OMG!! I spend about $250 a fortnight on 2 adults 1 9 mth old and a 2 cats.

I probably buy nappies every second fortnight and 2 tins of formula, although Ryan has cut down to 3 bottles a day, so one tin seems be lasting us about 9 days instead of 7.

I've tried cutting down and I keep thinking to  go to pak nsavce but the hamilton ones a very erm.... tatty.

Forgot to add I have coeliacs disease and so am on a lifelong gluten free diet.  It has it's pros and cons.  On the downside gluten free foods (pasta, cereal and bread) are more expensive but on the plus side it means I don't eat takeaways because I simply can't and I make nearly all of our meals from scratch. 

I am able to get a prescription for pasta and flour but have found that as long as I buy GF pasta on special it works out a similar price and I don't need to pay the $15 prescription fee.

I spend $340 per fortnight and quite often run down to the supermarket throughout the fortnight to grab extra bits and pieces because we "feel" like it. 

The thing is that atm we simply spend money because we have it.  I was supposed to do the groceries yesterday but I easily have enough food in the house to last another fortnight or longer without even needing to get creative.  Soon we will not have the extra disposable income though and I'm about to get tough on the extra trips to the supermarket (I went down last night to buy some broccoli because that's what DH and I felt like, nevermind that we had tonnes of other veges at home, and I ended up walking out of the supermarket having spent $40).

I'm in the process of assessing what budget we should allocate to certain things.  Ie. I'll set aside a fortnightly amount to spend on fresh fruit and veges and go to the markets weekly instead of the supermarket fortnightly.  I'm also going to set aside a fortnightly amount for meat and buy my meat directly from the butchers as the prices are better and it seems so is the meat quality.  I'll also put aside $20 for extras like the milk which we often need to buy in week 2 of the fortnight and the fresh fish which I prefer to buy on the day I cook it.

So I'm only going to use the supermarket for pantry, dairy and non-food grocery items and hopefully by allocating certain amount to certain things I might reduce the temptation to spend for the sake of it.  That's the plan anyway.

We spend $250 - $270 per fornight - that is the budget, and DH makes me stick to that!  That is for 2 Adults, the twins (8 years old) and we buy nappies - so tthat is included in the above.  I am still breast feeding, with a formula bottle at night, so only use a tin a month. - Rather tight, but we manage!