Am I spending too much?

[WinstonChurchill]

Hi all, I just wanted an idea of what people spend on their monthly shopping bill (including lunches at work, take aways, etc). I budgeted for £350 for myself, husband and 2 boys (6&2) as well as three cats. This amount includes everything from food to household items. I'm now 6days away from the end of our month (we work from 26th) and I've got about £20 left to see us through!

What do those with a small food budget eat? What are there portion sizes? Do they have any food allergies In the house to cater for?
In guessing my food bill is so high because I have ravenous teenagers, 2 people with food allergies and a family who think a main meal needs meat/fish/ chicken. And we don't have magic chickens which last 58 meals.

We treat ourselves to a take-away once a week, and have two DDs (one 2, one 8 months) who are both still in nappies, and DD2 still needs formula etc. We also have tropical fish which need food etc. Subsequently I reckon our total is coming in at about £500 a month. I'm hoping in the next 6 months DD1 will be out if nappies and DD2 can start drinking cows milk, so hopefully that will bring the cost down a bit.

@Havingahorridtime we tend to buy frozen chicken and mince as it's cheaper and doesn't taste any different in a chilli or curry. I do tend to make decisions on what we're going to eat a few days ahead and then try to be savvy about it. For example: I'll make a chilli (sauce from scratch with two tins of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans and seasoning/herbs) but will then throw in an extra tin or two of tomatoes and then use the leftover to make a lasagne for the following night. It uses less meat (and the hubby rarely notices if I add some lentils in).
Our main issue is that the children tend to eat separately to us which means I'm cooking two meals. We are trying to improve on this and I would now say that around 2/3 times a week we eat together now x

2 adults and 2 dcs here, and I'd say ours is more like £450 a month, we both work and I'm restricted to Tesco and Asda.

@WinstonChurchill thanks. We eat together every night - occasionally the toddlers will have something a little different if our dinner is too spicy etc. I used to buy frozen chicken and mince, I think I need to look at doing that again. We also eat a mountain of fruit every week and fruit isn't particularly cheap.

@Havingahorridtime
I just like not having to worry about best before dates etc. Only downside is that I like to defrost the chicken before I cook and I always forget to take it out of the freezer lol x

3days to go and I'm down to £13! Determined to make the month though

Ours is around £600 a month,includes lunches and cat food.
Toiletries/cleaning products are £15/20 pw

Sorry that's for 2 adults 1 teen with an appetite like a horse and a 6 yr old.
Me and 6yr old dd are vegetarians.

£160 a month, or try £30-£40 a week, 1 adult 1child.
Not much help.

@TupperwareTat
That's quite good 😊 x

Often £600+ per month, 2 adults and 2 children, one cat and that is lunches as well. We eat out probably twice a month. I do shop in Waitrose though, but even when I can get to Aldi I only seem to save a little bringing weekly shop down to £120 instead of £150.

@GuestWW
£30 reduction is massive! I'd love to save £30pw on shopping by simply changing the shop!

@WinstonChurchill - actually I am slightly ashamed that I cannot be bothered with the two-stop shop every week but FT job, two kids, lots of activities, a bit a volunteering and a feeling that life it too short. We are very lucky it is an option for us.

Wow zoflorabore you have a clean house!
I spend about £20 on toiletries and cleaning products in a year!

I have a big problem with cleaning! I was diagnosed with OCD last year but I need to slow down my cleaning stockpile it's bloody ridiculous

@ElinoristhenewEnid £20 a year?! How on each do you make that stretch? I'm spending close to that each month! Where am I going wrong?? Xx

Update: I went over by 40pounds on the months shopping budget so will need to rein it in this month. Any ideas for cheap and easy (I'm not a great cook plus a full time job) would be gratefully received xx

I aim at £400 a month for 2 adults and 2dc (though one dc is at nursery furniture meals 2 days a week). That includes all toiletries and nappies for one dc.
The only way I can do this is shopping in lidl not sainsburys. This has two effects as lidl prepared food is not great so I cook from scratch more (batch cook and freeze mostly) and it's actually cheaper. I also write down 7 dinners and lunches before I food shop including all veg for each meal then use that for my shopping list. I then don't buy anything else other than those items (and toiletries/cleaning stuff which I know about). I only buy bread and milk in a separate shop if absolutely needed. I used to be dreadful at leaking money on impulse buys so by not going into supermarkets I don't do it.

The beginning of the week tends to have the fresher ingredients and the end of the week are things like bolognaise/chicken casserole etc where the veg don't need go be quite as new.

We spend around £550 on the same (2 adults, 2 children, vet's cat food, litter etc). I could spend less if I shopped around but I don't want to take 2 young children to multiple supermarkets who don't deliver! We get a weekly delivery and do a £10- £20 top up each week. Almost everything is cooked from scratch too.

I also cook a big family dinner for around 8 people at least once a month and that's included in the budget.

@WinstonChurchill

calculated as below per year for 2 adults (using basics/aldi/b&m etc):
estimates can vary between items
Bleach x2 large bottles £2
Toilet cleaner x3 large bottles £3
Cream cleaner x2 bottles £1
Lime remover £1.50
White vinegar x1 large bottle 50p (dilute with water = spray cleaner)
washing up liquid x1 v large bottle £1
Disinfectant x 1 large bottle £1
Furniture polish spray £1
Soda crystals x2 packs £2
Toothpaste x 3 large tubes £3
Shampoo x1 large bottle £1 (also use those 1 use holiday bottles!)
Conditioner x1 large bottle £1
Other toiletries £2+ (have loads of Christmas presents - enough shower gel to last me to end of next year and beyond)

To be honest I had forgotten about washing powder for clothes in cleaning products - does that count? If so, add another £15 to total.

1 bottle of shampoo? 3 tubes of toothpaste? FOR A YEAR Elinor??

how often are you hairwashing / toothbrushing??

try muscle food to buy your meat. They have a deal at the minute for 2.5k of chicken breasts and 1.2k of mince for £20.

It is organic too (the mince) I'm waiting on my delivery. The reviews are good too

I try to keep to £100 per week. One adult and 2 sporty teens who eat like they've never seen food before.

1 bottle of shampoo and conditioner per yeAr, how? I wash my hair every 3 days and use way more than that.

3 tubes. A year!!!???