How much should 1 weeks groceries for a family of five cost?

MortgageMamma

I live semi rurally so our nearest corner shop is 3 miles away. It must cost me £2 every time i start the car up to drive there and back cos we have run out of something

My neighbour who has 3 kids 2 dogs and a wife also spends £160 which is a lot

The problem is in the supermarket there seems to be so much temptation. I've read a lot on this site about shopping in Aldi or liddle but


1. The price of the meat is pretty much the same as anywhere else
2. they dont have enough stuff there to make meals for a whole week IMO - whenever I shop there I spent about £22 and come out with next to nothing
3.I dont think the veg or salad/fruit is any cheaper than asda

So, does anyone shop there regularly? what do you buy?

tarajayne

poe.tuesday wrote: »

There are 4 of us (two kids 7 and 9), 1 dog, 4 cats and some fish

I make all my food from fresh, I do not buy any ready meals or anything like chicken nuggets, I also give the children packed lunches

I too used to spend about £150 per week on food, sometimes more, but now that I have menus set up and only do a weekly shop, which involves buying only the food we actually need (thus no waste or eating just because it will go off if you don't type of case) I have got this down to between £50 and £80 per week, I also buy fresh organic meats and dairy produce.

It is amazing how much you can save just by getting to products you actually need and you will only know this if you plan ahead - cutting back on cost does not mean you have to cut back on quality of on the amount you actually eat, you are cutting back on the products you don't need.

Once every 3 months or so I will do a mass cook up making chilli, curry, paprika chicken etc, as with conradmum I use the chicken bones to make stock, ok so stock cubes are not expensive you may say, but you wouldn't want to make chicken raman with stock cubes :eek: just chuck in some chicken, baby spinage, sweetcorn and noodles and you have a great raman, little cost, hearty and homemade.

It's all about planning, being savvy and resourceful

:A

Sigh ! Why do some women sound so efficient !

MortgageMamma

I suppose it would help if I could actually cook!

lil_me

I don't use Aldi or LIDL much either as when I compare prices they either about the same or sometimes more expensive. Ok if there are offers on can be cheaper. I have spent £200 a week before admittedly, wouldn't believe it looking at my signature would you ?

What worked for me

1. Meal plans - couldn't thank them enough
2. Cooking from scratch, no more jar sauces etc
3. Setting myself a budget to make me be more careful
4. Making a waste list, just the thought of having to write on it puts me off wasting! Another one I will confess to, at least £20 a week in wasted food at one point.

All of these I wouldn't have tried without using the OS board.

I couldn't cook before, trust me even mashed potato was beyond me, but I tried failed, tried again and laughed that failure off until I eventually got it right. Yorkshire puddings were hilarious, the first day they went right and did rise I put them too high in the oven and burned them :rotfl: I worked cooking many years ago but everything had a set recipe and way of cooking, so was hard to fail.

We actually eat better now. DP has lost over a stone in a couple of months because of this. Plus I know what goes in our food.

Tam_Lin

Don't know if this will help, but I tallied up today's shopping. The first figures are for Farmfoods, Lidl and a local Turkish supermarket, the second are for the equivalent in Sainsburys, and the third are for how much I saved: £32 instead of £49, so saved 1/3 by shopping locally.

2 x Goodfella pizzas £2.00 £4.30 -£2.30
Quorn sausages x 2 £2.50 £3.58 -£1.08
Quorn burgers x 2 £2.70 £3.18 -£0.48
Dale pak veg fingers £1.00 £1.99 -£0.99
Ross veg pieces £1.00 £3.98 -£2.98
Quorn mince x 2 £3.00 £3.98 -£0.98
Quorn fillets x 2 £3.00 £3.90 -£0.90
2L cloudy lemonade £0.39 £0.48 -£0.09
Courgettes £0.24 £0.64 -£0.40
Apples £1.19 £1.68 -£0.49
Cupasoup £0.39 £0.89 -£0.50
Tomato paste £0.24 £0.24 £0.00
Mushrooms £0.85 £0.67 £0.18
Noodles £0.39 £0.52 -£0.13
Cheddar £2.39 £2.65 -£0.26
Salami x 2 £1.98 £2.14 -£0.16
Frozen mixed veg £0.75 £0.79 -£0.04
3 x pasta £1.00 £1.11 -£0.11
Cherry juice £0.29 £0.25 £0.04
Apricot juice £0.29 £0.25 £0.04
Yoghurt £1.25 £1.50 -£0.25
Green lentils £0.89 £0.75 £0.14
Fresh ginger £0.12 £0.19 -£0.07
Fresh dill £0.69 £1.30 -£0.61
3 red onions £0.47 £1.28 -£0.81
6 grapefruit £1.00 £1.12 -£0.12
2 leeks £0.40 £1.80 -£1.40
Baby potatoes £0.79 £1.50 -£0.71
5 avocadoes £1.00 £1.95 -£0.95
Cauliflower £0.39 £1.39 -£1.00
Cucumber £0.29 £0.42 -£0.13

£32.88 -£17.54

poe.tuesday

I am very rural, the supermarket is 5 miles away and it's 3 miles to the local shop

I get tescos to deliver once a week and use the online codes that you can get, either for money off your shop or for points and we only go to the local shop once ever 3 days to pick up mile, however this does not need doing either as if you have a large freeze you can buy enough milk for the week and freeze it

I don't go to Lidl because they do not have the products I want, and certainly not all of them so I stick with Tescos, but remember, you do not have to sacrifice quality when you are budgetting (and no, I am not saying that shopping in Lidl is sacrificing quality ;-) )

skylight

I do my shop in Tesco. Local farm shop etc is pretty naff here and not any more cheaper or environmentally friendly (most stuff is still shipped in!)

We have 7 - 2 adults, 2 teens, 2 young ones and a babe. Including nappies, toiletries a good week for us is about £60 and a bad one (when we stock up) is about £80-90.

The key is planning. You MUST plan what you are going to eat for each meal and write out a list accordingly. We don't snack in our house either, unless its on fruit (and I am still fat....)

MortgageMamma

Does anyone shop at farmers markets or just ordinary markets for food?

Penny-Pincher!!

We are a family of 3 and we spend on average £35pw....we eat well and eat loads of fruit and veg. I try and buy organic and free range food when we can (usually when reduced) but I mealplan each week.

18 months ago I was spending £100+ each week and was an M&S snob:o

PP
xx

Alikay

I spend about £80 a week for DH and me, and kids (well, adults as far as eating goes!) age 18, 16 and 13 plus the cat. The kids each have an additional £10-12 a week for lunch at school/college, but I let them pocket a couple of quid of that if they make a packed lunch 1 or 2 days.

It includes all cleaning stuff, basic toiletries, loo rolls and odds & ends like newspapers, birthday cards, the odd few cans of beer etc.

I CAN manage to get it down by another £20 by careful shopping, but if I try any lower we get fed up, fall off the wagon and blow loads on a takeaway!!