Is £100 a week really seen as a lot to spend on food a week?

[sweetkitty]

Honestly was looking at "that" thread and the OP was being slated for spending £100 on food.

I have nowhere near that amount of income but still spend £95 a week on an online shop and top up during the week fruit etc of about £10, I am always looking for ways of reducing it.

I have me, DP, DD1 4, DD2 3 and DD3 4 months so one in night nappies, one in full nappies, oh 3 cats that need food and cat litter a week.

I use Tesco own label wherever possible including nappies and wipes
I have stopped buying Organic chicken (£9 for a chicken) but buy one £3.79 chicken but it does DP and the DDs 2 dinners
I'm veggie
I BF so no formula
I buy all own label cleaning products and use sparingly
we buy 20 pints of milk a week and 4 loaves of bread thats about £10 in itself
DP takes sandwiches to work so already saves money that way
fruit is a big one for eg we each have a banana a day thats 28 bananas a week!!
I usually have to back through the Tesco order and take things off so that it stays at £95 and the cupboards are empty on the day before Tesco arrives

So I guess I'm asking AIBU in thinking thats not really a lot for 5 people?

I got to page 3 AND THEN (sorry caps) flicked through to the end so apologies if i repeat anything....

I spend £180 per month on food. Household income is just under £100k per annum.

I was extremely poor when i had dd. Was single and in a very horrid situation. Although things are 1000 times better now for us financially i stick to a tight budget for a few reasons.

1. i amm in the construction industry and very likely to lose my job over the next 12 months so need saving.
2. our kitchen is literally falling apart, as in cupboard doors hanging off and broken sink etc so we need to get a new one.
3. My childcare bill is big, it will drop considerably when dd starts secondary school but for now i feel it is better to keep working and keep my career going than to take a break and then have to try to break in to my area again in a few years.
4. i am the main income in our house and partner is also likely to lose his job quite soon so again, we need savings.

We eat very well, nice meat, nice fruit and veg etc, i'm just very canny about where i buy, using everything and bulking out meals etc. I meal plan and have done for years, it saves me loads.

As others have said, £100 per wk on groceries is fine if you can afford it. It also depends on how many you are feeding and whether or not there are specific dietary requirements. I am feeding two kids, 2 adults and a cat, so not a huge family.

I spend £150 a week on food (covers everthing, 2 adults, one child, one dog, 4 cats, all lunches and toiletries/cleaning products)

and I menu plan rigorously and we mostly eat home made veggie food (4 or 5 days a week).

Bought a chicken today - £9.60 - happy to pay that for a happy chicken

I spend 110 euro a week on my supermarket shop and another 50 a week at the market to buy fresh items like fruit, fish, cheese and so on (live overseas and the market is better and cheaper than the supermarket for these items).

150 euro a week, is currently worth c. 126 quid. That does not include wine, washing powder or nappies which I get from Lidl.

I am feeding 3 adults and 2 children for that.

I don;t think anyone should get slated for their spend on food - provided they are not just throwing stuff away every week

My shopping bill pisses me off most weeks. Its usually £100 ish, slightly less or more some wks. Thats based on me going to Asda.

Includes cleaning stuff, toiletries(mostly) and dog food. there are 2 adults 2 children, one dog and 2 fish(cheap to feed!).
I dont always include nappies on that as i often get them from boots so i can get my points. This wk however, i did include nappies(Asda own brand, but not value), 3 packets of wipes(keep one in the loo for us).

3 bottles of wine(which is the norm for us) and a small bottle of white rum.

I buy organic milk and free range meat and bacon, but i have cut back loads on meat buying, prob cook it twice a wk. I am a veggie.

This wk my bill was £104 but i did get a lot.

I buy 2 lots of fairtrade bananas, apples, grapes and satsumas now they are out. Probably a cabbage, cauli and or brocoli. Bag spuds.

Buy squash, 2x fresh juice, 2x fizzy pop. Crisps, large packet biscuits, choc bars. Cereals- usually weetabix plus something else(but not every wk), yogurts x2 or similar desserts. Tub ice cream(dont need every wk), frozen peas

I plan my meals pretty much.

I have tried really hard to cut back on going out for extras in the wk and limit it really now to just for extra bread and milk.

When im working i do my shopping online at Tesco which i prefer but its a more expensive shop. However, i spend less cos i can see it adding up and i often go back and delete stuff. Prob spend about £75 this way, but get less for my money really.

I could back more really but doesnt it get you mad to think you should have to? We hardly live a life or luxury.

YANBU We spend around that amount on groceries - including cleaning materials etc. Only one DS at home, but he is a strapping and permanently hungry teenager. We waste very little, use cheaper cuts of meat and don't go in for take aways though we buy some convenience products.

re cat food - pouches/tins are just ready meals for cats. They cost more and are lower quality than feeding your cats normal food.

Cats need a protein diet - they don't need carbs or veg, or any kind of bulk, just pure protein.

I feed our cats (1 large 1 small) twice a day. 1 tin of tuna feeds two cats for 1 meal. Smartprice is around 35p atm (has gone up). As long as you drain and rinse the salt/brine off it is fine. Any type of tinned fish will do (though tuna tends to be cheapest). Also smartprice frozen prawns - about £1 a bag (haven't bought for a while so may have gone up) feeds 2 cats for between 5-8 meals (depending on their appetites). Whole sardines (fresh) cost about 50-60p each and will feed 1 cat for 2 meals - I blast them in microwave as one of ours doesn't like it raw. You can add some oil to their food (only about a teaspoon) to make their coats well conditioned.

At least one meal a week will be fat/gristle from whatever we're eating, which they go mental over.

I spend about £5 a week feeding 2 cats at max - they are very healthy as is very good diet. Vet is always shocked at how good condition they are for their age.

£15 a week is ridiculous.

Idrank - £180 per month. I really am stunned at that.

No way I am 'fessing up on here what ours is after that. I'd be flamed, grilled and char- broiled.

re dog food - you use same diet as cats but add rice and a few left over veges if necessary.

Can't tell you how it works for large dogs though (i.e. bigger than a retriever).

When I had a dog(she died this Summer), I fed her on Wagg complete dried dog food. She thrived on it and it cost £8.99 for 15kg and lasted her 3 months. She was a medium sized mongrel dog and ate less during the Summer months than Winter and had food down all the time. I often got it on special from Makro(if I was there though try to avoid it as temptation was all around)and was able to BOGOF or similar, so often, it would cost me £20 a year to feed her.

We manage on £60-£70 (4 of us but no nappies). I do go to the shops twice a week at 7pmish and usually manage to get fruit/veg severely marked down, i.e. yesterday bought net of clementines (2kg) marked down from £1.99 to 49p and 1kg of parsnips from £1.19 to 29p - these will be eaten over next 3 to 4 days and will be perfectly OK.

I was also talking to Mum about food shopping and how expensive everything's getting, and she finds it amazing how much food people actually buy these days. We were kids during the 70's and Mum didn't drive - she went shopping twice a week, no more than a couple of bags full each time, and that did us.

She laughs at the number of snacks children are given - evidently we had cereal or toast and a cuppa for breakfast, cheese and tomato sandwich, and apple and a biscuit for lunch, cuppa or glass of squash and a biscuit when we got home from school, then main meal at tea time which was usually meat/two veg (and my Mum could make a meal for 4 out of half a pound of mince!) or occasional treat of bacon, egg and beans, then a cup of tea and a biscuit before bed. So no yoghurt/fruit snacks, no kiddie cheese, breakfast bars, boxes of raisins or any of the other stuff packaged to appeal to children and costing the earth..

Actually, when I think about it she's probably right - my SIL complains DNiece (7)won't eat her tea at 5 o'clock, but usually, after getting in from school at 3.30pm, DN eats a slice of toast, yoghurt, banana and maybe a biscuit - no wonder she's never hungry for tea!

Dweezle, me too! We always ate well, but no snacks or sweets. My mum started to add soya mince(dried)to her minced beef to make it go further in the 70's.
I don't buy biscuits or rubbish. Everyone I know gives their children snacks/sweets/rubbish between meals. I'm sure they think I'm mean to my Dc's. My two eat their meals...rarely anything left on their plates unless they are ill .