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.

We shop at Ocado and top up locally at Sainsbury. I never go over £100 on the online shop, more often between £70 and £90. I do have milk delivered and usually buy an extra carton at sainsbury each week.

I also tend to do a big shop at wilkinson once every 3 weeks-ish for dishwasher tabs, surface cleaner, cleaning sponges and so on.

With the main shop I have to include nappies for baby plus wipes, pull up things for bed wetting DS, a few cleaning/toiletries bits if I haven't stocked up at Wilko, cat food and then all the bits for packed lunch and breakfasts and evening meals plus snacks.

If I have to I can do the whole week on £40 but my store cupboard tends to get very low then.

What I describe above is for 4 children aged between 1 and 10 plus me, and about 3 meals for DP each week when he eats with me at my house.

I live on pitta bread and dips which really keeps cost down. DC can do lunches on £20 a week for all 3 school children (sandwich, fruit, crisps and yogurt plus a biscuit or flapjack. After that all we need is a few bits of veg, usually staples are carrots, potatoes, leeks, onions, and then whatever we fancy; then we get minced beef and a pack of mini chicken breast fillets or perhaps fish; buy tinned tomatoes, rice and pasta and pulses on the dried goods side of things and then a few dairy bits like mega packs of cheese and we are all sorted.

Our luxury items are the crisps, any chocolate bars for packed lunch, biscuits for after school and then I let them have chocolate mousses or ice cream as mid week deserts which we live without if necessary. I also buy me Pepsi max as is an addiction I have and the DC sqaush.

Hope that helps. I also think Asda and Tesco are a false economy and also if I actually go into either of these stores I get sucked into buying crap. For example (we went to Asda to buy Hallloween items this week) I bought chocolate spread, and some cakey carby bits that I never buy normally this week because we went into Asda and I was tempted.

How do I do it? No idea. That's just how much our shopping comes to.

We spend less now because an Aldi has opened locally. They have cheap veg in particular. We bake a lot (so bread for example we don't buy). We're teetotal. Um, buy pasta, rice and baking goods in bulk. Cook everything from scratch.

We meal plan too which makes an extraordinary difference.

SOH, do you buy a lot of fruit? I seem to spend about £15 a week on fruit alone?

Me, DH and 8y DD. Often have guests for dinner on Friday evening. Generally eat out at weekends. Dh and DD are meat eaters. I don't eat meat but like fish. Alcohol is bought elsewhere so not inc in shopping bill. Shopping does inc household goods and toiletries too.

Average shopping bill for the week is around £100, sometimes more, somtimes less.

Dh is quite fussy with his meat and doesn't like fat at all, so unless doing a casserole or slow roast then i tend to get more expensive cuts of meat as less fat, so that adds up. And I love fish and seafood and that isn't cheap either.

If we have weekend guests then I do an extra shop and that depends on what I am cooing.

Oh, and I do meal plan for Monday to Friday BTW but for me that isn't a way of saving money, just a way of me planning the food for each day. I do love cooking though and I top up with fresh herbs, etc a lot - esp at the moment as I lost some of my herbs from the garden due to next door's building work.

I spend £130 per week from ocado. plus occasional top ups of around £20 or £30 .we have 3 DC. I could probably get it down by actually going to the shops and getting all the deals.

£30 a week for a family of three includes all cleaning stuff and soya milk for DD.

Family of 4 (1 in nappies)

Spend around £100 a week at Ocado - sometimes more. Often doesn't include weekend food or wine or DH's lunches. Usually do a bit of topping up too (maybe £30 or so).

Tend to buy good cuts of meat and fish.

I would definitely spend more going to a supermarket - especially our local tesco which is huge. I popped in for a cheap casserole pan last week, which cost £12 and ended up spending £110 (and hardly any of that was food).

I have Ocado delivery pass thing which means I pay £9.99 a month for all my deliveries.

I would imagine your SIL isn't being strictly accurate !

The food budget thing is scary.

We've gone from being so poor we viewed mushrooms as a luxury to being two incomes, posh food at work weekdays so just paying for luxury weekend freshly squeezed orange juice. So our food bills were always low.

Now we find only one income, two extra mouths to feed and food seemed to jump in price a few years ago. So our heads are 'we should be able to go to the pictures, have chips and catch the bus home all for a fiver' but the world has moved on.

The food bills are HUGE and vary a lot:

Special offer stock ups (six months worth) of washing powder/coffee/golden syrup stuff. Expensive but save money in the long term.
Special offer stock ups, generally DH, of cakes/reduced items we never normally buy/victims of Morrisons eye catching 'save' signs - waste of money and we just eat more processed crap.

Visitors are expensive - they often over night and are on holiday so thats breakfast, lunch & dinner plus snacks & beer for a whole other family often for 3 days/2 nights. The generally bring 'a' bottle of wine.

All very tricky.

thereisalight We've used lidls nappies before and they were just as good as other supermarket brands

Just went to Lidl and they didn't have any in the size DS needs so I'll go back in a few days and see. They're worth a try, I guess.

I made the mistake of going to Lidl with 3 kids (when will I ever learn?) so bought a random array of things, mostly pains au chocolat, brioche and yoghurt by the look of it.

We spend so much more than you and more than racmac too that I can't bring myself to be honest.
BUT we are very lazy and buy loads of convenience foods in M and S and Waitrose. My dh cooks on the weekends and it usually involves expensive red meat, fresh seafood etc. We also buy a lot of wine, luxury cakes and bicuits.

I am therefore far from qualified to give you buget tips - but I can say that if your SIL shops in Waitrose and buys the sort of things you describe I suspect that she is lying about the £70. Or as one poster suggested - is not honest about the "top up" shopping she is doing.

My friend who is very good at budgeting, tries to stick to 100 a week - though she sometimes goes over. She has a DH and 2 growing boys - no nappies any more. She shops in Tesco - sometimes goes to places like Aldi or Iceland and she says she would struggle to manage on much less.

Agree let your DH try to do the shopping for a couple of weeks.

We buy a normal amount of fruit. We always have apples, bananas and oranges in. Usually at least two other choices of fruit as well. I buy frozen fruit when it's on offer too for making smoothies, pancakes etc.

usually approx £100 per week for me DH and DS (4.5). that's for everything, food, toiletries, cleaning stuff, occasional bit of tesco clothing, and a weekly lottery ticket!

no nappies, occasional alcohol, but DH does like some form of dead animal in every teatime meal and views pasta with suspicion, and ds is fruit, cheese and snacky stuff king.

i should mention that dh comes home for lunch most days (3/4 times a week) as well as me and ds eating lunch at home every day, so that is catered for out of the weekly shop too.

your dh is being a twunt. let him try it!

wow everyone, thanks heaps for all your responses. Very helpful in lots of different ways. I think that the next time this is an issue in our house I will definatley have to get DH more involved in the shopping, and will challenge SIL as to how she managed what she claims whilst buying such lovely stuff. I think the posters who suggested that she is topping up frequently or having takeaways are right. It is obviously tempting to go into denial about how much is realistically being spent, but this becomes stressful when these false expectations then get applied to me!
Thanks for all you input everyone, some good ideas about how I can budget further too.

Usually spend approx £30 per week for me, DH, DS (nearly 2) + cat. This includes nappies, cleaning stuff cat food etc but no alcohol(although haven't bought these things yet this month as buy in bulk when good offer on).

We don't spend more as just can't afford to! My main tips would be buy value ranges as they are very often as good as branded products (or near enough) and shop late at night when reductions are done for fresh goods (meat & fish, fruit & veg, bread etc) - my local Tesco reduces to 25% of original price around 8pm every evening, 10% of original price for fruit & veg. I just top up on as much of this stuff as I can lay my hands on & usually have enough for at least a fortnight, so just have to get milk etc in between - oh, and quite often this stuff is organic or Tesco Finest range!

I think your SIL forgets to include the top-ups she does during the week. I try to be good when I do my big shop but it's when I call into out local village Co-op on way home to buy milk or bread I end up spending £10-£15 on almost nothing (nothing being chocolate and crisps!)

Family of 4 - I'd say usually around £120 per week. More if I stock up with wine. Last week the cupboard was bare and I spent £212

I spend about 100 pounds a week for a family of five. Your sil obviously tops up during the week.

Perhaps I should add that all 4 of us have packed lunches so no extra costs involved there. And my 2 are both teenage boys who seem to eat at least twice as much as we do!

I've been wondering if, as the kids grow up (especially DS and we're having another DS) we should just buy a cow, have it in the garden or hire some land to graze it on - and fill the freezer with it when the time comes. Am a bit worried about this eating thing boys seem to do so much of...

Apparently when they have their teenage growth spurt they need about 4000 calories a day - and frankly given the amount that mine eat without putting on an ounce - I can well believe it!

Blimey. I've got a while yet, but I'd better start saving for that cow!

Ok - here's my Ocado shopping orders for a week - don't have a clue how your SIL can do it for £70 - this is three orders cobbled together (I do an order for around £40 every other day).

2 Andrex Natural Pebble Toilet Tissue £3.50
1 Bunch of Fairtrade Bananas Pack of 6 Waitrose £1.13
1 Classic Cat Food With Fish £2.68
1 Clean n Fresh De-Ionised Water £0.75
2 Earl Grey Tea Waitrose £2.98
1 Essential Black Punnet Grape Waitrose £1.64
1 Genius White Bread £2.48
1 Jordans Blueberry Burst Frusli Bars £1.78
1 Lindt Excellence Intense Dark Mint Chocolate £1.90
1 Malted Wheats essential Waitrose £1.45
1 Mrs Crimble Large Coconut Macaroons £1.00
1 Southern Gold Orange Juice £0.63
1 Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Granulated Cane Sugar £0.68
1 British Lamb - Half Shoulder Waitrose £4.94
1 Eggs Free Range essential Waitrose £1.59
1 Iceberg Lettuce essential Waitrose £0.84
1 Innocent Mango & Passion Fruit Smoothie £2.28
3 Innocent Pineapple, Banana & Coconut Smoothie £6.84
1 Lactofree Fresh Whole Milk £1.26
2 Skimmed Milk 4 Pints essential Waitrose £2.50
1 20 British Beef Meatballs Waitrose £2.19
1 Cherry Tomatoes essential Waitrose £1.89
1 Coleslaw essential Waitrose £1.20
1 Creamy Potato Salad essential Waitrose £0.78
1 Deli Filler Coronation Chicken essential Waitrose £1.09
1 Green Seedless Grape essential Waitrose £1.36
1 Iceberg Lettuce essential Waitrose £0.84
1 Lactofree Fresh Whole Milk Dairy £1.26
1 Skimmed Milk 4 Pints essential Waitrose £1.25
1 Unsmoked British Thick Back Rashers essential Waitrose £2.85
1 Aubergines essential Waitrose £1.19
1 Courgettes Waitrose £1.49
1 Cream Crackers essential Waitrose £0.42
1 Discovery Mild Fajita Paste £0.89
1 Discovery Plain Tortillas £1.12
1 Discovery Squeezy Soured Cream £1.39
3 Fortuna Tomatoes Chopped £1.26
1 Lightweight Cat Litter Waitrose £4.25
1 Mackerel in Spring Water Waitrose £0.79
1 Milk Chocolate Digestives essential Waitrose £0.99
1 Ocado Mixed Peppers £0.97
1 Ocado White Cup Mushrooms £1.11
1 Rich Tea Biscuits essential Waitrose £0.38
1 Tie Handle Refuse Sacks essential Waitrose £1.59
1 Walkers Cheese & Onion Crisps £1.17
2 Walkers Ready Salted Crisps £2.33
1 Eggs Free Range essential Waitrose £1.59
1 Mini Chicken Breasts Fillets essential Waitrose £2.89
1 Ocado Seasonal Cabbage £0.78
1 Broccoli essential Waitrose £1.15
1 Garden Peas essential Waitrose £1.47
1 Vegetables casserole essential Waitrose £1.49
1 Alpro Soya OY Dairy Free Shake - Strawberry £0.94
1 Amori essential Waitrose £0.75
1 Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce essential Waitrose £1.74
1 Bunch of Fairtrade Bananas Pack of 6 Waitrose £1.13
1 Calypso Toy Story Freezepops £1.39
1 Colour Concentrated Laundry Liquid essential Waitrose £2.13
1 Corsodyl Medicated Mint Mouthwash £2.70
1 Doves Farm Lemon Zest Cookies £1.55
1 Fine Lady Bakeries White Medium Sliced Bread £0.50
2 Fortuna Tomatoes Chopped £0.84
1 Genius White Bread £2.48
1 Pure Apple Juice essential Waitrose £1.19
1 Scottish Rolled Porridge Oats essential Waitrose £0.89
3 Southern Gold Orange Juice £1.89
1 Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Granulated Cane Sugar £0.68
1 White Kitchen Towels essential Waitrose £1.59
1 White Potatoes essential Waitrose £1.37
1 Wholewheat Biscuits essential Waitrose £1.45
Fridge
1 12 British Pork Chipolatas essential Waitrose £1.49
2 20 British Veal Meatballs Waitrose £4.00
1 Coleslaw essential Waitrose £1.20
1 Del Ugo Gnocchi £1.49
1 Eggs Free Range essential Waitrose £1.59
1 Iceberg Lettuce essential Waitrose £0.84
1 Lactofree Fresh Whole Milk Dairy £1.26
1 Mature White Cheddar essential Waitrose £5.75
1 Ocado Strawberries £1.89
1 Skimmed Milk 4 Pints essential Waitrose £1.25
1 Unsmoked British Thick Back Rashers essential Waitrose £2.85
Freezer
1 Cod Fillet Fish Fingers 10 per pack essential Waitrose £1.49
1 Vegetables casserole essential Waitrose £1.49
1 British Lamb - Half Shoulder Waitrose £4.94
1 Eggs Free Range essential Waitrose £1.59
1 Iceberg Lettuce essential Waitrose £0.84
1 Innocent Mango & Passion Fruit Smoothie £2.28
3 Innocent Pineapple, Banana & Coconut Smoothie £6.84
1 Lactofree Fresh Whole Milk £1.26
2 Skimmed Milk 4 Pints essential Waitrose £2.50