Weekly shop, how much do you spend?

[Trewsers]

I am not just being nosey! Honest! OH and I were on our soap-boxes today saying how expensive things are. I am curious as to how much other people spend and if we are going wrong somewhere!lol.

Appreciate a lot of you will have family and not just yourselves to think about. So hence the poll! :smile:

 

[candyflosspot]

as a singleton i spend in the region of £25/30 on a weekly basis. This includes any alcohol i purchase and toiletries

 

[Roxy's Mum]

OH & I are turning into misers I think!

We're very cost conscious, I didn't used to be until I met OH but now I'm grateful he's made me more wise with my money.

We're lucky in that we go to a bulk buyer due to OH's dad being self employed & buy a lot of things en mass (i.e. ketchup, spaghetti, tins of beans, toothpaste etc). It works out cheaper for us to do it that way & stops us doing a weekly shop when we impulse buy stuff and get lured by things we don't need... we also save on fuel by not going as much. If we need to we stop if we're passing by a supermaket, to get bread etc, or go on our bikes instead so we can't carry much.

Hard to say what we spend though.... probably around £250 for the two of us? We rarely eat out. Sometimes get takeaway (usually just after payday!) but not regularly. We've started growing our own veg so hopefully once that's all up & running that'll help reduce our costs more.

With stuff we bulk buy we make big batches of food, i.e. bolognaise and then freeze them in portions ready to go. Means we overeat a LOT less, have proper portion sizes and eat proper homemade food.

 

[clashnoir]

We are lucky to have a lot of game frozen and various other meats as we landed lucky with the odd half cow, sheep, pig etc.
Only tend to buy bacon, veg and fruit and the usual stor cupboard stuff and of course vino. Make vino too from a kit so that saves a fortune.
I do a monthly shop for round about £150-200 dependiong on whether OH needs razors and deodorants and toothbrush heads etc which make it very pricey.
I pick up fresh fruit and veg once or twice a month from supermarkets near work.
We tend to have a huge blowout at pay day then just calm down for the rest of the month.

 

[Trewsers]

We seem to be spending £100 and sometimes more each week, but on top of that, we have a take-away one night. I just think that the prices have all gone up, I really do seem to be noticing it more.
We have a lovely market where we buy our bread fresh three times a week, and a local butchers - so not like the supermarket includes any of that.

 

[laceyfreckle]

I shop weekly (get it delivered normally as an't get it all in the car with the kids too!)

There are 7 of us (two adults, 5 kids) so didn't do the poll thing but i spend £150 or under a week and that includes nappies, wipes (not for much longer!!), toiletries, cleaning products, fizzy drinks etc but not hubby's alcohol as i make him buy that himself lol.

I write a set menu on a sunday for the week ahead and try to use the things we have/only buy in what we need/will eat. Most breakfasts are eggs or cereal, most lunches are soups, or sandwiches and most dinner times are meat, veg and potato. Kids have snacks a couple of times a day too and there is always stuff in the cupboard for the youngest to munch on so his medical condition stays stable (has to be munching a lot during the day, mainly carbs)

We don't have takeaways etc but do always have either a roast or a bbq on a sunday!

I still think £150 a week is a lot though, 8 months ago i was only spending £120 for the same stuff but food etc has gone up lots!

 

[Trewsers]

Blimey Laceyfreckle, I take my hat off to you, you must really be good at planning your menu etc, I spend more than that some weeks and there is only the two of us. I am definitely not thinking properly about what we need - hence going into the supermarket and more often than not grabbing the nearest thing regardless of expense. Until I get home that is, and realise how much the visa bill is!!!

 

[Innocence]

A weekly shop usually costs us around £100 (2 adults and 2 children) and i often look in the trolley and think there is nothing in there to warrant it!

I did start writing a menu for the week which made it cheaper but sort of went out the window when OH started his new job. We have lots of stuff in the cupboard and freezer that need using up but OH can be fussy which is annoying!

 

[nat17]

We seem to be spending £100 and sometimes more each week, but on top of that, we have a take-away one night. I just think that the prices have all gone up, I really do seem to be noticing it more.
We have a lovely market where we buy our bread fresh three times a week, and a local butchers - so not like the supermarket includes any of that.

Snap Trewers, I think good quality food has gone up, I spend the same as you, even down to the takeaway...but I could save some money, but we are foody's so we dont:wink:

 

[Trewsers]

I was wondering whether it would save us money if I bought huge packs of the tinned tomatoes and such that we use in a lot of recipes. Just seems like a lot to be paying when they might sit in the cupboard for 6 months!!!
Am really going to start thinking about next years veg growing - the more we can grow (hopefully sucessfully) the more we'll save! Lets face it, I've got a never ending supply of top soil and quality compost!!!

 

[jovi_y2k2]

I can be quite frugal at supermarkets, I do one big shop just after payday that will cost about £70-80 and then go to local shop to top up as and when probably £10-15 per week if that. I mainly shop at ASDA and always do their price guarantee thing, most of the time they aren't actually the cheapest but you get vouchers for the difference so it balances itself out.

I do buy a lot of things in bulk so it's cheaper and don't always go for their offers as a lot of the time just buying a bigger version of the offer product works out cheaper! I do scan the reduced shelves too.

 

[laceyfreckle]

Blimey Laceyfreckle, I take my hat off to you, you must really be good at planning your menu etc, I spend more than that some weeks and there is only the two of us. I am definitely not thinking properly about what we need - hence going into the supermarket and more often than not grabbing the nearest thing regardless of expense. Until I get home that is, and realise how much the visa bill is!!!

Just write a numbered list and think about what you want to eat - i write mine mon-sun but don't always eat what i plan on those days eg.might eat tuesdays on friday if you know what i mean. Then only buy the ingredients you know you'll need.

Ones that pop up on our lists a lot are things like - spaghetti bolognaise, hunters chicken, new potatoes and asparagus, lasagna (home made) & salad, roast with all the trimmings, bbq's now the weather in nicer, salmon with parsley sauce, rice & mixed veg, Sausage goulash with mash, steak with pepper sauce, sweet potato chips (home made) & salad with balsamic vinegar, cherry toms, cucumber etc.

Make sure you include treats and lunches in your plans too though!

 

[Trewsers]

Guess I am just feeling a bit mean fisted this week, as I've had several family and friend birthdays in the past month and don't seem to have a lot left over! This darn credit crunch makes you start thinking though, everyone I talk to seems to be in the same camp.
And don't even get me started on the price of petrol, my Landy EATS it.......but I can't do without it nowadays as it gets me out of the house (literally, the road is so bad down to our place) and I need it for picking horse supplies up.

 

[Trewsers]

I wish we had an Asda nearer to us, the closest one takes me well over an hour to reach! We have a Booths but they are quite expensive.

 

[Roxy's Mum]

And don't even get me started on the price of petrol, my Landy EATS it.......

Yup, I sold my 2003 Land Rover last week as I just couldn't not justify spending out for it any more - plus the bloody thing kept breaking (rear door, rear window, rear off side window, sun roof, solenoid etc) and broke down early January, costing me a small fortune just after Christmas & OH's birthday. The tax was due end of this month so got rid of it on eBay. Sold within 24 hours for over £3k!

OH & I now share his dinky 207 which is SO much cheaper to run! Plus, of course, we have our bikes! :running:

 

[Trewsers]

Roxy, you must be megga good on your bike! I am not fit to be let loose on mine! lol, it is over 15 years since I rode it, and I'm only just getting back into it. To be honest, I wobble rather a lot and I've fallen off it twice already!!! haahhahaa, how embarrasing............!

 

[Claire1605]

There are 4 of us (2 boys and OH eat a lot!!). I spend around £150 pw at supermarket plus I often pop to the local shop for any little things I run out of and end up spending £20-£30 on a visit!!

Oh and we tend to get a takeaway on a friday so that's another £32.00 for a curry.

 

[Bodshi]

I can't believe how little some of you manage to spend! I'm horrified by our weekly shopping bill at the moment - between £225 and £275 per week for 5 of us, me, OH and three boys, youngest 15 so they do eat and eat. I try not to have to buy anything else - that bill covers food and cleaning stuff - we get through about £11 on washing alone (youngest has to have Fairy non-bio as sensitive skin) and I'm coeliac so my stuff can be more expensive - you tend to find that good quality stuff is gluten free whereas the cheaper stuff isn't. But I do think it's much easier to eat cheaply and unhealthily than it is to eat well - you can buy ready meals full of salt and fat/sugar for a pittance, but fruit & veg and fresh meat seems to be really expensive now.

 

[candyflosspot]

I can be quite frugal at supermarkets, I do one big shop just after payday that will cost about £70-80 and then go to local shop to top up as and when probably £10-15 per week if that. I mainly shop at ASDA and always do their price guarantee thing, most of the time they aren't actually the cheapest but you get vouchers for the difference so it balances itself out.

I do buy a lot of things in bulk so it's cheaper and don't always go for their offers as a lot of the time just buying a bigger version of the offer product works out cheaper! I do scan the reduced shelves too.

Me too.. If you go to the Co-op (opposite peace gardens) at the right time you can get some really good bargains. Its the same at Morrisons in Hillsborough. Its all about timing :smile:

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

There isn't a button for us on the poll because there are only two of us and we spend easily over £100 per week :redface:

My reasons for this profligacy are:

• my OH loves his bottle of wine every evening and there's between £35 and £45 a week gone before you start
• we are desperate foodies (about to exchange on a lease for a place we hope to open as a cafe) and frequent farmers' markets and the local excellent butcher
• we tend to the extravagant, so the thing that can be guaranteed to cheer up my OH is a nice sirloin or a top lamb chop or a piece of tuna, and I would add a plate of scallops to that
• I have never forgotten shopping with my mum, whose weekly budget never went over £50 for a family of 5 including gin and cigarettes (those were the days). If I fancied something it was usually "Not this week, darling," or "Perhaps on your birthday, darling". I still get a huge kick about being able to bloody well buy something if I fancy it.

In our defence, we are self sufficient in eggs, grow a lot of our own veg, and waste very little. I am the queen of the leftover meal, and the dogs and chickens take care of any scraps.