Is that a family of four squirrels?
How the heck do you manage that…. the cheapest weekly shop I’ve done this year was 160

We are a family of four and we normally spend around £110-£120 a week (up from around £100 a year ago) and that usually includes several treat items and relatively high cost items like fresh fish (cod is bloody silly money).

Ohh, and let’s not forget the fresh fruit because eating throwing fresh fruit in the bin is good for you.

If we go back to the office, fuel is going to be a killer on top

Diesel’s now 151.9 in my local garage. Cripes!

Same hear as others – family of 4, used to be sub £100. Now £120+ and more.

I don’t know how the less well off will cope once the higher energy bills kick in.

the cheapest weekly shop I’ve done this year was 160

We’re on approx £75 a week for three, having cut meat down to once a fortnight, and fresh veg down to two meals a week. No drink in that bill (coffee/beer/wine). Only two years ago we were spending that for four, with regular meat and fresh veg 6 days out of seven, and including booze and other drinks. Everything costs more now. £120 a week for four, with regular meat and veg, and including drink, is very good going now. Frugal even.

Our kids left home a while back so just me and the OH and TBH we’re not really price ‘conscious’, just buy what we need/want. i reckon circa £150 pw for all household spending, including dog(s) food.

Weekly shop is Aldi and then Asda with other fresh stuff during the week from the local Co-Op.

Spending has definitely risen and TBH I first noticed it a few years ago, and it was butter that drew my attention. It has pretty much doubled in price in less than a decade, if not 5 years.

On the flip side, the new Exposure light I bought yesterday cost me less than the one I bought 10 years ago, and over 4 times more powerful.

Its gone up, but its still cheap compared to France. UK has some of the lowest food prices in the developed world, combination of subsidies and immigrant labour/modern slavery.
Steak was really cheap when restaurants were closed due to lockdown, prices have crept back up again. Flour prices went up after the lockdown home baking craze and never went back down. Been a funny year for seasonal fruit and veg, UK grown tomatoes still on the shelves in October but no UK grown apples until October either?

We spend £30-£40 a day for a family of 5 ( 2 adults 11,13 and 15yr old. For that we eat like kings. All food is cooked from scratch which takes time but is one of lifes pleasures. Budget goes up and down with the seasons more expensive cuts like Sirloin in the summer and cheaper stewing cuts in the winter. Same with fruit, expensive European stone fruit in the summer, UK grown apples, Spanish/Italian citrus and bananas only in the winter.

When I was at Uni 20yrs ago I cooked for a shared house of 5 guys for £100 a week. Those claiming £80 a week for 4 what are you eating, value beans on toast?

Those claiming £80 a week for 4 what are you eating, value beans on toast?

Was wondering the same. Minimum weekly spend for just me and wife is £160.

But then we enjoy eating so eat nice food, not an area I would skimp on.

OK, time for you big spenders to start sharing pics of your till receipts.

And possibly you waist measurements too.

I have absolutely no idea…. we don’t do a weekly shop, sometimes i go, sometimes the wife goes… it costs, well, what it costs.

Family of 4 to 5 depending on the week. Weekly shop is £60-70 plus fruit at around £20.

Mostly cooking from scratch, typical weekly menu of

Sausage and mash with two veg
Pasta with salad
chicken potatoes and veg
lasagne
chicken fajitas
roast dinner (usually chicken)
some form of stew with veg

plus breakfast cereal/toast/crumpets/waffles

plus lunch boxes of sandwhich, fruit, crisps, yoghurt.

plus treats of biscuits for the barrel, chocolat biscuits like twix and kitkats.

plus staples of tea, coffee, ipa, sauces and spreads etc.

Just as an aside, I went to the USA for a holiday in 2019 – California. We stayed in a couple of AirB&B and had good chats with the owners. We had noticed that everything seemed so much more expensive than on previous visits even taking into account differing exchange rates. Even going into Target to get drinks and snacks was more expensive than in the UK!
The locals said that prices had been rising a lot there and a lot of people were taking on 2nd jobs – this is before Covid too so it must be even worse there now.

Flour prices went up after the lockdown home baking craze and never went back down.

Off the shelf flour prices are lower than they’ve been for years (45p for 1.5kg), despite wholesale prices being higher. But you did say you don’t really have to watch prices, so why would you know that.

Those claiming £80 a week for 4 what are you eating, value beans on toast?

Once a week, yes. Or jacket potato and value beans. Value spag hoops are even cheaper, and come out every now and again. I couldn’t do £80 a week for four now though, and I really feel for those that have to.

And people with kids and only one income coming in, or low joint incomes and renting a place to live – I just don’t know how you do it, I really don’t.

Also, cost doesn’t increase that much feeding 4 as opposed to 2, its just slightly more ingredients for the same meal.

Very true for some meals (making your own Pizza for example) but less so for others… especially when your kids are at the age when they eat far more than you! That time will come Trailwagger… (if it hasn’t already)

Flour prices went up after the lockdown home baking craze and never went back down.

Wheat had a particularly poor harvest this year, bread also increased in price as a result.

I don’t really price things, just buy what i feel like in small shopping trips maybe 3 times a week, averaging I suppose between £25-£35 each. Just pick what I feel like at the time and not really pay any attention to what it costs
Bit of cow, pizza,cheeses,chicken pakora and plenty of pasta, especially as lunches, and coffee, always coffee 😀

Very true for some meals (making your own Pizza for example) but less so for others… especially when your kids are at the age when they eat far more than you! That time will come Trailwagger… (if it hasn’t already)

Generally, small packs of food cost comparatively more than larger packs of food, so it doesn’t cost 5x more to feed my family of 5 than a single person. It doesn’t cost twice as much to make double the amount of spag bol, to pick an easy example. It’s still far too expensive to feed the gob on legs that is my 18 year old daughter, though!

when there were 2 of us it was 35-40 quid

now there are 3 of us its 100 quid without fail.

Costs are definitely going upwards, but get yourself to Aldi or Lidl for the Lion’s share of your shopping and see how much of a rip-off other places are.

The reason I don’t go to Aldi is exactly this

Yes the range isn’t great, but the lack of choice makes shopping simpler and cheaper. We occasionally have to pop back as items have a short shelf life, or go to another shop for other things but mostly it works out ok.

I’m happy to pay a little bit more to be able to get what I want in the quantities I need. I’ve never found it that much cheaper anyway, unless I significantly compromise on what I want to buy.

Prices defo going up though, £75 shop has become £90.

We budget £250 a month with the odd top up. But a fair amount of our veg comes from our allotment.

My wife is also an Olio food hero and is linked in with the other food hero’s of the area. That means we can also keep our costs down by getting ‘Free’ food from Olio.

For those who don’t know its a system where local shops/supermarkets gift (Charity) away out of date food “Best Before” to the Olio food hero’s who then distribute the food to the local community for free. We probably gift away £100 worth of food a week. Some weeks it can be crazy and be like £200-£300 – especially if we pick up a pret run.

we get lots of food from Tesco’s and even Pret but the latter goes like hot cakes!!

OK, time for you big spenders to start sharing pics of your till receipts.

And possibly you waist measurements too.

I don’t keep receipts but let’s just say I am not eating beans and a jacket potato for a meal, life’s too short.

I eat nice food with nice ingredients I don’t eat more calories so as for my waist measurement it is 32 inches, same as it was 30 years ago when I was 16 but then we are all in good shape on a bike forum aren’t we?

I also don’t think good food comes at such high price, provided you’re happy to put the effort in. But that said cooking is a bigger passion of mine than biking (waits to be kicked off STW).

I’m regularly making do with what we have and coming up with a novel way to use left overs etc.

I think being able to cook helps massively.
I was having this conversation with my girlfriend the other week. Potatoes are loads cheaper than a bag of over chips, a chicken is loads cheaper than chicken nuggets, etc, etc.
I make a lot of soups for example, the veg is a fraction of the price of a ready made soup and it tastes much nicer and is probably better for me.
Eating well doesn’t have to cost a fortune. But yes, it is still going up.

Can you not blag an account at a cash and carry, i reckon its about 10% below the discounters. Problem is you have to buy say nuts and dried fruits in 1kg bags, so a bit of an outlay up front.

I was in uk this summer, the supermarkets are designed to get you to spend money on rubbish. To cook from scratch takes ages shopping.

A lot of people are currently struggling before the next set of price increases kick in.

If we go back to the office, fuel is going to be a killer on top.

I used to cycle to work every working day pre-pandemic, cost was pennies as I already had the bike. Change of job has meant I’m commuting by car (agency driver so no fixed workplace) and the cost of fuel is staggering! I never really worried about the cost when I just drove for social and pleasure purposes, it was factored in to my ‘fun’ spending but now that it’s costing me anywhere between £1-200 a month (plus wear and tear) I’m desperate to go back to cycle commuting. Not having to drive to work is equivalent to a serious pay rise!

we get lots of food from Tesco’s

Why do people add s to Tesco? Do they also say Waitroses? Or Asdas?

Some people do say “Asdas” – best avoided.

I am not eating beans and a jacket potato for a meal, life’s too short

Potatoes are loads cheaper

Being relatively well off gives you choices.

Hard to judge in our house, we’ve recently had to up the budget for food and petrol etc, but that’s in part due to things being open so more driving, and the 3 kids growing and therefore eating more. Also have a bit less time to cook now I have to travel to the office twice a week.

We like to cook and eat ‘real’ food, while the 2 eldest kids would live on nuggets and pizza if we let them so there is a fair split of shopping across the range. I reckon our food bill is up 30% on a year ago

Family of 4 to 5 depending on the week. Weekly shop is £60-70 plus fruit at around £20.

Mostly cooking from scratch, typical weekly menu of

Sausage and mash with two veg
Pasta with salad
chicken potatoes and veg
lasagne
chicken fajitas
roast dinner (usually chicken)
some form of stew with veg

plus breakfast cereal/toast/crumpets/waffles

plus lunch boxes of sandwhich, fruit, crisps, yoghurt.

plus treats of biscuits for the barrel, chocolat biscuits like twix and kitkats.

plus staples of tea, coffee, ipa, sauces and spreads etc.

There’s no polite way of saying this, but I don’t believe you. 😀 No way you can do that on 90 quid a week. No chance.

£70-90 a week without booze family of four

Quite easy to eat well but gasp/feint beans on toast may form part of the weekly mix

Definitely going up though, pretty sure it won’t go back down when “our temporary supply side” issues are resolved, or not.

For the two of us we spend about £60 a week. Almost exclusively in Lidl. Cooking from scratch for dinners and including breakfasts, with lunches sometimes bought separately….i.e Tesco meal deal.

The wine bill is separate to this and about the same cost again on top 🙄

I’d guess our food shop has gone up ~10% a year for most items since that non legally binding vote.

I notice something very apparent in the responses which mirrors the cost increases I have seen, surprised no one else has mentioned it but for cooked ingredients I don’t see much difference, but prepared things like ready meals etc have gone up by near double, which makes sense in that this is where you would expect impacts to be.

Also I believe the family of 4 ‘Weekly shop is £60-70 plus fruit at around £20’, well planned and cooked…oh look some of just have to.

Add crisps, biscuits and soda to find where the money is going.

What else can I chuck in…£40 per day to cook everything from scratch? I know chefs that don’t spend that on a 40 cover service..I may have exaggerated that but cooking from fresh ingredients would need a decent bottle of wine to get that up there.

Fortunately, I can spend whatever I want on weekly shopping without being concerned about how much.
Having said that it’s clear that prices have spiked upwards and are continuing to rise.
There are also many examples of the ‘Heinz euro can’ principle being followed; many years ago heinz moved from imperial to metric with can sizes reducing but prices being maintained.
Net results – reduced vfm for consumer and increased profits for manufacturer.
Options – farmers/local markets offer better value than pre-packed from supermarkets; local bakeries offer better quality than supermarkets; eat seasonal food only; home baking – flour, water, yeast, salt. If you have a garden, turn part into mini allotment with tiered growing beds.
Invest in pressure/slow cooker to use cheap cuts of meat and make stews/casseroles and freeze.
If veggie/vegan, same principle applies.
Analyse proportion of weekly spend which goes on non-essentials…booze, expensive coffee, unnecessary ‘treats’ and…take a decision.
I’ve done all of these at different times in the past.
My concern is for those who’ve been struggling for some time and could really live without any more pressure.

surprised no one else has mentioned it but for cooked ingredients I don’t see much difference

Really? I’m surprised.

Family of 4, everything cooked from scratch (with the exception of pizza every 2 weeks), probably 80% vegetarian.

Ours has gone from £125, to £156, to £173 (averages over a quarter) since 2016. We shop at Lidl, Tesco and Waitrose with the majority coming from Tesco.

Some of that is two growing kids and working from home, but a lot is due to price increases.

Our shopping includes EVERYTHING – toilet paper, washing powder, dishwasher tabs, small clothing items, vitamins, etc.

3 examples:

Yeo valley organic milk £1.35> £1.50 > £1.80 > £1.90 (£2.10 in Sainsbury’s)

Tesco Organic Chicken Thighs £3.49 > £4.14 > £4.54

Tesco mixed peppers £0.99p > £1.09 > £1.25

As for those asking about eating habits and waistline – we have mainly fruit and a danish for breakfast, salads/soup/sandwiches for lunch and all kinds of things for dinner. No ready meals. Small ice creams for the kids for desert if they eat their evening meals. We do have biscuits/breakfast bars/fruit for the kids morning school snack which comes to over £5 a week.

plus staples of tea, coffee, ipa, sauces and spreads etc.

Sneaked that through

Couldn’t tell you the price of a weekly shop but I have noticed that buying stuff from a number of small shops is cheaper than the supermarkets except for branded goods.  So bulk pasta, rice, cleaning products (refillable bottles) is cheaper by a bit.  Organic veg usually quite a bit cheaper as long as you buy stuff in season.  Cheese usually a bit cheaper.   You do have to have the time to do this though

Lots of products are also getting smaller, this is hiding price rises.