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

76rosie

i pop down to asda mid week to see what bargains I can pick up reduced plus I buy pick up the biggest bags of spices i can to make meals for my hubby. I think everyone should try to remember how hard it is to feed kids and not feel guilty. It's hard enough just feeding a skinny husband.

MUMOF4_2

Hello!
Its been my daughters bday today, guess what, no lidls pizza for lunch, but free pizza hut pizza!!! I invited my mum and sister along and my mum refused to let me pay!Thankyou mum!We will be eating them tomorrow though, which isnt what we plannes, We arrived home to a partially defrosed freezer, my older son got a ice pop out of the freezer last night for my 3 year old, didnt shut it properly, hence the top 2 sections being defrosted!!Been busy cooking up what was in there and thinking of meals i can make out of it all.
There has been a few discussions going on about Hm bread. I love making bread, especially now i can get 4 loaves out of a 1.5kg bag of value flour, with weezls fool proof recipe!
I love cooking actually, its really sad, as i dont really have a life out of the house now after my first son got sick 2 years ago, followed by my daughter a year later. I have probably been out 4 times without any children. So Cooking is my switch off time, what i really love. A lot of the time i have little helpers, but when i can spend a hour in the kitchen by myself, I get really excited. I love making meals up out of ingredients without recipes.
Im going to make fat free fruit cake tomorrow, nice simple recipe, no weighing, 1 bag value mixed fruit,2 cups value SR flour,1 cup sugar, 1egg, 1tsp mixed spice, 1 cup of tea.
Soak the fruit in the tea over night, mix in other ingredients, bake in loaf tin until set.
We have potato salad for lunch tomorrow, new potatoes from mother in law, mixed with mayonaise and pepper with some nice h grown cucumber also from mother in law.
Think i may make a pea and sweetcorn lasagne also, the kids always enjoy that one, especially when i have half a bag of defrosted peas to use up!Makes a big lasagne.
bye for now!

floss2

But a famous one, now you're in the weekly email!

I think you're doing a tremendous job - DF & I can spend more than that a month on two of us (and then there's the tesco wine delivery....:o), we do go for butcher meat & poultry, fishmonger fish (and not the cheapest each time either, although the last sea bass we had was very local & fresh as it had been swimming about 1 mile off the coast the night before we bought it), plus DF is a bit of a label fiend...whereas I buy the reduced fresh stuff & take the packaging off the fruit & veg

suzanandboys wrote: »

.... To save money I actually have swapped to an organic veg box, i can chose want I want in the box so not much goes to waste, they also deliver my fruit ( fruit box) , milk, eggs and they have a fortnightly meat box which I make last 4 weeks, husband does complain about only having bacon once a month! So this lot costs me on average £34 a week.....

Can I ask you where you get your boxes from?

floss2

MUMOF4 wrote: »

.......I love cooking actually, its really sad, as i dont really have a life out of the house now after my first son got sick 2 years ago, followed by my daughter a year later. I have probably been out 4 times without any children. So Cooking is my switch off time, what i really love. A lot of the time i have little helpers, but when i can spend a hour in the kitchen by myself, I get really excited. I love making meals up out of ingredients without recipes.......

It's not sad, it's one of the things that good parents can do for their children - apart from anything else, your "little helpers" are the next generation, and will probably grow up with exactly the same way of thinking, that home made food is best - not just because you know what's in it, but because it is enjoyable cooking it!

Floss x

Pennylane

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Hi,

I'm aware that you were talking about feeding your dogs, and although it isn't as potentially harmful to dogs as it is to cats, it can still cause significant health problems if fed regularly, in particular kidney disease.

I was merely highlighting the risks for the benefit of those who might decide to start feeding their pets tuna fish having read your post.

Also, and I'm not sure whether you're aware of this, but tuna in sunflower oil actually contains higher sodium levels than either of the brine or spring water varieties

Anyway, this is OT for this thread and I apologise for diverting the conversation. If you'd like any more advice on the subject perhaps you could start a thread on the pets board where there are a number of knowledgeable people, including vets and vet nurses, who are willing to offer advice

---

Why do you feel it's OT? In her OP Mum of 4 said that she had a dog and in her 2nd post she mentioned that they eat Tuna. I was trying to be helpful.

Since you obviously know far more than me (and my Vet) about the dreadful dangers of feeding tinned tuna to dogs (what was it you said ... oh yes, "and has something else in (forget what now:rotfl: ) which can cause quite serious health problems" you will not be interested in knowing that sodium is an ESSENTIAL nutrient for cats and dogs. :eek: The label on my tin of Tuna says that there is 1% salt ........... OMG Call the RSPCA now!!!:rotfl: :rotfl:
Seriously, if you're going to get your knickers in a twist about a weeny bit of salt, you go right ahead!

sistercas

primowino wrote: »

well done mumof4, I believe if I feed my kids well most of the time then the extras do not count! I have 3 kids who are all good swimmers, in a normal week I have 17 training sessions to take them to, this means my eldest son sometimes swims 4 hours a day and needs about 6000 calories, all of these cannot be low fat healthy calories as he just cannot eat the volume. He will often have the healthy tea I cook, and then a pizza and/or quiche, both of which I will have purchase from a reduced counter in a supermarket! I spend about £80 pw on 2 adults, dd 12, ds 15 and ds 8 I would say up to half of it is on convenience food such as pizzas/pies/quiche and lots of angel delight all of which is eaten after evening training. All the kids are thin, and never sick. I would love to feed them healthy all the time but it is not possible working full time and trying to have time to enjoy myself and the kids as much as possible.

Does anyone have a recipe for raspberry jam? found some bushes full of raspberries yesterday in a local park when I took DS2 to play football with a friend, they berries were delicious eaten straight from the bush but I would like to try to make jam. I beleive red berry fruits are as good for you frozen, cooked, raw as jam etc. I am sure I read somewhere one of the Scandinavian countries had a bad health problem and they as a nation reduced their fat intake and increased their red fruit intake and it led to a big improvement in the nations health. I think I saw it at the Edinburgh science festival so it must be true!

primowino
I know what you mean I have a 12 yr old swimmer who trains several times week including morning training and a14 yr old gymnast who trains 17+ hrs aweek and trying to fill them is a nightmare because they need so many calories and are always hungry

justsaawwah

Im not an active member here but seeing this,and being a mum of two and on a budget i wanted to respond
Well done for managing to feed a family of 6 for £50 a week..ok,not all fresh fruit and veg but not everyone likes to eat like that..plus bit of everything does you the world of good lol

Like i said,i am also on a budget and over the last few weeks i have been visiting my local fruit and veg market(Birminghams famous rag market)
i have been amazed at the prices of fruit and veg,along with fresh meat
for example..on Friday i got
2 caulis for £1
5lb carrots 60p
1lb cherries £1
10lb spuds for £1.50
large punnet strawberries for £1.10
whole cucumber 30p
mushrroms 2lb for 70p
12 free range eggs £1
7 nectarines for £1
red onions 9 for 70p
10 kiwis for £1

meats..(from a meat van)
6 chicken breasts
6 minted lamb chops
joint pork
sausage
bacon
fresh burgers

all for £8

saving me a fortune..dont buy and meat,fruit or veg at the supermarket now


I also have 2 dogs and two cats..i bulk buy their food aswell..various places

Trow

luckyJ wrote: »

It is hard work cooking every meal from scratch, and the people telling you to make your own bread need to get a grip on reality as well as a life! The cost of the ingredients alone would exceed what you pay for a loaf, not to mention the cost factor of baking it! The same applies to cakes.

You are misinformed about the cost of baking bread (and cakes for that matter). I get 3 loaves from a 1.5kg bag of flour, which is currently 48p (for bread flour) at Tesco. So thats 16p per loaf. Yeast is 3.5 p per loaf. Milk powder under a penny. Margarine about 5p. Sugar about 1.5p. And salt - not even half a penny.

So we are up to about 27p. I will admit the cost increases (to about 38p) if I make it with half wholemeal flour. And with 4p for electricity - a grand total of 31p or 42p - compared to over £1 for a comparable supermarket loaf. OK, you can get the cheap bread instead - but it (as well as other chorleywood process-made bread) is made with preservatives, is comparably high in yeast, fat and salt and is much less healthy (google the chorleywood process to find out about why).

Cakes - well, I can make 2 dozen muffins for the same price as one basic shop bought cake. And there is no comparison with flavour and the ingredients list is much smaller and more appetising!

Trow

Pennylane wrote: »

The label on my tin of Tuna says that there is 1% salt ...........

Just did a check on mysupermarket - tuna in spring water has 0.8% salt. Tuna in brine has 1% salt - and as you said tune in oil also has 1% salt....

Take from that what you will .....

ceridwen

justsaawwah wrote: »

Like i said,i am also on a budget and over the last few weeks i have been visiting my local fruit and veg market(Birminghams famous rag market)
i have been amazed at the prices of fruit and veg,along with fresh meat
for example..on Friday i got
2 caulis for £1
5lb carrots 60p
1lb cherries £1
10lb spuds for £1.50
large punnet strawberries for £1.10
whole cucumber 30p
mushrroms 2lb for 70p
12 free range eggs £1
7 nectarines for £1
red onions 9 for 70p
10 kiwis for £1

meats..(from a meat van)
6 chicken breasts
6 minted lamb chops
joint pork
sausage
bacon
fresh burgers

all for £8

saving me a fortune..dont buy and meat,fruit or veg at the supermarket now


I also have 2 dogs and two cats..i bulk buy their food aswell..various places

Ummm........thinks me....remember Birmingham Market pricelevels and weep.....yep - I used to live in Birmingham. I remember when I came back to my own part of the country how shocked I was at how much dearer food prices were here!!!:cool:

<walks off reminding myself that the reason I didnt "settle" in Birmingham is I went into the city centre one Saturday - I'm not good with that many people around me - WAY too crowded for ceridwen>