Weekly food costs

[ILoveLeith]

We’re a family of 3, daughter is 15, plus we host 2 students approximately 4 months of the year, I mostly cook from scratch but we do have pizzas, burgers and the like each week as well. Our weekly shopping bill averages out just over £85.00 per week, I do one big shop at Lidl each week and a few top up shops for milk, bread & fruit.

I’m quite sad as I have a spreadsheet & tally up all my receipts in this which is why I know how much I’m spending. The weekly shop has steadily gone up by £2-3 each year.

We don’t eat out that often and take packed lunches to work / school.

[Guest]

Two adults. I have been doing a Tesco online shop for the last few months. It comes to between £60 - £80 per week depending on whether I need to get household items like kitchen roll, dishwasher tabs etc. as well. This is all meals including stuff for DH to cook up some lunches to take to work and I do a huge weekly batch of chicken, rice and vegetables for the dogs’ dinners. I buy cheap chicken for the dogs.

Doesn’t include any alcohol and we might have one take out night so the total would be a touch higher but £120 seems a lot to me.

[JLH]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I have Prime so it's the next day delivery and I only do that if I know I am in. If I have plans then I select a different day. I don't select a specific time slot - in fact I don't know if you can.

We are fortunate as our Neighbour is a stay at home Dad so we help each other out with taking in deliveries.

I don't think for most things that Amazon Pantry is brilliant value. Some things are though.

Another thing I do is get all toiletries from Superdrug. Free delivery and I only buy when stuff is half price. Hence why I currently have 20 Right Guard deodorants!

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thank you - I have prime too so if I order it for on a Friday it should be ok coming Saturday - I also do a job lot of toiletries from superdrug and also when only half price !

[ely3857]

We spend £75pw on food for 2a2c (& we eat gluten free which is more expensive) and £100pm on the household items. I get everything from Asda via click & collect as my time is worth more to me than shopping (a task I despise) daily or dealing with a budget supermarket like Aldi/Lidl. If I’m out and about near one of those I will pop in as their GF cookies are pretty nice but that’s once in a blue moon. No alcohol as we don’t drink and DD2 has school dinners.

Meal wise we have a couple of curries a week, a couple of pasta dishes. Burgers is a favourite and a roast on Sunday. Pizza night is Saturday.

[Michyloulou]

We spend anywhere between £150-£200 per week (+ £10-£15 ‘top-up’ shop for extra milk, bananas, & other bits). That’s for 2 adults, 4 children although it’s more like catering for 5 adults, 1 child.
I do a mixture of cooking from scratch & ready meals like pizza & macaroni cheese. I have to say my weekly spend includes all toiletries, laundry supplies, alcohol, the latter of which we don’t buy every week. I keep meaning to separate one of my delivery notes from Tesco into food & non food items to see what I actually spend on food! Being a large family & having muddy football kits & oily workwear (DH), I seem to get through washing gel & Lenor every week, and a box of limescale tablets once a fortnight (own brand).
DH works permanent lates & takes 2 sets of pack-up most days, so i like to get a good varied selection for him as he only eats hot meals twice per week (although recently I have persuaded him to have soup, a bacon sandwich or beans on toast or something before leaving for work). DH also likes those disposable 1-cup coffees from Tesco (10 in a box for £2.20 & sometimes he’ll get through 2 boxes a week - still much cheaper than buying numerous coffees at service stations). DS (17yrs this year) eats a massive breakfast & a ton of fruit every day due to the amount of exercise & football he plays. Me & 2 youngest DD’s take a pack-up most days (I pay for 1 school meal a week each). On top of this my 2 eldest at secondary school have money paid onto their Parentpay accounts for the odd extra snack & drink.
Another thing that costs me a fortune is cereal - everyone seems to like different things. DH insists on branded as says own brand taste like cardboard.
I used to think that once the kids were out of nappies & I was no longer buying powdered milk that I’d be quids in - they just cost me more in volume of food consumed now! Being the School holidays this week, they’ll be eating me out of house & home!

[klr15]

Originally Posted by ely3857

We spend £75pw on food for 2a2c (& we eat gluten free which is more expensive) and £100pm on the household items. I get everything from Asda via click & collect as my time is worth more to me than shopping (a task I despise) daily or dealing with a budget supermarket like Aldi/Lidl. If I’m out and about near one of those I will pop in as their GF cookies are pretty nice but that’s once in a blue moon. No alcohol as we don’t drink and DD2 has school dinners.

Meal wise we have a couple of curries a week, a couple of pasta dishes. Burgers is a favourite and a roast on Sunday. Pizza night is Saturday.

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I eat gluten free too due to my coeliac and other half also eats gluten free along with me.

I do agree it has put my shop up a bit so we try to eat mainly naturally gluten free stuff as it is too much! The main gluten free bits we buy are pasta, pizza bases, granola, bread, buns and a couple of treats like cakes or biscuits and m&s tempura chicken and goujons. We do a gluten free shop every couple of weeks to top up this stuff and those weeks are always the most expensive!

[cybermum]

Family of 5 - 3 adults 2 kids (one of which is a bottomless teen) and we spend average between £100-120 a week . We have a dog also.
DH is a chef and Italian so pasta features a lot as everyone loves it and everything is cooked from scratch. We also are experts of making the cheapest cuts of meat taste fantastic . DH is Sicilian and grew up in dire poverty so we are mindful of waste and ensuring we don't waste money either when there is no need to.
Meals out /odd takeaway not included but average an extra £100 a month on top ballpark.

[spongebob10]

We are the same as you, cook fresh meals most nights. Shop at Aldi which is fantastic value and good quality/tasting food. Weekly shop includes steak, fish, chicken, lunches for us both (falafels, salad, chicken slices) etc. We spend a maximum of £85 per week. This included wine/beer some weeks and also cleaning products etc. If you have one local I would definitely recommend.

[Jan]

I don’t have a clue how much we spend but it is a lot of money. We have pension money (not a great deal but very adequate for two retirees). Living here are three adults and a thirteen year old GDS who munches his way through enough to feed two hungry hard working adults. We are buying all the food and household items. Plus the utility bills will have doubled at least! There is no money left at the end of the month, even shopping at Aldi now. The third adult is our DS who is doing his best to try and find a reasonably well paid job so he can afford to look after DGS.

We are all keeping our fingers etc crossed.

[LizzyBear]

Family of 5 here, kids are 3, 5 and 8. I budget £100 but generally spend about £80. We have dinner at my parents' one night a week, DD1 and OH have packed lunches and DD2 has free school lunch as she's in infants. I shop at Aldi, Lidl or Asda and always have a list and meal plan.