£50 a week to feed family of 6, does anyone do it cheaper??

jackk_2

We all have to cut our cloth accordingly, and with that in mind, MUMOF4, your doing a splendid job.

Jackie x

sistercas

mum of 4 - i take my hat off to you I couldnt do anywhere as good as you have:T

there are 4 of us 2 adults 2 teenagers:eek: :rotfl: a cat and a hamster!
and I have just spent £90:eek: on the weekly shop you put me to shame

keep doing what you're doing- because your doing a great job

ZoeGirl_3

(Me thinks we need a new sticky :rolleyes: that says, people do not necessarily put the fruit and veges they are going to eat in their meal plans or list them in their shopping lists as they may grow their own etc.

Besides, when the threadstarter is a vege lol, I suspect she has to include vegetables in there lol...:rotfl: )

Hi! You sound like you are doing pretty good already!! Feeding 6 people, lol, I wouldn't want to cook everything from scratch :eek: and kids need the odd treat ...

Is there anywhere you can get some free food? That always helps, fruit from friends trees, or from wild trees if any around, etc. Or grow your own veges if you have some space?? Actually, if you do, a funny idea is (my mum used to do it) get your kids to grow veges in the garden (they do all the work) and then she would "buy" them off us. Not much but it was far cheaper for her (and she was time strapped, 5 kids lol) and we got a tiny bit of pocket money and learnt some skills at same time, plus wanted to eat the veges lol so she would buy some more....

Or sometimes you can get a really cheap bulk deal, such as a big sack of onions and split the cost and food across 2 or 3 friends/ family and that saves you money and doesn't mean you are stuck with 10 pounds of onions etc....

Where is that onion marmalade recipe lol....:o

MUMOF4_2

lol, Vegetarian with no vegetable!um what would we eat?. At present i have a fridge full of them!!!Huge lidls shop curtesy of my mum, when we arrived back from holiday!peppers, cauli, cabbage, brocolli,onions, tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, apples, radish, cucumber.

Pennylane

Mum of 4 - you clearly are a GREAT Mum and we all do what we think is right for our families, so please don't feel I am criticising - I DID apologise in advance!!;) It's just, trolley-watching is fascinating and most of us compare our shopping to the person in front. I am often VERY surprised at how much alcohol some people buy. My friend always comments on all the ready-meals some people choose. But we're all different and we budget differently.

You put your list up and I compared and could see where the differences were. I prefer fresh fruit because a lot of tinned stuff has high sugar content and I don't like carting heavy tins about & also the recycling is such a palarver, when you can just compost fruit skin. Hoever, as someone else said ANY fruit is better than none!

I only have about £1.50 left until tomorrow from my £100 budget to feed 4 so I will be trying harder next week. Thing is, we all know what our families will eat and what could be leftovers. We don't do leftovers in our house and we like to eat as healthily as possible so that's how I shop.

I take my hat off to you for a) sounding younger than me AND feeding 6 for £50 a week!!:A

patentgirl

I do agree about the alcohol I love to trolley watch too and it is strange that alcohol unlike food does seem to be coming down in price you have only got to look at peoples trolley with the cases of beer and wine, I too like a glass of wine but have to budget for this think some people must spend more on alcohol than food lol!!

Larumbelle

I say each to their own, we all have different priorities regarding time, money, freshness and all the rest, and our own tates, and we all march to our own drums - sure, I wouldn't buy some of the things on that list, but that doesn't give me the right to judge. As someone who usually lurks I do think that sometimes people get a little zealous in pushing their own ideologies and at times I've been hesitant to post, even though I love this board to bits.

Mumof4, you're doing well, I think you are feeding your children well while dealing with the constraints you have and I think you should be proud. I can sympathise that you sometimes need to cut a few corners, when I was caring for just one person I would sometimes just not eat at all because I was so worn out I'd rather do without than have to cook from scratch. Using a packet really has to be healthier than that! Your kids eat a better diet than probably about 95% of the kids in this country.

If you did want to include more fresh stuff you could maybe try growing your own, even a sunny windowsill and some seed trays would be enough to grow salad crops, and you could probably convince one of the kids to take it on as a pet project like zoegirl said . Cucumbers and tomatoes are so ridiculously cheap and easy to grow, and give you a steady supply of food. Once you have planted stuff all you really need to do is water it every now and then. I even have some spare seeds if you would like them mumof4 - PM me or visit us on the greenfingered board sometime!

Edited to add: someone mentioned the shopping site that has all the 'penny products' as I call them (stuff that's less than 20p) - I think this is the one they were referring to: http://supermarketspecialoffers.com/DiscountOffers.aspx

sistercas

Kazzajr wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discountfinder/

I have had a look on this thread for discounts/free delivery for supermarkets but they all look as if they have expired . how do you find the in date discounts?

mummysaver

I'm impressed Mumof4 - well done you!

Think you're right about not wanting to cook everything from scratch sometimes, we all have times where it's just nice to grab something from the cupboards! And it can be easy to get caught up in making everything from scratch and then find you have no time for anything else, especially since you seem to spend a lot of time cooking anyway and 2 of your children probably need a lot more attention than the other 2. I buy crisps and squash in the hols, both value and both considered huge treats by the kids, the value plain crisps don't contain any additives and are also in fairly small bags compared to branded ones, and whilst there are plenty of things in the squash my lot drink it really weak, cos that's how I make it up - put it in a big thermos dispenser and stick it on the side with a pile of plastic beakers so they can help themselves, neverending stream of kids through the house. I also keep loads of ice pops in the freezer and plenty of value ice cream to stick in cones as treats over the hols - do feel slightly guilty when one of dd3's mum's keeps in huge supplies of "posh" ice creams and freely hands them out!

Oh and noodles, my dd1 loves value noodles, on their own without the little sachet, she'll quite happily munch her way through them as part of a meal or as a snack - look vile to me, but she enjoys them.

Zoe - I love the idea of making kids grow the veg for you, will be trying this with my lot I think, will turn over one of the raised beds to them, sounds like a fab idea, not that mine need encouragement to eat what's grown in the garden, it's more that I need to stop them eating it before I can put it in the meal I've planned!

I love to see meal plans and lists, so thanks for posting, I'm guessing that the meals listed are just the basic bit you have to make and then you add the veggies from your fridge to them, was thinking when I read it to start with that the texture would all be a bit the same otherwise! I do the same when I make a menu plan, I put shepherds pie or whatever, but don't list the carrots and peas and cabbage or whatever that I'm dishing up with it, so think I must be suffering from lack of sleep to not have worked out that you'd done the same!

Anyway, to answer your question, I'm veggie though oh and the kids eat meat, and I have 4 children, and I think your budget is amazing! No I can't beat it!

Larumbelle

sistercas wrote: »

I have had a look on this thread for discounts/free delivery for supermarkets but they all look as if they have expired . how do you find the in date discounts?

I think the 'finder' isn't used as much as was intended and therefore isn't updated so often either. I would say to search the threads on the discount board rather than using the discount finder.