Can you feed a family of 6 under £30 ??

83jlg83

Things are a bit grim at the moment for our family. Im really trying to cut down on food spends . I wrote a menu and costs. Can anyone suggest any menus and costs.
I am feedinh 4 children and 2 adults on this .

Monday- chicken nuggets and wedges
Tuesday - Boiled ham , mash and veg
wednesday-fish burgers (boiled fish made into patties) 2 tins of beans
thursday- spaghetti bolanase
friday-pizza & garlic bread
saturday- sausages,wedges,gravy
sunday-chicken cooked dinner

cereal would be breakfast , lunch a sandwich.

My shopping list for this week would be
Iceland
Nuggets £2
Wedges £1
pizza x2 £ 2
Garlic bread £1.50
sausages £2
spag bol jar £1
Bread 2 loaves £1.50

Asda
Boiled ham £4
Bag of spuds £2
Veg for a week £2.50
Pasta 50p
Mince extra lean 500g plus a 250g £5
Bisto £1
Cheese £2
Ham wafter thin £1
Butter £1
Cereal £1.20 (smartprice coco pops)
Milk £2


sainsburys
Chicken -big family one £5

shopping total £36.90

Can anyone help with a cheaper menu and costings ??? also there is no lidal or aldi near me to help bring costs down ;-(.. Im forgetting things like squash that wud ad a etra 50p ... please help xxx

Penelope_Penguin

Sorry that you're having a hard time just now. Can I ask why you only have £30/week to feed your family? Do you receive child benefit - that will be around £60/week for 4 children. If you're on low income you may be entitled to Tax Credits, too.

You don't appear to have included much by way of fruit and veg.

You might want to go over to the Debt Free Wannabe Board (you don;t need to have debts ). You can then post your SOA (schedule of income and outgoings) and they'll be able to help you see where else you can make savings :T

Good luck :A

whichwhydoIturn

hi I didnt want ot read and run.have a look at supercook website. you list what food you have, like dried pasta,eggs ,spices,cheese etc and it automatically calculates a recipe for you using what you ahve plus lets you know what you have to add to it.I know that it is cheap to buy it frozen this weather though , maybe borrow or do you have a slow cooker you could make stovies,soup using the carcass of your chicken for stock, stews , things like that.make you own wedges, buy some potatoes, leave the peel on cut to wedge shape microwave for about 10 mins in water, drain, put ona baking tray and sprinkle with a bit of oil & any flavouring if you fancy , like chilli, pepper etc then just bake in the oven until tender.put stews in the search box at the top of the page and scroll to forum, it will bring up any receipe that you could copy. hope that helps.x

whichwhydoIturn

if you are near a farmfood, they do good deals on milk, bread loo rolls etc.

83jlg83

£30 Was a ball park figure just trying to spend as less as possible im throwing lots into paying off debts. Im trying to pay off extra 50 pounds per week so just tightening my belt in the food dept but i thought id come here for some tips on low cost meals etc xx

oh i will checkout that website thanks

mcculloch29

There is a really good book that you may be able to borrow from your local library, called The Pauper's Cookbook by Jocasta Innes. I used it when I brought two children up on a very restricted income.

The book has a chapter called 'Programmed Eating' which sets you menus for the week.
Can I suggest giving the chicken nuggets a swerve and using chicken wings instead? You can make a barbecue basting sauce by cooking up honey, tomato ketchup, jam and worcester sauce.

How about buying a pack of bacon offcuts instead of boiled ham? There are loads of economical recipes you can make from this - a heavenly hotpot of bacon, potatoes and onions, thinly sliced and covered in a cheese sauce, or bacon, apple and onion fry-up - bacon, apples and onions fried together - yum!

I chop cooking bacon very finely along with onion and use this to fill little mini pasties made from bread dough instead of pastry. These are called pirrukas and are a recipe from my Estonian mother.

If you get a pack of bread mix, you can make your own pizzas very cheaply. I'd be happy to share more tips.

lilac_rainbow

pea & ham soup - 2 boxes of dried peas at 37p each, cheapest bacon from the shop, some stock and the rest if the day slow cooking

You can save on your potatoes - Sainsbury's and Tesco both do big bags cheaper. When we're skint I buy mince out of the freezer section. I do think £30 is going to be extremely difficult though

whichwhydoIturn

its an uphill battle sometimes,well nearly always actually, but this site, with its support, handy hints and friends that you are makes it so easy to say how things are , it can be a bit hard to say to family and friends that things are tough, but on here no one is ever judged.x

whichwhydoIturn

the secret takeaway is a great book that helps you make a tasty replica of takeaway food, much much cheaper than going ever ordering in and everyone can help. have a look in the libary.

PasturesNew

You seem to be buying a lot of things in Iceland that you could just as easily cook yourself for 1/4 of the price. e.g. wedges £1 - £1 of potatoes to make your own wedges would get you 5-6x as many ... or, make the wedges and still have potatoes left over for other things/meals.

Same with garlic bread. It's just bread and garlic butter, could make a lot more for your £1.50, or make the same amount for half the price.

The pizzas you could probably knock up yourself too, cheaper.

MrsRogers

83jlg83 wrote: »

Things are a bit grim at the moment for our family. Im really trying to cut down on food spends . I wrote a menu and costs. Can anyone suggest any menus and costs.
I am feedinh 4 children and 2 adults on this .

Monday- chicken nuggets and wedges
Tuesday - Boiled ham , mash and veg
wednesday-fish burgers (boiled fish made into patties) 2 tins of beans
thursday- spaghetti bolanase
friday-pizza & garlic bread
saturday- sausages,wedges,gravy
sunday-chicken cooked dinner

cereal would be breakfast , lunch a sandwich.

My shopping list for this week would be
Iceland
Nuggets £2
Wedges £1
pizza x2 £ 2
Garlic bread £1.50
sausages £2
spag bol jar £1
Bread 2 loaves £1.50

Asda
Boiled ham £4
Bag of spuds £2
Veg for a week £2.50
Pasta 50p
Mince extra lean 500g plus a 250g £5
Bisto £1
Cheese £2
Ham wafter thin £1
Butter £1
Cereal £1.20 (smartprice coco pops)
Milk £2


sainsburys
Chicken -big family one £5

shopping total £36.90

Can anyone help with a cheaper menu and costings ??? also there is no lidal or aldi near me to help bring costs down ;-(.. Im forgetting things like squash that wud ad a etra 50p ... please help xxx

Hi OP

ASDA have a 3 for £10 on fresh meat. You could buy 1 x 1kg Mince, 1 x pork loin steaks (x6) & chicken breasts (x4)

Day 1
Split the mince into 2x500g Use 1 lot for Spag bol bulk out with beans or lentils buy 2 x tin toms instead of sauce add herbs.

Day 2
Pork Chops, frozen peas, roasties & Gravy

Day 3
Use 2nd mince on a different day and maybe do Cottage pie again bulk lentils / beans and use pots already buying for top

Day 4
Use chicken stir fried with veg with Boiled Rice (make your own sauce = bisto, tsp honey, soy sauce & Chinese 5 spice) If you dont have these you can leave out would still be nice.

Day 5
Fish !!!!!!s (Fish not on list assume already have)

Day 6
Sausage, Homemade Wedges, Gravy

Day 7
Roast Chicken, pots, veg

Comes to £29.24 exl £5 for chicken so not that much cheaper but to be honest there is loads more fresh meat & Veg so a better diet tbh :A

List below - Did it in my supermarket

shopping list
21 items. £29.24

BakeryGuide price in £
2 x ASDA Smartprice Medium Sliced White Bread (800g) 0.94
Fruit & Vegetables
500g ASDA Onions by Weight (100g) 0.40
1 x ASDA Smartprice British Carrots (2Kg) 0.84
1 x ASDA Smartprice Mushrooms (400g) 0.87
2 x ASDA Smartprice Red Potatoes (2.5Kg) 1.94
1 x ASDA Rainbow Stir Fry Mix (450g) 1.00 any 3 FOR £2.50
Dairy & Eggs
2 x ASDA Fresh Whole Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) 2.00 any 2 FOR £2.00
1 x ASDA Sunflower Spread (1Kg) 1.60
1 x ASDA Smartprice Mild White Cheddar (391g) 2.00
Meat, Fish & Poultry
1 x ASDA Beef Mince (1.07Kg) 3.33 any 3 FOR £10.00
1 x ASDA Pork Loin Steaks (700g) 3.33 any 3 FOR £10.00
1 x ASDA Chicken Breast Fillets Skinless (490g) 3.33 any 3 FOR £10.00
2 x ASDA Irish Recipe Thick Pork Sausages (8 per pack - 454g) 1.50 2 FOR £1.50
1 x ASDA Smartprice Thin Sliced Ham (125g) 0.52
Frozen
1 x ASDA Smartprice Peas (907g) 0.76
Tins, Jars & Cooking
2 x ASDA Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce, Reduced Sugar and Salt (420g) 0.88
2 x ASDA Smartprice Chopped Tomatoes (400g) 0.66
1 x ASDA Gravy Granules Meat (500g) 1.00
Packets & Cereals
2 x ASDA Smartprice Coco Rice (375g) 1.30
1 x ASDA Smartprice Pasta Shapes (500g) 0.30
1 x ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 0.73