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Original poster

Another boring question - how much do you spend on your weekly supermarket shop

109 replies

handlemecarefully · 16/02/2004 10:06

I only ask because dh reckons I am profligate. There are 3 of us currently (including 19 month old dd) and I currently spend £90 ish / £100 ish per week. It does seem a lot.....

If you guys do better than me it might inspire me to analyse a little further to see what economies I can make

OP posts:
fairydust · 16/02/2004 23:22

Spend between £70.00 and £100 + £20.00 for nappys and wipes & toiletries

Main food shop at Sainsburys
fruit N Veg from market
Nappys wipes toiletries etc from boots
Cleaning stuff from wilko's
Freezer stuff - Farm foods as it's the same branded stuff at half the price.

Nut - Boil in the bag basmati rice - tastes just as good and theres no mess and perfect everytime

Levanna · 16/02/2004 23:30

There are 3 of us (me, DD(22months) and DH) we spend about £45 on a weekly shop, and about £25 on top ups throughout the week. But we're currently trying to cut it down, and found that we can by buying no ready made meals, and more pasta, rice and stir-fry stuff.... (oh, and possibly by using a cheaper washing powder, thanks to another thread! )

lavender1 · 16/02/2004 23:39

Sometimes spend £150, if low on stuff, but then spend £60 for next couple of weeks and we get stuff from local shop plus beer and wine, so I guess about £350-400 a month for absolutely everything....

Breakdown..

meat and fish...£20-25

Fruit and vegetables..£10

Cleaning stuff £10

Dairy and sandwich meats £10

Bread and crisps..£6

other stuff..(frozen pizzas, chips, wine, cereal,catfood,extra £20

try and avoid impulse buying by saying to self will spend £80 this week for example, when I do this bill always comes to something like £78.45 ie. instinctively know..

btw...if you do an internet order you can get a print out of stuff you buy and then make a list of stuff you really need so you don't just buy those little extras...£80-£85 for a family of 4 I would say is kind of average..(includes good cuts of meat and fresh fruit and veg (this is cheaper than processed stuff)

lavender1 · 16/02/2004 23:45

It could be £60 or less, but we really enjoy cooking and don't spend much on other things (furniture etc) so feel justified...fresh fruit and veg and good cuts of meat and not lots of processed stuff (not lots of chicken tonights etc) can be done for £70...can recommend Ainsley Harriotts's "Low fat meals in minutes"...I work 4 days a week but these are so quick, healthy and cheap...

fairydust · 17/02/2004 00:15

mean't to say this is for " adults and one dd ages 23months

Original poster
handlemecarefully · 17/02/2004 08:13

Okay - thanks all. Gratified that some of you spend more than me! - but then a good number of you spend less.

As a few of you have suggested, I am going to internet shop with a budget figure of £80 per week in mind, and then delete non-essential items if I go over budget.....

OP posts:
GeorginaA · 17/02/2004 08:22

I have to say the internet shop was the best way for me to budget - although I would say try not to go bang up against the £80 budget because sods law says you'll run out of something in the week that you forgot to put on!! I try and leave £10 spare for the "oh damn!" shops If you don't spend it, then that's a tenner you can reward yourself with as a treat at the end of the week

The other big help was to meal plan. Sounds horribly restrictive but I don't "dictate" which days to have which meals, so I still feel some spontaneity - maybe everyone else is better at on the spur shopping than me, but I always used to end up with incomplete meals if just wandering around picking up what looked good, and ending up having to shop again three days later because I had tons of veg but nothing to go with it or vice versa!

tigermoth · 17/02/2004 08:24

£2,000 a month - carla come back and explain, pleas don't leave us hanging here wondering!

I've stopped doing a big weekly shop. I work near three supermarkets so I do most shopping in my lunch hours, usually at Sainsburys. I go three times a week, ( equivalent to one large shop) and can walk home with the stuff after work. As I am a frequent shopper, I pick up reduced price food each time - makes about 5 out of our 7 weekly main meals. I freeze whatever we don't use on the day. We have meat or fish most nights. I also buy reduced price ham, yogurt, bread rolls etc for the boys packed lunches. Over half our friut and veg is from the reduced price section too, much of it organic. I spend about £10.00 max for each of my three shops (value before reduced price about £15 - 20.00) so £30.00 a week instead of £45 - £60.00

I buy milk, bread, cat food, wine, cleaning stuff and food top ups from our local co op. Spend about £40.00 a week. Go to Lidl once a month and spend another £30.00 - including wine. Buy most of our toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, cough syrup, paracetmol, standard shampoo and bubblebath etc) from our pound shop. This saves a small fortune. Go on average once a month and spend £10.00.

So I estimate we spend about £80 a week, but that's not including all the wine and beer we drink - and we don't have to buy nappies any more so that lowers our outgoings.

misdee · 17/02/2004 08:26

spned around £40 a week doing a main shop, then about £20-30 during the week picking up a few odds and ends. should really get meat out of the freezer rather than forgetting and having to buy fresh.

Furball · 17/02/2004 08:33

I spend £70 ish per week at Sainsburys, £10 ish per week at the butchers and the milkman get £8 per week so thats £88. This has been dramitcally reduced since switching from Safeways where I used to get milk (OK, thats far cheaper than milkman) and meat (not half as nice as butchers) and that would be £110-£120 per week. I get dishwasher tabs from Safeways when they are on offer and can save £3 per box!

misdee · 17/02/2004 08:35

mind u i buy bulk soap powder and dishwasher stuff from costco's. and no nappies as washables, so i save around £20-30 a week.

Bozza · 17/02/2004 09:12

3 of us with DS being almost 3 and in nightime nappies only. Comes in pretty close to £50 a week - some weeks it is a bit less (eg high 30s) but that will probably be a week we have a takeaway which will take us back to our £50. Strangely its been like this for years - since before DS was born and right through the nappy/formula stage. I think since we had DS I have been more careful which is why I have managed to incorporate his spends. Includes alcohol (but DH drinks little and I am pregnant), all cleaning products and most toiletries. The challenge will arise in May to see if I can keep it down then...

marialuisa · 17/02/2004 09:17

sure Zebra. It was just that I thought from your earlier post you just ate piles of potatoes and veg rather than pots and veg combined with stuff to make a "dish" (sorry, vile word) IYSWIM.

We are very anal about planning menus as well. Don't want to have to stare at the contents of the fridge and try to come up with something when i get in from work. Esp as we eat relatively early (before 7) so that we can all eat together.

M2T · 17/02/2004 09:24

If I shop online I spend about £85, but if I actually go into the shop I can spend about £120!! Which is absolutely ridiculous for 2 adults and a toddler. And my DH works for tesco so we also get a discount.

Mental note to self: Do shopping online.

iota · 17/02/2004 12:22

I guesstimate that we spend about £30 pw on meat and fish - a leg of lamb for Sunday dinner is about £10 - £12, filllet steak about £6, chicken breasts £ 3.29 for 2, Pork fillet about the same? steak mince £2.50? cod loin £3-4 and so on.

Total bill around £100 to £120. (there are 4 of us)

This excludes alcohol.

Sonnet · 17/02/2004 12:55

Zebra - v.interested in your meals - could you post your favourite two recipes?? -please...

noddy5 · 17/02/2004 13:03

About 80 pounds includes everything.2 adults one 9 year old boy and a selection of his friends!

Kayleigh · 17/02/2004 13:50

We spend about £80-£100 on a weekly on-line shop with either Tesco or Sainsburys. This is for 4 of us (ds1=5 and ds2=2 plus the cat). It includes a packed lunch for me for my 3 working days and packed lunches for dh and ds1 for 5 days. On top of this I spend around £30-50 on extras. This tends to be meat as I like to choose my own from the supermarket or buy at butchers. I tend to buy wipes from anywhere there is a BOGOF offer and ds2 is still in nappies which i tend to buy from boots so not included in above.

I always used to do my online shop at tescos but have found in last 6 months or so they aren't doing as many special offers as they used to and therefore total weekly spend was creeping up. Not sure if this is just an online thing as when i go into a store I can see more stuff on special offer than was advertised on-line. Sainsburys seem to be much better for special offers.

zebra · 17/02/2004 14:53

No, no, no, getting the wrong rep here -- recipes? Hahahaha. Sorry, Sonnet, gave the completely wrong impression, there. So Yes, we do mostly eat potatoes with piles of veg on top, MLuisa, with a little meat on the side sometimes. One of my ex-boyfriends was pathological about cooking vegetables right so that they were still full of flavour and I never forgot those lessons. And you can add butter, cheese, tamari, curry sauce, mayo, ketchup, etc. depending on mood. It's only when we do a sauce or a fry-up (fried rice like someone else described is a good example), I would usually bother with spices.

Sometimes I think Mumsnet is full of urbane Londoners who go around doing "dinner parties". Maybe it'd be a culinary awakening for me to eat around your houses.... My impression is other people's cooking is mostly white pasta and bread (less texture than wholemeal), more sugar and salt (added to ready-meals and shop-bought so-called premimum products), more meat and a heck of a lot less vegetables. It depends what you're used to whether you think that tastes better than how we cook, but I'm pretty sure we get treated to a bigger variety of flavours.

Sonnet · 17/02/2004 15:10

Better not eat at my house then Zebra, I'd disappoint ( no white bread or pasta, not urban and not london):0

marialuisa · 17/02/2004 15:15

No, not urbane or a Londoner either. much as I love veg and we eat loads i couldn't deal with a plate of "plain" veg. I can't help but add herbs etc. No salt though and no ready meals. Don't do dinner parties either.

zebra · 17/02/2004 15:55

But herbs (& olive oil) don't cost much, do they? If the thread is touching on how to eat cheaply but tasty.
It was just the "recipes" word, Sonnet. I got invited around to a friend's for lunch last year... She had recently moved up from St. Albans. She had 2 children, age 4 & 1.5yo, and she cooked some really nice lentil pilaf type thing with a baked apple-pastry desert. I was only expecting sandwiches or jackets! I felt SO OUT OF MY LEAGUE.

suzywong · 17/02/2004 15:58

I used to make my living by providing dinner parties for urbane Londoners

zebra · 17/02/2004 15:58

OOhhh! Give us a sample menu then, go on.

Clarinet60 · 17/02/2004 16:04

I always spend about £90 in the supermarket, but only go every 2-3 weeks. I spend £15 per week on fruit & veg (organic delivery), and buy bread locally. Milk, juice & yoghurts are delivered by the milkman at £30 per month. Now that I add it up, it comes to much less than I tell DH we spend on food. Ooh dear! We don't eat much processed stuff, so perhaps that's why.