How much do you spend on weekly shop. Please be honest this is causing relationship stress!

[bundlebelly]

I am trying very hard to keep to our strict budget of £90 a week, this is for the entire supermarket shop, food, cleaning products, and nappies, milk, etc etc.
I plan the meals, only buy what I need, hardly ever any treats,mostly own brands and it is tough. I am told by SIL that she spends £70. But I don't understand how. She goes to Waitrose! And buys those posh packets of smoothies, and organic babywipes, wine, etc etc. DH says if she can do it so can I. This is causing a lot of stress. We have a family of four. How much do you spend per week? Not in an ideal world, I mean really and honestly.

family of 6.

£70-ish a week.

we do one big tesco shop every two weeks for just over £100

and then top up in iceland every two weeks with frozen veg etc for around £35

i spend about £150 a week, iam a single parent with 3 children and try really hard not to spend much i buy a lot of own brand and cheaper stuff but all 3 dc's have multiple food allergies and a lot of their 'free from' food etc is quite expensive unfortunately. 2 little ones still in nappies too so that doesnt help either!

Id say that £90 a week is a reasonable amount for a family of three. We spend the equivalent of around £60 for a family of three but we're in the wierd situation of my husband working at an american airbase where the shops are much cheaper than the uk for most things, also we only have one dc and he's not even 2. I'd say if your planning your meals and doing all this and still struggling just increase your budget to £100.Ignore your dh if he's not the one who does the shopping and meals, they don't always know what they're on about!

Bundle I'm spending about the same as you. I would find it impossible to shop for £70 incl. nappies & wine. Especially as I buy a lot of fresh fruit, salad & veg, and quite a lot of fish.

No nappies needed here, but we are a family of five. I try to keep it to £150 a week for everything, but rarely manage that, it's nearer £180.

Your SIL may manage on £70, but I bet that doesn't include toiletries, cleaning products, etc.

Three of us here - approx £80-85 a week all in. But we don't have to buy nappies any more, and I have to say we don't buy wine.

I think you need to talk to your SIL and say to her, I need your help with shopping. I'll eat my hat if she is including EVERYTHING in that £70 and buying all the extra stuff you are talking about. What about if she has milk delivered? We separate our shopping so that it's £55 or so in the supermarket, £11 milk delivery and £15 in the market. She might be talking about only part of the shop.

If she really is managing that [chews hat] then maybe she could help you.

SIL is talking bollocks as far as I can see, especially if including wine.

Having said that, I shop at Ocado/Waitrose too and they are not that much more expensive, especially with money off deals vouchers.

For a family of 4 i spend between £100 and £120 for pretty much everything (including nappies for 1)

I reckon your sil pops into the shops to top up as well as her £70 from waitrose
top tip: get dh to do the shopping and meal planning if he thinks he can do it better

probably about £120 for 3

It depends how many meals you eat in the house (or make as packed lunches). Our budget soars in the school hols when I'm suddenly catering for an extra 15 covers per week (lunches for DCs and whoever's with them).

I think your SIL is forgetting all the extras she may have to buy in the week - no way is she buying wine and Waitrose smoothies on just £70 a week.
I manage on £70 - £80 but there's only me and DS and I don't have to buy nappies (he is a bedwetter so I do buy bedmats or pyjama pants but only one lot a week). Honestly I think you are managing well on £90 a week for a family of 4.

Perhaps send your DH out with £70, a shopping list and challenge him to do the lot!!!

I am liking BigChris's idea, but he has to include stuff like washing powder/loo rolls/nappies and some store cupboard stuff in his shop to make it realistic

I could spend £70 i reckon on a lean week if i ignored the above

between £30-£70,

More when buying cleaning products, washing powder, toiletries etc. No wine bought here either.

There is only me and DS (6) tho.

How about letting DH do it for a few weeks and see if he can do it for £70. Make sure he includes all the extras like nappies, shampoo, toilet cleaner, toothpaste that aren't every week things.

I suspect your SIL spends more than she thinks.

she's lying

bet she has takeaways too

Get SIL to give you the receipt. No way she can go to waitrose AND buy toiletries etc all for seventy quid a week. Or she tops up in cash at the market or butchers etc. We are family of four and I spend £90 - £100 a week on everytbing except petrol, clothes, shoes.

send him to the supermarket or even get him to do an online pretend shopincluding everything. They are always shocked byt he price of cheese!

We managed on £75 a week until recently - but we only have one dd and she is 8mo. That was shopping at Ocado, and included wine, nappies, toiletries and all food. It was a bit tight, but I did it by strictly meal planning, not eating loads of meat and getting nappies and wipes from Sainsburys (basics wipes are great!).

Oh, and avoid trips to the supermarket - every time I go in I overspend. I would go to our sainsburys local for fruit, veg and milk only, nothing else. And I have a breadmaker, that saves loads of money.

We've upped the budget now to £90, which feels like loads - I've been buying fish from the fishmonger!

I have the same problem - I generally do the shopping so DH hasnt really done it since 2002. He is shocked that shopping for a family of 5 in 2010 is more expensive than shopping for him on his own eating stuff like pasta in packets in 2002.

Go figure

I once got DH to do the shop when we were on an ecconomy drive. I said we could afford £80 and not a penny more for a full - everything but everything (incl. nappies, etc)- weekly shop. He left looking smug with a list of low-cost healthy meals for a week.

He came home looking pig-sick after getting to the checkout and ringing up a bill of £150

I spend £160 every 2 weeks - so £80 a week for family of four on the supermarket shop.
BUT I also spend £30 a week in farm shop, and £20 a week in local corner shop getting extras like milk/bread etc when run out.

So my true amount is £130 a week.

between £100 - £115 a week for family of 5. but that does not include meat - dh gets that separately

Doe sinclude weekly bottle of wine

Do get him involved for a week or two, it's the only way to solve this. Make sure you pick a week when you need to replenish dishwashing/laundry supplies, but try and keep an open mind, he may actually have some good ideas for economies once he has all the facts.

Family of 3

£60 pw, no nappies

I bet your SIL tops up during the week

what are you lot all buying?