacks, Lidl premium products, and we have a pretty generous stock of food in case anything happens (I grew up food insecure).

A really easy swap to save would be doing the main shop in Aldi or Lidl, I’m always shocked how much the big name supermarkets are when I pop in.

As well, I buy reduced meat and freeze it then we plan next week’s meals around it which is a good way to make savings if you’re meat eaters. I also buy reduced ready meals/pizzas and freeze them as an emergency quick dinner.

Household of 1 adult, 2 kids and a dog with another adult a few nights a week. I tracked grocery spending in January for the first time and it was £150 per week not including takeaways/eating out/school lunches for eldest. My youngest is autistic though and very brand specific which doesn't help.

Why don't you go shopping with him one week or do a shop yourself, food prices are crazy. We do main shop in Lidl and other bits from Sainsbury's with nectar and struggle to get below £150 per week for 3 adults although

dog nudged the screen and posted for me! Yes £150 per week includes fresh meat and carrots for dogs around £12 per week.

More good tips for saving money are to use eggs for protein rather than meat. Or use beans/chickpeas! Another great idea is to buy frozen veg to throw in a stir-fry. Sometimes they even taste better! Frozen spinach in our house goes into everything from mac & cheese to scrambled eggs to smoothies.

The beige food you describe is quick to make but suicidally boring which I sense could be part of your frustration! Some ingredients I recently discovered which last forever and really make food interesting again are miso paste, tahini and Thai curry paste. You think you are having a posh takeaway mid week and in fact it's not hard or expensive to cook at all!

Some other swaps go make you feel fuller for less are to always go for brown bread, brown rice, brown pasta, etc. Makes no difference to taste but your gut will thank you!

Finally with the risk of repeating what others have said - meal planning is essential! You can also batch cook on the weekend to save on prep time during the week!

We spend about £100 a week for a family of three (two adults and a toddler). So £14 a day. We don't massively budget but I'd struggle to get it down much further without cutting a lot of the better food.

You're saying you want to spend £70-85 a week (£10-12 a day) to do the shopping for four people? I'd say you're being unreasonable there even if you don't include anything but food.