How much for a family of 5?

shezzy

Just wondering how much we should be spending on a family of five,couple,two teenagers,child? in a week? at the moment we are spending £100 a week...is this too much do you think?

shezzy

oh and a dog and cat,birds,fish!

jcr16

there are loads of thread like this at the mo.

and it all really depends on what u eat .

with planning i can easily feed a family on 4 for under £200. this inculdes food for our 3 cats , all cleaning products and washing products etc.

but i find if i don't have any structure to how i shop and meal plan then i can easily spend £400-£500 and still not have anything in to eat.

meal planing and working out a proper shopping list is the way i can keep within my budget with ease.

Sassamac

I think theres no 'should' about it really, as everyone has different priorities with their grocery budget. for e.g. meat eaters would probably spend more than veggies, those who insist on organic food would pay more etc. Also depends how full your fridge / freezer / cupboards are too. As a guide we are a family of four and currently spend about £220 per month including nappies for the youngest. Im hoping to cut down to £150 by doing the grocery challenge.

pigpen

I spend approximately £300 a month for 10 of us.. 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 6 children.. 2 cats and 2 rabbits..

I bake our own bread.. bulk buy what I can and LOVE value items.. I am currently thinking of investing an a shopping trolley so I can visit Lidl's and hopefully save a few more pennies and buy better quality products.. though last time I went in there I had to find a Polish person to tell me what was in some of the items lol..

I am hoping to get myself up to Iceland once a week too.. that will save me a fortune over tesco prices!

I am not organised enough to meal plan very often.. though when I do I find it best to do a month at a time and go from there.. taking packed lunches etc into account too.

Fruball

We are 5 also - I usually spend £110 per week :eek: in the main shop plus Mr Frugal grabs things like bread and milk as we need them through the week. It has come down a lot tho as I used to spend a lot more than this and was very bad with throwing stuff away

I reckon I can get it down even more tho as I do hoard food and still always buy too much or don't use what I have

I am trying to get a grip on my food hoarding so sent Mr F out to do shopping over Christmas, with a list, so I didn't get carried away :rotfl: Mind you, he was no better as he came back with lots of brand thing when I would have picked cheaper products. All Swarsch (sp?) herbs etc when I would have bought Tesco own for a fraction of the price :rolleyes: Loads of dips when one pack was plenty and the other one is still in the fridge :rolleyes: Mr Frugal is NOT very frugal at all :mad:

We are due a shop soon tho so I am doing that one - I am going to keep it under £100 and aim for £90 for a while and see how I get on

StressedSteph

We are a family of four, although the two children are only toddlers. I am managing on £50 per week. Althought 90% of my shop is Tesco Value products.

xx

Fruball

I have 2 toddlers too

jcr16

i sort of have 2 toddler's. one is 4 and the other 2 and half.

i am a terrible food hoarder. but i keep telling myself i am building a store cupboard. so when i do have really tight week's, months it does help out. but if i didn't buy so much when i didn't need it then i would have more money , if that makes sence.

But it is nice to know, if i try i can do it.

for a few months back in 2005 we had just £100 a month for me , hubby , 1 yr old and 4 cats's. and we ate really really well. but i had to. it amazing when u have to stick to a certain budget how it can bring out a side in u , u never knew u had. i did enjoy it. i feel wastefull sometime's now.

lil_me

Maybe do a list of what you buy and what you make with it, see if anyone can help. Got to say Pigpen is an inspiration on this because she spends about what I do feeding 4 on feeding 10 That's after I have reduced the spending a lot. Things that have helped me a lot is reducing waste, reducing portion sizes (helping the waists too ) and stopping being a brand snob.

It's hard saying what someone should spend as everyone has access to different shops, markets, offers etc and we all have different needs. What about joining the grocery challenge? Thread is at the top of this forum section.

earthmother

I'm having to make a big review of our shopping lists - we are 5 - 2 adults, and three kids (6.5,4 and 21mths), and the budget currently stands at £50 a week (plus nappies and toiletries, which I bulk buy so budget for separately).


We are just staying within budget since the milk and bread hikes - it's scary to think a basic loaf I was paying 47p for in July cost me 62p yesterday :eek:

We buy the cheapest we can find, but at the moment we go through best part of 6 pints and a loaf every day, so that's (call it) £15 straightaway (assuming I can get at least some reduced bits).
Add cheese, cooked meats and other packed lunch/sandwich bits, and there's another £15 - so I've already spent over half the budget and not even cooked a meal or washed any clothes :eek:


But, as said, at the moment we are ok - mainly with careful use of the reduced sections and various offers stuffed into the freezers - but I would much prefer another £20-odd each week to play with.

shezzy

Thanks for all your replies.....got some idea's now:j

shezzy