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?

I'm not sure if I'd posted on this thread since, but my first post in 2019 I said I'd increased from €700 to €750 to €800 in the previous year. I increased to €1,000 by early COVID lockdown and €1,200 by the start of last year.

@BiddyPop Pre-covid we were spending €60 a week for 2 adults, now we're 2 adults and a one year old and our groceries cost at least €120 a week. I find it crazy to imagine getting a weeks shop for €60 now even though it was only a few years ago.

Prices have gone up for sure.

I'm finding better value at going to get my veg and fruit loose in the local veg market. I only buy what I need, there's no packaging to recycle, and it's very fresh. I get cheeses, meats, petfood, smoothies etc from Lidl. Then Tesco for the rest.

I saw elsewhere on mumsnet getting the big 5l containers of shampoo and conditioner & body wash from a hospitality supplier was working out at just over a tenner apiece so that's on my list for when we run out of what we are using already.

I used to use cheap dishwasher tablets but had to pretty much wash everything beforehand anyway, so while I don't save money by using the ones for 15quid a packet, I'm happy to splurge if it means we aren't stuck to the sink the whole time.

Reviving this again for a periodic check in 😂

I’ve managed to get our shop mostly down to around €100 with Dunnes (120 before vouchers). Sometimes it’s as low as 80, occasionally up to 130 if I get caught for buying washing powder the same week as dishwasher tabs, or shampoo/conditioner/hair dye.

I can only stick to this if I shop online though, I always spend more if I shop in store.

Our kids school started doing free cold lunches, which helped a bit, but the lunches aren’t great so sometimes they’ll ask to bring packed lunches.

2 adults, 4 primary school kids, the budget includes 7 days of breakfast and dinner for all of us, and lunch for me. Dh buys lunch at work, kids go to childcare where they get an afterschool snack. We don’t buy alcohol or sweets (my mam brings a bag of treats that lasts us the week), but the budget does include most toiletries and cleaning products.

I dunno what I'm at reading this thread 🙈 I spend 200 a week, 2 adults, 1 teenager and 1 child. That includes all cleaning products/toiletries too. Shop in Dunnes but do find Lidl/Aldi better value. I definitely need to plan better instead of wandering aimlessly around the shops. I'm going to meal plan this week. I buy a tray of 7up and d coke a week so I know that probably contributes to the cost!

I do meal plan somewhat but still end up spending anywhere between 200-250 a week! Main shop is approx €160 then I could be in for three or four top ups during the week. Don’t get me stated on the weekend!! I seriously need to rein it in. 2 adults 3 teenagers and a dog! Prices have increased so much.

I have a coeliac daughter so have to go a few shops to get everything I need gluten free wise. We are a family of 5 (3 teenage kids). I do Aldi about €120 p/w, butcher about €30 and Dunnes or supervalu about €70. M&S weekend dinner treats about €40 so about €260 or so p/w. Needing gluten free stuff adds quite a bit to price.

Buying GF certainly adds a huge amount. My Mum is the same.
I notice alot of the replies are from 2019 so things have gone up significantly since then. I'm going to do a grocery shop today and try get everything that is needed for as low as possible! Aldi instead of Dunnes

Milkman here too. 70 on him

Since my last 2 posts, DH got laid off, has a long term illness that will have a long recovery so we've switched up again to buying as little UPFs as possible, and also organic where we can.

We do a takeaway about once a month. Lidl shop is around €100pw, I get all fruit and veg in a veg market now so that's usually 30-40 euros as we use a lot. I batch cook things from scratch for the freezer. There's 2 of us plus a young teen so I think that 140 per week isn't bad for breakfast lunch and dinners for us all, especially factoring in the extra cost for organic.

I’m not a big cosmetics person but I get the look fantastic box every month and there’s shower gels every now and then and it’s like an adult lucky bag of cosmetic items and toiletries. Would something like this help you?