What would be a realistic food budget for us?

Teria

The spending diary looks great, I'm going to look into that when I have a bit of time.
As for my budget, (for my daughter, and myself, as my partner is only around at weekends, and refuses to eat anything that we eat) I try to budget for different items. Which isn't easy, as the supermarkets seem to be changing their prices every few days.
A "basic" shop - bread, soya milk, spread, frozen veg, flour, sugar, cereals, pulses, pasta, tinned veg, frozen sausages etc, frozen pastry, and packet sausage mix I allow about 12.00 a week.
"Sweet things" - cakes, biscuits, etc, we normally make our own, but I do find Tesco value ginger nuts quite addictive!
I spend up to 10.00 weekly on fresh fruit and veg.
For laundry, I have some washing balls that I've been using for ages, I think they work out abt 3p a wash. Occasionally I have to use a conventional washing powder, but I bought a huge box of the Asda cheapo one for 1.50 last month, and it's still half full.
Other cleaning, I just use tea tree oil, or vinegar in a spray thingy, which works fine as a basic cleaner, (and then ruin the whole eco - friendly attempt by sloshing bleach over everything when necessary!)

MrsTinks

Hmmm I might need to have a crack at that spending diary myself

To make the washing powder stretch longer I tend to stick in soda crystals and mix them in. They're good for washing anyway but they are cheap and really makes it last! My Hubby insists on using full measures so it's good for us in that he doesn't realise that he's actually only putting in 1/2 or 3/4 washing powder and the rest is soda crystals hehehe
Same with fabric softner - I decant it into glass bottles from IKEA as they are pretty and I'm vain - but I take the oppertunerty to dilute it by 1/4. That way it doesn't matter as much that he always puts in the full cap
I also once a week when washing bedding and towels use white wine vinegar on a higher temperature which helps descale the washing machine too. Just add a couple of drops of essential oil to the vinegar for a gorgeous smell.
Instead of a breadmachine why not try the artisan bread for a few weeks? You might not need to buy a breadmaker at all

Chell

It is a good idea to check the shelf labels and not just grab the product that you always buy or think might be the cheapest.

You mentioned pasta, in Asda their large bag of pasta (think it is 3kg) works out something like 50% cheaper than buying the smaller bags. This lasts us for quite a few weeks. Even things like pasta have gone up so much reently. The pasta I mentioned used to be £1.99, now it is £2.99.

Are you buying expensive jars of sauces? Pasata sauce can be made very cheaply with tinned tomatoes, basil, onions, garlc and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Likewise with curry, curry powder and tinned tomatoes make a good curry sauce with some added store cupboard things for extra flavour such as mango chutney, desicated coconut, natural yoghurt, etc.

Magentasue

MrsTine wrote: »

Same with fabric softner - I decant it into glass bottles from IKEA as they are pretty and I'm vain - but I take the oppertunerty to dilute it by 1/4. That way it doesn't matter as much that he always puts in the full cap

I found a similar tip on another thread about decanting washing up liquid into an oil dispenser. One bottle of washing up liquid has lasted ages because it takes so long for the stuff to run through into the bowl. When we just had the squeezable bottle by the sink, we went through gallons of it.

I have started premixing soda crystals with the washing powder. I've made a container full with 20scoops bio washing powder, 20 scoops soda crystals and ten scoops of Vanish. The Vanish is a trial - I've never used it before but I think it makes a difference. Only I do the washing so I use the amount appropriate for the load but I haven't bought any since January and now soda crystals are down to 29p I 've stocked up for the next mix!

Teria

Where can you buy soda crystals for 29p???

belfastgirl23

Well done ex-spendaholic, sounds like you have a good plan

I'm also just going to add in something else that occurred to me - I would have previously spent a fair bit of money on cleaning products. Now I have stardrops (from cut price chemists usually), white vinegar and baking soda (chinese supermarket) - these are replaced about once every six months at a cost of around £15 pa. Also value washing powder and fabric conditioner (though I mostly use vinegar instead) . Oh and own brand cream cleaner and bleach. I'd guess I spend another £15 a year on this stuff. So my cleaning stuff is now about £30 a year instead of the £10 a month it would have been before - and it's more environmentally friendly!

Magentasue

Teria wrote: »

Where can you buy soda crystals for 29p???

Tesco.

Should also add that I do all loads at 30deg apart from weekly hot wash for whites. I think (especially with rising energy prices) this is the major saving.

Teria

God, I hate Tescos, they really vary their price from store to store, and it's so irritating. Soda crystals are 59p here, same as every other shop. They're the only thing that work on my kitchen floor, except bleach, which I try to avoid.

Chell

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I'm also just going to add in something else that occurred to me - I would have previously spent a fair bit of money on cleaning products. Now I have stardrops (from cut price chemists usually), white vinegar and baking soda (chinese supermarket) - these are replaced about once every six months at a cost of around £15 pa. Also value washing powder and fabric conditioner (though I mostly use vinegar instead) . Oh and own brand cream cleaner and bleach. I'd guess I spend another £15 a year on this stuff. So my cleaning stuff is now about £30 a year instead of the £10 a month it would have been before - and it's more environmentally friendly!

YOu can buy 'green' cleaning products in bulk from www.summernaturals.co.uk - they do allsorts from bicarb to soapnuts, ecoballs, tea tree oil, etc.

Magentasue

Ex-Spendaholic wrote: »

I will also buy all the store cupboard stuff - pasta, rice, tins, cereal etc for the month. I will aim to spend £50 in the butchers and £70 on the other stuff.

You might consider doing the storecupboard shop online especially if you can find a voucher code to offset delivery. You could then delete unnecessary items to get it down to £70 rather than filling your trolley in store. When i was working full-time, I did this to save time rather than money stocking up on loo rolls, rice, pasta, washing powder, baked beans, flour, sugar etc that I knew I wouldn't use more of if stockpiled. No point in buying a month's supply of chocolate biscuits in this house.

Also BOGOFs, half price offers for cleaning stuff or frozen. It would make the weekly shop quicker but I had a bigger house then with room to store it. Just wait 'til I get the cellar here sorted!

I'm not big on meal planning but I used to think of seven meals and buy for them. I might not cook those meals but I had the wherewithal for a week's dinners. I usually base tonight's dinner on what needs using up. You either take to meal planning or you don't - I find it easier to think in terms of three or four days.

We don't eat meat and that, I think is a big saving, but we do go through a lot of eggs and cheese. I do two cheap meals a week. To me, beans on toast is a meal if there's a big apple crumble and custard to follow. If you can get hold of free or cheap cooking apples, you can freeze the apples and crumble toppings to make a quick and easy pudding once a week throught the winter.