What are families honestly spending on their weekly food shop?

[Catty21]

cost of weekly food shop - Our food shop cost is crippling me. Our weekly food shop is £300 for 2 adults , 14 year old and a cat. My husband thinks that’s normal and is just the cost of living when I know my friends are paying half that. His response is well they are not being honest and they are actually paying more.

I can’t continue paying £300 a week, it’s insane I know . I’ve tried talking to him that it’s too much and he’s blaming me stressing over it on “ time of the month” as usual.

My question is , honestly what are families spending on their food shop weekly.

Yes, we pay half that (family of 5 with 2 teens)

Mine’s probably about £130-£140. Your bill does seem a bit high.

We spend around £400 a month. 2 adults 1 teen.

That’s £1000 per month you’re spending
that’s super high
ive just spent £194 for 4 adults including meat, chicken and fresh fruit and veg - this is meals for all of us all week (dinner, lunch and snacks) as well as some one off stuff so higher than usual
I get away with around £125 per week usually

you should be able to trim your bill significantly

About half of what you do. £150ish.

That sounds high there are 2 of us 2 cats and a dog and I spend about £150 per week (DD is autistic and has a few food issues)

I shop carefully at Tesco and for four of us (2 A, one ravenous 8 yo dc and one teen dc) I spend about £130 to £170 a week on all our household food and supplies.

However my dh buys his lunch (meal deal) and expensive wine separately. And my dd spend about £30 a week on school lunch and snacks.

We eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg, I cook mostly from scratch and buy nice quality meat and fish which is obviously expensive.

I could easily spend a lot more but I consciously look for bargains - if we are having expensive fish one day, then I’ll make sure the next meal is a cheap chickpea curry, or jacket potato and cheesy spicy beans.

Also watch out for deceptively expensive tiny packages of veg and fruit - A red cabbage or a Swede costs less than £1 but you’ll probably pay that much for a small handful of baby corn which is barely a serving.

Finally learn to love cheap snacks. A pack of fig rolls or a slice of toast and apricot jam fixes a sweet craving. Grated cheddar Cheese and crackers is cheaper than a pack of crisps.

Way less than you, though I'd say it has gone up even through this year. Usually about £90-100 a week for 2 adults and a 7 year old. We usually also eat out a couple of times a month. Are you able to identify the items that ate really making it expensive for you?

Around £150 a week main shop (includes toiletries/household stuff, not just food) plus odd top up bits. No pets. 3 adults and a permanently ravenous teen.

We are 2 adults, a toddler and 2 cats and we naturally hover between £90 and £130
(Depending on if I need cleaning bits, have gone for more expensive meats or fish, or if I need a top up of toiletries/cat food etc etc)

We eat well - meals are all unprocessed, mainly wholegrain, with good quality protein and at least 5 portions of fruit/veg a day (often more for toddler as she is a fruit fiend).

We also don't buy any alcohol so that may make a difference.

£80-90 here for one adult and two kids. That includes night pull-ups and a bottle of wine and all toiletries

I shop at Ocado. Family of 5, including teen and nappies. £160ish a week, usually a top up in Sainsbury’s £20-30 a week too.

I paid around 80 quid at the weekend for 3 adults and a cat.

Maybe if you posted a list of the stuff you'd use buying and what you're throwing away at the end of the week, some people might be able to help?

300 quid a week is hard to picture for me.

We are about £150 a week for two adults, two kids. Pet food is separate but groceries budget includes laundry stuff, washing up liquid etc. I could get it down a bit but I pay more for quality/convenience for some stuff. £300 a week is a lot.

Around £300 a week for three adults and a 15 year old boy (so a bottomless pit). We also have two small puppies and two cats. I’ve included pet food in the total but we buy in bulk to keep costs down there.

£140 - £150 family of 7 and a dog and 2 in nappies all household items in that £140

£100 a week as our main shop, and a £25 top up midweek, (usually more fruit, bread etc). That includes household supplies, but no pet food. Two adults and two teens.

I spend £100 on 2 adults and 3 teens - does not include weekday lunches. It’s relatively easy to cut down some of your spending - less meat is an obvious one,
Some meals I do weekly
cheese and ham omelettes with salad
filled tortellini with pesto
gnocchi in tomato sauce topped with mozzarella and garlic bread
jacket potatoes with toppings
so 4 relatively cheap meals

if you tell us what you normally eat we can advise more

2 adults, a one year old and a cat. £150 a week or thereabouts, but that includes nappies, wipes, and household items.

We are spending less than half of that and we are 5 adults , 6 when daughter is here from uni.

That seems very high! We're a family of 4, 2 adults 2 under-7s and pay around £140-170 per week

What are you buying? Surely your cupboards must be full if you're spending that every week

Between £150 to £200 for 2 adults 13 year old DS and a cat. Includes cleaning and washing stuff and prob 3 bottles of wine.

That sounds really high! We are around the £100, family of 4 and a cat. I am quite tight though, buy mainly non branded. We don't have a huge amount of treats and no alcohol.

For a shop that doesn’t require toiletries or eg washing powder/ dishwasher tablets ours comes to 220 euro a week (before discount as I work there) for 3 adults, 3 kids a dog and cat. Ours is nearly trimmed down to as low as it can go imo but I will say as someone who works in a busy supermarket and from own experience what drives up cost is meat and fish and fruit (sadly), multipacks of fizzy drinks, crisps/ bars/ biscuits/ sweets, alcohol, water, (also pet food). Only you know what you can live without without being miserable we do need to live, people say to me I wish I didn’t buy x y or z but honestly I’m in the do you want to be miserable camp!