Eat for £12 a week?

Skintmama

I know I am being a lazy so and so but I have just copied out your menu plan pp and plan to use it myself this week as I have most of the stuff already Thanks pp for saving me time and effort :T

This thread has made me understand that we are not two adults and two children (heck they are both bigger than me already :rolleyes: ) but in fact 4 adults with big appetites so £50 a week for food is not an unrealistic goal for me. I admit we do love food and like to eat very well, including organic or free range meat and eggs and veg (health reasons) where we can.

All the proof that people can and do eat very well on very little money is so inspiring so I look forward to hearing more ideas. Before I came on here I thought I was quite economical in my food budget

skintchick

Me and the cat live on a budget of £15 a week for food, cleaning stuff and toiletries.

Usually I bring it in under that though.

My suggestion if you're just starting is to make a list of everything in your freezer and cupboards, then plan meals using those things first.

See, what's left, and what you'd need to make them into meals too. That goes on your list.

You'll probably find you have a months' worth of meals in the house already.

Then, each week only buy what you need for that week, having worked out meals in advance.

The overspend tends to be on extra stuff that looks tempting, but that isn;t required. If you do that every week you're spending money on food you never get round to eating!

Penny-Pincher!!

Awww Im glad it has helped.

It is quite shocking how much money and food wastage there is. 18 months ago, I was an exclusive M&S and Waitrose snob and would easily spend £100+ per week on food, then further unneccessary top ups through the week:eek: Then, come refuse day, my fridge was full of wasted food as we were eating 2-3 take aways a week too!!!!!!!! So loads were binned too.

Now its rare for me to throw food and normally OH makes a quiche to use up the fridge left overs at the end of the week..LOL, this is either eaten at lunch or frozen for a later date.

There are still items I will not cut back on-tetley, nescafe, decent bog rolls, kitchen towels, decent washing powder and fabric conditioner.

I'll do another planner next week and costing once Im done.

PP
xx

skintchick

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

There are still items I will not cut back on-tetley, nescafe, decent bog rolls, kitchen towels, decent washing powder and fabric conditioner.

xx

I agree - my English Breakfast tea and Douwe Egberts coffee are non-negotiable!!

But I buy value washing powder and have never bothered with fabric conditioner. I even buy the 50p henna shampoo from Tesco!

Penny-Pincher!!

Skintchick-how do you find the shampoo? Have tried the washing powder but didnt like it.

PP
xx

mummysaver

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Skintchick-how do you find the shampoo? Have tried the washing powder but didnt like it.

PP
xx

We all love the henna shampoo and conditioner, despite having got lots of stuff from Boots using the tips on the Boots grabbit thread, we all prefer the henna stuff from Tesco, it smell really nice too, though personally I prefer the smell of the Toni and Guy stuff I got cheap from Boots, but the T&G stuff leaves a residue on my hair if I use it all the time, the henna stuff just gives my curly hair a real shine, and it works well on the children's very straight hair too!

thriftlady_2

Skintmama wrote:

This thread has made me understand that we are not two adults and two children (heck they are both bigger than me already :rolleyes: ) but in fact 4 adults with big appetites so £50 a week for food is not an unrealistic goal for me.

Skintmama,are they teenage boys? apparently boys between the ages of 15 and 18 have the greatest calorie requirement of all ( 2755 according to The Diet Bible by Judith Wills) I can't wait till mine are that age :eek:

mummysaver

pabby-ellis wrote:

ok, i'm with you here. can you give me a copy of your meal planner for next couple weeks. i'm useless at thinking for myself of what to eat in advance.

Okay, these are the meals that I've planned for the next couple of weeks.

Toad in the hole
Macaroni cheese
Beef stew (small pack of cheap stewing beef done in slow cooker)
Cheese and onion pasties
Roast chicken
Chicken curry (using left overs from the roast)
Chicken fahitas
Pasta in bacon, cheese and leek sauce (children's latest favourite)
Bacon quiche
Corned beef hash (another of my children's favourites - yuck!)
Home made pizza (strong flour, 2 sachets of yeast, tom puree, cheese and odd toppings = pizza for 6)
Meatballs (nice ones from mince - lamb mixed with apricots is good, or v cheap value ones in tomato sauce tipped over spaghetti - another of the children's favourites!)
Baked potatoes
Lasagne (made with Beanfeast and extra peppers/onions/mushrooms/toms)
Shepherds pie
Lamb stew (very cheap shoulder joint cooked in slow cooker)

Puddings include:

Choc Brownies (best recipe is Belfast brownies on Blue Peter website!)
Sponge pudding (easy in microwave)
Lemon drizzle cake
Pineapple upside down cake
Caramel shortcake
Choc fork cookies (recipe on OS thread)
Gypsy tart (recipe on OS thread)
Toasted marshmallows

Not organised enough to provide a costing like Penny Pincher, but with the ingredients that I already had in the cupboard, plus my veggie box, the shopping cost £80.00 this week (not including bread and milk, as we use so much of these that I buy daily at the supermarket before I start work!), this also included 6 bottles of wine, dog, rabbit, hamster and guinea pig food. Doesn't include household cleaning stuff, toiletries, washing powder or toilet roll though. This amount is for 6 of us - and I also purchased stuff for 4 lots of packed lunches per day!

Hope that the meal ideas help, though I guess not everyone eats corned beef hash, my children love it - I think that they should have been born about 1940 given their food tastes! I'm also veggie, so tend to prepare a veggie and a meat version of things quite often, for instance they can't stand veggie sausages, so toad in the hole is normal sausages for them and a small individual veggie one for me. They all eat meat substitutes, and tend to prefer Beanfeast/soya mince to normal mince, especially in things like lasagne, so I guess that this brings the price down a bit too.

Penny-Pincher!!

Your menus sound delish.

PP
xx

skintchick

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Skintchick-how do you find the shampoo? Have tried the washing powder but didnt like it.

PP
xx

The shampoo is lovely - lathers well even in my hard water and works great. Such a bargain for 50p! I have half used mine and bought it about 6 weeks ago I think, so it should last three months. My flatmate spends £4 on hers!! :eek: