How much is your weekly food shop (and let’s see inside your fridge)
February 21, 2012 at 8:47 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 9 CommentsTags: butcher, fishmonger, food bill, Food shopping, grocery bill, supermarket shop, weekly shop
I got talking to @mummy_blogger on Twitter last week about how much our weekly shopping bills are. Admittedly she has her work cut out for her with special dietary requirements in the family and food shopping prices have sky-rocketed over the past few years – as has everything unfortunately.
When she said her weekly food shop was £120 I was convinced that mine was half that – surely I couldn’t be spending the best part of £500 a month on food?! We are both families of three so we should have similar outlays. Both of our children are just in nappies at night, we both use a local butcher and us a fishmongers too. I wish we had a local green grocers – when we visit family in London I’m always jealous of the rows and rows of fresh fruit and veg lining the streets.
So I’ve started keeping a note of how much we’re spending on food – I’ve totted up the total for the past month and it equates to about £75 a week (I’ve deducted about £50 for the new electric toothbrush I bought, dry cleaning, a birthday present and a few other things).
Things like washing powder and dishwasher tablets always add to the bill so I try to buy them when there’s a half price offer on – sometimes we have none, sometimes we have four packs!!! I used to spend about £10-£15 a week on wine and we’ve cut that down to a maximum of £5 a week since Christmas (well I have, husband was never a big drinker but I was a big glass a night girl).
I haven’t included the takeaway we had at the weekend, or food we’ve bought on the go like sandwiches or snacks – thoughts on whether that should come in the budget?! Do you have a weekly budget? If so, how much?!
And, do post a pic of the contents of your fridge/favourite recipe/money-saving tip and so on…
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I amazed that a family of 3 can spend £120 on food….they must be eating far better food than us! I spend around £100 per week for a family of 5 (including an 11 year old boy who tries to eat me out of house & home)…I usually shop at Asda with a carefully prepared list and spend £85-£100 per week…this week I shopped in Sainsburys & although my bill told me I was apparently cheaper than Asda I spent £119 .
I did post a pic of my sorry looking fridge last year if you want to look http://jessiescrazykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-refrigerator.html
x
Comment by HELEN— February 21, 2012 #
What a lovely organised fridge! Sainsburys is definitely more expensive than Tesco and Asda. I used to shop in Waitrose and was happy to spend more for the quiet aisles and lovely service but I found that I was buying less and running out of things all the time! Their meat and fish is pricey, such better value and quality from the butcher and fish mongers.
Comment by Baby Genie— February 23, 2012 #
we spend between £75 and £80 a week on food and groceries. My fridge is always depressingly empty… i may post about it!
I know we could shop for less (a different supermarket makes a difference) but right now, I’m happy with it.
We eat takeaway far too often but with a bump and a job it is far too easy to do.
Comment by Emma Button— February 21, 2012 #
About the same as us then, I think that’s pretty good. We could probably save £10 a week but not willing to give up wine, chocolate or the odd magazine!
Comment by Baby Genie— February 23, 2012 #
Our weekly shop comes in at about £140 but there is six of us so I don’t think that’s too bad. On top of the weekly ‘big’ shop though I am terrible for nipping into M&S Food Hall a couple of times a week and I can easily spend £20-30 a go. When you work out how much I must spend in a month – ouch!
Comment by (Mostly) Yummy Mummy— February 22, 2012 #
At £120 that gives us fresh dinners for 7 – 10 days; cooking for us is meals such as chilli & tortillas with salad, oven risottos, cod with tomatoes & goats cheese and wild rice, salmon and asparagus with salad and new potatoes. Some people would call these over extravagant meals but this is what we’ve always eaten since living together and I love to cook. The thought of eating pie and chips or jacket potatoes and pizza at night makes me cringe and if we have a roast dinner the chicken can last three days with meals off from that. £120 including washing powder, cat food, cat litter, nappies and cleaning products to me seems pretty logical.
Comment by Charlotte Everiss (@mummy_blogger)— February 23, 2012 #
I want to say that I didn’t mean my post to sound critical in any way, shape or form and I hope it didn’t come across that way – for anyone to be judged. When I added up all the little extras, I was surprised that mine came to what it did – it’s expensive! We eat very similar meals to you by the sounds of it – roast dinner with the left overs making casseroles and risottos, baked salmon with creme fraiche and wholegrain mustard, lots of sweet potatoes, whole grains and good stuff, chilli con carne, curries, and lots of fish, lots of slow cooker stews. I bet the cat bumps up your shopping bill significantly too!
It would be interesting to compare receipts for each of our weekly shops wouldn’t it!
I think it’s up to the individual family to set a budget based on their lifestyle and if you enjoy cooking like we do and enjoy good food and trying new recipes it’s a well justified expense – plus I do strongly believe that a good diet has a really positive effect on children’s behaviour!!!
Comment by Baby Genie— February 23, 2012 #
[...] she blogged about the cost of her weekly family shop and revealed to the world her super tidy fridge. In response to her post admittedly my other half [...]
Pingback by The cost of a weekly family shop - what's in your fridge— February 23, 2012 #
I’ve been monitoring mine more closely since this and it’s amazing how much the ‘in between stuff’ adds up to!
Comment by Catherine Warrilow— March 8, 2012 #