Weekly shopping--how much do you spend on food etc?

[DSMEZ]

I seem to be spending around 80-100 pounds a week on the shopping. Seems a lot to me, but I can't see how I can cut down. We're a family of four with a 3 year old and a 6 mos. Is this about right?

20-30 a week not including milk

I keep it at under £150 a week.

For me, DH, 8yo, 4yo. 1yo and 2 cats.

Includes nappies, wipes toilet rolls etc.

We spend about £50-90 thats 2 adults and 2 children in nappies, plus alcohol and tabbacco

I buy all organic fruit/veg and dairy products. And some alcohol.

Not organic alcohol - I'm not fussy about that!

family of four. We spend about £70/£80 a week. i say about because the other £20 goes on booze and a fast food meal.(we don't go out). I do plan meals though and have a list/menu for the week. then shop accordingly.

those of you that spend the least can you give moredetails please - where do you shop, do you include nappies/wipes/soap powder and so on in that? what's a typical days menu for you? do you write a meal plan before shopping, b ulk buy, shop online?
i would love to reduce my bill, but find the twin's nappies add up and my autistic son restricts his diet hugely so i try and buy the best of what he will have - ie the only drink he has is 'purple' squash so i buy him rocks organic squash.
i buy fair trade and free range but i think that's because i feel guilty about shopping at supermarkets - i've not quite mastered 2 yr old twins in a small shop scenario, but i'll do it if it means a £60 bill for the 5 of us oh and our aging cat who vomits all but one brand of biscuit!
tips please!

do you cook different meals for everyone

sixer - do you mean me? if so i do cook seperately for ds1 other than the three meals he will eat, but the rest of eat the same.

luckylady--have you tried shopping online? I've been shopping with waitrose's online shop for about three weeks now, and I find it is MUCh easier than dragging my 3 year old and 6 mo to the shops. It's not bad, and you can give the diver back anything you find unacceptable and they credit you very quickly. You have to spend 75 pounds though to get the 5pound delivery fee waived (though these days I think 5 pounds for someone else to do my shop is well worth it)

Is that just food DSMEZ? My weekly shopping comes to around £60 for me, DH and DS, but that includes everything - nappies, formula, household stuff, cat food, the works. If it's just food I'd say it IS a lot. If not, it sounds reasonable as I economise quite a lot - I hardly ever buy alcohol for example and usually buy own brand products.

If you shop online you can see how much you are spending as you go along. I used to spend £200 a week, and had no idea this was alot. (well you don't tend to ask other people, do you?)

If you shop online you can see how much you are spending as you go along. I used to spend £200 a week, and had no idea this was alot. (well you don't tend to ask other people, do you?)

Having said that, I think £60 is a lot and I'm constantly trying to reduce it. But DS is eating us out of house and home at the moment. I don't know about everyone else, but I have found the supermarket getting more and more expensive over the last year or so. I've now signed up to a veg box and go to the local farmers market. It may not save money, but at least I enjoy what I'm eating.

Unless you start to cook lentils etc, which I would love to do I dont see how you can do it on less than £100 a week esp if you have no cheap shops near.

Typically I do the following meals in a week
Chicken £5 + £1.50
Beans onToast - £1.50
Lamb stew - £5 for lamb plus £2 for veg and sauce mix
Pizza - £3 for pizzas
Birds Eye Cod Fish dinner - £4 for cod and £1 for veg
Tuna and Pasta - £4
Pie and Beans or Quiche and Beans £4
Total £31
Bread, Cheese, Milk all £1 a day which is £21 a week
Total now £52 a week
But all the extras like coffee toilet rolls etc must bring it up to about £100 a week I think. I think prices in supermarkets are getting very dear even for chicken breasts - I noticed you can buy legs of chicken and thighs really cheap - I guess no-one can be bothered cooking those nowadays with all these dual incomes but I am afraid I think I will be casseroling some of those ! Its just all getting so expensive.

A good 100 pounds a week and that doesnt include about 50£ for 3 dogs a month. It's for two adults and two kids.

Jennyftm - have you tried buying a largish chicken and jointing it yourself and making stock from the carcass. That's what I do - it save loads of money. The price of chicken breasts on their own is extortionate.

cut out expensive meat and fish
limit alcohol and other drinks to a minimum

look at your biggest simgle-item costs and cut them

gosh looking at this i think we spend far too much and much must try to reduce it but i'm not quite sure how - it just adds up

family of 3 wiht 2 dogs, averaging out now is £50 - YAY! have trimmed £10 off.

Munz - that's what I need to do. How did you manage it?

honestly you really wanna know? I menu plan, look in the reduced section, get fruit/veg/meat locally, am eating less meat and more fish/ veggie meals.

also DH comes with me and we walk around adding it up on his phone (soooo sad! lol) this weeks was £53 which incl £10 for booze for DH.

Out of interest anybody watching the Tonight special on organic food?

Munz - the phone thing's a good idea. I have tried to add it all up in my head as I go around, but I get fed up tbh and usually forget where I was. I hadn't thought of using my phone (I reckoned a calculator would be a bit anal...)

Just done our online monthly shop and then i spotted this!

OK, this month the shopping came to just under £150. On top of that we'll probably spend another £30? pw on perishables (bread, milk, fruit, sandwich stuff) so maybe £270pm in total so roughly £70pw for 2 adults, 3 children. We don't buy organic, or alcohol or ready meals/sauces (apart from fajita seasoning 'cos I haven't figured that one out yet!)