Grocery budget for family of 6?

Jo_R_2

Hi all

What do you thihnk is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries for a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 kids aged 7, 4, 2 and 8 months?

We spend anywhere between £55- £80 per week, then usually top up at the weekend anything up to £20.

This includes nappies for the 2 youngest, 3 x packed lunches for OH and the oldest 2 kids during the week, and cleaning stuff, household products, and toiletries.

We're a mix of meat eaters (OH and the youngest two) and veggies (me and the oldest two.) I usually do a meat 'main' and a veggie 'main' but the rest of the meal the same, eg I'll make a chilli, split the sauce in two, and cook one with beef mince, and the other with soya mince.

I tend to make treats myself, like biscuits, bun cakes and cookies where I can. I'd like to look at maybe making other stuff myself but not sure how much more economical something like, say, making our own bread would be?

Clowance

Sounds pretty good. We spend £100 pw for everything for 2 adults and 2 teens (1 hollow legged) but I know that over on the old style board people manage for much less. It depends on how much time you have to make stuff yourself, and how much space to store offers. HTH

flippin36

Sounds good to me too. Thats our budget for 2 adults 2 children plus a dog and nappies to buy. You could try, if you aren't already, to shave a bit off by looking in other places for toiletries and cleaning stuff (£shops, wilkinsons, homebargains etc). Loo Rolls are much cheaper in those shops. I always chase the nappy offers, I resent paying full price for them.

TryingHardToSave_2

I think thats really good. We are a family of 5, 2 adults and a 7, 5 and 18 month old all boys lol. We spent upto £70 a week and that also includes pet food, nappies, wipes, household cleaning and toiletries

I find meal planning, writing lists, shopping around and withdrawing the cash before shop helps be alot.

CountingPennies

We are a family of 5. I do a "big shop" when i get paid which usually includes topping up on major stuff such as washing powder, cleaning stuff ect and i normally spend around £70. Then for the rest of the month i usually spend £30-£40 a week on getting my fresh meats, veg, fridge stuff. I keep my eye open for special offers and tend to make most meals from scratch as i find it cheaper and more healthy.

I never used to shop like this. I used to spend around £100 a week then i would spend another £30ish through the week and that was when there was only 4 of us! Then my husband lost his job (the day after my son was born, yikes!) and i seriously had to learn how to budget. Even tho now we are both working, i've stuck to cooking from scratch and saving money. I must admit, at first i thought cooking from scratch was expensive but that was because i never had any of the basic herbs, spices and things like that. What i learnt was yeah its a lot to pull out at first....but then because it last so long you definatly save in the long run!

Sounds to me like you are doing a fine job with your budget for 6. I echo what others say when it comes to meal planning, taking money out before you go shopping rather than just using a debit card. Then you know how much you have to spend and are much likely stay within budget.

ixia

I think that's pretty good for 6, there are 5 of us and I spend between £80-£100 on weekly shop with top ups through the week ranging from £20-£40 and that's me spending less than before.

there is still room for improvement I am working on it.

Jo_R_2

Good to know what other people spend.

I think part of my problem in wondering lies in the fact I meal plan for the weekdays, but the weekends don't get planned. We go out and about a lot, and prefer not to cook (as much as we can get away with anyway!) So whilst I am quite disciplined during the week, the weekends are not so good, the top is usually something to make dinner on a Saturday, then possibly again on a Sunday. So we can definitely work on that. To avoid doing too much cooking I was thinking some batch-cooked stuff could be defrosted.

The other problem is I still expect to be spending the same amount as when there was 4/5 of us. Sounds silly but I am realising it is impossible to spend the same yet buy an extra lot of nappies, wipes and any other baby stuff for the same amount of money, and the 2-year-old eats fairly good size portions.

I used to do the "cash only" route when I only had two, found it really helped being disciplined, with the menu planning and shopping lists. I may take that up again but will involve a little more time than I currently spend.

mummyroysof3

there is 5 of us and i do a tesco order every 10 days then maybe spend £10-£20 per week on top of that, this includes nappies and wipes, pet food/litter, alcohol, cleaning stuff..basically everything lol

our problem is i dont cook from scratch enough and hubby and kids are too fussy, i need help cos i really would like to improve it

Gothicfairy

You could try soap nuts..They really cut down a massive amount spent on washing powder and are kinder to skin.

How about re usable cotton nappies ? Some areas do a weekly cleaning route as part of the council scheme.

Have you tried replacing soya mince with lentils or pulses ?

Leftovers for packed lunches..try making stuffed bread as that uses all manner of things and I haven't met anyone who doesn't like then.

Normal pizza dough divided into small balls ( once risen) roll the balls flat and fill the middle with pesto, pizza sauce, cheese etc etc ...form back into ball and cook on medium high heat for about 10 minutes.
add a small bowl of cottage cheese or salsa and you have a great sandwich replacement.

I also make things like nut roast or meat loaf and have that cold with bread or a salad

soccermom

We, that's me, hubby, and 3 sons (22, 17 and 16) my 4 men eat for England and then some, I can't keep 1 of them full for any length of time and not a scrap of fat on them

I spend anything from £120-£150 that includes top ups during the week, hubbies beer and kids rubbish (sweets, pop etc) all toiletries etc

I can get that down easy and have tried but they moan there's no food in :eek: what they mean is anything they can stick in the microwave or cupboard to gob in 10 seconds.

eeeeeee

goodluck with it