Monthly grocery spending—what’s normal?

[PracticalMum1]

We usually spend around £350–£400 per month on groceries for our household of 3. I try to plan meals and stick to a budget, but snacks and fresh fruit always push the total higher than expected. There’s always something extra: a chocolate bar here, a loaf of bread there… it all adds up!
Mostly Tesco for weekly shops, occasionally Asda for big stock-ups. I do a bit of online shopping too, which saves time, but sometimes you end up adding more than planned.
I’d love to hear how other people manage it. Do you meal plan strictly, or just buy what looks good that week? Any clever ways to save money without feeling like you’re missing out?

£200-£250 a month 3 adults 1 child 1 cat , includes all toiletries , washing powder and cat food . I shop at Lidl. I Strict meal plan and cook from scratch

Wow. What kind of meals do you eat?

Our shopping budget is £600 per month but we are usually under budget

I do a costco shop once a month and have got this down to a fine art - DH is the price watcher and reckons we've saved a fair bit, but you have to be on the ball. Costco is for loo roll, laundry stuff, dishwasher tabs, hot chocolate, crisps etc. Their meat is good quality and a good price too, so its usually in the region of £200.

I do a Sainsbury's shop once month which is around £150 and is non perishables and toiletries.

Fresh fruit and veg from a local greengrocer, weekly and top up shop is around £50.

We cook from scratch mainly, and meal plan which helps with cost.

2 adults, DC 12 and 11, £500 per month on supermarket shop so including cleaning bits, fabric softener etc. we don’t drink much. Meal plan, batch cook/ freeze things. We could easily cut quite a bit of that out by cutting down on meat

Family of 5 and we spend about £800-£1000 a month on food

£600 a month for two adults & baby plus around £300 a month on Deliveroo which can be takeaway or groceries delivered last minute.

Ddog is £120 a month on top. Does not include wine! 😭 It has definitely gone up in recent years.

£1000 per month all in - all toiletries, food, alcohol and coffee/one takeaway a month.

That's £200 per person per month - don't think that' too bad. All adults

Shop across all supermarkets - lucky enough to have every supermarket going.

Big expense is meat and fish, coffees are around £100 of that.

I think, after reading all the replies there is no set answer

There are some like me who is only saying what the food costs, I spent £42 in lidl today but I paid £16 for beer for DH - which I will take back, and a fiver for a pair of leggings for work - which I shall pay back in and about £4 in toiletries - tube of toothpaste - at least 3 weeks, a can of shaving foam - months , and a tin of air freshener . so food for 3 days - £18 - ish - joint, veg, a few tins I was short on - double points - multi buys so worth buying this week

I got a kilo Ham/gammon joint. PC it and saved the cooking water. Served with cauliflower cheese, cabbage, roast spuds HM stuffing using crusts and ofd bits of bread left over from loafs - turned into breadcrumbs and frozen and the sage bush I have in the garden - very hardy. Tomorrow we will have cold ham and bubble and squeak with pickle and salad , I also used the cooking liquid to PC quarter a bag of dried soup mix and just to use things up, threw in a couple of chicken drumsticks. Tomorrow I will strip of the chicken, adjust seasoning and liquid and add fresh veg and we have chunky soup or sloppy stew. It will be wholesome and filling whatever you call it

I think, and these are only my thoughts because Im old and also old school, that the least I spend on food that looks like the finished product, the more I get for my money

I buy ingredients So I buy flour, and baking block and lard and make pasty and buns/biscuits and cakes - what's not used sits in the freezer ( yep flour is in the freezer - stops weevils ) I have two freezers and they are well used. Buy a pack of 6 sausages and actually only 5 required? Dont cook and eat the extra , that's over eating for someone, wrap it and chuck it in the freezer. 5 packs of sausages later, you have enough singles to feed the family. - free meal ;) Using 500gr of mince to feed the family and it's getting tight as they grow and want more? A kilo again will be over feeding someone, so add 50gr of dried red lentils and cook low and slow for 30 mins and you won't even see them - yet they will add another 3rd to the bulk and the protein content

As a chef our mantra is we are here to feed you, not fatten you, and that's the mantra I use when cooking at home

If someone is scraping their plate to the pet food waste ( we waste nothing here, the cats, dogs and hens get the scraps - or the compost heap ) Ive over fed them. If someone is wanting more then a wee scoop of ice cream after dinner, Ive under fed them.

I get it is a grind, meal planning, finding recipes that the family are all on board for to use up what's there ( Im thankful that we all like bubble ) and Im grateful that Ive only ever worked pt the past 30 years. But it was deciding to go part time that taught me to be frugal

Ive also grown up in the 60's where no one had a pot to pee in, and gone through so many recsessions I cant keep up. But no matter how little income , we had a cooked meal and breakfast at home and there was always a pack up available ( just got DHs out, chicken dansak and rice - he will love that at 10am tea break lol )

So yes for me, I can keep the food bill low and eat very well and pretty healthily. I posted previously, I can buy Duchy of Cornwall all sing/dancing chicken at less then a tesco chick costs , but there is sod all wrong with SM chicken if the red tractor is there

I live on a farm 18000 hens in that chicken house - marks and Waitrose bound - high welfare ( which means they have a layer of sawdust deep enough to dustbath and purches to nest on , and they have never seen daylight - and they won't - until heading on down to the pet food factories in Wales in two years time

Wow, sounds like £500 could fly by really quickly with 4–5 people! I’ve heard Aldi can be a lifesaver for stretching the budget a bit. Do you find it easier to stick to a plan there, or do you end up picking up extras like I do at Tesco?

That sounds really organized! I love the idea of splitting it between Costco, Sainsbury’s, and the greengrocer—it seems like a smart way to get quality stuff without overspending. Cooking from scratch and meal planning must make a huge difference too.

£500 for a family of 3 sounds familiar! I try to do the same—organic where I can, but those Nectar deals are tempting. It’s crazy how the little extras like dishwasher tabs and snacks can sneak the budget up, isn’t it?

I'm not sure there is a normal. I'm very fussy about food, like to get organic, free range, artisan. So pay more for this. On the other hand, someone on a very tight budget might have to choose every item purely on price. Even then, if they eat meat versus being a vegetarian that will affect their weekly cost too.

I budget £450 for family if 3 but suspect it’s nearer £500. That includes household stuff but not pet food as I do that online.

I have just switched to online deliveries after a gaps of a lot of years to see if I can get in cheaper. I live 5 minutes walk from sainsburys and it is easy to pop up there before / after work and get stuff. I would get yellow sticker stuff. However I found that as well as getting ‘useful’ yellow sticker stuff I can freeze I also then ended up buying reduced snack type stuff or treats so a £20 shop turns into £30.

I am lucky enough to also have iceland and Lidl within walking distance so will get some specific bits from there as well although I don’t like them for a ‘proper’ shop.

Single person here (no kids) and my Tesco online shopping bill is around £50 a week which includes basic household stuff such as wash up liquid, washing powder, soap, loo rolls etc. Always around £200 a month. I shop from a list and rarely buy anything different as I am not a foodie. I can remember when it was around £25 a week!!!

I’m single and spend about £75 a week in Waitrose and £30 weekly in the village butcher for 2 x Ddogs.
Toiletries , washing powder etc are bulk bought from Amazon .

Have you tried shopping at Aldi. I used to shop and Tesco and Asda but Aldi is so much cheaper and the quality is very good. I save a lot of money doing my shop there.
I also use a lot of chick peas, lentils and spices to create cheap meals that are filling and healthy but not bland.

For one adult and an ever hungry 17yo boy I spend about £60 a week, in Tesco.

For that I get a mix of meat, fish, fruit, veg, dairy, store cupboard groceries, basic toiletries and basic cleaning products. Plus DS' snacks.

I don't buy brands or alcohol, and I cook everything from scratch. I make our bread with flour from the local mill, which adds £1 a week.

My spend has increased by about 25% since covid, so now I make all our jam & dips, grow our herbs, chillies, some fruit and summer salads.

It's getting harder and takes more work to eat well on that amount.

This reads like a journo, tbh. I know there’s topics like this all the time but this is setting off my spidey senses.

I am very much like you. I refuse to give the greedy supermarkets the money they’re asking, pure greed , I make all my own food I do occasionally shop on Tesco but it’s mainly Lidl, I buy there 1.50 green box of veg that has plenty of fruit :veg in it and it helps spread the cost . I can make lovely soup from it. Either eat the fruit or if it’s looking a bit wilted I make smoothies from it

I always make a list and try not to deviate away from it. Usually spend £90-100 per week for 2 adults and dog so approx £400 per month (apart from clothing sections and middle aisle in Aldi’s occasionally 🙈)

Family of 4 all adults - 1 away at uni part of the year budget is £800 per month including fuel. Lately I have been constantly topping up so this month am getting more organised. I always shop online as find its easier to budget that way and always get a delivery pass which is cheaper and saves me time going to the supermarket. Best way to keep to budget is to have a separate account just for food and fuel and then when it's gone it's gone. Always have staples in the cupboard in case food gets low (pasta etc). Other rule we have is 1 take away a month on pay day - a little treat - if these become regular it gets way too expensive. Also always have a few easy frozen bits and bobs for days when running late. Always try and do home cooked meals as much as possible but probably twice a week have easy meals - both work full time so its busy.

£500 sounds pretty fair with older kids! I keep meaning to try batch cooking but never get around to it—do you find it actually cuts costs or just makes life easier? Cutting down on meat is a smart idea; I might have to sneak in a few more veggie meals here too.

Just the 2 of us, retired, and we spend about £600 a month. That includes wine and all household products. We both enjoy cooking and we meal plan for the week. It's a lot but we don't really need to cut down. It used to be lower but prices have gone up on practically everything.

Family of three.. two adults and a teenager… £700 !!!