Is £10 a day enough for food shopping (family of 4)?

[Supermum222]

Hi,

I have been thinking of doing a budget to save money on the food shopping. I usually shop once a fortnight online with Tesco or at Aldi/Lidl. Is £300 a month enough for 2 adults, two primary aged kids and a small dog? Both kids have school dinners. DD is in year 1 so will get free school dinners for a year next autumn.

[TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals]

Yep. That's what we spend. No booze for us in that though.

[Iamnotanugget]

We aim for £60-70 per week for 2 adults and 2dc, oldest is 6. It takes careful planning but is doable. We don't eat meat but all our dairy products are organic so you could save there.

[AntoinetteCosway]

We spend £55 a week for two adults and a toddler (who eats a lot!). That includes nappies and household stuff like loo roll but rarely alcohol.

[PigletJohn]

Have had some big ups and downs in the past. It helps if you are fond of mashed potatoes. To me, they make a meal. Some people prefer pasta or rice.

I sometimes go to Tesco about 10-11pm after a stint, they sometimes have terrific bargains in the "best before today" marked-down shelves, and you might see a big joint, or fresh fish, going cheap.

[BackforGood]

Yes, easily. I spend less than that and have 3 (older) dc, all of whom eat a LOT more than me. That includes toliet rolls, cleaning stuff, shampoos, etc (although we don't have any pets).

Like whenever this question is asked though - it's dependant on what you are happy eating. Always makes me laugh when people say they want to spend only £X a week, but then say they aren't prepared to not have x/y/z, all of which cost £££s.

[Passthecake30]

I have the same size family. ..but mine creeps up to £80pw. Its the weekend treats of beer, baileys, green and blacks chocolate amd fancy crisps that does this however, we could stick to £70 pw if we cut them out and be miserable with it!

[CheeryName]

We are a family of 4 and I could do a shop for £60 a week, but its got harder over the last year to meet this and is more often £70 now.

Until DH 'pops to Sainsburys' for half a ton of chorizo, 6 DVDs and an outer of Kettle Crisps that is... Sigh.

[YoungBritishPissArtist]

Absolutely.

Have a look at //www.agirlcalledjack.com/tag/recipes

[CheeryName]

Oh and if you have Morrisons delivery in your area, its lots better than Tesco imo - good offers and also lots of £1 delivery slots.

[WheresRyder]

I'd say as long as you have easy access to aldi the budget will go a long way. In a large supermarket still doable but with careful planning.

[YouAreMyRain]

Iamnotanugget - what are your weekly main meals?

[Iamnotanugget]

Rain I do a monthly meal plan but leave 3-5 days unplanned for any bargains I pick up or just for eating from the freezer. We have soup with homemade bread quite often with some cheese. That's usually enough but sometimes I'll do a golden syrup/jam sponge in the microwave with custard, or bread pudding or rice pudding.

Other main meals are
Sweet and sour bean hotpot
Cheese pudding, carrots and peas
Lentil spag bol
Lentil/bean Shepherds pie
Egg fu yung with broccoli, peas and carrots with noodles
Lentil pizza with jacket potatoes and colslaw
Vegetable pizza with wedges and garlic bread
Bean omelette with potatoes and vegetables
Vegetable curry
Chickpea curry
Mushroom risotto
Stuff left in the cupboard/freezer risotto
Chili and jacket potato
Toad in the hole, mash and veg
Sausage, mash and onion gravy with vegetables
Chickpea wraps with wedges
Lentil burgers
Lentil roast, potatoes, vegetables
Nut roast, potatoes, vegetables
Egg fried rice with spring rolls

I'll try and think of some more. We buy veggie sausages on offer, value coleslaw and add some more carrot and a pack of spring rolls from Iceland. Other than that I make everything. It's time consuming but you get used to it. A slow cooker is useful too. We rarely have a pudding. If someone is still hungry then the options are fruit and/or slice of bread and peanut butter. The important thing is to not throw food away. If I make a cheese sauce to go with dinner any left over gets frozen then another day some pasta gets added to it, sprinkle with breadcrumbs (from freezer, stale end of loaf) and a teeny bit of cheese and there's instant macaroni cheese.

[Doshusallie]

I have spent £140ish a week for the last 2-3 weeks which I am aghast at - that is in tescos. I am putting it down to the DC being on holiday and feeding them 3 times a day instead of the usual 1 time a day.

Me, DH, 2 boys 9 and 7....

[Passthecake30]

Wow dosh what have you been buying? I get an asda delivery, cheaper than tescos and make sure I check the cupboards as I'm ordering.

[Supermum222]

Hi,

Thank you for posting :-)
I have done a two week shop with Tesco (online) and the bill came to £134. That included a few extras on top.
I am going to try Aldi next time and see what I can do with their stuff.

[3DcAndMe]

Ours is usually between £60-£100

There are 5 of us. Me and oh, and dc aged 6, almost 5 and 1

We get Asda delivery

[BoffinMum]

Crisis diet plus

You could do it for less than £10 a day but it takes effort, Also check out:

The crisis diet

Week 2 crisis diet

Add £5-£10 a week onto those figures - another MNetter costed them up a year later and all the prices had gone up a lot, apparently.

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

I bought 2 pks of green beans for 35p each & a 2kg bag of spuds for 30p, bag of carrots 30p and 6 corn on the cobs for 2 in the reduced aisle in Tesco on Easter sat. I had a chicken in the freezer already so I was able to cook a roast for under a fiver.

It's worth going to the supermarket around 2pm to pick up lots of perfectly good food for a reduced price.

[Paulat2112]

Yes do able, we spend £50-£60 a week between aldi and the butchers :) we have 2 adults and 3 kids