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!!!)

It is pretty shocking and seems to go up and up. Well there's me, dp, and 5 kids and then me again who's preg so I'm eating more all the time. I'm sure once school starts and I can actually get my head round organising menus and stuuf then I can be more efficient. The hols have done me in !!

5 kids and pregnant too? You deserve free Tesco delivery for the next year, and a big shiny medal.

Go and put your feet up.

mercy i'm in ireland...... just realised however i did my maths backward so actually spend about 120pounds. still ridiculous considering i buy own brand everything, shop mostly in aldi, spend no money on ds and dd eats f-all!

I spend a disgustingly huge amount - not even sure how much within £50, but am inspired to cut down after this thread. Will now go off to menu plan.

omg i spent at least 100.00p/w for 2 adults to dc 5 and 19mth 1 dog & i cat even on the weeks i don't buy nappies/washing powder tend to buy the large ones i think sainsburys have it programmed that my bill will always be at least 100
my shopping bill seems to be creeping up and ive started buying own brands but it still costs a fortune
any advice on lower the cost is welcome as iam desperate to save money

About £100 a week whcih includes wine/chocolate, but not the trip to the greengocer or extra bread/milk through the week.
This is for a family of Mum, Dad, 6yo, 4yo and 2yo - but no nappies, wipes etc, but as much organic as I can afford (and we do buy a lot of fruit ad veg - I just like to support my local guy who is fab).
I could proably do it for £75 if I scrimped and saved and did lots lots more cooking from scratch. But only just, and with NO WINE!

I spend around £100-£140 per week. There are 5 of us. Me, dh, ds 6, dd1 20 months and dd2 5 months. We don't buy any convenience foods (Except the odd pizza) and buy lots of fresh fruit, veg and meat, 2 lots of nappies/wipes and one tin of formula. We also have a large dog who gets through a 6kg bag of food every fortnight. Me and dh occasionally treat ourselves to the odd bottle of wine or takeaway. We would like to spend less but it always seems to hit £100+

I love reading these threads, not that dh would ever give me a hard time tbh, because I am the main breadwinner. However I ty to keep to £80 a week for 4 of us, but teh holidays have killed me at about £120 a week!!

I am so going th=o have to meal plan from next week

About 150 quid pw including wine. Add to that occasional lunches out, people round for lunch or dinner. A lot is the answer, but I like food, I like cooking and eating it, I don't buy lots of clothes for me or kids and those I do are cheap so I feel I can justify the expense 75 ponds a week is not a lot imo. We are a family of 2 adults, 3 kids (10,8 and 5) 2 cats and a rather large dog

about 100 - 120 per week, we are a family of six, the shop includes 2 lots of nappies and baby essentials like cotton wool, etc

If I lived in U.K my food bill would be less. In Holland, I find food v expensive and that's just raw ingredients ie no convenience/ready meals as here they are truly vile. When I go to my Mum and Dad's I am amazed at how cheap, relatively, things are in the supermarkets and oh, the choice . Must admit that wine is cheap here though (less tax obv.) and fags for those who indulge (not me)

£75 sounds good, I usually do a "big" shop every other week but it would probably average out about the £80 mark. I know if you have loads of energy there are bargains to be had in different stores but call me lazy I just love Tescos - the books, toys and fab clothes thrown into one big wonky trolley. Actually really enjoy grocery shopping, how sad!

Three at home (me, DH and DS) plus DD at uni who I buy occasional food hampers for. I spend approx £90 a week, which includes bog rolls, toothpaste, shampoo etc. Then I spend another £10 - 20 at Lidls midweek on booze, topping up fresh veg and fruit etc.

So... total of about £110 - 120 a week.

We spend about £50 per week for DH, myself and DSs aged 3 and 19months. That includes nappies, wipes, toiletiries etc. I could easily spend more and would like to buy organic but the simple fact is we can't afford to spend any more than this really. We do have a lot of healthy food included but we buy a lot of own brand stuff and value range for things like rice and baked beans. I also try and make the best use of BOGOF offers etc. I don't think £75 is excessive though espcially if you are buying organic produce.

I think that £75 is pretty good - I did my normal online order this week and it came to £114, but that did include 6 bottles of wine. I then went to waitrose to pick up food for the weekend and it came to £92!! Without wine I usually do a tesco online order for about £60, then about another £30 on milk, bits and bobs etc

I strictly menu planned last year just to see if i could erally and eventually I was spending less than 50 per week mostly organic for dp ds and i plus 2 cats!When we moved house in April I stopped and just shopped normally and on a bad week I have been spending 100+ and wasting loads so back to the budgetfor me in the run up to xmas.I found doing one big shop for essentials like rice pasta tins washing powder etc at Lidl for £100 monthly was the key.I then bought other stuff daily

We live on £80 total - for everything. but we do a cupboard shop every month for staples, nappies and wipes which can cost up to £100.

we dont eat organic but we do eat frest fruit and veg and a balanced diet, owever tins etc are value branded for cheapness.

(Me, DH, JEss is 2 and becky is 10 months)

We spend between£ 45 and £50 a week on food [including organic meat and fruit] we mealplan and this has really helped us save money.
Once a month we do a big shop which includes nappies, wipes , washing powder and dishwasher stuff and spend maybe £80.
There are 5 of us [dd3 is only 2 weeks and is breastfed though]

I am finding the riverford delivery is hel;ping me cut right back- I buy the large box and fruit, then just buy the staples (stuff for pastry, read, juices, big bag mince / chicken that keeps frozen for a few weeks- then top up. I don't buy organic meat, mainly becasue you can't here, as far as i can see.

So after doing this for a few weeks, the bill is now £72 for the five of us, inclusive. Which i think isfine, as I have to buy lots of things like dairy free products for Ds1 DS3 and me, as well as the normal for DH and ds2. Og it's a complex shop I do LOL!

At least two of my meals each week consist of pasties or pasta sauce made entirely from the box.

I do find internet shopping helps, as you can see the price and amend to fit. ASDA are quite good, simply becasue they send lots of free delivery vouchers LOL!

Family of four - me dh, two boys 2 and nearly 4. We spend around £50 at Sainsburys for the first week of the month (stocking up on washing powder, washing up liquid, toothpaste, loo roll etc) and the between £20 and £30 per week after that, with the odd takeaway/trip to local shop for little things like more milk or apple juice.

We bake all our bread, grow a lot of veggies/herbs/fruit and cook virtually everything from fresh. And we buy "nice ham" I still find it quite shocking that people manage to spend such ludicrous sums on food - what are you eating? Gold plated chicken nuggets? It's crazy!

I spend between £500 - £600 quid a month. What's that weekly? erm about £150. I do try to spend less but it just seems to creep up.

There are 7 of us btw, me and dh, dd 14, ds1 12, ds2 10, ds3 3 and ds4 21mths, so nappies too included and all toiletries. I buy organic sometimes too.

Yours sounds reasonable to me.

Over £100 if I buy what we need for a family of 5 plus a cat. I save money as I use washable nappies but that is spent on organic fruit and veg and decent ham for sandwhiches, etc etc. My kids have hollow legs too...............

I allow myself 5000 Baht/week (which is roughly 70 pounds)....and that is for all shopping (including nappies, washing powder, loo rolls, etc), petrol, going out. I plan all lunches and dinners for the week, make a list and then stick to it rigidly! I reckon my weekly shop is 2500-3500 baht (35-50 quid) depending on what toiletries etc we have run out of.

That is for three of us.

BUT I live in Thailand and I can buy a whole chicken for 1.50!! This is all supermarket shopping - if I went to the markets it would be cheaper..

still, when I wasn't menu planning or making a list, my shop was double that so I'm pleased with the savings I'm making.

We have 6 of us, 2 adults, 4 kids. 2 dogs and 2 cats and Dh does the shopping every week. Usually about £100 sometimes less. We get fresh meat for every dinner, fresh veg, nappies, pet food, toiletries and everything. I thought we spent too much so its nice to know we don't

What are we eating? nothing OTT. Dh takes meals to work from that amount, and ids lunches come out too. Petrol doesn't even come into it (about £70 a week again, plus £30 for bridge fees- maybe I should go to Thailand? LOL)

Also includes a cat, who eats Iams

Don't grow fruit or veg, have some soft fruit bushes and pumpkins but simply don't have the time. Used to bake my own bread, again time issues. Do bake cakes / flapjacks etc, vital as we have to get several pounds onto DS1 atm