Food Budget

when I say food budget I mean weekly shop.

I have been advised that you lovely people will be able to help with this one.... so i hope you can

I basically have £200 a month to feed,wash etc a family of four 2 adults and 5year old and 3 year old. Picky eaters !!! Well OH and 5 year old is How do I start ?? What are my basics and what else can I do with mince other than cottage pie and spag bol ????

Please help
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Comments

  • tootles_2
    tootles_2 Posts: 1,143 Forumite
    Burgers!!!!

    £200 should be more than adequate for 4 if you do a search you eill find lots of menu and budgeting info on this site.

    There are two of us my budget for food, including fruit and veg and housekeeping stuff is £25.00.



    Living in the sunny? Midlands, where the pork pies come from:

    saving for a trip to Florida and NYC Spring 2008

    Total so far £14.00!!
  • GIRLPOWER_2
    GIRLPOWER_2 Posts: 1,382 Forumite
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526

    have you had a look through this one????

    mince beef and onion pie.. chilli, curried mince.

    HTH
  • Already mentioned but worth seconding - burgers!

    Their much nicer than readymade and take all of about 5 minutes to make.

    I whizz up a small onion, make some breadcrumbs with that same whizzer, and mix this into the mince with some breadcrumbs, beaten egg and seasoning.

    Lamb burgers are especially good.

    Also, meatballs with tomato sauce as an alternative to spag bol.
  • tanith
    tanith Posts: 8,091
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    Something we call Teviot pie... its basically mince beef, onions and carrots in gravy with suet crust pastry on top..... just make the dough as for dumplings but roll it out and put on top of mince , then brush with milk and bung in the oven to cook and brown..... delicious

    :T
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  • pollys
    pollys Posts: 1,756
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    I make suet crust pastry for the top of pies, last week I made it with wholemeal flour and it worked really well. No complaints from anyone. Will make it that way tomorrow to top the meat and potato pie I'm making.

    Good luck with your food budget OP
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  • *Sparkle*_3
    *Sparkle*_3 Posts: 503 Forumite
    My shopping budget is £200 a month too, there are four of us, kids aged 6 and 2 years which also includes nappies/pull ups and wipes etc.

    You'll be fine on that budget, i found that buying things like pizzas etc are more expensive than buying ingrediants like chicken, veg etc.
    Plus its alot healther to cook your own food from scratch, and get much more for your money.

    You could also do lasange(SP?) with mince, plus meatballs, stuffed pepers/tomatoes. you can fry it up add it to rice. Chilli concarne without too much chilli.

    you can do chicken casaroles with lots of veg, jacket potatoes are good with fillings of your choice. what type of stuff do the kids normally eat?
    My kids aren't that fussy they will eat lots of types of foods, so its quite easy for me.

    good luck
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  • gettingitsorted
    gettingitsorted Posts: 2,440 Forumite
    Another idea is mince cobbler

    same as cottage pie but insted of potato on top i make plain a scone mix cut them out a place them on top .put in oven and bake until scones are brown.
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  • bizzy_lizzie
    bizzy_lizzie Posts: 204 Forumite
    tanith wrote:
    Something we call Teviot pie... its basically mince beef, onions and carrots in gravy with suet crust pastry on top..... just make the dough as for dumplings but roll it out and put on top of mince , then brush with milk and bung in the oven to cook and brown..... delicious

    :T

    I didnt think there was a mince recipe I hadnt already tried but this sounds lovely. Yum. Thats something new to add to the menu for this week then !

    Thank you :T
    Building an emergency fund and starting on the mortgage!
  • *Sparkle* wrote:
    My shopping budget is £200 a month too, there are four of us, kids aged 6 and 2 years which also includes nappies/pull ups and wipes etc.

    You'll be fine on that budget, i found that buying things like pizzas etc are more expensive than buying ingrediants like chicken, veg etc.
    Plus its alot healther to cook your own food from scratch, and get much more for your money.

    You could also do lasange(SP?) with mince, plus meatballs, stuffed pepers/tomatoes. you can fry it up add it to rice. Chilli concarne without too much chilli.

    you can do chicken casaroles with lots of veg, jacket potatoes are good with fillings of your choice. what type of stuff do the kids normally eat?
    My kids aren't that fussy they will eat lots of types of foods, so its quite easy for me.

    good luck



    My two are quite fussy really - 5 year old doesn't eat meat as he doesnt like it but he will eat mince, 3yr old is a a bit less fussy and will eat most stuff, i do try and cook from scratch but i do have fish fingers nuggets etc in for days that i have been too busy to cook, neither of them will really eat veg unless you count baked beans carrots and spuds no matter how often i try and sneak it in they both used to when they ate as toddlers as I was very good for that but as they have got older they have completely gone off it all my OH doesnt do veg either which is probably why but I love it. Is it cheaper for me to buy frozen veg as it is generally only me that eats it, fruit they are really good with and they love pasta, they dont like rice either. I have even tried only giving them veg and stuff they say they dont like only to find i am chucking it away and them moaning they are hungry later in an attempt that they will eat it if they are hungry but it doesnt work.

    I love casseroles and stews etc but the 5 year old doesnt if i do a roast I have to give him slices of cold ham as he will eat that, there not fussed on chips really which is fab as my diet dictates they are no good for me anyway and they wouldnt eat a baked spud

    so i anyone has simple pasta sauce reciepes that would be really helpful too.
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