How much is an average monthly food shop

13 answers /

Last post: 23/02/2021 at 4:54 pm

AZRA A(2)
Azra A(2)
02/02/2021 at 7:11 pm
Hi all,

I was hoping I could have some help understanding my finances as a single parent. I have a 3 year old and a 9 year old and I've just started living on my own. I feel like my food shop is outrageously expensive sometimes and I dont know what to do about it

Just hoping to get an idea of what I should be and can be doing to feed a family of 3 and any help would be really appreciated. Thank you x
1
KIRK P(2)
Kirk P(2)
03/02/2021 at 8:14 am
It depends on so much... where you live, where you shop, and especially what your expectations are...

I can feed a family of five adults in the East Midlands on around £1-£1.50 per person per day... which works out at between £35 and £55 a week on average... add in a litte bit more for toiletries, detergents, etc, and the average shopping bill per week is about £40-£45 a week...

This is mainly fresh vegetables, dried beans and lentils, rice, pasta, around 2-3oz of meat per person per day, a few tins and almost no pre-prepared foods... I could do it cheaper, but we have a milk allergy and a gluten allergy in the house!

Since the children were little we've had a "snacks aren't shopping" policy, so things like sweets, chocolate, crisps, pop, alcohol and so on aren't included in the weekly shop, and are bought out of pocket money, which cuts the bills amazingly, as well as helping teach moderation and budgeting!
2
REBECCA D(902)
Rebecca D(902)
05/02/2021 at 2:33 pm
We have 2 adults & 2 young children , we mainly shop at aldi (but buy meat from Asda) I do a meal plan but we throw stuff in the trolley and spend around £90 a week if I am being strict with snacks £70 but that is eating fresh meat once a day and also would be cheaper if we could eat more variety of meats (my oh only likes chicken).
0
EMMA B(4280)
Emma B(4280)
05/02/2021 at 2:38 pm
Hi
We family of 3 two adults and 9yo. We were spending sometimes £80a week if I go asda, I have started planning my evening meals for the week and buy what I need for them and pack up stuff. I have noticed a drop in spending obviously some thing push it up like washing machine stuff, I but what on offer with those to keep down they only things that brand name though
0
LAURA C(3251)
Laura C(3251)
05/02/2021 at 3:25 pm
In answer to
Azra A(2)
Hi all,

I was hoping I could have some help understanding my finances as a single parent. I have a 3 year old and a 9 year old and I've just started living on my own. I feel like my food shop is outrageously expensive sometimes and I dont know what to do about it

Just hoping to get an idea of what I should be and can be doing to feed a family of 3 and any help would be really appreciated. Thank you x
We are a family of 4 and spend
£60 a week in aldi
Plus 10 - 20 a week in tesco for 'luxuries' (eg. Vegan stuff)
That includes bath stuff and cleaning stuff
0
SUMMER J(22)
Summer J(22)
05/02/2021 at 4:50 pm
In answer to
Azra A(2)
Hi all,

I was hoping I could have some help understanding my finances as a single parent. I have a 3 year old and a 9 year old and I've just started living on my own. I feel like my food shop is outrageously expensive sometimes and I dont know what to do about it

Just hoping to get an idea of what I should be and can be doing to feed a family of 3 and any help would be really appreciated. Thank you x
We’re a family of six but one is newborn so doesn’t eat it cost us £60 a week on our food shop we have a food list that we stick to and meal plan that is key to keeping prices down I don’t buy chocolate,pop or juice unless it’s a special occasion but do include biscuits and a lot of fruit for our main meals we do things like lasagna, cottage pie, spag Bol, sausage casserole and I buy almost all our veg frozen and meat frozen to but that does work for us so potentially you could buy those ingredients and your food could last two weeks xxx
0

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RUBY F(15)
Ruby F(15)
05/02/2021 at 9:10 pm
We're a family of 5 and spend on average £80 a week... But i still find i pop out during the week for top ups like bread, milk e.t.c...its terrible we spend way too much...
0
CLAIRE W(2584)
Claire W(2584)
05/02/2021 at 9:26 pm
Theres only me and my daughter in this house i find it hard to cook for 1.5 people so i tend to cook in batches, i plan the evening meals and stick to it. I usually budget around £40 so i only buy luxuries if i am under my budget. As i said i find it hard to cook for just us so i batch cook alot it works out so much cheaper and i end up with enough meals in the freezer that do us another week so some weeks i only have to buy the usual milk bread fruit etc x
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TANYA L(148)
Tanya L(148)
07/02/2021 at 12:58 am
We are a family of four in London and spend £150-£200 a week, I do two weekly shops at Tesco. My husband likes to eat a lot of meat so we have steak/roast beef/ribs/ roast chicken throughout the week which obviously pushes the shopping bill up
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CATHERINE R(386)
Catherine R(386)
07/02/2021 at 9:09 pm
I spend about £80 per week for two adults, two children, and two cats. I thought that was pretty good, but it seems some people on here are even more savvy!

20-odd years ago my mother, who's always been thrifty and shopped around, used to spend about £100 each week for a family of four so I've always felt like I'm doing something right.

One trick I have to save money that might help you is to bump my food shop along each month. I used to do it monthly, but now I do it every five weeks, so I order a little more each time, but every five months I don't have to do a big shop at all, and the extra money I'm spending each time doesn't come close to the amount of a full shop.
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MICHELLE N(383)
Michelle N(383)
14/02/2021 at 11:28 am
Single parent here with a 3 year old and 5 year old,i spend £250 a month,i do my shop at Sainsbury's and will mostly buy things that are on special
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HOLLIE W(136)
Hollie W(136)
18/02/2021 at 7:38 pm
We are a family of 4. No pets. So we spend and try and stick to a budget of £60 a week. It goes over most weeks by around £2-£4. (When I order from Sainsbury’s) OH can do an Aldi food shop for £55. But I prefer Sainsbury’s. Purely for the variety.

I think I manage to do well I buy fresh meats, a meat dish for most of the nights of the week. Chicken, sausages, meatballs, mince beef, casserole beef etc. I buy fresh fruit, 4 different varieties and swap it round each week.
I don’t buy a lot of ‘kids snacks’ I find them expensive and unnecessary the children have fruit/ or crackers or I make homemade banana oat muffins as snacks.

My shop also includes tinned tomatoes, soups, baked beans, can of tuna, rice pudding tin, bread, crumpets, bagels, pasta. Some weeks fresh pasta then toilet rolls washing liquid, washing machine bits dishwasher tablets some weeks.

I try and buy branded items when on offers. And buy own brands of certain items it can really help keep costs down.
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CATHERINE H(2378)
Catherine H(2378)
23/02/2021 at 4:54 pm
In answer to
Azra A(2)
Hi all,

I was hoping I could have some help understanding my finances as a single parent. I have a 3 year old and a 9 year old and I've just started living on my own. I feel like my food shop is outrageously expensive sometimes and I dont know what to do about it

Just hoping to get an idea of what I should be and can be doing to feed a family of 3 and any help would be really appreciated. Thank you x
We typically spend £100 a week, theres a 4 yr old a 1 yr old and me and my partner. We do shop in tescos mainly because i love the rewards of clubcard, money off vouchers etc, so you do get your value for money. We spend that much which will invlude lunches for us all for work and school, snacks toiletries etc.
0