Please talk to me about food shopping bills and where you shop.

[CherryPie3]

My dh and I are currently in a bit of a debate as to what is an acceptable amount to be spending on food every month. We have 3 children (6, 5, 15m)

He hit the roof when I spent £135 on a fortnights shop. This was from aldi and telco and consisted of fresh, frozen and cupboard items.

I thought that was quite good as it wasn't just basics, there were treats and biscuits in there too.

Would you mind please telling me how much you spend a month to feed your family and where you shop? I need something to show dh as he thought £100 would buy you a months shop!!

Many thanks xx

dh passed comments on how much we spend on food so i dragged him along for a few shops and asked him to fill the trolley so he could see exactly where the money was going.

i keep wondering about costco - dh not convinced yet. the main problem would be where to store all the bulk buys!

I shop in Asda and spend £130 every fortnight, sometimes more if we need extras, loo roll, dog biscuits. We have 4 kids (15, 12, 3 and 1) cat and dog and me and dp are at home most of the time. I then go to Morrisons every week to buy fresh fruit and veg(asda's are shit) and spend between £20-£30.

I meal plan to make sure I buy only what we need but I do take advantage of offers , that's why we have about 10 Old El Paso kits from when Morrisons had them at half price.
I have also costed each meal plan which was an eye-opener. DP's favourite Chicken Fajita night cost us over £8 so that has been dropped to once a month. Pasta bakes, and jacket spuds are weekly as they come in at about £3 for a family of 6 plus veggies.

I'm overhauling our budget this evening as I'm getting v cheesed off with the stupid amount of money that goes on food/household bills. There are 5 of us - 2 adults, 3 dcs under 5 (two still in nappies at night) and 4 cats.

I do 99% of the shopping and think I'm pretty careful, but over the past 6 weeks or so I've averaged around £130 per week (that's everything, food, loo rolls, cleaning, cat food...). It's more than we can really afford, but it's reassuring (and a bit depressing) to see it's not that unusual.....

I've noticed lots of mumsnetters recommending Aldi/Lidl, but I'm a good ten miles away from either. Usually use Sains or Tescos, and occassionally Asda home delivery, when i can find a free delivery voucher on money saving supermarket website.

£200 a week for three adults and three children, including one in nappies.

The lists and meal plans on my blog work out at £400 a month for a family of four including cleaning materials and toiletries.

Austerity Housekeeping Menu Plans