Quick question about weekly food budgets

GardenMillie

I agree with Butterfly Brain. It's amazing what you have in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. I literally did an audit after New Year and wrote everything down in a notebook, then started planning my meals and what I would have to buy. The first week I didn't go to Tesco at all. I also look out for special offers like veg at Aldi. e.g. they have brocolli on offer for 49p. I have some stilton (bought reduced) and plan to make a big pot of broc and stilton soup then freeze some portions. Another major bonus of using up stuff in the freezer is there is actually room now for freezing stuff I am batch cooking. :j

Lalaladybird

This is an interesting thread. I spend on average £60 a week for OH, me and our dd (1) I'm happy with this budget and it includes everything (laundry products, toiletries etc). We eat very healthily but we have big appetites too . I maybe could get it to be lower but we just wouldn't want to have a dinner of value beans on toast or egg and chips etc There is nothing wrong with those sorts of meals it just wouldn't suit us.

Amanda65

Hi all

Thanks for all of your advice. It really has made me think about what we eat and how much we are prepared to drop like Oldmcdonald says

Beki - I am the World's worst at spending '£30 in Tesco on a pint of milk' :rolleyes:

As I said in my OP, I do cook from scratch every evening, tomoght's tea is curry from yesterdays chicken (DD's have chicken sandwiches today as well) and the carcasss will become chicken and sweetcorn soup (and it was a whoopsie - £7.11 down to £4.99 in Sainsbury's last week ) so feel that I am doing OK with the cooking.

I do have to be carfeul with washing powder as DD2 has 'funny' skin and eczema and the only powder she doesn't seem to react to is Persil so we use this. I will give the soda crystals a try - I use tablets so should I move down to one per wahs and if so how much crystals should I use? I do have a Costco card however and try very hard to only stock up there every 3 or 4 months on washing powder, along with coffee, teabags, meat etc.

I will let you know how it goes

Hawthorn

I think that it's probably more economical to use powder isn't it? Anyone? LOL.

I use half the recommended amount of powder (about half a scoop) then top the scoop up with soda. We are in a hard water area, and this works for us. If you're in a soft water area, you can probably get away with much less than that.
Bonus is, the soda helps prevent your machine scaling up too
I had to experiment a little to get it about right, gradually cutting down until the results started to be unsatisfactory.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I'm always looking at ways to cut down too, my latest 'good idea' borrowed from 'The Tightwad gazette' is muffins, I throw allsorts of leftovers into them with good results. I got a packet of baby rice through the door last week as a free sample and I'm going to chuck that into the next batch!

jcr16

were a family of 5. but my kiddies are much younger dd 5, ds 3 and ds 9 months. also have 3 cats. hubby has packed lunch every day so does dd .so will ds if he at nursery for lunch. before my youngest was born i was doing really well at sticking to under £200 a month for everything. But in the last few months due to various things this has prob gone up to around £300 a month maybe more.

i find it so easy to spend money on food. i don't always use it , but i'll put it in my stock cupboard. my stock cupboard looks like a mini tesco. i found for me the way i kept to within my budget was doing up a meal planner, but also in my budget having some money to buy bogof's etc to keep in stock cupboard. i love having a stocked store cupboard becuase i have found when my children were really ill and i couldn't get out for nearly 3 weeks i was still able to cook nice meals and treats .

also online shopping is fab. ( although i do love wandering aournd a shop) but i can put stuff in my basket then double check it and take out anythign i really don't need. or add something if i forgot it. if hubby goes shopping he is excellent. he will buy just what is on list and doesn't get distracted whichi i can easioly do.

however i will get back to my £50 a week. although might have to up it to £60 due to food prices going up. not sure but £50 is my target.