food/housekeeping allowance on benefits

tamsin1982

notlongnow wrote: »

We are 2 adults, three children and I have spent on groceries in the last 2 months approx £90. I buy when on offer, I buy large packs and do ALL home cooked food. We dont go without (apart from takeaways..lol) and eat extremely healthily. Fortunately no-one is a fussy eater so I make one meal for all of us.

I didnt have a great deal already in the cupboards...usual dry goods, pasta, pulses etc, plus half a cupboard of various tins.

:eek: where do you shop!!! thats seriously good going, i dont have the motivation or the cupboard space :rolleyes:
I spend about 25 - 30 a week and its only me and a 3yr old (he eats more than me!!), but it depends on what non food things i need like washing powder, toilet roll etc as they seem to bump my costs alot

nottslass_2

hanstar wrote: »

thanks for all the help/advice.
i have been trying to ring nationaldebtline for the past few days, i will keep on trying tho. i have had a look on there website, loads of good info but cant quiete find what im looking for. but then again i dont really know what im looking for!! hopefully they'll be able to help more over the phone.

Hi if you go to the national debt line website,click on the England & wales bit ,next click on The debt advise section ,scroll down to section 4- self help pack, next using the drop down menu,go to working out a personal budget sheet You should find all the info that you need here - it tells you how much to allow for clothing, food, etc as well as other stuff that you may not have thought to include !!!!


Hope this helps

Felicity

notlongnow wrote: »

We are 2 adults, three children and I have spent on groceries in the last 2 months approx £90. I buy when on offer, I buy large packs and do ALL home cooked food. We dont go without (apart from takeaways..lol) and eat extremely healthily. Fortunately no-one is a fussy eater so I make one meal for all of us.

I didnt have a great deal already in the cupboards...usual dry goods, pasta, pulses etc, plus half a cupboard of various tins.

Cripes, 5 people, £90 for 2 months :eek:

Assuming a 30 day month, that is less than 30p a day per person.

How on earth can you (healthily) survive on 30p a day per person? assuming you dont have your own small holding?

I am sure we'd all love to get some tips from you, can you post some?

livefornewt

I THOUGHT £80 A MONTH FOR 1 ADULT N 2 CHILDREN WAS GOOD!! sorry just realised about caps.

I write a monthly food plan. Write everything i need and only buy them online so i dont get no extra i got a milkman and i freeze bread.Got chickens so i never seem to go anywhere near shops to spend the odd tenner lol. i also make two meals and freeze one. All ingrediants are fresh and i spend about £5 a week on fresh fruit n veg! HTH

lil_me

I'm also amazed at £90 for 2 months, would love to see a list of what you buy, how much it is and what you make from it.

[Deleted User]

I`m always abit wary of people who make claims that they live on next to nothing,theres only me and mrs woodbine now and we still spend £80 a week in asda!
Back to the OP,dont try and work out a budget that looks like you have money to spare for creditors,in fact do your best to make sure you only have about £5 a week left

hanstar

wow.... i thought i was being savvy on £150 a month! where do you shop?we only have a local somerfield and theyre not the cheapest and dont do great reductions. our nearest larger supermarket and town is 40 miles away so then there are fuel costs. i use our weekly market for fruit and veg, and make sure i time it right when theyre selling it off cheap.
goes to show that with a bit of planning and being a bargain hunter you can get by on very little.

daska

I thought I did well, veg soup and bread keeps the budget under control for the 5 of us but I still reckon on an absolute minimum of £35/week for meals, not counting school lunches (free) and milk!

bestpud

notlongnow wrote: »

We are 2 adults, three children and I have spent on groceries in the last 2 months approx £90. I buy when on offer, I buy large packs and do ALL home cooked food. We dont go without (apart from takeaways..lol) and eat extremely healthily. Fortunately no-one is a fussy eater so I make one meal for all of us.

I didnt have a great deal already in the cupboards...usual dry goods, pasta, pulses etc, plus half a cupboard of various tins.

You say the last two months so I am assuming you had quite stock of ingredients in before this, and at some point will have to restock again?

Either that or I am feeling a sense of deja vu...:think:

dawnylou

For me, my Fiance and 2 pups we spend £100 per week.
Really trying to cut it down but just can't do it!! So I think £150 per fortnight is nowhere near enough!!