struggleing to stick to shopping budget

fizzel81

i know im going wrong somewhere and when adding all recipts up of what i have bought the last month im already 24.52 over my budget of 40.00 per week, there is 4 of us to feed etc on this, cannot work out where i am going wrong, payplan give us a budget etc per person as we are on a dmp so somehow i need to get to grips with sticking to it, is the 1st month of setting yourself a budget usually this hard im worried if we cannot stick to it now how will we cope when the baby comes along (milk wipes that will be needed)
any advice will be most welcomed, ive cut back on the cleaning products i use and now only use stardrops microfibre clothes toilet cleaner and washing up liquid for all my cleaning needs and add soda crystals to my washing powder to stretch it out.
Have been trying to cook from scratch but am finding it hard with 2 small children and struggling to motivate myself as the things i have cooked dh and ds1 have refused to eat (says alot for my cooking and the fact we got too used to convience food)
TIA

beverleyhills

:grouphug: Don't beat yourelf up.You can't get it all right first time. You have cut back on the cleaning budget. Has it made any difference to the allergies?

DH and DS are experiencing different flavours now that you are cooking from scatch. Convenience food can have a lot of salt, sugar, hidden fats and flavour enhancers. It does take time to change taste and then it's no going back.

Is DH really committed to your DMP? You do need his support and encouragement when you are making the effort with the family meals. Children will copy aults likes and dislikes.

Keep going and keep posting to keep your morale up.

Prudent

Convenience food is very expensive. I think it is unlikely you will stick to that budget unless you make things yourself. The other option would be to go to the big supermarkets just before closing time and buy ready meals on clearance when you can usually get them for 10 –30 p.

elona

fizz

A year ago when I started to make my own bread in a breadmaker and suggested making my own pizza dough and toppings as well - Dh and DDs were really snotty! One DD said "bought pizza will have all the best stuff and the right herbs etc!":eek:

Now they happily eat my pizza and if a quiche is shop bought they turn up their noses as they say mine is better!

I still do not consider myself a good cook - stuff I make is not beautifully straight etc but they now seen to like it.


One night this week I had been out so made chicken kiev and potato wedges from the freezer - two days later the comment was made "It is nice to get back to home cooked food Mum!"

I nearly fell over in shock.

It will take time but can be done as my lot were the fusssiest blighters imaginable.

moggins

£40 a week for 4 is rather tight too, I thought the minimum to work on was £12.50 per person per week?

I often come in under £50 per week for 4 of us, but that's only with constant meal planning, taking advantage of every special offer and using my local outdoor market. And all of that takes time, I don't know if you're working or not but if you are then it must be really hard to find those bargains

If you can, try buying extra of just one thing every week, like an extra pack of mince and bulk cooking, stick the extra in the freezer and then you always have something in if you don't feel like cooking, or after 6 weeks you have almost a week where you don't have to buy anything for main meals.

elona

There is a thread on here somewhere on cheap meals and a challenge on how to feed six people for under £1.50 in total.

Things like home made pancakes are cheap and filling and you can add different fillings to it as well.

sarah0404

Sorry to hear you are struggling. It's hard cutting back. And i agree, trying to cook a meal from scratch with two hungry little ones around is hard work. Have you got a slow cooker? I just dug mine out again recently and made a few things. The first wasn't really a proper meal. I put in some chicken breasts and Homepride curry sauce and left it on all day. All I had to do at tea time was to make some rice. I also froze the left overs in small portions so my partner can take them to work when he is working late, rather than buying something. I also made soup in it, a sort of bean stew thing which I added some cooked pasta to and today it is making some chilli. I'll put baked potatoes in the oven later on and we'll have a hassle free tea of baked potatoes and chilli. I'll freeze the left over chilli for my partner to take to work too.

Maybe if you try making a home made version of the meals your family are used to it might go down better?

Have you ever heard of Once A Month Cooking? It's sort of an American thing. You spend a day cooking or assembling all the meals that you will eat for the next month then freeze them. Your partner would probably have to take the children out for the day to let you get on with it. It sounds like a nightmare cooking that many meals, but if you are organised then it is quite easy. I found it saved me a LOT of money. The first month I did it I spent £55 on all the ingredients for a months worth of meals for a family of 5. I actually ended up with more than a months worth of food. Of course I had to spend a bit more for breakfast cereals, milk, bread and cleaning products through out the month. If you are used to ready meals then it's great. You just stick them in the oven. No preparation needed! There is a book I bought on Amazon called Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough. The recipes are very American sounding, but it gave me an idea how to go about it all.

Babies don't have to be expensive. Do a bit of reasearch on re-usable nappies. You can get some that look just like disposables, although they can be quite expensive. I'd recommend pre-fold style nappies and good fitting wraps. You can pick these up very cheaply on ebay. Maybe a little bit at a time so you aren't spending so much at once. Some local councils give you cash back if you use reusable nappies. We use washable wipes too. Some are specially made washable wipes, but most of them are cheap face cloths from ASDA. Either I just wet them with warm water, or sometimes I make up a wipe solution with water, baby oil and lavendar oil. Or you could start stockpiling disposable wipes. Pick some up when you see them on special offer every so often. And breastfeeding is free if you can do it. I breastfed my older two but I ended up having to formula feed my youngest. I was shocked at how much the milk cost. By the time he was 6 months old we'd spent almost £200 on bottles and formula milk! :eek:

Ooops I've written an essay. I hope I have said something of use.

poppycracker

thanks for that post sarah0404, I've also found it really hard to budget this month (with two of us :eek: ) so I will be noting down some of your ideas thanks!

Hermia

Once a month I will have a fill-the-freezer day. I make a big vat of bolognese or chilli which makes about 16 portions which I freeze. It's very handy for the nights I work late. Whenever I am shopping I will look out for BOGOFs on canned tomatoes etc so that the bolog/chilli will be even cheaper.

Another thing I do is use the shops in the 'ethnic' part of town. If you have an Asian population near you it's worth checking out their shops. There are some Asian foodstores in a town near me and you can bulk buy stuff so cheaply. You can get HUGE bags of rice, pulses and veg for much lower prices than you'd pay in the supermarket.

You should also take some library books out for inspiration. There are lots of books about cooking for children and on a budget. Cookbooks aimed at students are pretty good. I'm teaching myself to cook at the moment and cookery books have really opened my eyes to how I can make simple meals that are yum.

alexandra1

We have been trying to stick to a budget of £50 a week ( provisions only) and have been doing quite well for 4( incl 2 teenagers). We have fresh food and vegs every day, plenty of fresh fruit in the fruit bowl, but where we have hit lucky is being in Asda or Waitrose when food is reduced. My husband came in the other day with a pack of 3 sirloin steaks for 99p, another pack for £1.25. It kinds of affects your budget as you are then putting in the freezer for another day, but overall, still keeping costs down. This was mid afternoon, same in Waitrose , not sure for other stores.

otterspasm

Hi there,
Sorry to hear that things are so tight. I have just left work to be a full-time Mum and so we have had to really tighten our belts and I have cut our food budget from about £250+ per month to £120 per month for 2 adults and a hungry toddler. I don't really count the LO so it works out at £15 per person per week for me and DH. I think I could cut this further if necessary as the cupboards are very full on that amount.

I have done this by meal planning (learnt on this site! Thank you everyone!) and checking prices eg. Tescos Value range is sometimes more expensive than thier own brand or even main brands...there's a thread on here about that. I get free fresh yeast from Tescos bakery and make our bread...just bake it once a week and freeze what isn't going to be used immediately.

I buy a big sack of potatoes for £5 and a massive sack of onions also for £5 and they last a couple of months. Potatoes are really versatile and sooooo cheap. A favourite meal of ours which costs pennies is HM potato wedges in veg oil with a load of spices bunged over them with a fried egg...egg and chips! Corned beef hash...potato, onion and a tin of corned beef...bit of cheese grated on top and grilled.

As for the children, I'm not sure what to suggest other than to hang on in there! It's so hard to see your kids unsettled but I'm sure they'll adjust in time.

I hope some this is helpful. Good luck!