please can someone start me off? £50 weekly food shop - healthy/low fat

walmer3

Hi there. I've been made redundant a couple of weeks ago and so we need to budget properly. We've been really bad about it before now and I know we waste a lot and really overspend because we don't plan but just buy on a whim and it's based on a lot of ready-meals (I know, kerchingg).

If we can do our shop for, say, £50/week or less (based on feeding two adults and 2 toddlers) even that would be a massive improvement on our current expenditure. The only other considerations are that it should be pretty quick and easy to prepare and also that it should be basically healthy/low fat as I need to watch what I eat (hubby can have a big portion if he needs it). We do have a slow cooker and I need to make friends with it again.

I think there are some real experts on here and so I would be so very grateful if I could get a kick-start from anyone willing to provide advice. Any suggestions for good books covering the same subject would be great too. Thanks in advance!

Bitsy_Beans

To be honest if you are cooking from scratch you can ensure that it's lower in fat as you can adjust how much fat is added whereas ready meals are just stuffed with salt and goodness knows what else.
Anyway even if it's not necessarily low fat I find eating home cooked stuff that's not been pumped with preservatives etc is more filling anyway, tastes better and therefore I don't need to consume huge quantities (home made bread is far far more filling than shop bought Hovis etc).

I find most cooking from stratch isn't that time consuming. For slow cooker stuff I say prepare the veg the night before eg chopping and peeling etc) and then bung it all in the SC in the morning.

Cut down on your cleaning products by using either Bicarb and vinegar (better for environment) or Stardrops (not so environmentally friendly) but it's cheap and can be used to clean EVERYTHING. I don't buy anything else now (it does my stainless steel sink great).

Do you have a local farm shop? Near where I live there is a nursery (as in a small garden centre) that also sells local produce (and other not so local like bananas etc) cheaper by unit price than the supermarkets. They also sell big bags of dirty spuds that taste FAR better than shop bought ones and keep for ages as they are unwashed. Can you source stuff like that near to where you live?

Use your leftovers. I made chicken and rice last night. I would have in the past thrown what was left on my plate away. Now I bung it in the fridge and will use it for my lunch today.
Meal plan - it definately stops you buying more stuff than you need. Check your cupboards and only buy what you need to make your meals that week.

You don't need any books - all you need is OS to get you started. there's so much info on here you'll be spending all your time perusing old threads etc.

I haven't really helped with receipes etc since there's so much on here too look at already.
Good luck and sorry to hear you've been made redundant.

rosieben

Knowing what you have in the cupboards and freezer, meal planning, writing a shopping list and sticking to it, will all help to keep spending down.

Have a look at the monthly Grocery Challenge, and the weekly Meal Plans thread for inspiration.

You'll find loads of recipes and ideas in the complete cooking collection and loads of links to all things OS here

There's so much information on OS, on every subject you can think of, please don't be over whelmed with it all. A little at a time is the way to go.;)

smiler34

Hi hun, I would definitley say meal plan as that seriously brought my shopping budget and waste down. I am in the same boat myself at the moment me, OH and two toddlers and I am currently spending £60-£70 per week on groceries (inc nappies and wipes) I am now trying to get it down to £50 a month. I have found threads like eat for £1 a day etc very helpful, things like bulking out your meals with things like lentils, which are still quite cheap so you can make the meals go further. Also bulk buying and batch cooking and freezing. Think SC will definitley be a good idea, as you can make a big meal quite cheaply, I usually feed the four of us from my 3.5l SC and then OH takes the remainder to work for dinner next day. Good luck anyway and I will be interested to see what anyone else has to say on the matter xx

fairy3

Hi and welcome,

reading your post took me right back to my LBM and I realised how much money and TBH waste and rubbish we were eating and thought where do I start? I must admit after reading everything on here I took action as if it was a military campaign. I now feed 1 adult and 3 big teens on £50 a week and this includes packed lunches. Thank goodness do not have nappies etc

Definitely recommend going through your cupboards and freezer and take stock - it's amazing what you find. I even had lists on the doors so I could remember as having children easily makes you forget most things.

Do a simple plan for one week based around stuff you have in and plan a weekly shop for only what you need to complete this as a start. It takes time to get used to shopping and thinking differently but you will soon gain confidence AND save money. and there are always lots of others on here to help

Good luck and look forward too reading your progress

G
x

Butterfly_Brain

Wecome!
I would definitely agree with what everyone has said already. Meal Plan, Shopping Lists and storecupboard (I have enough food and sundries to last at least three months) so when the heavy bills come in I can feed us.
Have you tried value lines? some of them are really good
Do you shop around for bargains? It may seem a bit time consuming at first but once you get used to checking the price of things that you use a lot of and getting them for the cheapest price it really does pay.
Shops such as Aldi, Lidl, Farmfoods and Poundland all have good deals on every week.
I have found that if I just take cash with me when I shop I watch what I spend a lot more than if I was just handing over my card.
Check out your local library for budget cookbooks
This site is the best and so friendly and addictive! we all need a bit of help sometimes and this is the best place to find it.

Ben84

I've been shopping a lot at Aldi recently. Aside from being close to where I'm living, they're very cheap for fruit and vegetables. Generally better than the big supermarkets, and they always have six items included in their super six offer where each item is 69p. I've recently had whole pineapples, 2.5 kg bags of potatoes and 500g boxes of grapes for 69p.

Unfortunately, going to Aldi can be dangerous as they have delicious cheap chocolate too....

walmer3

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the tons of great advice. I've been following those links - my goodness, I'm almost glad I'm out of work as it certainly feels like I need plenty time to read up on all the tips and work out the plan of action LOL! Seriously though, it's great to get points in the right direction and everyone's words of encouragement have been so helpful. I've already done a cupboard audit so it's quorn chilli for us tonight as a result. Thanks and I will KUP!

clarebelle

as you have toddlers and also want to watch what you eat here is a small tip that will also make your food go further.

Im assuming your toddlers eat the same meal as you at night?

The majority of people eat a larger portion than they really need at meal times, a great way to lose weight is cutting down your meal portion sizes. Try not factoring in food for you toddlers, one can have some from your plate and and the other from your OH plate.

I always do this for my 2 yo. even on a good day she doesnt eat very much and i have never found myself still hungry for giving some of my portion away. and if you do, grab a raw carrot out of the fridge or something

walmer3

Clarebelle that's a really good tip! I know from experience there's more success in them eating that way but I just didn't ever think about not giving them their own portion to start off with. D'oh!

Isis_Black

I must admit i need to get back into all this, i am handing my notice in tomorrow due to ill health and going back to being a SAHM and i need to get back into cooking for scrach, so i will be looking up hint, tips and recipes on here, think i will need a good week or 2 of research on here before i make any big steps though LOL