Average cost of family grocery shopping

gaultie

We're a family of four (kids aged 2 and 6) and we do our food shopping as a mixture of sometimes internet home delivery, sometimes local shop, sometimes conventional supermarket etc. As we don't do a conventional "weekly shop" it's hard to keep track of how much we are spending but I've tried monitoring over past few months and it seems to average about £400-£450 a month. We don't get much that is too extravagent (it's not all ready meals !) - just usual Tesco/Sainsbury stuff.

I reckon we are spending a lot but would be very interested to get views of others - maybe that's about the average and I'm not being realistic ? Also I'm wondering whether switching to more home delivery or more regular trips might save money. The tendency seems to be the trip to get a couple of items always ends up about 50 quid.

Any particular tips on getting grocery bills down without suffering too much ?

mad_bad_spender

We are family of five, my shopping is around £120 a week or maybe slightly more. I have found though that sitting and working out a menu for the week and ordering on-line brings it down a bit. I also buy our meat at costco in big packs and freeze it. Meat at the supermarket is so expensive. I also have the habit of going for bread and milk and spending £30. So I have taken to sending my son (age 12) with a list and that way i get just what i need.

Kay_Peel

This might be a bit of a pain since you must have a busy life with two small children, but these cost-cutting measure work for me.

I go to Wilkinson's to stock up on kitchen, laundry, toiletries and food for the animals (sold loosely or in tins). It's good value.

I go to Aldi for store-cupboard basics - sugar, tea, coffee, cereals, flour, even cheese and biscuits.

I get eggs and a box of fresh, local-grown seasonal veg, fruit and salad delivered to my door through Northern Harvest (they only operate in the north west but there are similar farmer's coops nationwide.) You never know what you are going to get (We'd never eaten a celeriac before, now we love it - much nicer than celery.)

Once I've got my 'box' - I can plan the menus for the whole week. I find that we eat better meals when they are based around good vegetables.

I never buy meat, fish, sausages or bread until the day I need them and I know what I want. This means I go to the butcher or fishmonger or a local market regularly. This is the pain, in theory - but I enjoy it.

Before I disciplined myself with this method, I was always shopping and spending too much - there are two strapping teenagers, and their friends, in this family. Making a list did not work.

I'd be very interested in what others do, though. Thanks for starting this topic.

Kp

Contains_Mild_Peril

My family is somewhat financially-challenged, so I have to keep our grocery shopping under about £30 per week for 3 people, 2 cats and a gerbil. I do most of my shopping at Morrisons and Farmfoods, and my husband goes to Tesco (I refuse because I think they're evil!) Savings can often be made by visiting the supermarket near closing time, when goods in the reduced to clear section can be extremely cheap, though it's pretty much pot luck.

wigginsmum

We do £120/month on food and household stuff for 2 adults, and about £80/month on catfood.

angchris

wigginsmum wrote:

We do £120/month on food and household stuff for 2 adults, and about £80/month on catfood.

:eek::eek: £80 a month!! either you have 50 cats or they eat salmon everyday! if its the latter im moving in with you

giggs11

angchris wrote:

:eek::eek: £80 a month!! either you have 50 cats or they eat salmon everyday! if its the latter im moving in with you

maybe she has lots of cats, our cat costs £12 a month to feed but thats on a prescription diet.

wigginsmum

7 cats, 6 or so tins of catfood a day. They had been on Whiskas, but I moved them to Felix and they're currently on Sainsburys cheapest which they're enjoying. I still reckon they're cheaper than if I'd had kids! They get the occasional treat of tuna or chicken mince.

N9eav

WE spend about £100 a week on food for 2 adult and 4 older children that eat a lot. However if I plan meals for the week and buy for that specifically I could save £20 -£25. But we don't in the summer and tend to go to the store more than once a week and buy what we fancy. But sometimes that works too. Yestersday, 2 x cooked chicken at ASDA =£5. 2 French sticks 84p. made a great lunch along with some salad I had in the garden.

If you find the best bargains you can eat well for less.

A wholesale meat place near us makes a great deal of difference too. 8lbs of mince beef steak for £4. Best rib eye steak in bulk at about £2 a lb, I can eat cheap tender steak all summer long!! (£10 per lb in tesco).

LIDL fruit and veg all half price at the moment!

Buy potatoes by the 25lb sack from the farm or wholesale for £3.50p goes a long way compared to 5lbs at £1.69 in ASDA.

Frozen chickens are great too. Buy medium chickens as LB for LB they are always cheaper than small or large. £1.69 each in Lidl. Roast 2 for Sunday dinner and eat the leftovers cold in salad or sandwiches.

Alleycat

We have a budget of £180 per month for two adults, an 18 month old and a cat. This includes all toiletries, household stuff etc. We usually manage to stick to it, though sometimes will go over. We used to spend more thank this I reckon before dd was born.

I have found that menu planning and cooking more from scratch has really helped. We do still have some frozen stuff like sausages, chips, chicken nuggests but the rest is things that are easy to bulk cook and freeze like shepherds pie (though not in this hot weather!), spag bol, stirfrys, chilli. We also have one cheapie night a week which is beans on toast or beans & cheese on jacket potatoes. I have found that having a meal planner and bulk cooking has made my life easier as I work part-time and so don't always have masses of time to cook every meal from scratch.

I've tried internet shopping for the first time this month using Asda and a free delivery code, so shall see if that helps bring it down even further, I really hope so! We will still need to do a few top-up shops for fresh stuff like bread, milk, fruit etc but I can do that whilst OH is at work and so there is less temptation to buy extra and overspend (there won't be two of us to get tempted and I have to get it all back on foot with dd in her buggy).

hobo28

We spend out £80 a week for a family of 6.

I reckon we save an average of £20 per week by shopping at Aldi rather than Tesco's.

Its so easy to go into Tesco's and blow £20 when all you wanted was a pint of milk and a loaf of bread.