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What is the Average Grocery bill for a family of 3 ?

booklover
booklover Posts: 897 Forumite
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in Old style MoneySaving
:hello:

My eldest son has recently moved out and I was wondering what the average grocery bill should be for myself, 15 year old son and my husband.

I was spending approx £80 when my son lived at home and I really need to reduce this down to maybe £60 or less without sacrifing our health.

Unfortunately my family are very fussy eaters and don't like lidl or asda, only Sainsburys and M and S.

Can anyone tell me where to find reasonable tasty easy-to make recipes. I'm afraid I'm a terible cook :( so we've been using lots of packets and now this needs to stop due to lack of money as I'm not working as much anymore as I'm studying.



Many thanks in advance

Fiona
«13

Comments

  • recovering_spendaholic
    recovering_spendaholic Posts: 3,062 Forumite
    Is that £80 a week or a month?
    Jane

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  • booklover
    booklover Posts: 897 Forumite
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    recovering spendaholic, oh per week of course, I wish it was a month!! :wink:

    Fiona
  • mountainofdebt
    mountainofdebt Posts: 7,795 Forumite
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    I have been known to spend £45 but is usually about £60.

    To be honest I find that if you don't buy crisps etc then you can dramatically cut your food bill
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  • stressedoutmumof1
    stressedoutmumof1 Posts: 1,483 Forumite
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    We're a family of 3, and we normally spend between £200 - £250 per month, that includes all toiletries, household goods, and the odd drop of wine :D
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  • rchddap1
    rchddap1 Posts: 5,926 Forumite
    We're normally a family of 2....but every now and then add a couple of teenagers to the mix. We've found that when they're added we're not spending a huge amount more (because OH cooks such large portions anyway). Our budget is £100 per month and its very rare that we exceed that.

    If you're buying lots of packets and ready meals then that is your main problem. Have a look through the recipe index and you'll find that cooking from scratch is far easier than some believe. Far tastier and healthier too.

    However, if you only go to the 'expensive' type look and feel stores then that is another problem you'll have to think about. We've shopped in Sainsbury's, Asda's and Tesco's and have found that there is very little difference in terms of quality when you're looking at all the 'fresh' goods (ie, meat, fruit, veg). However, the difference in your wallet can be surprising.
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  • PoshPaws_3
    PoshPaws_3 Posts: 485 Forumite
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    We're a family of two adults and one 8yo, and our weekly budget is £60, £5 of which is for OH's beer, so effectively £55.

    That buys us our food for the week, the dogs' tinned food, the Guinea Pig's & Parrots' fresh food, our cleaning supplies, toiletries etc. Basically, if it doesn't come from Asda or Morrisons, we don't buy it.

    I'm aghast at your menfolk decreeing they won't countenance Asda products! I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else.
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  • toria27
    toria27 Posts: 188 Forumite
    We spend £160 a month for me OH and 13mth old DD. But I am trying to reduce this even more not sure how I can though we don't buy many luxeries and I cook everything from scratch?
  • liney
    liney Posts: 5,121 Forumite
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    Decant your storecupboard stuffs into containers. Rice is rice. Pasta is pasta, etc etc. If you are cooking from scratch then i would imagine that there isn't much you would buy in the way of tins that would be seen. Considering that most of the more expensive brands are manufactored along side the cheaper ones on the production line, they really do do a great job at marketing.

    I spend £50 - £55 per week for us 3 which includes lunches for work, toiletries, washing powder, nappies, cleaning stuffs and a bottle of wine/beer for about £5.

    There are lots of recepies in the mega index at the top of the forum you could try.
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  • Penny-Pincher!!
    Penny-Pincher!! Posts: 8,325 Forumite
    We have a family of three and our average weekly spend is £35pw. This includes all food, cleaning and household stuff. It is low but we take big adavantage of buying vastly reduced main meal ingredients such as meat, fish and poultry and buy only seasonal fruit and veg.

    Most of the meat, fish and poultry are free range/organic but we are able to pick up chickens reduced to £1 or joints of meats to £1-£2, chops under £1 and so forth.

    Asdas is excellent around 8pm when they cut there yellow stickered reduced items to up 90% off. Sainsburys by 10pm sling out everything for under 20p....ask BargainRzl....she goes to the same store. Packs of meat, sausages, fish, pies, fruit and veg...often down to 10p each:eek:

    Our meals are hearty. Favourite meals are roasts, then the leftovers used for a pie or curry. Stews, toad in hole, chilli, chops, HM Fishpie, Shepards pie etc etc all served.

    Meal planning is the best way to cut spending as you only buy what you need for those meals.

    All loo rolls, wash powder, coffee, tea, kitchen rolls are bought from Makros when on their special deals.

    HTH

    PP
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  • wigginsmum
    wigginsmum Posts: 4,150 Forumite
    We're two adults and spend £25-30/week, but we use Lidl, Morrisons, Costco and the local market. Meal planning is the way to go.
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