How much do you spend on grocery shopping?

[Greatfun]

I only ask because we seem to over spend on our budget of £560 per month and I can't believe we actually need more than this. We have 2 DCS (1 and 3),me and DH. The kids and I are home all day so are eating 3 meals a day here. DS (aged 1) eats normal meals now rather than baby food and formula milk. By grocery shoppping I mean food, drink, cleaning stuff, washing powder,nappies, shampoo and shower gel etc. Kids clothes and shoes are separate. I was going to increase our budget to 660 which just sounds way too much to me. We shop at Tesco/Sainsbury so not Harrods!

£90 a week for 2 adults and 3 chidlren, most of it at aldi, then sainsburys and farm shop for rest of it.

Try to cook from scratch every night bar Saturday when it is take a away and dvd night for all of us.

Can't wait till the summer when my veg starts growing again.

ive often wondered how to reduce my weekly shopping bill and work on it every week. Ive tried lists planning meals etc etc
i shop at Morrisons and normally spend between £120 - £140 per week.
There are 6 of us
2 adults
2 teenagers
2 smaller ones
1 tortoise
2 cats
ive found something that is working for me and that is i try to go shopping every 8 days occa\ssionally 9 days that way i dont feel like im doing every friday like i used to. However i do have to buy milk and bread during the week as a top up.

Yes Norks they did list what they were eating and buying.

It's great if you love lentils and lentils with lentils .

I'm being a bit mean perhaps.

She did it and it was bloody staggering, everyone on the thread was jumping on the bandwagon.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333&highlight=feed+family+four

That is one impressive thread, Shinyshoes. I realise now how far I still have to go on the path of thrift.

What a well timed thread. I have been menu planning for awhile now and am doing a 2 month comparison with my friend who only does an online tesco shop of £120 a week for 2 adults and one toddler boy.

I only go in sainsburys if I need a newspaper!

I've been writing down everythign I spend on food or drinks for the last 5 weeks and the average has been £37.52 per week. For 2 adults and two boys. I could probably get it less than that as it includes easter eggs, lamb for easter etc.

So thats £80 a week more my friend spends than me EVERY WEEK. Thats £4k per year or about £6k of her gross wages

We don't drink, and have lidl, aldi, netto, and very good local market nearby. I also call in a big B&m bargains near my mums and stock up on bargains. I use my breadmaker every day (bread flour 75p lidl does 3 loaves), everything is made from scratch (even waffles at the weekend) and we eat plain but tasty food. We eat tons of fruit and veg, and have meat about 3 times a week, with fish fingers once in a while.

I do stuff like bread and butter pudding with the stale bread instead of giving it to the ducks these days!

Both of us work self employed and I find the time spent going to the different shops and home cooking more than pays off as I don't want to work extra hours just to pay it to Mr Tesco.

Flibberty, I need yours and everyone else's help then - just checked mine and DH's bank statements, and we spent over £1000 on food last month (inc supermarket and eating out, and DH buying lunch from Pret, etc). The thing is, it's not like we eat in top restaurants or anything, or have hugely extravagant meals. I make the mistake of either buying lots, and cooking too much for one meal, or trying to be more economical with the food I've just bought and cook less, then things like fruit and veg end up lying in the bottom of the fridge and being forgotten about.

Just can't understand how others can spend so little and buy so much with it. I went to Sainsbury this evening and spent about £18, and all I got was:
1 pack of 3 courgettes
1 aubergine
1 pack 3 peppers
1 bag clementines
1/2 pint milk
2 chicken breasts
4 bananas

Made a chicken and veg curry with 1 chicken breast, 1 courgette, 1 pepper and the aubergine, and added 1/2 tin chickpeas I already had in the cupboard. DH and I had this for tea, and there's enough left for one of us to have it for lunch again tomorrow.

Now, as I now have 1 chicken breast and the rest of the peppers, courgettes and 1/2 tin chickpeas - what would you make / add to them to get the most dishes?

1 Adult, 2 kids, Dog.
50 p/w

Our food bill dropped substantially when I finally twigged (slow learner) that the supermarket is the worst place to buy fruit & veg.

Our local grocer is huge and has a section for the dented or sad-looking veg. Everything in it is 50p a kilo. I make either a large pot of vegetable soup or a large pasta sauce every week and use the factory second veg for that. I really don't care that my apples are different sizes and my carrots have spade marks on them.

My main savings come about because:

1. We don't have a freezer or microwave. So no point buying any convenience foods, and I just used to forget about anything I cooked in bulk and froze.
2. I just don't go in tesco or sainsburys.
3. After a while of visiting 3 or 4 different places you get to know which is cheapest for what. For example I go to netto for cheese, baked beans, passata etc and while there I nip next door to Iceland. Why (yes why indeed for a dedicated mumsnetter I am no Kerry Katona ) because 4 pints jugs of milk there are £1.25 and we go through one a day. Even at netto or lidl they are £1.49, sainsbos etc even more. It may sound pathetic but thats minimum of 24p a day saved - but its £87.60 per year. If you apply savings like that to everything you buy you will save thousands over a year.
4. I shop on the local market because the produce is either the same price or cheaper than netto and they put it all in paper bags, its not sweated in plastic. The butcher is a farmers son and they 'grow their own' 5 miles away. We've seen his cows and sheep in the fields! Imo thats as good as organic. The veg stall and butcher will even deliver free but my dcs like to come shopping and choose stuff - I think that is a good life lesson for them!
5. On a saturday I sit down with pen and paper, look in the cupboards to see what we have, think what I need to add to those ingredients to make a meal and put that on the list. Or I think of something that we will be eating over the next few days but check the cupboards first before doing the shopping list.
6. I do shop 'off list' like today, when I was working round the corner from a B&M bargains so I nipped in at lunchtime. For example today I got 2 tubs of Birds custard powder for 49p each. Custard is a good thing for families on a budget as you can put it on anything to make a good pud. So for things I know I will use, I buy lots when I see them on offer.

It has taken me possibly years to get to this point, but we eat well, love our food, never go hungry.

To me its like losing weight (which I am crap at!!). You need to make the little cutbacks on a daily basis over a long period of time to really reap the benefits in your purse.

Oh and FIL is that his son and grandsons get home made fresh waffles on a sunday morning!

2 adults, one child, one dog, 4 cats, one bunny

£150 a week

Around £500- £600 a month, cooking from scratch but mostly organic stuff. I have 1 DD who has school lunches (not included).

I am a recent convert to cooking from scratch.

2 adults 2 dc (not in nappies) and 1 cat. At least £600/month . We drink a lot of wine. I shop at Lidl and Sainsburys and get deliveries from Asda and Ocado. Its all a bit haphazard. One reason it is highish is that DH works mainly based at home, I am SAHM and dd has packed lunches. Also, cat is very fussy. We only have a takeaway about once a month.

About £320 a month and there's only me, DH and 1 DCat. But we quite often eat different things due to his fussiness do and like our food

A bit embarrassing really

2 adults, 2 dc

£50-£60 a week, inc all milk, toiletries, packed lunches. We hardly eat any meat, cook lots of bulk batches and freeze them and don't have too much booze. Shop online at Asda so I meal plan first and it really cuts it down.

you can save 5% on all your shopping at Sainsburys if you get a cashback card from the utility warehouse (you need to take a utility from them first but they are one of the best value companies). 5% of your shopping bill is rebated back onto your utility bill so you can save a lot over a year - and on your petrol too. I've had one for about 4 months now and have saved a lot.

I used to spend around £500 a month and I would use my BaBeeCard to get my Waitrose/Ocado.com discounted vouchers saving me £40 a month.

I have pretty much stopped eating meat and am not drinking wine at mealtimes (only breakfast LOL....so our bill have gone down to around £400 a month which I get £32 off with the 8% discount via my BaBeeCard.

£368 (with discount included) feeds the 3 of us (son is 22 months) all month with a few luxuries baby basics like nappies etc and cleaning products / toiletries.

One thing I have found really handy is I use a few drops of olive oil in the bath to keep my skin soft and I also use it on my face as it's the best oil for your skin (saves on moisturisers). I also used my son's babywipes on my face each night as they are so mild (& cheaper than face wipes).

Bubble bath you can pour into liquid handsoap containers again, bubble bath is so much cheaper than normal hand soap and is milder on your hands.

£40-£50 per week for DH, DS (4yrs) & me.

I have also started to trick my husband by putting Sainsbury's (when I pass one) own brand biscuits, cereal & juince into the branded boxes / jug I keep :0)

As I live out in the countryside it's a real shame I don't have an ALDI or Costo to be able to do a big stock up. Waitrose is expensive but it the nearest supermarket.

There is an aldi just opened near me but I have only been in once and was in a rush grabbed a few bits and didn't like any of it when I got it home!Does anyone shop there and what is good? I spend about 100 a week on 2 adults 1 teenager and 2 cats.Dp takes packed lunch and ds doesn't anymore which is another expense.I have done it for a fiver a day before plus £75 bulk shop once a month for cans toiletries etc.Have gone badly wrong in the last year

depends really, i like to go to makro/costco once a month to bulk but toilet rolls,washing powder, nappies etc, i spend about £120
i shop on line every wedensday from tesco (love saving the clubcard points!) i spend £50-£70,
then on a saturday i go back to tesco or sainsburys (collect nectar points) and spend a further £50-£60.
i usually get 3 for 2 on toiletries at boots especially deodrant for partner , mouthwashes etc (also collect advantage points)
this is for me ,partner and ds and 2dd both in nappies,younger 1 still has babymilk and baby food which costs 75p a jar, i should really make my own
i rarely drink at home, but my partner likes 2 drink a couple cans every nite which i dont mind as he buys asda smartprice which is 0.90p for 4
as u can see i am totally obsessed with clubcards,advantage cards etc !
i like to save up my clubcard points so i have quite a bit for xmas

£250 pm for me, DH & DD in nappies.

Ambi I read that as your DH is in nappies