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

superjaggybunnet

If you are buying organic and free range you are kidding yourself if you are feeding three for £35 a week I reckon.

Either that or you are permanently hungry!

pippamannequin

Me, Hubby,(big hubby) 2 kids (boys 14 and 11) 3 cats, max no more than £60 EVER!
Have no choice...you CAN do it if you want to! Loads and loads of info on here especially in the money saving old style board.
I dont have time to do much home cooking (ie cakes etc) but NEVER buy ready made meals..it IS possible..I promise!
hth

MortgageMamma

Tam_Lin wrote: »

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

My Hubby says to tell you he's not being funny but he would eat that in a day let alone a week LOL:D

Thanks - we tried quorn once and wouldnt feed it to the dogs. vile stuff.

Tam_Lin

MortgageMamma wrote: »

My Hubby says to tell you he's not being funny but he would eat that in a day let alone a week LOL:D

Thanks - we tried quorn once and wouldnt feed it to the dogs. vile stuff.

Fair enough His appetite might explain why your bills are so high I like quorn but each to their own.

MortgageMamma

Tamlin was that shop for one or two?

ailuro2

For two adults and one child I can get by on around $60 to $70 (sorry pound sign not working) in the supermarket if we don't need any cleaning stuff, shampoo etc, but then will be $20 or more in the butchers, and visit the local supermarket during the week for fresh bread,milk and a few extras-thats another tenner away.:rolleyes:

I could go shop at Lidl for some of the stuff, but it's further away,and working full time I find it hard to justify my time doing two shops to save a few pounds on veggies.

We used to have horrendously higher shopping bills- the big difference for us?

Menu plan and stick to it for making out the shopping list. Simple really.
Our typical week would be-

Homemade pizza-leftover dolmio for the sauce,tomato,spring onion,pepperoni and mozzarella
Pasta bolognese-dolmio sauce,needs 1/2 lb mince for dh:eek: he works physically for 12 hours shifts so this is a 'working ' tea.Me and dd prefer cheese sauce.
Chicken curry and rice-sauce from the Chinese because we can't find it anywhere else. $1.40 a carton.
Gammon,mash,peas- thick cut gammon from the butchers, ready made mash from Tesco 99p-saves all the peeling,boiling and leftover potatoes, so works well for us.
Soup and bread-dead easy,everyone's happy,made in ten minutes.:eek:
Tortillas- found adding lots more veggies with the meat makes it go further-pretty obvious but never thought of it before-we do this to be healthier/less fat;)
The last night is usually whatever odds and ends are lying aorund in the freezer- last night was sausages, but some weeks there will be spare food from when we didn't fancy pasta for tea and ended up having a sandwich instead, so we only plan 6 meals.

dh takes sandwiches to work, we are $8.25 per week for school dinners for dd.

Spendless

MortgageMamma wrote: »

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

Yes I do. I live in a large market town with a market that runs 3 days a week. I have bought 99.9% of my meat there for years. I really begrudge supermarket prices for meat. We often buy 3 joints (NZ lamb, pork shoulder, beef) for £10.

I'm not as good about buying my fruit and veg there, mainly because I am 5 miles from town centre and restricted by my DDS nursery hours and my college courses.

ailuro2

We have a farmer's market once a month:mad:

there is a 'sortof' farm shop quite near, ,but tbh I think a lot of their stuff is bought in and not stored properly- I try to just buy their locally produced stuff and freeze it to cut down on the visits.

liney

Originally Posted by 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

My Hubby says to tell you he's not being funny but he would eat that in a day


There are at least 8 meals for 2 there without trying!

Do you have cupboards and a freezer wedged with food? I would run down those then start planning exactly what you need to buy before you go shopping. For my husband, myself and son i spend about £50 per week, but this includes £10 wine/beer and all toiletries and cleaning products.

We eat one pasta meal per week, one eggs based meal which could be quiche, Omlette, etc. A roast, then a cold meat salad as a second meal, then the rest is a mixure of whatever we fancy.

I also provide packed lunch for myself and husband for work which is sandwiches/rolls, HM cake, fruit and yoghurt usually.

Tam_Lin

MortgageMamma wrote: »

Tamlin was that shop for one or two?

Shop for 2 adults. The quorn should last us a month or so as we won't eat it every day; the veg will get used up more quickly but that only really costs pennies and I can restock on the way home from work as and when needed. Anything left over will get turned into mystery soup and frozen. It doesn't include things like breakfast cereal or lunch stuff for DH. One of the reasons I've given up meat is because of the expense. I could quite easily look at all that and not have a clue how to turn it into a meal, particularly when I get in tired from work, but I planned yesterday for the week:

- Cauliflower and chickpea curry, with rice, cucumber and mint raita, and mango chutney (for 3)
- Dill stew made with onions, mushrooms, courgettes, leeks, and new potatoes
- Quorn tomato cheeseburgers with oven chips
- Potato, leek and broccoli gratin
- Quorn sausage casserole and herby dumplings
- Veggie lasagne or pasta bake - onions, red lentils, spinach, green beans
- Quorn fillets in a cream and wholegrain mustard sauce, with mash and peas

It's not as varied as I'd like, but DH doesn't like sweet vegetables apart from peas. Left to myself I'd also be eating sweet potatoes, sweetcorn, parsnips, carrots, kohlrabi etc. - I love my root veg. On the other hand, I don't particularly like the lettuce bits of salad so we're trying to find a compromise. A typical salad for us would be baby spinach, red onions, celery, cucumber, peppers, raw mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, hardboiled eggs, mozzarella or feta or halloumi, tzatziki, humus, fresh bread or torn toasted pittas etc. with a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing. DH has quite a big appetite but could eat bowl after bowl of salad until full.

DH has sandwiches, crisps, Snickers and apple for lunch; I don't eat much wheat, so I'll have a jacket potato or thick soup and some fruit or maybe just a bowl of porridge, depending on my mood.