Food shop costs?

[nepetaracemosa]

Re-doing our household budget, and trying to understand if we are being extravagant or not with our food shop.

How much do you spend in a month on your food shopping? And for context, how many are in your household, and roughly where are you?

We are a family of 4, two under 5s. Central belt of Scotland.

Both of us work full time, so there is not a lot of efficiency in terms of batch cooking etc - DH reckons £800-1000 per month, which I'm horrified by as we are not particularly comfortable.

We haven't analysed this in detail, but have recorded £140/week on our annual budget spreadsheet for a family of 3. I reckon it's probably not too far out.

Family of 3 and tend to get all our toiletries and alcohol in the food shop its about £100 - £150 a week but while I don't tend to buy branded I'm not careful and if I want something I'll get it. I could definitely do it cheaper.

We’re a family of 4, 2 adults a ten year old and a toddler. I spend about £100 on the weekly shop and probably a further £30/£40 on topping up through the week.

This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone, toddler formula, nappies, cleaning products and toiletries.

I meal plan and do 2 x veggie meals a week which keeps costs down.

About £650 a month, including about £20/ week on alcohol, family of x2 adults and x2 young children. (Includes toiletries and cleaning supplies. We don’t eat out at all, both adults at home full time). We do an online shop and then treats are Aldi. Without the weekly online shop it all falls apart and the ‘small’ top up shops add up to so much!! We don’t eat extravagantly, roasts, sausage pasta, kievs, that sort of thing. Also much more convenient getting it delivered, and quicker, you can re-order your favourites and a lot are price matched with Aldi.
I would get an app like Snoop or YNAB which categorises all your spending so you can see exactly how much a month goes on bills, groceries, etc

2 adults and 2dc; 1 3yo, 1 6mo and 1 dog, in the west midlands: £500-600. We don't have takeaways or meals out very often (less than once a month), we take packed lunches to work, also buy household cleaning stuff from the supermarket. I've tried to cut it down but it's hard. Yesterday's weekly shop from Tesco was £140 (mind you that included enough pampers to last the bab a good month).

around £150 a week for a fam of 3. This might inc a takeaway a couple times a month.

We are a family of 6 (but 3 under 3) and we normally spend £140-150 ish a week, I’m quite mindful of what we get and we are vegetarian/don’t drink so this doesn’t include alcohol or meat. Generally a b&M/home bargains shop for cleaning stuff/snack bits/toiletries once a month too, about £100

Do you mean your husband sbnad thinks you spend that amount now or that's what you should budget to spend?

Either way unless the central belt of Scotland has different food prices to England that's a crazy amount for 4 people

It's meaningless to ask what someone else spends unless they happen to buy the exact same things that you do. Surely most people on a budget make a shopping list for their meals and if it comes to more than they can afford they make changes.

Me, my partner and my 3yo daughter

I spend between £70-90 per week at Sainsbury's and I sometimes go to Lidl and spend another £20-30

So I guess around £90-120 per week, I often have left overs which I freeze for another meal later.

We almost never eat out, maybe takeaway fish & chips or occasionally we'll have lunch out and spend about £30

£140 ish a week for 2adults and 2 under 5. Includes one chippy tea and all toiletries. Eat meat most nights. This is for breakfast, lunch and tea for all, we both work from home and children have packed lunch

Fruit and veg box £25
Meat box £20ish (£65 per month)
Milk delivery (plus other dairy and eggs) £25
Dry goods and toiletries - varies but around £25-£50
Loo roll delivery about £15 per month

£110-135 ish per month for 2 adults, eating meat once per week and vegetarian the rest of the time. That’s high quality mostly organic food, but I’m retired so have the time to cook everything from scratch.

Family of 5, youngest is 10 and we're vegetarian. We spend £675 a month on food, toiletries, cleaning products and pet supplies (various small animals and rabbits). All our cleaning stuff is 'green', along with our toiletries (apart from toothpaste as I can't find one we like), our dairy and eggs are organic and we eat out/ have a take away once a month, so there are cuts we could make. We buy alcohol separately.

I meal plan every week and shopping covers breakfast, lunch and dinners everyday for everyone.

Family of 4, no pets.

we’re averaging about £110 a week now. I try to keep it down, but fresh fruit and veg costs.

would be more but DH recently changed jobs and they provide lunch

Four adults. Outer London. £800/m.
Mostly Lidl. We eat well on that.

We are a family of 4 but have a baby under 6 months so he doesn't count yet.

We spent at least £70 on a main shop at the weekend but then spent plenty for topping up during the week. I think we probably spend £100 - £120.

There’s only me and DS, but I do a big shop every fortnight that comes in at around 120-150 depending on if I need washing powder, cleaning produces etc. Then spend probably another 100-150 on top ups of fruit, veg and snacks through the month? So roughly 450pm I think. We eat well though, and I buy GF for myself which is expensive.

£700 month two adults two teens who eat adult portions. School lunches £160 on top of that.

We’re also a family of 4 with two underage 5s. We tend to spend around £120 a week, we could do it in less but I don’t shop to a budget. That includes nappies and formula, we live in the south east.

Family of 4, 2.adukts, 2 adult teens. Shopping £80 per week max. We do eat out/take away about once a week.
Might pick up extras if I see discounted meat in the shop near my work. Extras maybe £20 per week if anyone fancies treats.
So max grocery bill, £100. This includes all meals apart from 1 child who has lunch at college 3 days a week. There's always food for him to take, he prefers not to.

2 adults, 2 under 5.

Probably about £500 a month.

Broken down to couple of aldi shops for £60, couple of ocado shops for £150, sneaky m&s snack shop for £30 and then big costco shop every 3 months. Some of this will be house stuff as well.

We eat well, pretty much whatever we want. Cook from scratch everyday, very varied. All 3 meals for everyone at home except the 4yo has school lunch now.

How much alcohol do you drink ? Are you eating meals like steak ? How much do you eat out (including school dinners) or get takeaways (including coffees, meal deals etc)? Are you buying formula ? Nappies? Pyjama pants ?

Not sure if your location commands a premium but it’s on the high side if you don’t drink or eat out of the house. I was surprised when I costed our favourite meals because some are much more budget friendly than others. I now cook the more expensive meals at the weekends.

Im amazed how many do top ups a week

I shop once a week. Usually Fri and that's it for the week

If we run out of something then it's gone till next shop

What top ups do people buy ?

If bread and milk then surely that's only £3 extra for a loaf and 4 pints

Or buy two if use and freeze it till you need it

Family of 4 (2 primary age DC) also live in Central belt, we spend between £60 and £75 a week. Shop in Lidl only.

Family of 4, 2 adults, 2 older teens, East Midlands

Average £1000 month but we do eat well - lots of meat and fish & alcohol included plus all toiletries and cleaning products

I don't understand top up shops either. But strawberries etc for the start of the week and apples & easy peelers for the end of it. I buy 20 pints of milk, 2 go in the fridge and the other 3 go in the freezer and get taken out during the week.

We also haves spares of most things in the cupboard so if we use up the ketchup we get the new bottle out the cupboard and put it on the shopping list immediately so we don't run out of stuff