What food shops REALLY look like for the world’s biggest families – with £100 takeaways, £1k hauls & 5 loaded trolleys

ENSURING your family has enough food on the table every day can be a tricky and pricey venture.

But spare a thought for these busy women who are mums to some of the world's biggest families.


Feeding eight, 10 or even 20 kids means hours spent roaming the supermarket aisles – and even more time spent putting it all away at home.

And while takeaway treats are a rarity in these households, they still do indulge from time to time.

But the cost of ice cream or McDonald's for everyone will send shivers down your spine.

The biggest and most recognised supersized family in the UK is the Radfords, with Sue and Noel famously parenting 22 kids.

The busy parents don't shy away from revealing exactly how much they spend on groceries each week – and it's often around the £400 mark.

In one video shared on the family YouTube channel, Sue revealed that they usually go through a staggering 20 pints of milk in just a day or two.

She will also pick up 100 laundry tablets in any one shop which barely lasts the week.

A variety of breakfast cereals are a priority with every shop too as the family go through about three boxes a day – so multiple supermarket trips a week are a must.

Showing off a typical food shop, Noel previously said: “200 packets of crisps, 90 pints of milk, 20 odd loaves of bread, 80 apples, yogurts are just as fast as you can buy them, they can eat them."

The family are not on benefits and support themselves with their bakery business, and Noel added:“We are not rich by any means, everything that we own goes straight back into the family and the home."

To put into perspective what cooking for a large family looks like, Sue revealed they'll cook up a staggering 56 sausages just to feed their family dinner.

What's more, fajita night includes a staggering 5kg of chicken, 1kg of cheese and four packets of tortilla wraps – and that's just one meal.

Luckily, the Radfords recently splurged on a new £6,500 fridge to store it all – and it's always packed with tasty food.

JUDGEY LOOKS

Jeni Bonell is the mum of Australia’s biggest family and has 16 kids to care for.

She previously revealed she often spends the equivalent to £232 on groceries a week to feed her super-sized brood – but the haul can sometimes be as much as £560 (AU$995.42). 

She and her husband Ray have 18 mouths to feed so a standard shop typically consists of 36 litres of milk, five large boxes of cereal and scores of choccie biccies.

They also plough through 72 eggs and 30 chicken drumsticks on average but the bumper shops mean that the supermum often gets accused of "hoarding", she revealed.

Last year during the coronavirus pandemic, Jeni was forced to slap a sign on her trolley after people cast rude comments and "judgey" looks her way.

The sign said: "Not hoarding, just feeding 16 kids. Be kind and go away please."

The family often go through 24 rolls of toilet paper a week but was shamed by other shoppers for buying "too much" toilet paper who mistook her weekly shop for coronavirus panic-buying.

THREE, FOUR OR FIVE TROLLEYS

Meanwhile, a typical shop for the Bonnell family consists of three or more full trolleys and it's all hands on deck with mum Jeni needing help from her kids each time.

Supermarket shopping for American mum-of-10 Alicia Dougherty is much the same with a regular weekly haul including at least 25 bananas, 5.5kg of chicken and 191 packets of crisps.

In one clip on her socials, she revealed it typically costs her £876 a week, that's a hefty £45k food bill every single year.

So it's no surprise then that picking up her weekly food shop usually requires no less than four trolleys, and they have four fridges and two freezers just to store it all.

She jokes in one video on TikTok: "Shopping for my family of 12 – it never fails, I get asked every single week do I work for a group home? Run a daycare? Am I having a party? Nope, I just have 10 kids."

"We end up needing four carts and I'm pretty sure the cashier wished he hadn't come to work today," Alicia teased.

FABULOUS BINGO: GET A £5 FREE BONUS WITH NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED

In a series of videos shared on her page, Alicia, who has four biological kids and six adopted with her husband Josh, gave viewers an insight into what her 10 kids actually eat.

For breakfast, 10 bowls of cereal, 20 sausages and a gallon of milk is standard or a cooked breakfast usually requires 3lb of bacon (48 rashers), 36 eggs and two packets of pancake mix.

For lunch, she expertly packs up the kids' lunchboxes in record time piling them full with 10 sandwiches, 10 bags of crisps, 10 yogurts, 10 apples, 10 cookies and 10 juice boxes.

Meanwhile, dinner sees Alicia cook up 20 chicken breasts, 3lb of broccoli and four boxes of mac and cheese.

Elsewhere, parents-of-21 Shelly and Jared Wallace have a total of four fridges, one freezer and an enormous pantry to hold their stash.

And a trip to the supermarket requires no less than five shopping trolleys.

In a recent YouTube video the family can be seen unloading box after box of cereal, as well as filling up entire fridge drawers with string cheese.

The family also get through an almighty 60 rolls of toilet paper in one week, seeing their shopping reach an eye-watering total of $1,334.94 (£988.46.)

MEGA TAKEAWAY ORDERS

Despite the supersized Dougherty clan, the kids are still treated to McDonald's on occasion – but it's certainly a pricey affair.

Alica revealed it costs a huge $100 (£73) each time as she showed off the large fries, Happy Meals and burger boxes that make up the kids' lunch – but they're hungry again pretty soon after.

While many parents like to treat their kids to ice cream every now and then, the cost of this family's trip is enough to put you off for good.

Alicia revealed that a single scoop of ice cream each will cost a huge $65 (£46) for the family-of-12 as she shared the mega order on TikTok.

Typically, it would consist of eight vanilla with sprinkles and four hot fudge sundaes – with ten very happy, smiling faces.

Meanwhile, the Radfords previously shared what Friday night takeaway looks like for them and the estimated cost makes our eyes water.

The epic feast during lockdown last year included pizza, kebabs, curry and burgers – as well as chips, curly fries, salad, poppadoms, rice and four giant bottles of Fanta and Coca Cola.

We counted 10 pizzas and five sets of kebab meat with wraps, burger and chips, and curries for the enormous family.

And while the parents didn't reveal exactly how much they splurged, judging on the prices on JustEat, we reckon the takeaway from the Lancaster-based restaurant would have cost around £185, including delivery.

For a glimpse at what a weekly food shop looks like for other big families, check out this mum-of-10 who spends $1k on huge shopping haul which feeds her family for a month including 180 eggs & 16 loaves of bread

Plus this mum-of-10 shares HUGE weekly grocery haul – including hundreds of ice lollies.

And this mum-of-10 stuns with whopping weekly food shop so huge it takes up her whole kitchen…but actually only lasts FOUR days.




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