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.

2 adults a dog and 2 cats, we spend about £100 per week at the supermarket and try to eat healthily and cook from scratch mostly but buy whatever we want more or less.

Whew!! We're 2 adults, 10yr old and 2 cats, and we're about £100-£110 a week. Tescos shopping and a blend between own brand and brand, and 3 meals p/wk from hello fresh is included in that.

Is there a lot of alcohol/ premade food in that total?

Cleaning ,you need old style Fairy Liquid, cream cleaner and bleach. I know the latter is out of favour. These 3 items should last months.

Family of 4, it works out around £125pw on food only. Household stuff, toiletries, pet stuff is on top. I try to stick to non processed stuff, no longer buy expensive meats or shellfish.

£150 - £170 here - two adults, 2 youngish DC. We could definitely rein ours in...!

About £60-80 a week for three adults. I spend more on the cats food I think.

I'm a single parent to DS 8 who isn't the best eater and DS 15 who eats more than 2 men put together 😳 I'm averaging around £500-£550 a month which consists of £100 main shop and then a top up shop anywhere between £20 and £40 and also includes household and toiletries. I do cook from scratch when I can but depending on my shifts etc not always possible so there is some freezer/convenience just pizza, chicken strips etc for the freezer and they both take packed lunches to school. I've tried every supermarket and its as broad as its long i save nothing. This time last year I was covering everything for £300-£350 a month and if anything i feel like I'm buying less for more money. It's crippling me :(

£125 that’s 2 adults, 1 child and 3 toddlers.
that, however doesn’t include chicken which I buy from the butchers at £40 per month
ETA that doesn’t include toiletries, loo roll, nappies/wipes washing powder and cleaning etc.

This is incredible. Do you all just eat rice and a big bag of apples?

I spend a lot more than you OP.

We pay around £300 a week if we include top ups. Shop online with Ocado, organic meat fish milk eggs and veg, lots of brand names, at least 2 bottles of reasonable wine - for 2 adults and 2 teens that eat like men and a dog. So I would say ours is extremely toppy and with one less child, yes you should be able to get it for a lot less.

I recently went through our bank statements and we were spending £750 a month for 2 adults and 1 school aged child!

That admittedly includes everything including all cleaning products and some toiletries, though meat and alcohol are the single biggest ticket items. Our son has packed lunches at school too.

I worked out £200 a month was on 'top-up' shops and we are trying to rein that in, and I'm hoping to claw back the total spend to £650 a month, which is our actual budget.

However OP, I get your shock. I knew it had gone up, but I think it has gone up about 25% in the past couple of years. Our salaries have not...

Your husband's logic is rubbish regardless of what other people spend. If it's too much for you then it's too much. Cut your cloth accordingly etc.

Three adults here and an elderly cat, we spend about £100/120 a week.

We spend approx £200/week that’s 2 adults 12 and 8 year old no pets. 2 packed lunches a week for the 8 year old all other kids lunches are school dinners in term time. We eat quite a lot of veggie food as 12 year old is veggie. Probably only have meat twice a week and that’s only for 2 or 3 of us depending on who is eating. This includes 2 or 3 bottles of wine, cleaning products, basic/shared toiletries like shampoo, shower gel etc, kids vitamins (anything you can buy easily in a supermarket). We shop in Aldi and either Tesco or sainsbos normally.

£300 a week? I would say go shopping once on your own and purchase just the bare minimum. (or if you have time, sit at the supermarket website and do a weekly shop on the bare minimum and see what that price comes out)
Also look at what’s being put in the trolley. My husband is Coeliac, We have to pay the price of what the supermarket demands.

Good luck

It varies hugely between about £80 and £150 per week for two adults, a five year old and a 2 year old, and two cats. The biggest factor in whether its at the top or bottom of that range is if it includes toiletries, cat litter and cat food, and cleaning products.

We don't eat meat or fish and almost never buy alcohol (just not big drinkers). We cook almost everything from scratch, which helps. Even so, the cost feels extravagant to me at the moment - everything is so expensive. I've switched from Sainsburys to Lidl which has helped knock it down a fair bit.

Ugh, I daren’t tot it all up, but I am convinced it’s why we are in the red every month.

That’s not normal. We spend about £80 on two adults. We get steak every week too.

Our food shop usually looks something like this:
1x steak (we share)
1kg chicken drums/thighs
2x salmon fillets
2x fish cakes

Potatoes
Carrots
Leaks
Aubergine
Salad
Tomato
Courgettes
Peppers

Bananas
Nectairine
Apples
Strawberries
Pears

1x Cheddar
1x halloumi
1x butter
3x kg Greek Yoghurt
1x milk

Bread
Rice
Pasta
Granola
Wheat Bisks.
Flour
Chickpeas
Tinned beans /lentils (various)
Tinned toms

Plus whatever seasoning, sauces, tea, oil, vinegar we need every few months

£100-150 for 2 adults and 1 toddler who probs has £30 of fruit just for himself 🙈 we have 2 cats but do a £100/150 order from zooplus every 6-8 weeks

Roughly £90- £100 / week on weekly shop & top ups - 2 adults, 1 young child

Ours is between £100 and £150 a week, for two adults and two children who are 5 and 2

2 adults and 1 teen girl who eats her own specific menu. The man also here eats his own specific menu, only I eat one slice of bread and one salad and not moan about food stuff. Roughly 150 - 200 pounds not spent by my choice.

We shop at Sainsburys/Morrisons and spend just over £200 for 2 adults and 2 teens. This covers all meals (including lunches) and toiletries/household goods.

2 adults, offspring home from uni and a cat. Spend: £100.00. Meals planned, shopping list on excel (I highlight what I need, pdf, send to phone) shop in Aldi. We don’t eat meat. Goes down to about 70 when said offspring is back at university. Edited for clarity, originally it looked like the cat was spending £100 a week.

As OP hasn't been back since her initial poat, I think you may be right. But info gathering for what?

I shop for three adults and two teens and spend around £175 a week, though I don't buy any alcohol or toiletries in that. I do buy a lot of premium brands which, objectively, is probably a frivolous waste of money. I am a total spendthrift and am not sure that I could manage to spend £300 every week even if I was actively trying.