food/housekeeping allowance on benefits

LittleMissAspie

I don't know how much babies cost but me and my boyfriend spent an average of £131.25 per month on groceries (including household items) in 2008. I have it all on a spreadsheet. There is room to pare that down too as we sometimes throw food away and my boyfriend drinks a LOT of diet coke. Then again, I take sandwiches to work and he doesn't, I guess that makes up for the coke.

£80 a week would be insane. My basket would be full of Tesco Finest ready meals!

notlongnow_2

Just been to the rip off garage/spa to get butter for my pineapple upside down cake and got 6 pints of pink for 14p each...result!

I bought lots of re-usable nappies but didnt get on with them so now have a big stack of nappies I cant sell on Ebay!..might Gumtree them.

margaretclare

£80 a week would be insane. My basket would be full of Tesco Finest ready meals!

DH and I spend approx £70 a week and we do not buy any ready-meals from anyone at all.

alwaysonthego_2

I spend about £65 per week on food and cleaning items and we do not buy any ready made meals. We are a family of 2 adults and 2 children.

Felicity

notlongnow wrote: »

Hi felicity. To be honest I dont know how I do it!lol. Re:loo rolls. I buy Asda own(not the REALLY cheap) or I buy whatever is on offer for £4 for a huge pack. I dont buy cheap ones as I think its false ecomony. If its a brand im not familiar with(lol) then I squeese a roll with my thumb inside the cardboard inner and finger on the outside of the roll. If they squeese down to a really thin roll I wont touch them. Cheap loo rolls really are cr*p!lol. And baby is in nappies so she doesnt use it. The boys also know not to use half a roll each time they go and one boy I have to remind to use it!

Your meal sounds really nice. I think I would have left out either the greens or peas. and maybe cut down on the cheese? If I buy cheese I buy a big block that lasts for ages or buy when cheap and freeze.

I buy yogurts that are on offer. The mullers fruit corners were on offer for 12 for £2 last week in asda so you could have saved yourself a banana each. Gosh I sound really tight!!!!! Or asda fromage frais is cheap. I usually see reduced Petit Filous in asda..they freeze well and I give them frozen to my baby for her sore gums or just to keep her quiet, plus its less messy than giving her a pot and spoon!

I think im just lucky with the reduced items I find.

Today we have had big bowls of corned beef stew left over from yesterday and home made yorkshire puds for lunch as the boys are off school. Im now cooking a chicken tonight thingy with a big pack of chicken thighs and legs I got in tesco for £1.25 and a jar I found in the cupboard with some potatoes and veg (Morrisons do sacks of potatoes for a couple of pound). There will be too much so OH will probably have some tommorow or ill freeze some.

I always make too much and then if the boys are hungry later they can have some more or Ill save/freeze so even though something may look 'expensive' it actually isnt.

and if I see an offer for bags of pasta or noodles or pulses or anything else then I will buy it so the cupboards are generally well(ish) stocked to always russle up a meal.

Im also lucky in that I can pass 3 major supermarkets on my way to school so I can nip in here there and everywhere to get best offers.

My 10p a bag organic dried pineapple has rehydrated well(used half a bag) and now im here to find a pineapple upside down cake recipe with the Eggs I bought for 30 for £2.50 from the car boot on sunday and the flour I have in the cupboard, and sugar I aquire from Maccy D's if we nip for a coffee when at work or from the tea trolley they leave at work after meetings..lol.

I also stocked up on the bread mixes from Asda a few months ago that were 25p and make 2 loaves.

You could have made a lovely homemade loaf to go with your pasta lunch...mmmmm homemade bread smell!
The £80 is just what I have spent over the last couple of months. I have 2 kitchen cupboards which were half full of things like beans, toms, cheap noodles for when im feeling lazy and various packets and sachets of things.

My budget will never go above £100 a month. I can get a trolley full of shopping for £25..lol. But wee also do like the occasional takeaway.

Also, fishfingers are not all the time. I tend to stay away from processed food but really LOVE fish fingers.

Thanks!

I love many of your tips and will look out for the reduced stuff.

Can you give us an example of your meals for a day / week?

I am still struggling to see how you can do it for so little. Re my menu today, yes I suppose I could have reduced costs by taking out some of the veg but I try to get a good balance of veg/carbs/protein in our meals (as we have a little one).

Todays lunch meal example was very protein light so for dinner our little one has had 1/2 a salmon steak (I can't remember the cost but approx 50p for a toddler portion, I dont like buying cheap fish) with some cous cous and veg.

I should imagine that meal alone cost about 75p with the veg (+ olive oil, butter etc). Then for dessert a pear (20p?) and a biscuit (5p?)

For breakfast he had weetabix and milk (maybe 20p?).

I just still fail to see how you can manage it all for 30p per person per day!

Please come back and give us your menu, I could be inspired!!!!!

hanstar

notlongnow wrote: »

I bought lots of re-usable nappies but didnt get on with them so now have a big stack of nappies I cant sell on Ebay!..might Gumtree them.

shame you didnt get on with them, i've become bit of a nappy addict! and i find they work great and have saved me loads of money.

try www.clothnappytree.com they have a classifieds section in the forum for selling cloth nappies and i find they sell really quickly from there.

hanstar

i think if you have a selection of shops and supermarkets you can shop in you can always find cheap items and look for bargains. we are unlucky that we have a somerfield and at best they do 25% reductions.... and if its up to 75% off its un-edable. we do have an aldi which is good for the veg but overall i dont think theyre very cheap as they never have bogof or any other offers.
we always eat fresh and i wont touch a microwave meal or anything processed. my partner is quite a fussy eater tho so i find i spend more trying to keep him happy at meal times!!

dawnylou

OrkneyStar wrote: »

If YOU can afford this then fine!
Good luck.

What is the attitude for??

We CAN'T afford this, but have to eat. I like our meals to be home made so I buy lots of fruit, veg and meat which is expensive at the moment.

Hence we do not go out for drinks or meals unless it is a special occasion, never ever have takeaways, hardly drink.....

Lots of times I have tried the grocery challenge but struggle to get it down. I can't buy in bulk due to not having much space, but I do try to cook extra and freeze it whenever possible.

lolababy

We are lucky in that we have lots of cheap food shops. They all compete which is fantastic for us. One of the shops does branded foods that have two to four weeks shelf life. I got six small childrens yogurts for 29p . They are called petit something. Mince pies three packs for a pound, cadbury chocolate moose five for a pound. All junk I know but I do get healthy food too.
I dont like to pay full price for anything.

LizzieS_2

notlongnow wrote: »

Hi, I have definately only spent that amount. I buy everything when it is on rediculously cheap offers in the supermarkets and buy the biggest one they sell. (Massive Persil and loo rolls in Asda)

I dont have a massive stock of cupboard items, I may have a few bags of pasta, pulses(lentils,chickpeas) I buy a lot of fresh veg but not so much fruit as I think its very expensive this time of year.

Well for 6 I spend more than you do in 2 months purely on fruit & veg.

I make bread and buy eggs from the local market.

I do, and wouldn't say it was actually the cheaper option.


I am also lucky in that I go into Asda whilst at work at night and so can usually drop on to the 10p reduced items.

That explains a lot - luck of the job, though the public do also get the benefit of some of these 10p items - I was amazed at one woman having a basket full one Sunday morning (still didin't see so much variety of pre-packed items myself in the bargain sections myself).

What I cant use, ill freeze. If its not on offer, I wont buy it. Also, last week I bought a carrier bag FULL(the SA loved me..lol) of 3 packs of raisons and fruit bars and bags of dried apricots for 5p each!! Bargain...lunchboxes sorted for ages.

Lucky to find those!!!!

I buy toiletries from Boots making use of the clearance lines that give you extra points for buying them from the machines in there. Boots usually end up paying me to take the toiletries away and then I use the points on my Boots card for nappies or meal deals to take to work.

Are you adding the cost of all these meals or are they all from the same 2 months savings at boots?

My biggest expense is milk as I have a toddler who can get through a lot!! Again, if im lucky I buy it for 10p from Asda late at night and freeze it.

Very lucky - one of the advantages of the job there! Milk is a huge chunk of my bill.

Any jobs going?