What's your average family grocery spend in Ireland?

[AgesAndAges]

I'm always interested in these threads but I find it's hard to equate UK spends to Irish as the prices vary.

We are a family of 2 adults and 3 small kids. I normally shop in Tesco though I've found they have gotten very expensive recently. Our shop was always €90-€120 before, but these days I'm finding it difficult to keep below €140. That covers all meals, school lunches, dh's lunch most days, toiletries and earning products. Oh and nappies wipes for the youngest.

Am I realistic to think I could do it for less? I cook from scratch most days and have a small repertoire of very cheap meals that I mix in with dearer ones. I'd like to be more frugal without scrimping.

I used to shop in Lidl but found it wasn't
too much cheaper than Tesco and I couldn't order online or do click and collect so switched to tesco for convenience. I sometimes shop in SV and find them the most expensive, but their produce is aways fantastic and they are the only company who deliver to our address so it's a toss up.

How much do other Irish families spend?

About 90 euro a week plus usually one pizza and chips per week as well. So, about 110 on food.

I could spend less but I work ft.

True, yes, I wasn't counting wine, add another tenner to that.

I used to do a weekly shop in Lidl, with only a few of the extras they don't sell coming from SV. But then the shelf life of the fruit and veg was really short and it wouldn't get me to the end of the week sometimes.

I've just switched over to Tesco C&C just because I've gotten busier on the weekends and it's so much more convenient to pick it up on my way home from work instead now.

I'd say I'd usually spend €120 or thereabouts on weekly shopping.

When I had to really cut back during the last recession, I used to add handfuls of lentils to any mince dishes and it was years before DH copped, plus lots of veg it helped keep the cost down a bit.

Slow cooker meals create lovely tender bits of meat out of tough cuts and it's cheaper than running an oven or hob I think.

I use wraps more now and less sliced bread. Wraps seem to not go bluemould as quickly.

And best of all - the school DS goes to qualify for free lunches, so I should see a reduction there once they start up in a few weeks - and no manky lunchboxes to empty!!

We have a brambly apple tree out the back and a bit of rhubarb so I've been going retro with fruit crumbles and custard to fill up bellies. And we've loads of blackberries nearby that I want to pick. I'll freeze some for smoothies and see can I do some jams as well. We have a neglected overgrown field that we want to plant veg and fruit in. I'd love to have a few chickens too, ooh and a goat and a bee hive. Not necessarily for cost but I grew up on organic home grown veg and dairy as it was a hobby of my fathers and the taste was so different!

Ooh the free lunches would save so much money (and flipping stress) here! We were designated a deis school this year but no sign of the lunches yet unfortunately 😥

The shelf life of fruit and veg is my main problem, I think Sv , Tesco and Dunnes are the only ones I have found to be good (but SV is the best for longevity.

My two girls get free lunches and they are awful. I've actually cancelled them altogether as they were put in the bin anyway. Produce is very poor quality and the fruit is not fresh. Definately no way the portions would fill a growing child. Its such a disappointment 😞

About 110-130 on a bad week. Main shop in supervalu which usually works out at about 80 then lots of stupid topups in local shops. That's for 3 of us. Something wrong with our mains water at the moment so spending a fortune on bottle water!
I hate driving to get my shopping and we only have a sv in my town. Online I just can't get on it because of the fruit and veg, it's never as good as I would pick myself.
Prices have gone up so much over the last 6 months. I like my local sv though, the fruit and veg is very good.
When my dc started school we got the free lunches for a year or two but they were never eaten so stopped them. He's got sensory issues and only will eat certain makes/brands so just didn't work for us.

Not in Ireland at the moment, mostly London based now, but when over seeing family and out doing food shopping I notice how much better the food generally is.

Dunnes - interesting with those hook you in discounts for 'next time'. If I was watching the cost I'd do C&C at Tesco so I didn't buy extras.

Ah balls!

I think the principal has looked into three providers so hopefully he picks a decent one.

@Whoseagooddoggiethen
Why do you hate Dunnes ?
I sometimes shop there but there isn't one very close to me. SuperValu isn't convenient either. Aldi, Lidl and Tesco are closer.
But when I do go to Dunnes I think the choice is very good. Love having a mooch around their homewares and clothing too.

That's disappointing. My son gets them as he is in a deis school as we had to travel to get him into an asd class and he loves the food. It's the highlight of his day. Great quality and great choice. I'd say I'm realistically spending €170 on food these days

Has anyone seen washing detergent tablets in any supermarket ?
I was able to add them to a delivery from Tesco a few months back but they are out of stock now.
They were made in France.
I prefer them to the plastic pod things and loose washing detergent in big boxes.
It's like all the big manufacturers decided not to produce them any more. I thought we were trying to cut down on plastic in our water system ?
Surely those pod things have a meltable plastic encasing the detergent ?

Great thread.
DC1 goes to a Deis School and we must be lucky, as although he has ASD, he finds the lunch good (it's monotonous and predictable). He often comes home with rice cake packs though, and mini-Rice Kripie boxes (branded) that no-one else eats.

We're blessed to have Aldi, S'valu, Dunnes and a Centra within walking distance (well, walking if it's not pouring😁).
Supervalu for fresh fruit & veg usually, or Dunnes. Tesco, Aldi or Lidl fruit & veg is a false economy as it goes off quickly.
I get the "€10 off €50" vouchers weekly and wait until they send me one if I dont have one hanging on the fridge.

For 4 of us, I can get away with €100 per week usually; with €20/30 on treat bits or Friday night takeaways.
We have a great butcher local to us. I bought a 2.2kg chicken about 3 weeks ago- roasted on Sunday, pasta bake Monday/Tues. Make stock from the bones (Darina would be proud...benefits of working from home) and had a fab, delicious, OMG risotto from it on Thurs.
Still have meat from it in the freezer, so will probably get another meal from it. That's about 20 dinners from a chicken €14...rounded out with lots of veg, cheese in pasta bakes.

Proper Mumsnet chicken territory Hilary, I'm lucky if I get 2 dinners and 2 rounds of lunch out of ours 🙈

Interesting about the free lunches being bad in some places, I know one of the schools local to me does things like pasta and pittas.

I used to cook lots of veggie meals before but got out of the habit as I was working crazy hours and going for convenient choices, but I've more time on my hands now so must get back into it. I used to batch cook a good bit but found them that I didn't fancy eating whatever I had batched so it would be left in the freezer.

Would you believe Ages I actually looked at the MN never-ending chicken threads for inspiration!

Holy crap, I was in lidl today and nearly keeled over at the price of butter. 3.39 for own brand?!?! I remember when it was 2.19.

I sound like my granny 😂

Yeah I think the price increases are more evident for things that usually cost 2-3 euro and upwards. If you're talking about a tin of beans going from 59c to 79c it doesn't stand out as much, but anything over €2 going up seems more noticeable. I buy cheese that was always €2 a block but it's gone to €3 now (actually it's €3.50 if it's not on sale). It's Irish produced too so the price increase can only really be attributed to energy increases.

Yeah, the price of butter is bonkers. Such a big increase in a short period of time- and it's not an increased price to farmers for their milk, so must be the transport costs?

Cheese used to be on offer at €2 for 200g of nice cheese- now the ones on offer are €3.
Pasta has stayed around €1 for 1kg.

I had increased my budget by 50% compared to when this thread started (we could afford it for a while and still save, between health mad hollow legged teen and the fact Dh and I were mad busy so needed conveniences, it made sense - that cushion is gone though).

I've put away some extra things recently for a cushion but have noticed my budget not going nearly as far and that's having cut a lot of the nicer things we had slipped into getting.

You know what is really annoying?
I have been on the "Royal Style" threads for years- they're a great bit of light relief.
Yesterday, there is an LKBennett coat linked that is £600 - but €900 in Euros!
[Not that I am in any way, shape or form going to buy an LKBennett coat, but you know what I mean. M&S do the same thing.]
I dont live anywhere near the border to do a comparison re food prices- but do the same bonkers price exchange differences apply?

It's disgusting how we are ripped off by most some UK retailers in Ireland.
I've posted about this a few times, a while back.
I may have name changed since.

Family of six , 3 adults 2 teens one child . Mostly shop in lidl but will pick up bits in SuperValu/Tesco also . Usually spend about 180 euro a week but it can be higher some weeks. No alcohol. Big meat/chicken eaters . Everyone has different preferences too food wise so I usually cook three different meals a night

I started reading this thread thinking wtf how are people spending so little, then I realised when it was started. We spend 120/130 for 2 adults and 2 teens that eat like adults and a few fussy pets that's for breakfast, lunch, dinner 7 days a week and all cleaning stuff etc. Probably 20 during the week for top up shops then. It feels like everytime I go to the supermarket I see something that make me go wtf when I see the price rise.

It's the top up shops that kill me. Mine are great eaters and it's the stuff we run out of during the week that's really adding up. Extra fruit for lunches and things like that.

Own brand milk has jumped so much hasn't it? Like 6 months ago it was 1.39 and I'd notice every couple of weeks it going up by 20 cent.. what is it 2.09 now?
Have got half way through the week with only topping up milk bread and water so far. Really trying to stay within budget this week!