How much do you spend on groceries each month?

[Queensland]

I'm starting to think that we spend a ridiculously high amount on groceries each month. I went to the supermarket yesterday and spent £350, the girl on the till was very shocked when I told her it would probably last less than two weeks! She said that her mum spends £60 a fortnight on food etc for 3 people!! There are 5 of us, 2 adults, 2 adult children and a young teen plus 2 dogs and 3 cats. I'd just be interested in the average monthly spend. I think most of our monthly budget goes on food!

[wobblywonderwoman]

We have two toddlers with big appetites and eat all our meals from home (or packed lunches) nappies size six and eat steak or roast beef at least once a week for 70

I am careful though and spend another ten on milk in local shop.

I batch cook mince dinners and we have pasta and pesto once a week so that balances out more expensive meat nights. I buy the aldi deals for fruit and veg and make soup for toddlers with mashed potato.. stuff like that

[storybrooke]

Wow what ranges.

There's 4 of us; me, dh, toddler out of nappies and toddler in nappies.

I do a fortnightly online shop for around 70, nip to local asda for £15 and top up fruit/yoghurts/milk/sometimes meat on the second week which is around 30, we also get a butchers pack for £10 to last the fortnight so that's about £250 a month so about £65 a week.

Used to be around £100 a week before I managed to meal plan/bulk cook/freeze prepared veggies to pull out as and when. I'm utterly ashamed of the food we used to waste!

We eat fairly healthy, lots of fruit and hidden veg, one cmp allergy toddler too. Freeze our own lollies with fruit surprises, make cakes and biscuits, cook at least one new recipe per fortnight (hard with two v.fussy toddler).

[Tamsynburton1]

I budget £200 a month for myself, dp and DD but I normally manage to get everything I need for £40 a week.

[NickyEds]

Between £100-130 a week for me, dp, ds (2.4 years) and dd (9 months). That includes all toiletries, nappies, cleaning stuff etc. I do an aldi if we're having a quiet weekend, if not we get a morrison's delivery and top up milk, bread and eggs at the local shop. Meat comes mainly from the butcher and I only buy free range or organic. I cook from scratch but don't skimp on quality I don't think, or quantity! Very little booze in that budget though. It does vary and will be more if we have my family over to eat as they are like a plague of locusts!

[blibblibs]

About £80 per week for 2 adults & 2 DC

[Youcantscaremeihavechildren]

I che ked and qe spent 550 last month, 2 adults and 2 small dc... that was for two birthday parties too though. 350 ish the month before. We're spending too much and on food that often goes out of date as I'm busy at work and haven't been meal planning, hence quick trips to the shop here and there. Moving soon to where I can't really just pop in on my way home so I'm determined to do one big shop every couple of weeks and plan properly.

Shop in aldi and Lidl almost exclusively but the special aisle is my downfall....

[BasinHaircut]

About £300 a month for me, DH and 2yo DS. DS gets fed 3 days a week at nursery and any takeaways/meals out would be on top of that.

No pets but DS still in nappies.

I know I could reduce that but I don't have the time or the energy to put into the planning. I do meal plan and batch cook, and try not to waste anything though.

[moomoogalicious]

£650/month for 2 adults, a teen and 2 preteens. Includes food, cleaning stuff, toiletries, dog food and booze

[P1nkP0ppy]

Probably £50/week for DH and I, say £250 maximum a month. Mainly at farmers markets and Lidl, some weeks I don't buy anything other than milk.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I used to spend at least 120 a week at tesco before switching to Aldi!

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Roughly 80 a week for dh and me plus an ever hungry teenage ds. Aldi and just a few bits every month from tesco.

[JemTheAngel]

We have just adjusted our budget because it had got out of date. We are a family of 4 - 2 adults, 2 children. We all eat the same meals. Our budget is £600 per month. It was £400 and I couldn't keep within that. I find that if you want to eat nice meat and fish, it gets really expensive when you are buying for 4. Mainly shop in Sainsburys but supplement from local farm shops.

[fieldfare]

I do one big shop online at the beginning of the month for dog food, drinks, milk, cleaning products inc laundry and toiletries, dried goods, tea, coffee etc and any veggie bits they have on special offer. That's about £100. Then a weekly shop for fruit, veg, bread, packed lunch bits etc which is normally £40-50.
Around £350 a month really for 2 adults and one growing teen who eats more than me.

[mailfuckoff]

we spend roughly 250 a month for 2 adults, 2 DC but dc get free school meals at the moment. We also do a big Costco shop of about 100 every 2 months. It used to be less but has been creeping up and now we have a shiny new waitrose it may go up more. Only DH eats meat regularly (DC have meat at school) and not big alcohol drinkers here.

[GunShotResidue]

£40-50 a week for two adults and a toddler (although DH eats 1.5-2 portions of everything, he has a very active job). We eat fairly well, have salmon every week and eat a lot of meat and fresh fruit/veg.

[joeythenutter]

I spend about £60 per week here for 2 adults and one teen. Its basic meals every night, nothing fancy, last night was mashed potato, fried onions, bacon and brown sauce to give an example. No luxuries in this house.

I buy from the reduced section whenever I can, and often meat from it is frozen on the day of purchase to do later in the week.

The only big store I buy from is Tesco, and mainly other small shops for offers.

[FinallyFreeFromItAll]

£350 for two weeks - so that's £175 per week for effectively 5 adults (assuming teen eats as much or more than average adult), plus 2 dogs. Taking off dogs it equates to just under £35 per adult, per week, for everything. I don't think that's too bad.

I'm quite lax about spending and spend £60-80 per week for 1adult, 2 young DC (4yrs&1yr). Although youngest has dairy allergy so costs extra.

Before I left ex we spent £40-60per week for 2 adults, one 3yr old and a weaning baby.

[Iamnotloobrushphobic]

Autumn - how do you only spend £40 per month for two children's school dinners? I only have to pay for one child's school dinners (other has packed lunch) and it costs me £18 per WEEK.

[autumnboys]

I budget £750 a month for the five of us (2 adults, 2 pre teens, 1 child in ks1). As well as supermarket shops this includes maybe 1 takeaway a month, all cleaning stuff/toiletries & about £40 for school dinners for the older two. i know I could reduce it if I needed to.

[twirlypoo]

Me and the 4 year old. I spend £35-50 per week with an occasional "big shop" to do loo roll /cleaning products / store cupboard essentials etc which is another £30 on top o would say. I wish I could spend more - I hate walking round doing sums in my head to see if i can afford it!

[BackforGood]

When ds is away at University, the weekly bill for me, dh, and 2xteen dds is always under £50 for the main shop.
So 4.5 weeks x Around £42 = £189
Plus usually have to top up bread = £1 maybe £2....... say £6 pm
Plus about once every 10 weeks or so I do a Farm Foods shop of about £50 .....say £20 for a month


= £215pm
It goes up by £12 - £15 pw when ds is home.

dh, dd1 and I have packed lunches. dd2 I pay for school dinners separately.
About once every 10 days we'll either have takeaway or go for pub meal
No pets. Obv. no nappies or formula, etc.

[pussinwellyboots]

About £325 a month for 2 adults and two kids aged 6 and 8. Mostly Aldi with additions from Booths (on a sat for our free guardian) or Sainsburys as needed. I feel like I should be spending less, but I don't add up the pennies as I go round.

[TheTartOfAsgard]

Myself and two tweens, spend £50-£60 per week sainsburys online which includes ds packed lunch stuff, plus dd has £15ish a week on school dinner card.

[foursillybeans]

£400 a month for 5. All big eaters (not over eaters but no tiny children's portions) and meals cooked from scratch with ocassional frozen pizza & breaded chicken. Alcohol, groceries & toiletries included. Looking to reduce this to £350 but proving very difficult indeed.

[Muskateersmummy]

We are on a budget of £400 a month, but am looking to reduce it if I can. There's 2 adults and dd. That shopping does all of us all three of our meals each day with no top up shops