Eat for £12 a week?

curlydi

Hi i stumbled across this site in an attempt to reduce my shopping bill, I have been inspired by some and shocked at others nasty attitudes to those trying to help.
I am a working mum who works 5 days a week 2 of which are 9-9 days and i work saturdays .I am in a second relatioship and between us we have 5 children of which only one lives with us, the others visit every other weekend and mid week. My partner is very fussy and so are his children who only eat chicken! i end up cooking 2 meals a day when the children are here and this is just costing so much. I am spending on average £200.00 a week i can't afford to keep spending like this.
I am going to menu plan and use up my left overs for another meal.
But this is proving difficult ,as for example my Partner does not like Pasta,Pork chops,lamb,salmon,trout,cous cous,thats just some of the things there are more but i can't think right now.
So hopefully with the help of this site i will reduce it.

ceridwen

Hi curlydi

Dont be put off by the odd one or two posters who aint being that nice - 99% of the time here on the Old Style Board we are all friendly and helpful to each other - that is the prevailing ethos on this Board.

Welcome to the Board - I'm sure you will learn lots - I have.

curlydi

Hi Ceridwen
Thanks for your acknowledgment, i wasn't sure if many were still using this thread as it is quite old, But i have been shocked that i haven't read about anyone who comes close to what i am spending, i can't believe how most people can shop so cheaply.
What with fuel and petrol increases i need to find a way of cutting the weekly costs and it looks like i can deffinatly do it here

daleigha

Hi Money Saving People!

Ive just come across this site and think its amazing! its also good to see that people do the same things as me to save money (my friends think im a right weirdo for having a weekly meal planner!!) :rotfl:

the only thing is, i spend about £45 - £55 per week on groceries, for myself, the other half and Lucy the cat. I always thought that was good, but seeing what you lot spend im put to shame!! :rolleyes:

i dont know why our bills are so large - im a veggie and as i cook the meals in our house the OH has ended up being a semi-veggie too, so there is very little meat in our weekly shop. thats doesnt include cleaning products (i buy them from the Co-Op and spend £10 about once a month) and most certainly not toiletries!!

the only thing i refuse to budge on is organic dairy produce, but everything else we buy is eaten within the week, due to the meal planner, and we dont buy a lot of treats and crisps - we have a treat once a week (like a packet of cookies for example!!)

i buy own brand stuff (but not value) and make my own lunches - all our evening meals are made from scratch too.

what am i doing wrong?!?!? help!!!! :eek:

Cornishpixie_2

curlydi wrote: »

Hi i stumbled across this site in an attempt to reduce my shopping bill, I have been inspired by some and shocked at others nasty attitudes to those trying to help.
I am a working mum who works 5 days a week 2 of which are 9-9 days and i work saturdays .I am in a second relatioship and between us we have 5 children of which only one lives with us, the others visit every other weekend and mid week. My partner is very fussy and so are his children who only eat chicken! i end up cooking 2 meals a day when the children are here and this is just costing so much. I am spending on average £200.00 a week i can't afford to keep spending like this.
I am going to menu plan and use up my left overs for another meal.
But this is proving difficult ,as for example my Partner does not like Pasta,Pork chops,lamb,salmon,trout,cous cous,thats just some of the things there are more but i can't think right now.
So hopefully with the help of this site i will reduce it.

Hi, It sounds like a lot of hard work. I guess you could start by maybe buying "Decent stuff on offer like at your local butchers, then trying to stretch it further. You could try the kids with pasta rice or pots with the chicken and lots of veg(whatevers on offer or cheap like carrots), so using less chicken and getting them used to different foods. Also you could try some home baking for snacks and stop buying biscuits, crisps as often. Its not easy my hubby used to be the same, but at the end of the day, he can't act like a single person (or me!), as we have a young family to feed and bills to pay. Menu planning(have a family meeting for this one, likes/ don't likes, what they will try etc), and sticking to lists. I also wouldn't buy in a lot of stuff at once. Good luck x

Cornishpixie_2

daleigha wrote: »

Hi Money Saving People!

Ive just come across this site and think its amazing! its also good to see that people do the same things as me to save money (my friends think im a right weirdo for having a weekly meal planner!!) :rotfl:

the only thing is, i spend about £45 - £55 per week on groceries, for myself, the other half and Lucy the cat. I always thought that was good, but seeing what you lot spend im put to shame!! :rolleyes:

i dont know why our bills are so large - im a veggie and as i cook the meals in our house the OH has ended up being a semi-veggie too, so there is very little meat in our weekly shop. thats doesnt include cleaning products (i buy them from the Co-Op and spend £10 about once a month) and most certainly not toiletries!!


the only thing i refuse to budge on is organic dairy produce, but everything else we buy is eaten within the week, due to the meal planner, and we dont buy a lot of treats and crisps - we have a treat once a week (like a packet of cookies for example!!)

i buy own brand stuff (but not value) and make my own lunches - all our evening meals are made from scratch too.

what am i doing wrong?!?!? help!!!! :eek:

I don't think your necessarily doing anything wrong. The current cost of living, its only going to be as good as you can get it for your circumstances/ lifestyle. IYSWIM. Personally I have found the Don't waste food challenge really good. My war cry is "Hey Don't through that away".:o I use left over pasta, rice, pots, as in if I've cooked too much, then use for lunch next day with maybe salad bits that need using up. Must admit its usually me who has it or the kids will have left over pizza, quiche, pasta salad in their packs. Goodness to think we used to take food for granted:rotfl:

curlydi

Cornishpixie wrote: »

Hi, It sounds like a lot of hard work. I guess you could start by maybe buying "Decent stuff on offer like at your local butchers, then trying to stretch it further. You could try the kids with pasta rice or pots with the chicken and lots of veg(whatevers on offer or cheap like carrots), so using less chicken and getting them used to different foods. Also you could try some home baking for snacks and stop buying biscuits, crisps as often. Its not easy my hubby used to be the same, but at the end of the day, he can't act like a single person (or me!), as we have a young family to feed and bills to pay. Menu planning(have a family meeting for this one, likes/ don't likes, what they will try etc), and sticking to lists. I also wouldn't buy in a lot of stuff at once. Good luck x

Hi Cornishpixie
Yes it is hard work , i already use a local farm shop for my meat ,fruit and veg, and we don't have biscuits or cakes. only when i make them which i have to say is not very often! I think my biggest problem is cooking too many different meals to suit everyone. My children are very easy to feed and will eat most things i dish up which are all freshly prepared .Also i find i am throwing a lot of food away that has passed its sell by date. I tend to go shopping every week and buy the same things, i have cupboards full of food and a full freezer .
I keep trying to menu plan but it only lasts one week, but i am going to try really hard to plan and shop for what i need, Many thanks for your advice

trying-very-trying

curlydi wrote: »

Hi Cornishpixie
Yes it is hard work , i already use a local farm shop for my meat ,fruit and veg, and we don't have biscuits or cakes. only when i make them which i have to say is not very often! I think my biggest problem is cooking too many different meals to suit everyone. My children are very easy to feed and will eat most things i dish up which are all freshly prepared .Also i find i am throwing a lot of food away that has passed its sell by date. I tend to go shopping every week and buy the same things, i have cupboards full of food and a full freezer .
I keep trying to menu plan but it only lasts one week, but i am going to try really hard to plan and shop for what i need, Many thanks for your advice

You could try having a look at the "don't throw food away challenge" It'll change the way you think, and you get some great ideas. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=904371

Chloe5

Well, you're probably in a pretty difficult situation and you'll have to find a method that works for you taking into account the circumstances and how much you like cooking!

I have a fussy eating situation too and probably others have. I have two children with almost opposite tastes. Plus one has to have reduced dairy intake.

Each person can only speak for themselves. One of my friends only eats processed stuff and she manages to feed her family very cheaply on it. I like 'real' food but cooking it and cleaning up after is extremely time consuming and not everyone likes that.

I've got a stock of recipes now that I use that are tried and tested. I can't honestly say that my food shop is as low as most people's on here even though I seem to be doing many of the same things.

I usually look up the tesco's website, work out what's on offer, plan around it and then buy my food. On offers recently I made several batches of tomato and red pepper soup and tomato soup for pasta.

I will often buy a large chicken for Sunday, left overs Monday, have enough for a chicken pie which I make including the pastry, then usually use the bones for stock/soup so that it goes further. I'm not always convinced on the stock front but if I have time I do it.

We have some cheap and cheerful stuff like Spanish Omelette and might have lentil/lentil and bacon/other soup with it. Tuna pasta bake goes down well in our house. In fact, I don't think it is our main meals that are the problem so much.

We like our food and although it's an area I keep under control it's also something we enjoy a lot.

My shop for 4 people this week including toilet rolls, cleaning stuff and a couple of bottles of wine and some non-dairy stuff was £62 which probably seems a lot to some people but I'm reasonably happy with it.

Other than that I would say:

- I have a stock of recipes that are tried and tested and consequently, I can make sure that if celery is left over in one place it is used up in the next meal or for soup.

- I buy own product ranges but I do keep an eye on nutritional contents and so much cough up the extra pennies for stuff with less additives, etc.

- We buy cheap biscuits - this makes a difference and it isn't always easy to tell the difference. My husband will eat Tesco choc digestives and not bat an eye lid but their cookies don't get house room. No one spots the bourbons or custard creams.

Good luck, it takes a bit of time to find out what works for you.

oystercatcher

I'm another one who is amazed at how little people manage to spend. I thought I was quite thrifty and I've been trying to cut back and use value products and cheap brands. We are two adults , three teenage boys and two small dogs . I usually spend £120 -£150 a week on food and household stuff. We do eat quite a lot of ready prepared stuff and I am HOPELESS at planning, usually wait until everyone is starving and end up having something out of the freezer with oven chips. So one solution would be to have something homemade waiting in the freezer.
I'm lazy and hate cooking and rarely bake but think this will have to change.

It's not easy coming home shattered and then managing to cook something from scratch. On my days off I spend a lot of time here at the computer so that is one thing which could be changed .....

Need to get my head round this and start making small changes ....

Oystercatcher