Is our 400 pounds per month food bill excessive? Family of 4.

[fuzzyfelt]

We've got baby no. 3 on the way and are working out ways of economising. I have just worked out that we spend at least 400 quid a month on our Tesco shops. Is this normal or excessive? My children are 5 and 2 and we don't buy any ready meals or other particularyly expensive stuff.

Was inspired to write thsi after reading the Lidl thread - think I might be trying Lidl out!

I spend around £110 per week for a family of three. We don't go mad either...not sure how it gets so high!

does that include all your houshold stuff as well ?

Maybe time to keep track for a few weeks of all that you spend and see where it does all actually go - and then decide what can be cut back.

Your kids are same age as mine and we spend probably the same. When we used to be really broke though and on benefits we managed it on around £50 per week, although that was just the 2 of us.

I also need to cut back though dh says I need to stop feeding half the neighbourhood kids for a start.

we spend £100 once or twice a month online and then bread milk etc as top ups so total probably about £250 total.

Family of 4 including 2 in nappies

agree lidl and supermarket own brands help a lot - cant afford to be choosy

I'm very impressed lockets!
We are 3, toddler consumes mainly milk, I have no idea what we spend but probably over 100 quid a week

We (me, Dh and 4yo DD) spend about £60 a week on Sainsburys shop plus appros £15-20 a week on fruit/veg scheme. Then on top of that we will have other small shops during week. Milk is on top as comes from milkman 3 times a week.

So, taking everything into account we probably spend about that too. That does include alcohol, and I know I am not a particualrly economical shopper!

I budget £85.50 weekly for 2 adults, 1 five year old and 1 two year old, so no I don't think £400 a month is unreasonable.

we spend £100 a week on food,theres me,dh 6 year old,5 year old and 10 month old.and cat.we use reusable nappies and cook from fresh which both save a lot.

Message withdrawn

Fuzzyfelt, we spend about £400 on a similar sized and aged family. You could probably save money by going to Lidl etc but it depends how you shop - we shop online and I don't have a lot of time to go round supermarkets, plus our nearest Lidl is a drive away and when i do an actual, rather than virtual shop, I'd rather do it in local shops that I don't have to drive to. I think it depends how attached you are to brands like Heinz baked beans - which we are. Plus at Lidl I couldn't find about 70% of what I wanted. I like fresh veg and good quality meat and there was none of that - although the cheese and continental deli type stuff was good.

I spend about £75 a week online and the rest (veg, meat and chemists stuff) in the village shops. But the online shop does include 3 or 4 bottles of wine, and apparently Lidl is good for wine.

It was interesting last weekend - my Tesco delivery didn't happen (driver called in sick) so I cancelled it and went to Asda which is supposedly a lot cheaper. I took along my Tesco shopping list with the prices on and everything was exactly the same cost as it was in Tesco.

There are 5 of us (children 5 and under - only one in nappies) - £400 is not excessive imo. We spend a lot more than that but when we are budgeting we 'give ourselves' £100 a week for grocery bills and it can be done.

Ours is perhaps higher because I buy mostly organic stuff and I'm including my butchers bill in that - it's not a cheap butcher. Also, I guess I buy other things in Tesco like the odd bit of clothing, toys/gifts, cards, household stuff.

Menu planning is the main way we cut back - have been doing it the last few weeks and shopping bill is much lower.

we are a family of 5 (two under 3 needing nappies)
I spend about £45 - £60 a week, If it is a nappy week (usually every other week I need nappies)then its nearer £60. I shop at Lidls. If we are flush then I do a big shop at Morrisons which is usually about £100.

everything including air freshener and tampax costs us approx £70pw

i have three teenagers and a fat dh - i myself am rather a large heffer.

wish ours could be that low

custy

No it's not IMHO.
That's about what we spend (lots of fresh fruit and veg, no ready meals, free-range meat, no alcohol). I have 3 children, 7, 5, 3 (all big eaters lol).
Also that doesn't include packed lunches.
To be fair tho because of the no alcohol I tend not to economise elsewhere.

£400 per month for a family of 4 is not excessive, imo.

I don't buy ready meals either and maybe 1 or 2 bottles of wine a week.

I wonder if you buy ready meals - is your bill likely to be higher or lower?

I saw a lady today piling Tesco Value ready made lasagne and pasta dishes into her trolley. How can that be cheaper than buying fresh stuff? It doesn't have to be organic to be 100x more nutritious than what she was buying, surely? I'd rther eat scrambled eggs on toast than that!!

My £45 - £60 includes packed lunches too.... I don't buy crisps, chocolate, biscuits or sweets at all (dh objects but hey ho!) but I do make biscuits and cakes once a week (which is miles cheaper as the ingredients last a while) and I get lots of cheap fruit and veg from lidls.

i feed my family of 4 on £60 per week inc. nappies for dd2

I am for £90 a week but it's usually nearer £100 -and that is everything, toiletries, wash powder, booze etc for 2 adults and 2 DDs (5.5).

i believer ready meals would definitely push up your shopping bill

meal planning and sticking to it is th e only good way to save pennies IME