Eat for £12 a week?

Firehorse

I'd just like to say, that about ten years ago, I saw a programme whereby a family had to shop on a "perceived" limited budget. Trying to shop for 6 people for £100/m at the time, with 4 specialised diets, I was intrigued as to how the advertised "limits" could be met. I say "perceived" because, after watching the programme, the advertised budget only included food.

I have not seen any recent programmes, and therefore cannot comment on whether their suggestions of budgets are similarly based. However, it makes me really annoyed when I see media hype about eating for a set price per person, when there are many, many families out there doing their entire shopping on a similar budget (to those advertised) or considerably less. It is these families who should be held up as models and not the upper middle class slumming it for a week! I don't know if any of you remember these programmes, or how patronising they could be.



My monthly budget is between £200-250: we are two meat eaters, two veggies and I'll eat whatever there's plenty of (not always good for the diet!).

Anastacia

I spend between £40 and £50 per week for family of 4 (2 teenage boys - are they never full??) and two cats. I dont meal plan, even though i often intend to, and its no trouble at all. I think i could go down to about half of that if i tried but it would get a bit repetative and i dont think it is worth the effort.

I cant make head or tale of black saturns meal plans although i have tried, plus they dont eat fruit or veg as it upsets them, so not a very healthy alternative for feeding my family unfortunately.

I copy penny pincher from time to time though as she seems to have it all in hand!

TheToothfairy_3

OK, I fear being shot down in flames here...
BUT...I have been lurking (and occasionally posting on os for a year now) and really, really cannot understand how people can spend so little on their food bill. When I first started I was admittedly spending an average of £480 per month - shocking I know! :eek:
But now we have porridge/weetabix or cornflakes for brekkie. Kids and OH have H/M packed lunches and I have soup I have prepared from veg on the turn for lunch (love my pressure cooker and slow cooker).
Dinner - we all have the same meal which is homecooked from scratch.
I menu plan every week, don't impulse buy,we don't have ready meals, I buy value when I can, we don't have processed food, we don't have crisps, choc bars, cakes etc unless they are H/M...but I am still spending around £80 a week/£320 a month! :eek:
Now the only thing I can see looking at others is the volume of fresh fruit and veg we eat (and perhaps the fact that we live in the South East)!.
By my calculations though if a family of four are eating five fresh fruit and veg a day that is a total of 20 portions a day.
Over a week that is 140 portions for a family of four.
Divide that by the £48 per week (I know some do it on less than this thread is about) and that equates to 2.916p per portion.
Now that doesn't seem an unreasonable amount to spend per portion...but that is the budget spent on just fruit and veg...what about all the other food a family needs each week?
This is not meant at all as a slight at anyone, I just genuinely cannot understand how anyone can eat healthily (as per government guidelines and supermarket/market/farm shop prices) and maintain this level of low spending.

Am I alone in this thinking?...I await the rapid machine gun fire....:o

Anastacia

We live in Winchester,so not an especially cheap area, and we certainly have plenty of fruit & veg but I didnt mention we also have an allotment which helps. ASDA fruit & veg around here is better quality & cheaper than the local waitrose ( they get the christmas sprouts in in about October -I'm sure)so its not a problem.
Also have the brilliant Winchester farmers market. Used to be able to pick up a few things going cheap if you went near closing but now the place is so popular there isnt anything left by closing time. Darn (but good for them obviously).

Chipps

I suppose it can be done - I mean a lot of fruit & veg cheaply - depending on where you buy your fruit & veg.
I know the price difference between our local market (Saturdays only) and the other options in our town is quite large. We live in a small town, so not a lot of choice, but there is a greengrocer and a Tesco & Morrisons (ok, also a Netto but out of the way for me - that might be another cheaper option) The market often has some good bargains eg last week 3 pounds of bananas for £1.
Another way I keep our bills down, especially in the summer, is to grow as much as possible ourselves. We have a tiny garden (30 feet square roughly) so very little space, and I have a veg plot which is a raised bed about 8 x 3 feet and a small greenhouse. But in the summer we are self sufficient in things like tomatoes & cucumbers, french beans, spring onions, lettuce etc. And seeds are only about 29p a packet in Aldi & Lidl at the moment. I hate it when I have to go back to shop-bought carrots; they don't taste like the real thing!
And no, I have no plans to shoot anyone down in flames!
Not everyone has a market nearby, or a garden space... or the time to spend looking for bargains or digging and planting a veg plot. But those are things that have helped us keep our costs down & 5-1-day quota up.

thriftlady_2

Don't forget that the 5-a-day does not have to be fresh

Glass of Value orange juice (juice can only count towards your 5 portions once in a day)
Handful of raisins/sultanas
frozen peas, sweetcorn
tinned tomatoes
tinned fruit in juice
a serving of baked beans or other pulses can count too, if it is in edition to another source of protein.

jennybb

I am sure it could be done - but there is no way I could do it at the moment whilst working, studying, cooking as much as possible, running a hom (sort of :rotfl: ) and trying to have a life;)

Now if I had a garden and was at home more........

I really admire how some people manage their budget - I have cut mine down drastically since using these boards, but have a long way to go

Mind you I realise that I have choices and some people have to manage on a lot less than I do.

jennybb

can't spell home let alone run one!

Cute_'n'_Quirky

Anastacia wrote: »

I spend between £40 and £50 per week for family of 4 (2 teenage boys - are they never full??) and two cats. I dont meal plan, even though i often intend to, and its no trouble at all. I think i could go down to about half of that if i tried but it would get a bit repetative and i dont think it is worth the effort.

I cant make head or tale of black saturns meal plans although i have tried, plus they dont eat fruit or veg as it upsets them, so not a very healthy alternative for feeding my family unfortunately.

I copy penny pincher from time to time though as she seems to have it all in hand!

That is what I have said about most of these feed a family cheaply menus - they are not eating fruit and veg!!

Even buying tinned fruit and frozen veg costs a lot of money. Buying fresh is expensive, there is no getting away from it.

Cute_'n'_Quirky

TheToothfairy wrote: »

OK, I fear being shot down in flames here...
BUT...I have been lurking (and occasionally posting on os for a year now) and really, really cannot understand how people can spend so little on their food bill. When I first started I was admittedly spending an average of £480 per month - shocking I know! :eek:
But now we have porridge/weetabix or cornflakes for brekkie. Kids and OH have H/M packed lunches and I have soup I have prepared from veg on the turn for lunch (love my pressure cooker and slow cooker).
Dinner - we all have the same meal which is homecooked from scratch.
I menu plan every week, don't impulse buy,we don't have ready meals, I buy value when I can, we don't have processed food, we don't have crisps, choc bars, cakes etc unless they are H/M...but I am still spending around £80 a week/£320 a month! :eek:
Now the only thing I can see looking at others is the volume of fresh fruit and veg we eat (and perhaps the fact that we live in the South East)!.
By my calculations though if a family of four are eating five fresh fruit and veg a day that is a total of 20 portions a day.
Over a week that is 140 portions for a family of four.
Divide that by the £48 per week (I know some do it on less than this thread is about) and that equates to 2.916p per portion.
Now that doesn't seem an unreasonable amount to spend per portion...but that is the budget spent on just fruit and veg...what about all the other food a family needs each week?
This is not meant at all as a slight at anyone, I just genuinely cannot understand how anyone can eat healthily (as per government guidelines and supermarket/market/farm shop prices) and maintain this level of low spending.

Am I alone in this thinking?...I await the rapid machine gun fire....:o

I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one !

The cheap family menus are made up of stodge and starch and not much else.

I spend a fortune on fresh fruit and fresh or frozen veg.

I cannot grow my own veg anyway due to arthritis.
Most fresh fruit juices are too concentrated so high in sugar.