Is £150/£160 per week too much for shopping for a family of 4 (2 adults, 4 year old and 1 year old and 2 dogs)?

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My husband thinks that I spend too much on food shopping, this is including absolutely everything, toiletries, formula, nappies, dog food, food, wine etc. I’ve worked out in average we do about £150-£160 a week on food shopping, so works out about £650 a month. I always shop at Asda and I get online delivery as I work full time and have 2 young children and my husband is rarely home so it just saves me so much time. He reckons if he shops at Lidl and gets the named brand stuff we get like the formula and nappies from Morrisons that he can save us a ton of money but I don’t think he will. I think most places are expensive these days and this is an average amount.

Curious to know what people think and how much other families with children spend per week/ month on shopping.

Aldi is by far cheapest then lidl.
If he is happy to do the shop let him crack on and see if it makes a difference

I think you'd do really well with that budget . Is it all fresh food from scratch as well?

Let him do it. He can see how much of a hassle it is going to multiple places to save £10-15 a week

It sounds to me like you’re doing well. It’s tough.

Depends on what you buy. I find it evens out. I prefer Lidl.

I think that’s a very reasonable amount. If he thinks he can do better tell him to crack on!

Let him!! He won't last more than 3 shops.

The money here is irrelevant. It's who's doing ALL the meal planning and shopping (and cooking?) and making sure snacks, toiletries, cleaning products, pet food etc are covered, which we all know is no small task.

If he does manage to take all that load off you, then you're onto a winner OP, whether he saves money or not! Let him.

Let him be in charge of the weekly food shop for a month and see how his budget adds up. It's not as easy as it seems

When is he fitting in his food shop then?!

Pretty much all children love berries but you shouldn't go short on your budget to buy them.

There's zero point in comparing ££ amounts spent on shopping, it's meaningless

The only valid question is can you buy what you like to eat in an overall cheaper way ie no point in going to lidl to save 50p if it's a 20 minute drive away

You need to look at it the round

Why not let him try?! He may save a tenner or so but I doubt it. And I'm sure he'll decide it's not worth the effort. I think Morrisons is more than Asda anyway so not sure why he thinks that's a better option.

We spend very similar and my husbands attitude is very similar. We tried Aldi and not much difference at all

I spend around £130-135 most weeks 2 adults and a toddler.

we also do online shopping, used to be Tesco but I swapped to Ocado as most things that are staples are the same price and much better quality. Anything that isn’t from M&S that seems pricier I get ocados version which is the same price as other supermarkets.

i did a trial about a year ago where I went out to Aldi and did a shop and honestly, hardly saved much, and the quality was so much worse. I know it’s expensive but I feel like everything is and I’d rather eat nicer food than save £10/15 a week maximum.

Does drive me mad how expensive it is but it’s the same with everything these days! 2019 I could do a weekly shop for 2 adults from Tesco for £60

It sounds reasonable to me taking into account the size of the family and the fact it includes a baby and a dog! Funny how the person who doesn’t do the shopping always thinks too much is spent! Leave him to it if he thinks he can do better. Guarantee stuff will be missed!

We’re a family of four, two teenagers, and my shopping budget is similar to yours. I found that if I go to Aldi rather than Tesco I can save about 10% on my weekly shop pretty consistently. I do find though that the quality of many items just isn’t as good. I’d rather be clever using club card deals etc, get everything in one shop and live with the slight overspend.

a bit high at first glance - but with nappies and dogs and alcohol

let him do the shopping if he can do much better
but do keep a proper eye on his spend because it’s amazing how much more men can spend in search of their bargins and still not have enough for the dinner

Including toiletries etc then I’d say this was good/average.

Do you work?

Could he be worrying about money more than you realise?

You really don’t have to get berries all the time, we get maybe a punnet a week which we typically eat as pudding over one or two meals.

The rest of the times it’s bananas, apples (Standford Street are cheap and perfect for toddler snacks) satsumas and grapes - again, the basic type. We also get the mega bags of sultanas and decant into snack boxes.

Anyway, we spend £525-550 a month all in for just two adults, a toddler and a weaning baby, so I don’t think you’re being particularly excessive, but you could maybe shave off £20-30 / week with some budgeting swaps. I do mostly sainsburys, some tesco express top ups and Lidl/Aldi for particular things to stock up. Also dishwasher tabs are better than fairy and half the the price!

Do report back how your DH has got on, it’s great he is taking it on but I’d be tempted not even to write him a list, just leave him to it!

Apparently, you can live on potatoes alone. You carry on buying for yourself and kids (plus dogs) and he can eat spuds. Give him the money 'saved' and he can use it as he wishes. I bet he wont last a week.

I agree. They are very expensive compared to apples, bananas and oranges.
Supermarket trip involves a car trip with two young children. Is it really worth it just to save a few quid.

We spend around £100 a week for two adults BUT I do buy meat online and freeze it in portions of two. It’s easy to pick more out when needed. I also batch cook bolognaise etc, and strictly divide it down into two portions.
I do this as we’re both a little chunky. It wasn’t what we were eating but the amount we were eating - so there’s a big cost advantage to be had and no waste.
But when family or friends visit I do always overcook!

I think this experiment is likely to be a nightmare and you'll find yourself without lots of things that you need in his attempt to prove you wrong. You'll probably end up spending more on top ups. £160 a week is very reasonable btw

OP tell him he's welcome to go do a full weeks shop in Lidl as long as he buys the same types of food and compare difference in price. Probably wouldn't be much different. Depends if you could manage with shops own brand for the nappies and dog food as they're definitely cheaper than the usual brands

Please report back in a month OP. I can assure you he’ll have realised he can’t do it any cheaper than you do it!

That is absolutely not too much at all and your husband is delusional. Let him see if he can do better.

Not unreasonable. Nappies and formula are not cheap