Am I spending too much on food ?

[Maximum71]

Family of 7. I cook most nights.
3 times a week with meat / fish or chicken and the other nights either veggie or vegan.
900 pounds a month which also includes deodorants shampoo shower gels toilet paper etc
This does not include any alcohol.
Does this sound about right to you?

We are a family of 5 and spend £900-£1,000 a month. Cool from scratch and that’s three meals a day for all of us. Other people would find it excessive but I don’t as we say really well with lots of fruit and about 60% organic meat and veg

I think you've got a bargain there, especially as you're a family of 7! I spend at least £100 a week for 2 of us. Lidl is my fave. Delicious food and cheap compared with other supermarkets.

We eat really well that should say..

@delilahbucket

That sounds like a lot. Family of three here, with all eating adult portions. We spend £90-100 a week ish inc toiletries, alcohol and lunches for me and DH. We eat very well and there are a lot of areas we could cut back, for example we eat a lot of fresh fish and I buy prepared veg for easy midweek cooking. We cook from scratch almost every day with the occasional pizza thrown in.

Your bill is roughly £33 per week per person.

OP's bill is about the same :-)

We are a family of 6 and cook from scratch. Spend about £300 a month on food most months but do a Costco shop of about £250 every few months on loo roll, washing powder and some food. it's not intentionally low. I dont buy many snacks.we eat a lot of cheap pasta. One of our favourite meals is spaghetti carbonara and it probably costs £3 to feed all six of us.

We are a family of 6 adults/teens and spend similar, all have breakfast lunch and dinner at home plus toiletries, cleaning stuff etc.

I do five on 5-600 a month with no booze. I shop at Aldi quite often and like special offers which keeps it down.

Depends on if you can afford it.
It’s a lot to me because that’s rent for 2 houses where I live!

You’re actually really frugal if the ‘average’ is anything to go by. Apparently the uk average is £45pp a week.

Family of 5 here. 2 adults, preschooler and two babies in nappies and drinking formula.

Our supermarket spend I would guess is £600-£700 pm including all formula & nappies, clothes for the children (basic stuff), food, some baby foods (most cooked from scratch) toiletries, cleaning/laundry products and alcohol. We’re not big drinkers, perhaps 1-2 bottles a week but tend to bulk buy on the 25% off deal.

I cook some meals from scratch, some are frozen pizzas etc. we drink fresh coffee so use lots of beans. We buy lots of short date meals and bulk buy favourite brands when reduced. I am vegetarian and my eldest is very cheap to feed, so I suspect that keeps costs down.

70-80 every 2 weeks. We buy bulk meat and chicken ( halal) . And l shop around, only one wage right now, so being extra conscientious.

I don’t think that sounds as much as it looks, OP. We spend up to £500 a month for four of us (2 adults, 1 primary school child, 1 toddler, 1 cat). That includes all cleaning products, some packed lunches (not for DCs), quite a lot of snack foods but no alcohol, nappies for the toddler, some children’s toiletries, and cat food. Alcohol not included, nor is eating out/takeaways.

I try and mix it up between Aldi and Sainsbury’s deliveries - spent £85 at Aldi this week and I bet it would have been over £100 in Sainsbury’s. But the delivery factor wins out some weeks!

We have a fair amount of batch cooked meals, stuff like chilli, lasagne, goulash, etc.

I suspect you might be able to get that down a bit but probably not by more than £100 per month, depending on where you shop and how you eat.

Family of 5 or 6 depending on who is home. 2 or 3 adults, 3 secondary aged DSs. We spend £900-£1000 per month. All food, toiletries, cleaning products and some free from food which costs a fortune.

Whitejellycat are your DC young? Otherwise I don’t see how you can do a carbonara to feed 6 for £3.

That sounds really hefty. We are a family of 5, 3 adults and 2 children. The most I spend in a week is 140 but that's an expensive week and when I spend that one week the next is usually about 70/80 as still got plenty of stuff left.

This week we had for dinners - roast beef, homemade burgers and wedges, chicken gyros, homemade pizzas, steak, curry and macaroni with diced chicken breast through it. I also got all the toiletries, this also included lunches for four of us and I had stuff for a big pot of soup I made. So lots of fresh meat.

Sounds right to me.

Sounds perfectly reasonable

Family of 6
Spend about £500 a month when we’re all here. (They're teenagers so off at Uni etc) £600 tops. And that’s all including toiletries., cleaning products etc. I would probably spend a bit more if we had it but we don’t

Should add that doesn’t include dog or chicken food as we don’t buy that monthly so harder to budget. Does include other pet food though.

Ok - thanks for all the replies. I now feel like I'm in about the middle segment of food spending.
I do it all at Asda as we get staff discount. And I'm a vegetarian but no one else is.
I buy basic organic stuff-eggs milk butter potatoes carrots onions. And the rest is 'standard'
I buy wholemeal where available.
Meal examples
I make spag bol with quorn with hidden extra veg.
Chicken /veg curry with frozen chicken
Sweet potato stew with beans and rice
Pie mash & peas
Frozen pizzas with added extra (fresh) toppings
Creamy chicken and veg stew with jacket spuds
Sausage mash beans and vegetables
Sunday dinner is usually with gammon
Chili with quorn and veg and rice
Pasta bake with veg and quorn chicken pieces

We always have have bagels/ wraps / chicken nuggets / cheese/ walnuts / almonds to snack on and fruit bowl is always full with fruit. I buy high juice drink but also juice (not from concentrate) and we always have asda fizzy water in stock.

It also includes all the detergents / all the bathroom attributes like deo/ body lotions etc. Toothpaste/ shower gels. Dishwasher tabs/ microfiber cloths (which always vanish ..?)

So it could be worse. With the energy going up I was wondering if I should cut back on spending but looking at your replies I feel like I'm not being extravagant but I might change my mind when the next electric bills arrives
Thanks all x

Given you are buying organic and it includes snacks and bathroom laundry items I don't think it is excessive. If you are feeling the pinch then obviously there are ways to cut it (eg substituting more beans for Quorn in the chilli/looking for cheaper recipes - see Jack Monroe etc etc) but there comes a point when if you enjoy what you buy and can afford it then go for it.

@Maximum71 - I total recommend buying an ‘aarke’ sparkling water machine if you get through a fair amount. It definitely saves lugging heavy water in shopping and saves lots of recycling.
The co2 canisters you buy two of so always one to swap, and then just exchange for refills.

That sounds okay. We're a family of 5 (and 2 cats). We spend around £130 to £150 a week but that does include everything.
With 7 I can imagine my grocery bill would be a lot higher.

If you can afford it and there's not much waste, it's fine.

Family of 8, we probably spend a similar amount. 2 of the kids get free school meals atm but that will stop when they go in to year 3 so will add around £5 a week on packed lunches for them. Baby is on formula which is a fair chunk of spending.

sounds reasonable to me.
5 adult sized people here, mostly vegetarian meals and mix of organic and conventional. 150-200 per week.