Normal Food Shopping

quantic

I appreciate that this is probably badly placed here, but bare with me... I didn't want to put this in the section where people try to spend like £50 a month on food, because I wanted to get people to reply who spend 'normally' so to speak.

We currently spend about £380 a month in the Supermarket, this includes all food for the house, stuff like Toothpaste, Toilet Roll etc too also all food for Lunches at work, we don't buy anything outside of the weekly shop.

I have read a lot of threads where people say stuff like, "God you spend £100 feeding a family of 4, we only spend £40..." well our diets obviously differ greatly, so I wanted to see how much regular people spend, who are not on a super saving mission.

£380 seems like a lot, but when you factor in breakfast, lunch and tea its only about £3 a meal. I literally don't get how these people spend £100 on a family of 4, are they eating pea soup every night?

We typically eat well, 95% home made, think we have had a ready made meal twice in 2 years. We don't really skimp on stuff, and buy brand names for everything (we are just a couple for reference).

So, how much do you guys spend?

elantan

For myself and oh we're £280 a month ... And I feel we dont eat as well as I would like tbh

I too am surprised by a lot of people than can feed an army on less than myself ... I've tried and tried to cut back but truthfully I feel we should be spending more as we arnt as healthy as I would like

nfollows1982

I think it's a bit of an unfair question really, to basically describe those who chose/have to budget as abnormal!

What is normal to you?

IMHO, £380.00 a month is an astronomical amount to spend on food shopping for a family of 2 adults, but that £380.00 maybe entirely reasonable with your monthly budget.

We all earn differently, have many different levels of outgoings and everyone, whether 'normal' or not, will budget differently.

There are 2 adults and 3 kids under 10 living in our house and we spend, including toiletries, £250 a month on shopping and that includes pack lunch 5 days a week for me and the 3 kids.

We don't have a freezer full of ready meals, the kids have a good and balanced diet and a varied pack up each day.

That budget is because we HAVE to budget because of debt, but before that our monthly shopping budget was only £400.00 a month including toiletries.

Like I say, what people choose to spend or can afford to spend on shopping varies greatly from household to household.

pawsies

Have you tried cooking a huge portion and freezing some, works out cheaper.

Also for branded stuff look at offers, go to home bargains/b&m (if you have these) as they can be a lot cheaper.

If you're set on using just one supermarket and no others then you probably won't reduce the cost as much as shopping around would but again you could buy large quantities for cooking and freeze some for meals meaning you spend less the next month.

peachyprice

Firstly, how many people and what ages are you? Without that info it's difficult to compare.

We're a family of 5, me, OH, 2 x 17yo boys and an 11yo girl.
We spend £580-£600 a month, that includes OH's lunches and DD's lunches, the boys get an additional £10 week for lunch at college.

I cook mostly home made from scratch, a max 1 ready meal a week, which is usually indian on a Saturday night for my night off of cooking, although recently we've come to the conclusion that it would probs be cheaper to order a take away.

I bake every weekend, bread or rolls for lunches, cakes for OH's lunch box and 1 or 2 family cakes for the week. We eat meat or fish every night, unless it's pizza night and usually have a small dessert most nights. We have fresh veg with most meals, except mash cos I just can't make it without lumps.

Also included in our shop is £12 pet food, all cleaning and laundry stuff and the copius amounts of toiletries two 17yo's and an 11yo get through!

I too really don't know how people do it on tiny amounts. I think the least I can get away with spending for a week is £90, that's if I use stuff in the freezer for most meals, but I couldn't sustain that week in, week out.

peachyprice

pawsies wrote: »

Have you tried cooking a huge portion and freezing some, works out cheaper.

Also for branded stuff look at offers, go to home bargains/b&m (if you have these) as they can be a lot cheaper.

If you're set on using just one supermarket and no others then you probably won't reduce the cost as much as shopping around would but again you could buy large quantities for cooking and freeze some for meals meaning you spend less the next month.

I don't think OP was asking because she wanted to cut back.

Gillyx

2 and a half here, but the way he's going it'l be 3 soon enough. We spend roughly £150-£200 a month I'd say.

I bulk buy cleaning products/toilet rolls etc at Makro when I can. So very seldom will I need that stuff in the normal shop.

I do a big shop fortnightly and then dribs and drabs as and when. I go to the greengrocer for fruit and veg. I'm a SAHM though so I do have the time to search out the bargains.

I eat well, I'm doing Slimming World so, need to buy fresh meat, fruit and veg etc. I don't buy many treats for me, only for OH which he takes for his packed lunch. We don't buy any fizzy juice etc so I suppose that helps keep ours down.

I'm happy with the amount I spend, I could easily spend more, but I don't want to, I'd rather have that money for other things.

quantic

nfollows1982 wrote: »

I think it's a bit of an unfair question really, to basically describe those who chose/have to budget as abnormal!

What is normal to you?

IMHO, £380.00 a month is an astronomical amount to spend on food shopping for a family of 2 adults, but that £380.00 maybe entirely reasonable with your monthly budget.

We all earn differently, have many different levels of outgoings and everyone, whether 'normal' or not, will budget differently.

There are 2 adults and 3 kids under 10 living in our house and we spend, including toiletries, £250 a month on shopping and that includes pack lunch 5 days a week for me and the 3 kids.

We don't have a freezer full of ready meals, the kids have a good and balanced diet and a varied pack up each day.

That budget is because we HAVE to budget because of debt, but before that our monthly shopping budget was only £400.00 a month including toiletries.

Like I say, what people choose to spend or can afford to spend on shopping varies greatly from household to household.

Perhaps normal was a bad choice of word, lets try not to get caught up in syntax though, I think you know what I meant - normal/generally/mainstream.. People who are somewhere in the middle, not reckless and not desperately saving. Common ground.

quantic

peachyprice wrote: »

I don't think OP was asking because she wanted to cut back.

Believe it or not I'm actually the male . I cook in our house mostly though, to keep things more even, plus I enjoy it.

It was just to try and gauge where other people are at. Not sure if we should be concerned or it is acceptable.

tyllwyd

I feel as if we are constantly running to stand still when it comes to groceries - we are much more careful than we were a few years ago, throw away much less food and have a lot more nights where we have a lighter meal like pasta rather than meat & two veg, changed to cheaper brands for some things, but every time we make a saving, it seems that food prices go up to match so the bills never come down.

I'm going to come clean (I've never posted this before because I think it will make people faint) but for a family of 4, we spend £600 per month on a good month, going up to £800 on an expensive month. That includes groceries, stuff for lunches, toiletries, a takeaway maybe once a month and sometimes clothes, magazines, newspapers, dvds etc. If we have friends or family to stay, it goes through the roof!

[But PLEASE don't give me tips on how to cut down by batch cooking, or making lentil soup to last the family all week, or whatever else! And I've tried shopping in Lindl / Aldi but all that happens is that no-one likes the food and it gets thrown away.]

VestanPance

I live alone and average about £90 a month. I could easily cut that back if I wanted to budget. I do cook from scratch for my meals and I don't drink at home, so having no alcohol in the shopping trolley would help to keep my costs down compared to some folk.