Food budget for month

[ElleLeopine]

Please can you tell me what you are spending on food for a month? There are 4 of us, and currently getting through £800 per month! I need to get this down, but no idea if this is normal or high.
I do a mix of cooking from scratch and some easy ready-made. And yes, there is wine in that!

This. As well as variations in family size, there's variations in available budget - some people will spend less because they simply can't afford to spend more, others will limit what they spend so they have more money available for other things. Others will spend more because they have expensive tastes or buy a larger variation of 'extras' like alcohol, soft drinks, specialist/niche ingredients, brands, endless different cleaning products etc etc.

Plus availability of nearest shops, dietary preferences, time available to shop around, cook from scratch etc etc can all significantly affect the cost and the range for a family of 4 could easily be from about £200 or well over £1k pm taking in all these variables.

Exactly this. We spend around £1000 a month but we’re happy to spend that because we buy high welfare meet from a local farm shop etc. We also have autistic child with a very specific and limited diet so we aim to buy the highest quality versions of the things he will eat.. We could do it much cheaper, but we’re comfortable with our spend.

We were spending 200 a week family of 4 plus 2 cats... got it down to apx 150 using asda click and collect, the recipe section on there is great and adds automatically to basket ( you can then manually remove anything you already have).

I find if I go in store I can't control my spending so much so plan and order online t is! We go and pick up, cheaper and faster than delivery.

3 adults 2 DC, around £700 pm including toiletries/cleaning/alcohol. Very few readymade options, almost all from scratch.

Really useful table,thank you!
Reassuringly, we're pretty much bang on average for household size: good to see, as it feels like a lot sometimes!!

Two adults, around £400/month. Dog food is in addition to this, about £30/month.

£100 a week for a family of 3, could feed another child on this. Top up max £10 a week

In June we spent £859 in Sainsburys for 4 of us and £31 in the coop.
I could punch myself in the face is all i can say.....

Why? Assuming you ate it all, and you could afford it, what’s the problem?

I actually think that if you can afford it, good quality food is what you should be spending your money on. What goes into mine and my children’s’ bodies is one of the most important things to me.

clearly from what i have written you can assume that i am not thrilled.

You're on the cost of living thread here lovely😀

Lets not carry on with the myth that unless you're spending an absolute fortune then you're eating rubbish. Some of the cheapest foods are the healthiest.

I don’t do as badly as I thought reading this. We’re two adults and an eight year old and spend £500-£700 a month. Maybe average £550 or so. Probably one takeaway included in that which is £60. We only buy organic meat but not much of it. Bit of alcohol.

£500 for 4 of us, two boys who eat adult portions and lots of snacks!

We bulk buy and meal plan as much as we can.

Family of 4 (two adults, 8 and 11 year old)

Currently around 60 a week at the supermarket. We have takeaways in a blue moon - not had one this year yet. We do a choose your own ready meal instead.

I do a bulk buy every couple of months from bookers which might be £150-£200

So factoring that in then probably £350-£400 a month