Grocery Shopping budget thread

lovesabargain123

Hello
Wonder if someone could offer some advice please, I'm really trying to cut our budget down as spending wayyyy too much on food.
We do seem to be having a take away each week so need to knock that on the head but realistically how much do you spend on breakfast ans dinner 5 days a week and 3 meals at the weekend for 2 Abdul's ( 1 vegetarian) plus 3 kids 2 of whom eat adult portions??
Thanks for any advice or meal ideas etc xx

hakeber

hi yes the take away needs to go ( maybe to once a month as a weekend family treat)
We are a family of 4 i'm vege others arn't but my OH and number 1 son are lactose intolerant and allergic to various things so we have to buy some specific things that are expensive like goats cheese and dairy free chocolate but even with these things our monthly food budget is £200 we home ed so 3 of us eat lunch at home or picnic OH takes left overs to heat up at work ( he doesn't like sandwiches)
and we all eat at home in the evenings. But i don't include our meals out in my budget. so budget more if you go out.
bek

lovesabargain123

Thanksnfornall the link will take a look through them!

Wow £200 for the month, thats amazing!!!!

camNolliesMUMMY

so you dont miss out on takeaways, try and make the family fav takeaway copy meal so you dont feel like your missing out as much?
i found a recipe for my oh fav tikka masala and now this saves us around £20 for the two of us, which i make in the slow cooker so i can chill out lol
our budget for 2 adults and 1 child n cat is £25 a week, and that includes everything we need but i do a shop every fortnight.
i cut back so much it would make you laugh, you have to think do i really need this? when you shop

tigerfeet2006

We are a family of five and we have food allergies and my budget at the moment is £400, though I do try and come in under that.

If you can get hold of a copy of the Takeaway Secret, it shows you how to cook things so they taste like KFC etc.

I meal plan weekly. In my meal plan I try and have a few slow cooker meals and I try and bulk things out so I can put some in the freezer for a HM ready meal for those days when you really can't be bothered to cook or there is not much money left at the end of the month or for DH to take to work for lunch.

Join the Grocery Challenge. There are a great bunch of folk on the thread and we all support each other and give each other ideas etc.

Tink_04

camNolliesMUMMY wrote: »

so you dont miss out on takeaways, try and make the family fav takeaway copy meal so you dont feel like your missing out as much?
i found a recipe for my oh fav tikka masala and now this saves us around £20 for the two of us, which i make in the slow cooker so i can chill out lol
our budget for 2 adults and 1 child n cat is £25 a week, and that includes everything we need but i do a shop every fortnight.
i cut back so much it would make you laugh, you have to think do i really need this? when you shop

sorry to hijack but do you have a recipie for this? and does it freeze well? would love to make curry in the sc!!

Rebob

It can be done quite easily for £50 a week if you cook from scratch and dont buy pre prepared stuff and ready dinners. x

valk_scot

Two adults and two big kids here that eat more than us. I have a budget of £350 per month, and that covers school dinner money for DS, packed lunches for DD and OH, home lunches for me, toiletries, cleaning materials and cat food. It doesn't include alcohol. I usually aim for £75 per week and keep the other £50 for emergencies and if it's still there at the end of the month, then we might have a takeaway or wee treat.

We don't have any food allergies or dietary restrictions. I am a beliver in good nutrition though so that means lowish fat and sugar, low salt, lots of fruit and veg, reasonable amounts of protein, low junk food etc. To do this sucessfully I cook most of our food from scratch. Most pre-prepared food just isn't worth the money tbh and is poorer nutritionally than making it yourself. It doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate cooking every day and if you meal plan you can cut down on prep time by making base recipes that do for more than one dish...tomato sauce, for example, can be used for meatball sauce for spaghetti or fish bake or lasagne. I cook double quantities of anything freezable so I've got quick meals availible on busy nights.

The keys to sucessful shopping? Budget, meal plan, make a list and keep to it. It may sound a lot of work but it saves money, time and effort. And you don't get that dreadful sinking feeling at 5pm when you realise you don't know what to make for dinner, there's nothing in the fridge and you don't really have time to cook anyway.

thriftwizard

£350 a month here, for 5 adults (give or take a few at weekends) 3 cats and umpteen birds here. I could do it for less but - well, don't! Ethical choices etc.

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi

Our budget is £200 per month and we are 2 Adults and 3 kids, a 17 year old who is training to get into the army and so eats loads, a 13 year old with hollow legs and a 7 year old, also random friends are usually around for meals.

We are not vegetarian but do eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I use my slow cooker a lot to make huge batches of chilli, spag bol etc (all made with meat-free mince and bulked out with carrot, lentils, oats etc). Shop for whoopsies and freeze what I don't need straight away. Cook everything from scratch and don't tolerate fussy eaters! We eat really well and healthily and I work as well so it's not like I spend all my time trawling the shops or slaving away in the kitchen.

It can be done, use all of the resources on here, Old Style is great, list what you have in your stocks at home and meal plan, be imaginative and make things up or substitute items for what you have or what is cheap, you'll be amazed at what you can make without buying anything!!

Good luck
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