average bill for a family of 4......is?

boydE

Food is getting very expensive, my average bill is £80pw and I always spend another £20 throughout the week, £100 on food and that is watching what goes in the trolley, so what do you spend?

sleepyme

I spend £20 on my main shop and £10 during the week if needed.

We are a family of 4 and I have to make sure I budget well due to money being tight. I always take a shopping list and make sure I stick to it. I only buy what I need for that week so there is no waste. I actually find it quite easy to stick to.

recovering_spendaholic

I used to spend more than that and there are only three of us and two dogs, however by joining the grocery challenge and the eating out the freezer and cupboards I have managed to get my spending down to around £300, and I am hoping to go lower. The problem is that I have VERY fussy teenagers and they won't eat the sort of cheaper casserolee-type meals, and one won't eat anything in sauce, like pasta bakes etc.

There are loads of people on here who seem to manage on very little money and I admire them because I just can't seem to. I meal plan and shop according to the meal plan but it is still expensive. I spend £12 a week on milk alone. I have been thinking about a breadmaker or a slow cooker but don't know how much use they would get, plus the fact that the breadmaker would only encourage me to eat loads of bread and butter, particularly if it's hot and crusty!!

boydE

sleepyme wrote: »

I spend £20 on my main shop and £10 during the week if needed.

We are a family of 4 and I have to make sure I budget well due to money being tight. I always take a shopping list and make sure I stick to it. I only buy what I need for that week so there is no waste. I actually find it quite easy to stick to.

how can you do it, well done :money:
just my fruit and veg costs about £25

boydE

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

I used to spend more than that and there are only three of us and two dogs, however by joining the grocery challenge and the eating out the freezer and cupboards I have managed to get my spending down to around £300, and I am hoping to go lower. The problem is that I have VERY fussy teenagers and they won't eat the sort of cheaper casserolee-type meals, and one won't eat anything in sauce, like pasta bakes etc.

There are loads of people on here who seem to manage on very little money and I admire them because I just can't seem to. I meal plan and shop according to the meal plan but it is still expensive. I spend £12 a week on milk alone. I have been thinking about a breadmaker or a slow cooker but don't know how much use they would get, plus the fact that the breadmaker would only encourage me to eat loads of bread and butter, particularly if it's hot and crusty!!

lol, my kids are not keen on stews, soups, they call it pauper food
perhaps i could try a shop in lidl but they just dont have the range as the bigger supermarkets.

teacherandmum

there are 2 adults , a 4 yo and a 1yo and 2 cats in our family and my monthly bill for this month has been £219. might need to spend another tenner on milk and bread and fruit during this week before october starts.
i do a big ASDA delivery shop on the first of the month (well the friday nearesst the 1st) for about £100 and then top up with £20 shops for fruit,veg,milk,bread,yogurts....we only have a eurospar and a coop close to ujs so i use them for the top ups. sometimes travel the 20 miles to the Aldi if we are travelling in that direction.
i meal plan on a Sunday for the following week with what i've got in the cupboards/freezer etc
dh eats at work, i take packed lunch, dd1 has school dinners (£10 a week), dd2 has dinner at nursery (included in nursery fees)

so including the school dinners and the extra £10 i'll rpob spend this week, it'll be £269. (includes cat food and all household cleaning stuff and toilet rolls)

katierose1_2

How do you all spend so little - we are a family of 4 (2 adults, a 5 year old and a 15month old and a cat) and spend around 700pound a month! Although hoping this month will be a bit less as i have started couponing!!!

TIA

teacherandmum

just as an example katierose
31st august - ASDA delivery - lots of smartprice/meat/fruit/veg/cleaners/ - £109
6th sept -spar - milk -97p
9th sept - coop - milk/bread/yougurts - £8.42
11th sept -aldi -cheese/yogurts/cold meats/bread/snacks/fruit and veg...... - £29.86
15th sept -spar - tuna, milk, bread, crisps- £10.17
16th sept - coop - pizza, frozen chips, icecreams (treats to eat out at friends house) - £16.05
18th sept - aldi - bread, milk, ypugurt, cheese, cold meat, snacks, fruit and veg.... - £18.94
22nd sept - cargill (chicken factory shop) - frozen pies, chiken breasts, southern fried chicken fillets, pizza, ready to eat chicken bits, cheese, frozen sweetcorn, eclairs, gammon joint.... - £24.18
23rd sept - yogurts - £2

HTH - this is my first month of keeping track of spends and keeping the recipets to see what we got.
DH drinks lager most weekends but buys this out of his own account!!

Visiondvd

A lot.Too Much

kippers

I spend approx £300 p/m and that includes food, toiletries, cleaning things etc and anything i need for my allotment (seeds, fertilisers etc). We are a family of four (2 adults 2 dd's aged 11 & 13 yrs). My dd2 has a diary intolerance so the marg, milk & choc are diary free and do cost more but i also bake nearly everything from scratch ie bread, pies, pizza, sauces, biscuits, puddings and cakes etc. My £300 includes breakfasts, packed lunches and dinners at night and all snacks.

I also have 3 allotments so i don't buy fruit, salads & veg in the summer and only a small amount in the winter. I preserve what i can, i make jams, pickles and chutneys and freeze loads ready for the winter.

I clean using bi-carb, lemon juice and olive oil.

I look for offers on luxury items that my family like ie pepsi was on BOGOF in sainsburys this week so i bought 24 bottles.

I use 'my supermarket' to compare prices before shopping and try and shop once per month and then just buy eggs and milk from our local aldi. I take part in the 'grocery challenge' too

I spent hours reading the 'old style' forum to pick up as many tips as possible. I'm sure i could cut down further but i think £300 p/m is comfortable for us.

Visiondvd

kippers wrote: »

I look for offers on luxery items that my family like ie pepsi was on BOGOF in sainsburys this week so i bought 24 bottles.

My house Pepsi is on tap.