How much is your weekly food bill? (Bl**dy dh!)

[AmandaP]

Sorry but I'm mad now! We're a family of four (the kids are 9 and 7), and my husband has had a go at me for the weekly shop averaging about ?75. To me that doesn't seem that outrageous - the kids seem to have hollow legs, dh himself eats a vast amount, and whilst we don't live on beans on toast every day, we certainly don't eat lobster and caviar on a daily basis either. I try and buy organic fruit, veg and meat where possible, and we grow some of our own fruit and veg as well. We do live in a very expensive part of the south east and I guess food prices may differ?

I just thought I would take a straw poll and see how much, roughly, other MNers were spending on their food shopping.

(At the root of this, I suspect, is the fact that my husband has never forgiven me for having a breakdown and for no longer being able to be the breadwinner so that he has to work full-time... but that's going into real ranting territory and I'm not ready for that yet!!!)

5 of us - 2 adults, 2 teenagers, 1 4 yo. We get through around £130-£150 a week.

Like you we have 2 kids 9 and 7. Like you I buy organic and lots of fruit and veg. Unlike you we live in one of the cheapest areas of the country. We don't splash out on many luxuries and I don't buy any ready made meals. I reckon our weekly supermarket bill is never less than £100 (including non food stuff like detergent). On top of that we spend £10 a week on a box of organic local veg plus all the other bits and pieces from the local corner shop when we've run out.

Your dh is being unfair

There are 5 children here two of which eat as adults and I dare not add up my total weekly shop. I nip out for bread and milk and always come home having spent £60!!!!
If I take the teens along it costs me double and we have nothing to eat at the end of it!!!

Ours ranges from about £70-£100 depending on what we need £100 scale if we need washing powers, toilet rolls, nappies & all the bigger things £70 scale if we just need basics foods etc there are 4 of us 2 adults 2 kids (ds 4 dd 8 months)

2 adults 2 kids (3 and 5)

On average £80

About £70 - £100 a week depending on whether we need non food items such as cleaning products, toiletries.

I probably could cut it down but don't see the point of buying cheaper things that don't taste as nice & end up getting thrown away!

We spend about £150/160 pm on our online shop, and then probably another £80/90 over the month on fresh stuff (milk, fridge stuff, bread, friut etc. A bit less than you, but we do tend to do own brand and I don't do organic. There are five of us, DCs are 8, 6 and 2. £75 pw doesn't sound excessive at all.

I am in the states where food is cheaper, but even so I spend $1000/month and certainly don't feel we eat lavishly - we have 4 children. That includes all food - including odd bits and pieces picked up here and there, prob. one or two take aways a month and all cleaning, washing type items. I do all the budgeting in this house and find I get irrationally cross if dh even asks how much something cost!

We're a family of six all with huge appetites and we spend at least £150 a week.

For 4 children and 2 adults I spend approx:
£100 pw Ocado
plus an extra £30 or £40 on fish from the fishmonger, freshly cut butcher's meat, the occasional patisserie flan, odd snacks.
I don't buy ready meals more than a few times a year, I buy ingredients to cook from scratch. We don't skimp on free range/organic food, but equally Ican make a cheap meal out of decent ingredients if required.
Even if I had 2 children of 9 and 7, I doubt I'd get the bill much below £100 tbh !

150euros for me, dp, dd (19 months) and ds (1 month and bf and in cotton nappies). that equals about 200 pounds and we shop mostly in aldi

god england is cheap compared to here

AmandaP - there are 4 of us, including 2 children aged 5.4 and 2.5. We spend around £80- £120 per week, a fair amount of this is organic; milk, juice, fruit & veg, eggs etc. Plus nappies, wine and beer!

I don't think food is necessarily more expensive in the SE (we live in London) and I don't really see how you could economise much further tbh. You are doing very well imo.

Message withdrawn

Pink Tulips, where are you then?

I read recently that food prices in the UK are about to increase (by at least 10% I think). Actually I've noticed that they have been on the increase for a few months now; for example, 250g of steak mince used to cost around 80p - it now costs £1.10. Equally I don't mind paying more for meat as I can afford to absorb those price increases, for now at least.

sorry - I'm rambling!

Not outrageous, we manage on £50.00 sometimes for me dh and dd1 (2.10) dd2 6mths, including nappies, but not often, more like £65.00 for a 'normal week' including nappies n extra bits

Our food bill is approx £55-£70 a week, depending on what i buy. I get milk delivered - £11-£12 a month. I go to the butchers once a fortnight and stock the freezer. We don't always use the most expensice of things , for example i'll buy tesco value tinned tomatoes, and own brand pasta, etc. However i am finding our bill getting higher, DS1 eats adult portions and he's only 8!

£75 sounds about right for us too. 2 adults and a 1 year old

yes another £75approx here. two adults and 1yr old ds. i could probably spend less but i rather enjoy the supermarket experience.

£75 a week is bloody good going. I'm not even going to post what my Tesco/Sainbos/Waitrose bill was last month - it was shocking (I only totted it up when WWW posted about cutting back her bill!)

We spend around £120 - £150 on our on-line shopping, so it doesn't sound a huge amount to me!

Ijust checked the credit card bill: £325 at Tesco's for the last month, but we were on holiday for a week. That will include stuff like phone topups, papers & magazines, & loads of toiletries for 2 teenagers, for which they pay me from their allowance. I buy pretty much everything fromTesco's becuse it's 200 yds down the road, but i doubt I'd save much if I shopped around.