Help £65 a week for a family of 5

jomilne

Hi there,
not sure if this has been mentioned before, and apologies if it has - as far as dog food goes I buy 15kg bags of working dog food from Pets at Home for my two dogs (although they are jack russells, not big dogs!). The last time I bought a bag (about 2 months ago) it was about £10. And because its working dog food, you don't pay VAT on it and they don't eat as much.
Hope this helps a bit!

weewillywinkie

hi all,

first of all thank you for all replying to my thread.........but i dont think i made myself clear the £65 food budget is just that just for food i already have another budget of around £120 for dog food, washing up products, toiletries, and juice for the month.(i already buy the 15k dry food for the dog and this lasts 4 wks (she is a 10stone rottie)and i mix this with wet food as its nice for a change)(my cats thankfully now only like asda wet food and dry food)

i do cook from scratch and at the moment i have a partly full freezer, my kids are not really all that fussy as if they dont eat what i make then they dont get any dinner:rolleyes:.

i was just looking for some advice on how to cut back as we do like the nice good food which seems to be my downfall when buying food every month i always seem to buy more than we need and want to cut this back.

i have made a meal plan for all next week using most of what i have already so i am hoping that this will cut the cost, but as i live in scotland the kids are off on holiday and eating me out of house and hame:rotfl:and i have arranged for a bbq tomorrow night with some friends that will have to be included in the budget.

but thank you one and all for your suggestions.

www

Penelope_Penguin

weewillywinkie wrote: »

i was just looking for some advice on how to cut back as we do like the nice good food which seems to be my downfall when buying food every month i always seem to buy more than we need and want to cut this back.

In that case, take a look at the current Grocery Challenge thread (I'll add this one to that one later, to keep ideas together). The experts there will assist you in keeping to your budget, and the front page has lots of delicious frugal recipes to assist :T

Penny. x

paulies_nixie

Have you tried keeping a waste diary?
It was a bit of an eye opener for me ... every week I'd buy pineapple and most weeks I'd throw it away, I stopped buying pineapple.

Its amazing what you buy out of "habbit" each week
And do the store cupboard inventory thing - no point buying it if you already have it