feeding a family of 8

jenneedshelp

hi all, ive been looking through the posts looking for hints and tips for a large family and i would really appreciate a rough idea of how much i should be spending on groceries for a family of 8. this is for 6 adults and 2 children. i cant find anything! there must be more families out there with 6 children (2 now adult, 2 teens and 2 children). any hints and tips with anything, food, organisation and especially that grocery budget would b a wonderful help

RAS

Hi

Have a look at the Old Style Money Saving forum as well. They can make money go a long way.

joisey

have a look on the old style money saving board about bulk cooking, adding things like oats and lentils to bollagnese and chilli to bulk out meals.

you dont say how old the 2 adults children are? I hope they are contributing something to your food budget (sorry dont know your circumstances)
good luck! although I dont have a large family I regularly cook for 5/6 for my work )

dancingfairy

Hi. Here is the link to the OldStyle board - that is really there area of expertise - cooking and cleaning from raw materials, savvy shopping, stretching food to feed lots of hungry mouths, meal planning, batch cooking (ie making double the quantity and freezing half) etc.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?s=&daysprune=&f=33
Best of Luck
df

jenneedshelp

thank you so much for the quick replys! i must admit i have half heartedly looked at the old style board and used a few of the tips but its time to put in a bit more effort on my part i think. ive read the boards for a long time but now i really need to put what ive read into practice. my two oldest children are 20 and 21 and still at college/training so only work part time. they do pay me £30 a wk between them and i wouldnt ask for anymore while they only have part time work. money has just took a turn from bad to worse as i have lost the child benefit and family credit for the just turned 20 yr old. if i can just tighten the purse strings im sure things will be ok........

RAS

Hi

If you put an SOA up here, people can help you reduce your spend so you can live a better life, less expensively.

jenneedshelp

i hoped to avoid an soa but i will give it a go 2nite, the problem is i have absolutely no idea how much i spend on groceries and clothes (very scarey). my main shop is usually £120 a wk but then there is the dailys which i know is where my problem lies.

zippychick

jenneedshelp wrote: »

i hoped to avoid an soa but i will give it a go 2nite, the problem is i have absolutely no idea how much i spend on groceries and clothes (very scarey). my main shop is usually £120 a wk but then there is the dailys which i know is where my problem lies.

There's the first thing you can do. Get a receipt for every time you shop, whether weekly or carton of milk. Keep them all together and then you can get an idea. Then you can start to try to reduce that.

In the mean time, loads of stuff in the OS board! This thread may be better there? Not sure ....

1) Watch Economy Gastronomy on BBC2- catch up on Iplayer and watch future episodes. Great ideas for using leftovers, cutting costs and getting great varied cheap tasty meals

2) Mince - stretching and portion sizes

3) Can you have a veggie meal once a week, and a toast based meal once a week to save?

4) What kinds of things do you eat?

5) Do you have a slow cooker to cook cheaper meat cuts?

6) Do you buy a lot of Jar sauces, pre packed deserts. Eg - rather than buying yoghurts you can easily make your own with a massive tub of natural yoghurt with fruit thrown in - cheaper and less additives . If you buy packet ham, you would find a ham hock or two would save a fortune . Same for pre pack chicken - cooking and stripping a chicken would be cheaper than buying processed packet chicken . Also rubber chicken thread
could help give ideas on how to stretch chicken further.

7) What would be your biggest spend in your shop? Meat? Do you buy cheaper cuts? Even changing chicken fillets for thighs saves !

8) Once you know how much you spend, you can join the grocery challenge - List of all previous Gcs so you can see how it works and how much others spend

9) Are you guilty of "oh there's nothing in" and going buying stuff for dinner?

10) Do you meal plan and do shopping lists? Or just buy what you think you need (and end up needing to top up again in a day or two?) Meal plan- how to .
Also store cupboard challenge

11) Do you have a good storecupboard?

12) Lunches - I always bulk up my meat - so if i make coronation chicken, i bulk it up with toasted nuts and seeds etc . ALways try to think how you can make things go further, and if in doubt, there is a quick questions thread you can post up what you have and see what people suggest . I try to avoid going shopping unless really necessary

Enough for now, don't want to overload you! :rotfl:

RAS

Hi

Use this template for your SOA and it will make a difference

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

and you probably need to start a spending diary to find out where those extra bits are going.

Verbatim

Abusive post reported

Fag_ash_lil

the_walking_dude wrote: »

you could save a lot of money by going back 20 years and using contraception.

Well that's a really helpful comment to make ..... It's comments like this that really put people off of posting on these boards ....

jenneedshelp - It's the summer holidays so you will have to excuse the poster the_walking_dude ..... I think you have been given some great advice from zippychick ...

terri x