Average Weekly shopping bill

[AdiVic]

Hello - I was just wondering what others spend a week on shopping. I was made redundant last year and am currently P, so no imminent return to work. My husband has to cough up the money to do the shopping and thinks I am being wasteful asking for about £110 pw - this covers nappies for my dd, and dog food for the dog (about £8pw). We also buy meat from the butcher (which actually works out cheaper). A pal of his, says we are mad and their weekly shop for he and his partner comes to £30 max!!! I do not believe that myself, unless they are really really thrifty. The shop does not include wine etc, and we rarely buy anything extravagant. Just wondering how it compares to others so I can either tighten belt, or whether thats average. Many thanks x

for the 3 of us (DD in nappies, no pets) we spend i'd say £120-£150 a week, we are pretty wasteful and extravagant and should cut down though

5 of us plus dog.
Max £100 per week. In fact prob more like £75.
Seriously we need people from both ends of the spectrum to put their receipts up on flickr or something so we can judge properly.

Dont know where you live OneLittleBabyGirl but have you tried going to your local chinese/oriental supermarkets

In my local one, fresh tofu in water is less than a pound and noodles like soba,udon etc are pennies. Things like soy sauce,oyster sauce,chilli oil/sauces, asian veg are all substantially less than the big supermarkets. It's worth finding one in your local area

bakingaddict there is one Chinese market where I live, about 20min drive away. I go there for a big shop of rice etc. But I rely on the normal supermarkets when the price difference isn't too steep. (The worst I've found is fish source. The ones from waitrose are sooooo tiny).

notso depends what I make but yes, usually. For example I can make a batch of American style cookie dough for about £2.50 that will make 30 odd cookies, like the ones or you get five for a quid 'fresh baked' ones in the supermarket. I tend to use half the dough and freeze the rest, things like biscuits keep well for a week.

Also, I make cakes that are meant to be kept, such as Nigella's Clementine cake or a Madeira cake. In the olden days, people used to make a cake on a Sunday and it would be kept as nibbling for the following week. Fruit cakes are another obvious one that it is far cheaper to make and lasts for ever. I know all this, boringly, as I occasionally make them for other people so have to price them against the supermarkets.

Another tip - ignore the silly chefs, don't bother using pricey fancy choc for baking, it really doesn't make a big enough difference to justify the cost. 200g bars of dark choc from Asda for £1.20 is far far better!

BUT the exception is that as I usually cook mostly from scratch, I always have flour, baking powder, vanilla essence, eggs around so it isn't a big deal. I expect if you had to go out and buy all these things specifically for one thing it would be pricey.

The only thing I don't have in is chocolate, wouldn't last a minute!

BTW OnelittleBabyGirl, that isn't true at all about Asda not having unusual ingredients, I bought this week alone: Sumac, Zatar, dried limes (for a curry), Malaysian chilli sauce (for a visiting Malay friend), chick peas, pomegranate molasses, chorizo piccante, harrissa, fennel bulbs, persimmon etc. I cook with quite a variety of styles and have only found it wanting when I was looking for spelt but I think these things do vary depending on where you live. Bristol must be a bit of a cross roads or something!

Look at me defending Asda, I bloody hate the place and regularly come home ranting, but I do love a bargain.

That's because you live in Bristol! Lets just say none of my colleagues at work has ever had a sushi. (We had that conversation when Yo Sushi opened in town). I got my sumac at a middle eastern shop, neither the local asda or waitrose stock it. Same with pomegranate molasses.

BTW, most of my DD's wardrobe from George. I'm not a Asda hater.

OneLittle, you truly have my sympathy. I have always thought of Bristol as a little out of touch and behind compared to the big smoke but the thought of having to hunt for ingredients would be effing depressing. Also, you don't have anyone to talk to about food and cooking I'll guess And if people come over for food do they look suspicious about what you're cooking? It's like Elizabeth David having to go to the chemist for olive oil!!!

Sorry but my whole life revolves around food and my ever expanding stomach so the thought of not being able to enjoy these things would actually upset me quite a lot. God, I'm sad.

£175 a week. 7 hungry people (no nappies but lots of meat and fish) 2 birds, 1 fish, 1 cat ... and a partridge in a pear tree ...

Thinking about my £80, I've realised I last totted up probably 8 or 10 months ago. We only tend to do a supermarket shop once a month or so, and have veg box and corner shop for milk etc between. Every now and then I tot up how much we spend on everything all month, and average it out. It would be interesting to look at a run of these threads from the last couple of years as I bet people are spending a lot more now than they were a while ago.

Dh has just worked it out to be around the £200 mark for us, 4 dc & dog. However we live/work in spitting distance of 4 major supermarkets and look on the internet for offers, for example washing liquid and I will buy 4.

these threads leave me baffled. My shopping bill this week was 150.00 for me, dh and DD who is 3! buuuut I was batch cooking so made double of every meal. I can never ever get my bill to less than 100 per week if i was only shopping for what i needed. We do eat meat every day as dh would think he hadnt been fed and both he and DD are fussy with veg. But seriously soon I am going to post my weeks menu and the receipt afterwards and let everyone pick it to bits.

TheDoctorsWife We only eat meat about half the week. A bag of chickpeas or red kidney beans is less than a quid even in waitrose. And that last about 4 meals. I pack meat for lunch (I only eat cooked lunch), but my DH is a every day cheese sandwich man.

Also when you eat meat for a dinner, how much meat do you serve? We have 4 chicken thigh fillets between 2 adults (10mo DD has a strip or two). I'm not sure if that's average?

Hello, I did the weekly shop this week and it came to 85. I need to go out and get more milk. The only stores we have close to us are Sainsburys and Tesco - Asda is 20 miles away and stores like lidl and Aldi are even further. We live in the south - does that make a difference to store prices?? We do not buy booze, fags, or expensive/frivolous treats. I do buy fresh, I don't like canned stuff. I tried frozen veg but after cooking they do not seem as crisp as fresh. We eat meat 3/4 times per week, fish once. I do not buy chicken breast (how can it cost so much when you buy a live free range bird for £6!!). We have our own chickens, so never buy eggs. I think the cost gets bumped up by things like washing liquid (given up with dishwasher), washing detergent. I buy cheaper shampoo & cond (often on the reduced shelf) - I ALWAYS meal plan and buy what we need. I buy cheaper cuts of meat (slow cooker). Nappies stick a tenner on the weekly bill, as does the dog. I could do the supermarket shop for 80/90 pw, but i think realistically, by the time i have nipped out for extra milk, a forgotton onion, this could add a tenner. I will try Ocodo as a few have said that's good, but as for getting ti down to 50, how the hell do you do it? Thank you for all your comments xx

p.s. I never buy biscuits, cakes or the like as I am pregnant and no cake or biscuit would last if nearby! Like another poster on here, I have a well stocked herb/ingredient store, as I tend to make from fresh when i can. I picked up a loaf of bread the other daay for 2 quid!!!! Didnt' buy it. x

80/90 is pretty good compared to 110 isn't it? Online shopping is good at stopping you buying crap, but if you are disciplined I don't know if it'll make any difference? Ocado is easier to use than the others. I tried asda online and I couldn't get on with it at all! Can't seem to find the things I want.

I also live in the south east. I live very close to an asda and pick up nappies and cleaning stuff from them. So maybe that makes a difference as I hear asda is cheaper than even tesco? I also buy everything fresh. But it sounds like you have done all you can to bring the weekly shop down already.

£40-£50 a week, for me, DH, 2DCs 7&10. Includes alcohol and toiletries.
Add £10 a week for locally bought meat &veg. We also grow a lot of food, and have time to prepare meals from scratch.

I did mean £200 a month, I would love to be able to spend £200 a week !

I have just reduced my weekly shopping from about £100 to £75 ish from switching to Aldi from Sainsburys. We are 4 people plus a cat. Youngest in nappies. I know you said Aldi is too far for you, but have you tried the Sainsburys Basics range? Some of it is very good, I know there have been threads on here about what's good to buy.

Your weekly spend does seem excessive tbh considering there's no treats or alcohol.

Have you got room in your freezer for extra bread and milk? This saves popping to the shop for these items and coming back with loads of crap extra stuff.

Always freeze leftovers, especially rice, pasta, mash, veg etc

Do you use supermarket own brand stuff? If not, could you consider switching? A lot of the stuff is very good, I rarely buy branded stuff anymore.

Do you live anywhere near a wilkos? Their cleaning products are cheap - £1.80 for 30 dishwasher tablets for instance.

I can't think of anything else really - perhaps put your shopping purchases for the week/month up on here and let us have a look (if you're brave enough)

We grow our own veg as well as the £175 a week! But do have to buy wheat/dairy/everything intolerant yoghurts and puddings and they inevitably are generally more expensive. £7/8 of lamb neck does make a good casserole for two days for 7 people - with home grown veg and a pack of atora it probably costs 75p each for that couple of days - soups and casseroles are great when you need to keep costs down. My slow cooker is a god send, and it means it's all ready when you get home from work/school!!

We buy dairy free out of our £40-50, but rarely have pudding. We have home grown fruit, fresh in season, frozen out of season.

Why not invest in 'real' nappies, that will cut your shopping bill significantly.

I'll stop beating myself up about how much I spend then!

2 adults (DH is a bottomless pit) and 2 DC, and we spend £50 pw including nappies. I might spend a further £20 a month on topping up but I buy extra milk and bread for the freezer to avoid impulsive spending. I think we eat well, too much meat if anything as we probably have red meat twice a week and processed meat once a week, the rest of the meals are chicken, fish or cry. I'm always trying to save more - currently shopping at Tesco but planning to cut my ties with Clubcard and change to ASDA.

All of our shopping is online as we're rural. The extra cost in time and fuel to Aldi or Lidl would negate any saving. Dogs and cat add an extra £30 per month .

Astonished at how it is possible to spend so much in some cases. Do you have much wastage? Where for you keep it all?!