Fed up of spending £80 plus on shopping.

merlin68

Please could I see your meal plans and a list of what you buy as I can never get my shopping under £80 a week and it is all homemade and value. I do not believe that anyone can feed their family healthily for less than this. But I would like to know how and try and do it. We are 2 adults, two children and a cat and a dog.

Gigervamp

What do you feed your dog and how much does that cost per week?

Mr_Lahey

merlin68 wrote: »

Please could I see your meal plans and a list of what you buy as I can never get my shopping under £80 a week and it is all homemade and value. I do not believe that anyone can feed their family healthily for less than this. But I would like to know how and try and do it. We are 2 adults, two children and a cat and a dog.

I spend half that, cook from scratch, use fresh herbs, good quality meat and that includes my lunch.

This is my menu for this week:

Monday
Muesli/Special K
Fruit

Roast Chicken Salad
& leaves

Chicken Brochettes
& Red Pepper Salsa

Tuesday

Oats
Fruit

Roast Chicken Salad

Chicken & Parma
With red pepper & bolognase sauce


Wednesday

Muesli/Special K
Fruit

Sticky Drumsticks

Chicken Tikka Kebabs
With Rice

Thursday
Oats
Fruit

Rice Noodle Salad/w Chicken

BBQ Ribs
[FONT=&quot]Champ[/FONT]

Friday

Oats
Fruit

Broccoli Salad

Pepperonata

Saturday

Bacon Sandwich

Cottage Pie

Sunday

Oats
Fruit

Free/Cheat

Roast Chicken
Broccolli, Carrots, Peas

Its all healthy home cooked food. PM me if you want the shopping list.

StrawberryYogurt

Mr Lahey is that for more then one person? I would love that shopping list if you are willing to share! :)

Mr_Lahey

StrawberryYogurt wrote: »

Mr Lahey is that for more then one person? I would love that shopping list if you are willing to share! :)

That is for 1 adult and 2 kids, but it is enough for four.

I should have said though, i do already have a fully stocked cupboard with all the base ingredients such as vinegars, spices etc...

I would also like to point out that every single meal is healthy and when combined with the odd bit of fruit fulfils the 5 a day.

Ill sort the kids out and post it up here soon. They are running riot at the moment!

StrawberryYogurt

It all sounds yum! Will look forward to seeing your list! I may be adapting mine now for the weekend lol x

merlin68

The cat and dog food is seperate from that i get the big 15kg bags from csj which last 2 to 3 months for £18 each.

StrawberryYogurt

I am a family of 4 like yourself

I buy lots of reduced mince when I see it and stock the freezer. I can get 3 meals from a whole chicken. I roast it on a Sunday, then strip it and I will use that for a pie and maybe a curry or stirfry later in the week.

Big bags of spuds! You can do some yummy potato bakes, jacket spuds, cottage pies... I use frozen veg and mainly broccoli ( I know, I know frozen is "tut"...:( ) I only buy the cheese that is on offer and get the strongest I can for the best price I can as you do not need as much. I often buy reduced bread and freeze it and take out slices here and there when I need it. Always have flours in. You can make a quick fruit crumble for next to nothing.

I am though still learning myself and trying hard to bring our budget down...its a challenge thats for sure!

samanthaneww2d

merlin68 wrote: »

Please could I see your meal plans and a list of what you buy as I can never get my shopping under £80 a week and it is all homemade and value. I do not believe that anyone can feed their family healthily for less than this. But I would like to know how and try and do it. We are 2 adults, two children and a cat and a dog.

I always buy reduced everything so I am lucky theres regularly cheese at my local supermarket which i buy and grate then freeze you would be surprised at how far this goes I also buy reduced milk and freeze as I make a lot of sauces for lasagne and pasta bakes etc.Do you go with a list of what you need after meal planning and buy it or is it flexible as to what is on offer?
I am no expert but we are spending about £160 a month by grit and determination and we are eating well but this is as I buy what is reduced and turn it into something .I batch cook loads and freeze to use later and take advantage of whoopsied fruit and veg I am vegetarian and the others get meat about three to four times a week usually curried or in a stew the rest of the time they eat veg lasagne/ veg chiili/ veg curry veg casserole/ omellettes/ frittata / veg rostis etc.

Mr_Lahey

Below is the full ingredient list for my menu. I make my own bread and get milk delivered daily. As you can see i already stock a huge proportion of the ingredients. If you want any of the recipes (most of which have been stolen and adapted from cook books) let me know


Meat

Full Chicken
6 Chicken Breasts
Parma Ham
1 ½ rack ribs
Smoked Streaky Bacon
10 Chicken Legs
900g Lean Minced Beef

Veg/fruit

3 Red Onions
Broccoli
1 Yellow Pepper
3 Salad Tomatoes
1 Orange Pepper
Chantenay Carrots
1 Red Pepper
Bananas
Bunch Spring Onions
2 Plum Tomatoes
1 Lime
Apples
Lemon
Bag of leaves


Everything Else

Jar of Roasted Peppers
330ml Guinness
Bolognese Sauce
Breakfast Cereal (i get Special K and Alpen)
Rice Noodles
Jack Daniels BBQ rub

Already have

Salt & Pepper
Chives
Butter
Olive Oil
Garlic
Cheese
Lime Juice
Dijon Mustard
Eggs
Paprika
White Wine Vinegar
Cornflour
Thyme
Celery Salt
Tomato Puree
Cayenne Pepper
Honey
Tabasco Sauce
Potatoes
Worcester Sauce
Worcester Sauce
Coriander
Chicken Stock

StrawberryYogurt

Oh just thought... I do buy a huge bag of carrots as well as I use them for so much. You can grate them into your mince mixtures..i.e..lasagne, shepherds pie..to bulk them out. I also use red lentils to bulk them out. Then BEFORE serving up, I take out a portion to cool and then freeze, that will do another whole meal. If it turns out not to be a big'er portion as I would like/need, then I stretch it out by trying to make the rest of the meal "heartier"..I will do lots of spuds, veg, and make a big Yorkshire then put the mince over that with lots of gravy! My family LOVE that meal, they have no idea its because I did not stretch the mince far enough! lol