Food shopping

[Weenie19]

Out of interest how much do you spend weekly? (NOT including nappies and formula)

We are a family of 3 and I will soon be a SAHM. We are quite traditional and I will be taking hold of the household finances (food, bills etc) whilst my OH works.

I'm keen to stick to a budget but before I can set one I need some realistic figures.

Help would be appreciated. I would like to save a bit each month

MONEY SAVING TIPS ALWAYS WELCOME

 

[highhopes19]

Me and my oh have just moved out of my parents into our own place, we do our weekly shop in aldi, i was unsure as before at home we always shopped at places like morrisons but I was really surprised and I can't reccomend Aldi enough.

Our shopping comes to about £50 a week and that includes a good number of treats Aswell so we could deffinatly make it cheaper if we wanted to.

I always bulk buy on things like laundry liquids and toilet rolls etc when I see really good deals.

X

 

[Weenie19]

Me and my oh have just moved out of my parents into our own place, we do our weekly shop in aldi, i was unsure as before at home we always shopped at places like morrisons but I was really surprised and I can't reccomend Aldi enough.

Our shopping comes to about £50 a week and that includes a good number of treats Aswell so we could deffinatly make it cheaper if we wanted to.

I always bulk buy on things like laundry liquids and toilet rolls etc when I see really good deals.

X

Thank you for replying.

I think we currently spend around £70pw - thats in Tesco.

I like Aldi but Tesco is closer. Now I'll be a SAHM I can travel to Aldi. I'd love to get it under £50pw

 

[Rachel_C]

I spend £85 per week for a family of four (kids are 3.5 years and 21 months old). It doesn't include nappies or formula but does include all cleaning and washing stuff, a good number of treats and things we don't really need. I do a good amount of cooking from scratch, probably 5 out of 7 evening meals are from scratch but then the other two days we will have something like Tesco veggie range, OH will have some pre-prepared meat in sauce or something, the kids will have fish fingers and waffles etc. We get some basic things from the Tesco value range e.g. veg, pasta, flour, unsalted butter, cheese, biscuits; some things from the normal Tesco range e.g. butter-like spread; milk is organic, eggs are free range and I try to get decently farmed meat too. There are a few brands we always get like Heinz beans and ketchup, Andrex loo roll, Bisto gravy, Kingsmill bread, Coca Cola. I buy branded things in bulk or on special offers usually.

So, we have a good mix of value stuff, middle of the range and branded, plus things we don't need like fizzy drinks, biscuits and crisps. If we did everything as cheaply as possible, I am sure we could eat fine for £50 per week but I would miss things!

 

[catty]

I spend £200 per month, i try and average it to £50 per week but sometimes il spend £70 and the next week have a much cheaper week.

We get 3 meats for £10 which usually does 4 nights dinners,
lunch for oh, sauces,veg,chips etc to fill up meals and a good amount of juice,crisps and snacks. also a few frozen bits for rhe cant be bothered nights. we have not had baby yet but will buy a few packet of wipes per month to stock up and i get all our toiletries from that also.
i think we could easily spend much more but i just have to reign it in.

Forgot to mention we shop at asda

 

[topsy]

We spend £180 a month, I buy bits on offer whenever I see them.

We do the 3 meat for £10 too, and have done a shop at farm foods, and we got a lot of meat there.

We buy some value stuff toms, kidney beans, tissues, biscuits for DH work pack up, hot choc, cornflakes. But then we buy 6pts of organic milk a week that DH and LO get through.

We shop all over the place, Aldi, tesco, sainsburys, Iceland.

xxx

 

[lilmissdanni]

I'm going to brag....£25 pw for a family of 3!

What I do is write a list...but instead of putting specifics I put 3 x tea foods and when I'm in Tesco/aldi/lidl I look at the specials freeZers and fridges and see what's in there. I also look in reduced fridges and get stuff to freeze. Bogof's are fab to.

Don't stay loyal to one supermarket. Have a look online first for offers.

Also, cheap loo roll is all well and good but I discovered 4 rolls of andrex lasts as long as 10 Tesco everyday value and wasoonly a few pence dearer!

 

[aimee-lou]

I try to aim for £50 a week for the 4 of us. That's for all meals including packed lunches for hubby and Earl, plus the toiletries and kitchen stuff we may need. I try to stick to £10 a week on baby stuff and dog stuff combined (dog food is £5 every 2 weeks so it's not as cruel as it sounds lol)

I shop to a meal plan, which is very thorough, and a list. I buy toiletries from £ shops and when on offer. Most meat goes straight into the freezer batched into meal-sized portions so that I can simply grab and also there's less waste. We have 'fast food friday' most weeks, which is quite cheap - pizza, hot dogs or burgers for example and most of the time there's leftovers. I use leftovers or batch cook so we'll eat the same meal 2 nights running.

Most meals I cook completely from scratch - hubby is following the Hairy Bikers meal plan to lose weight and it really works. It's heavy on the fresh stuff. I do claim Healthy Start vouchers (get £9 a week) which are used towards milk, veg, fruit and when we used to buy it Formula.

Eating veggie is a good money saver too...meat is so expensive and a veggie stirfry is cheap and cheerful as well as tasty!

I bake a lot (when not on the diet) as does hubby. I tend to bake within budget, hubby goes a bit nuts and will try more exotic things lol. Baking pies, cakes and biscuits makes things go further, as well as being good fun to boot.

 

[lilmissdanni]

I try to aim for £50 a week for the 4 of us. That's for all meals including packed lunches for hubby and Earl, plus the toiletries and kitchen stuff we may need. I try to stick to £10 a week on baby stuff and dog stuff combined (dog food is £5 every 2 weeks so it's not as cruel as it sounds lol)

I shop to a meal plan, which is very thorough, and a list. I buy toiletries from £ shops and when on offer. Most meat goes straight into the freezer batched into meal-sized portions so that I can simply grab and also there's less waste. We have 'fast food friday' most weeks, which is quite cheap - pizza, hot dogs or burgers for example and most of the time there's leftovers. I use leftovers or batch cook so we'll eat the same meal 2 nights running.

Most meals I cook completely from scratch - hubby is following the Hairy Bikers meal plan to lose weight and it really works. It's heavy on the fresh stuff. I do claim Healthy Start vouchers (get £9 a week) which are used towards milk, veg, fruit and when we used to buy it Formula.

Eating veggie is a good money saver too...meat is so expensive and a veggie stirfry is cheap and cheerful as well as tasty!

I bake a lot (when not on the diet) as does hubby. I tend to bake within budget, hubby goes a bit nuts and will try more exotic things lol. Baking pies, cakes and biscuits makes things go further, as well as being good fun to boot.

Can I ask...are u claiming wtc coz we've been told we can't coz we are claiming wtc x

 

[Snow Owl]

Ignoring nappies, formula and other baby stuff £25 pw (although Dylan is probably not counted yet as he's eating so little).

We live off value ranges and meal plan. I don't buy anything that's not on my list unless its something we use regularly then ill stock up. For example we have tesco value pizza that we add extra cheese to. They were BOGOF for a month, so I bought LOTS!! Our freezer is now piled high with pizza, lol x

 

[aimee-lou]

I try to aim for £50 a week for the 4 of us. That's for all meals including packed lunches for hubby and Earl, plus the toiletries and kitchen stuff we may need. I try to stick to £10 a week on baby stuff and dog stuff combined (dog food is £5 every 2 weeks so it's not as cruel as it sounds lol)

I shop to a meal plan, which is very thorough, and a list. I buy toiletries from £ shops and when on offer. Most meat goes straight into the freezer batched into meal-sized portions so that I can simply grab and also there's less waste. We have 'fast food friday' most weeks, which is quite cheap - pizza, hot dogs or burgers for example and most of the time there's leftovers. I use leftovers or batch cook so we'll eat the same meal 2 nights running.

Most meals I cook completely from scratch - hubby is following the Hairy Bikers meal plan to lose weight and it really works. It's heavy on the fresh stuff. I do claim Healthy Start vouchers (get £9 a week) which are used towards milk, veg, fruit and when we used to buy it Formula.

Eating veggie is a good money saver too...meat is so expensive and a veggie stirfry is cheap and cheerful as well as tasty!

I bake a lot (when not on the diet) as does hubby. I tend to bake within budget, hubby goes a bit nuts and will try more exotic things lol. Baking pies, cakes and biscuits makes things go further, as well as being good fun to boot.

Can I ask...are u claiming wtc coz we've been told we can't coz we are claiming wtc x

At the moment yes, but only for the summer, then when hubby goes back to uni we wont be any more. They told me that they'll adjust my claim accordingly as and when we go on/off it. Before the summer we were only on CTC so were entitled and I still have this months (they always do run on lol).

 

[discoclare]

I don't really know, I just buy stuff! It doesn't help that we shop every day rather than weekly as we have a Sainsburys at the end of our road (and then other supermarkets: a couple of Tescos, a few more Sainsburys, an Aldi, an Iceland, an M&S foodhall all within 15 mins walk. We don't have a Morrisons or Asda within a mile, both would require tube/bus so I never do these. So the upside is that we don't have much wastage as we buy what we need for dinner that night usually on the same day, and also fruit and veg we just buy as we need (usually from fruit and veg shops instead of supermarket as there's one down our street which is much cheaper).
Still we must spend over 100 pounds a week I'm sure. We do buy cr*p that we don't need though like Ben&Jerrys, taste the difference desserts / Gu, wine etc. OH will only drink Tetley tea and premium coffees and we go through a ton of both since he is from Yorkshire so drinks loads of both and works from home!
Aldi is great for bargains for booze (not sure if you are drinkers or not, probably not much when you'll have a newborn anyway!) and their in store baked cookies are yummy.

 

[ellie27]

I spend around £80 per week on food, so not including nappies/wipes/washing powder etc.

Very little waste in this house, we have a chest freezer in the garage that is usually pretty full.

 

[chelseaharvey]

Family of 4 2 adults & a 9 year old & 26 month old

A week anywhere between £115-130 KRAZY

 

[calm]

Honestly: no idea. But I am loving this thread, and I am going to try to make more of a note of what we spend and try to be more thrifty!

 

[PitaPrincess]

Easily £75 a week for two of us- which I am now shocked at when I read what some of you are spending with two/three children.

We shop at Whole Foods usually- failing that it is M+S or Waitrose. Sometimes we get deliveries from Abel & Cole. Also doesn't help that we shop every day and not once/twice a week like many. It is just too convenient to walk down the road to M+S/Whole foods then it is to get into the car and drive to a larger supermarket

We predominately eat/drink organic though which does explain some of the expense.

 

[Wander2023]

For myself and fiancee, £20 pw plus another £10-15 on bits mid-week. I always stick to what essentials we need, and opt for the value brands (in our case morrisons 'savers' range) as there's nothing wrong with them at all.

Also it's worth checking the reduced sections, especially in the fridge section, where all the almost-out-of-date stuff goes. Can sometimes grab a bargain if you're lucky. Best in an evening around 7pm (varies with the supermarket). Had ready meals for 9p before, or posh ready meals for 49p, can just stick them in the freezer and eat whenever. Also 9p for 5 doughnuts.

 

[ShelbyLC]

After currency conversion - we spend £65 weekly on food and £25 on diapers, wipes, paper goods, etc.