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.

This is for a family of six. Three adults, one teen, two primary aged DC. £300 per week.

I feel your pain!! We are spending about £300 (family of 4) on all family food, necessary household supplies. We do have a dog and his food comes to about £30pw. How pwople are doing all weekly food including lunches and household supplies I have no
idea.

£13 a night for vegan meals is a lot. £150 extra for breakfast and lunch also seems very high. Surely cooking your own meals would be much cheaper?

Where on earth are you shopping! I’m about £150 a week for two adults, a two year old and an 8 month old so it includes formula and nappies.

I try to keep my weekly shop around £110 or less, for two adults, DD6, DS3 and a cat. That includes toiletries and cleaning products. We often add a little bit on top eg bread and milk top ups. Not long ago my aim was £80-£90, but prices have really gone up. I find the most important thing to keeping the spend low is to meal plan and to try to avoid expensive types/cuts of meat eg it's rare we'd have steak or lamb. I can imagine with ravenous teenagers it is harder to control spend!

All in all probably just under £200 per week but there are five of us. The kids are young but eat a lot. I consistently spend £130 on an Asda delivery but that doesn’t include meat and veg as we get that separately at the butchers/grocers so that on top takes it to about the £200 mark. That doesn’t include takeaways or alcohol.

I am sure we can get it cheaper but DH’s insistence on getting meat from the butchers/farm shop bumps it up a bit so yes I’d say you’re definitely spending a lot for just three of you.

That’s a lot! We are 2 adults, a 14 year old and an 11 year old and a cat and I’ve got it down now to £170 a week including top up shops. And I work from home and my partner does too 3 days (so lunch is at home).

we have meat or fish almost every day.and I’ve just got much better at meal planning and cooking because we really needed to save money to be fair that doesn’t include cat food which is £10 a week. We don’t drink alcohol which helps. It does include laundry powder and shower gel. Doesn’t include hand soap which I buy in bulk once a year.

That’s pretty expensive. Where do you shop? We are 2 adults, 2 young children. My partner eats like an absolute horse though! I would say in total we can spend around £160-£200 a week, that’s the main food shop, 3 meals from Gousto a week and then any top up shops, little bits. That includes all toiletries , nappies etc.

Personally I think alot of people don’t realise how much they truly spend. It’s not just a weekly food shop, it’s the top up shops etc and they all add up.

We are a family of 5 and my weekly shop at Morrisons is £80. We get meat from the butchers every 3 months and spend about £150. So 92 a week, maybe £110-120 if we need washing powder etc. I don't tend to do top up shops, I meal plan and am pretty good at using odds and ends.

Exactly. There is no way that is feeding all meals for these families.

My food bill is only 50 but I eat out 24 times a week.

I'm not sure everyone does top up during the week. We have 4 kids, 3 still at home so just don't have time to shop mid week as well as online. If we are desperate we will get some extra milk or one ingredient we are missing for a meal. But I agree it's easy in general to not notice additional costs. I totted up how much I spent on everything a few months ago and it was shocking. But food, if we don't have we generally live without due to being time poor. My charity shop browsing habit however was a bit 😱

And are you eating lunches at work or eating out? Is that 3 meals plus snacks every day, for all these people?

So for one person that’s 21 meals a week plus snacks? Tea coffee etc? Some of the figures here are not making sense.

Please can someone post their £150 weekly shopping list for two adults and two teens that requires no top up shops. A friend of mine would love to know 😉

How old are the 5 though @openended? 2 adults and 3 toddlers have very different requirements to 2 adults and 3 teens/young adults.

How much are you spending on milk? Or do you just have water on your cereal?

How I do it, is to yellow sticker shop and shop around. Buy in season and know the price per a kilo for everything

I also dont spend a fortune on cleaning products

Tonight is Spaghetti Bolognese , 500grm butcher mince reduced to £2.99 , a good handful of red lentils, tin of tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, a red wine stock cube and a few sun-dried tomatoes and a pile of mushrooms - will make enough bolognese for 4, maybe 5 portions . Wholewheat spaghetti and a side salad - we will be stuffed for not much more then £1 a portion

Yes I do the rubber chicken as well. And for the person saying their pie costs more then home made, they are having to be buying organic as I can make from scratch 2, six portion pies for less then one shop bought - even accounting for buying ready made puff pastry

I always freeze extras. Pack of 6 sausages, two will be frozen , or even 1 will be is DH decides he wants three. Same with packs of chops , I cook only want we are going to eat and freeze in 1's and 2's what's not needed , eventually there's enough in the freezer to make a meal

We also dont buy cereals for breakfast , other than oats. Cereals dont fill you. I have overnight oats if Im taking breakfast, dh will have a couple of boiled eggs

Lunches will be weird and wonderful , could be left overs, could be a bottom of the fridge soup, a jacket potato and beans , a tin of sardines on toast . In the winter we always have Irish veggie soup made. I make it on a Sunday, freeze half, half in the freezer . A pile of chopped fresh veg, a mug of dried, a couple of chicken thighs if no carcus stock cube and water - pressure cook in 40 mins ( no need to soak the dried veg ) - again, a couple of quid for 8 to 12 portions of hearty soup

I make my own yoghurt, bread if I have to, ( rarely buy and rarely eat) biscuits and scones if required, cookies and buns - when the grandkids are here . I also make my own curries and Chinese , fried chicken and pizzas , very little UPFs are used, ketchup etc which arent used daily

Snacks , apart from DH's crisps and chocolate bar that he takes to work , will be nuts and olives with drinks, or if I have the munchies mid afternoon, fruit and yoghurt - frozen berries, with maybe a chopped fresh pear/ banana or apple on top for added interest

We arent saints, we like a drink but that comes out of our own spends. The grocery is just us, the dog, cleaning and basic toiletries

If we get a take away, that also comes out of personal spends. All food and drink outside the house for us is socialising - and that's when we have to say - can we afford this ? I need glasses this month and we are just back from holiday, so unless DH puts his hands in his pocket - there's no eating out or take away . I can afford my glasses and a take away, but who knows what's going to pop up next month ( like all three grandchildren birthdays ) and I like a buffer

Agreed, we don't need top ups here so it is easy to keep track.

But how is your bolognaise meal £1 a portion if the mince alone is £3 (which is incredible as the mince i buy is usually min £7!) surely the herbs, stock, tomatoes, onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and lentils PLUS spaghetti PLUS salad isn’t £1?!

also please tell me how you’d made a six portion pie for less than £4, genuinely asking as I just can not see how that’s possible

3 adults in our house, one who has Gluten and dairy intolerance, we generally spend about £150 per week. £300 seems like an awful lot

We are 2 adults, 1 tween, 1 teen and 4 cats. My weekly 'big shop' is between £190 and £220, but could easily creep up to £300 of you include top ups during the week. We also cook from scratch, eat fresh fruit etc, but the pet food, tolietries and things like cereal shoot the cost up. I save my receipts and broadly similar items 5 years ago were coming in at around £120 per week. I recall shopping with my mother in the 90s and £100 filled two large trolleys. We were a big familly. I have no idea how a similar family would manage now.