Can we reduce our food budget

Bewhoyouwanttobe

Hi All

I have always cooked from scratch and use the cheapest cleaners. We currently spend about £200 a month, £50 a week on food, cleaning stuff, pet food, we are a family of 4, 2 adults, 1 child 7 yrs (but eats loads and 2nd child 4 yrs, but eats cereal and bread and that is about it.

I am very traditional in my cooking, meat pot veg or salad. Hubby and child 1 love pasta etc... but I and child 2 dislike pasta with a passion. They normally have spag bowl once a week and I make burgers out of the rest of the mince for me and child 1.

Is £50 per week an ok budget? We would love to reduce it if possible as we want to go on our first holiday abroad in 8 years next year and I am not going unless we have the cash for it and even if we manage to reduce it by £10 a week that's an extra £40 a month!

Normally weekly meals are:
Sunday - Roast (normally chicken, have lamb if it is on special as a treat)
Monday - Pie, pots, veg
Tuesday - Chicken salad with potatoes
Wednesday - (wokring day) so something easy like wraps or Spag bowl and burger
Thursday - (Working day) opposite to Wednesday
Friday - Normally fish and chips (home cooked)
Saturday - Normally a day where everyone has what they fancy - hubby sometimes makes a pasta dish, just normally whatever is in freezer, maybe something special we have brought on Special offer.

I also do sausage dishes such as toad in hole, Sausage and mash etc..

Breakfasts - weekday normally cereal or toast, weekends normally a full breakfast on one day.

Lunch- Ham, left over chicken, sausage rolls, crisps, fruit etc..

Desserts are not every night, but I do buy a few a month, always have cheap ice cream in freezer and biscuits. Always buy Tesco or ASDA own and value food whenever possible.

Hmmm any ideas anyone?

angchris

i always try to incorporate a cheapo meal night once a week, be it beans on toast or scrambled egg/ommelette or something along those lines, there is no rule that says it has to be a proper cooked meal with meat every night so long as everyone has food in their belly we are happy:D also with the more expensive meals we have much smaller portions and have a roll or slice of bread n butter with it to bulk it out so you dont cook as much or you have enough to do another meal with leftovers.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

Looks and sounds like your doing a great job already. We are a family of 3 and we spend about £35pw and we eat pretty similar to you. I normally meal plan for each day, but on 1 day we have a "free meal" which is normally egg, chips and beans which we already have in.

We have similar meals to you and on an average week we have something like:

Full Roast Dinner (chicken or lamb)
HM Pie, mash & veg (leftovers from roast)
Stew & dumplings
Toad In Hole, roasties & veg
Shepards Pie & veg
HM Fish Pie & Veg
Egg, Chips & Beans

This time last year we were probably spending about £25pw but we used loads of cheapie foods and now we have alittle more money we indulge a little:D

PP
xx

mustafa_say_ving

We're pretty much the same .

I've found HM soups have saved us quite a bit ,I tend to use what's seasonal and therefore v.cheap.I still have lots of HM tomato soup in the freezer .I'm really lucky my MIL grows huge amounts of toms every year and gives me loads. What I don't use in soup I just blitz up in the magimix ,freeze and they're there ready for HM pasta sauces.

Celery soup's a favourite with Dh and kids at the moment very cheap to make and as I always cook soup in batches, they're always there for a quick ready meal , roast root veg soup is also good this time of year.

RainbowsInTheSpray

See Liz Estelle's meal for two for 50p thread.

skyepark

how about incorporating rice and lentils in to the diet its cheap and filling.

taplady

I reckon you're doing really well already!:T

We used to spend £90 a week for 4 of us:eek: 2 adults and 2 adult sized teenagers but have got it down to about £45 now but the boys do eat out at friends/ afterschool club a couple of times a week.
I use a mixture of shops - Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons to get the best from all 3 of them. I make extras and freeze leftovers and also meal plan.
As for cleaners give Stardrops a go, its cheap and lasts ages and does everything:j

lynzpower

the key way to reduce your food spend is to try and avoid meat, as clearly this is the expensive bit

Instead of chicken & ham for lunches, what about HM hoummous & roasted veg? Cheese? or tinned tune mayo mix? I do a bean & tomato soup, or a veg soup or a leek & potato soup which is really filing for lunches with bread.

Is the pie you make from leftovers from the roast the day before? Having "rubber chicken" means this can be used for other meals, I do pies, stirfries and soups with chicken leftovers.

Bewhoyouwanttobe

Instead of chicken & ham for lunches, what about HM hoummous & roasted veg? Cheese? or tinned tune mayo mix? I do a bean & tomato soup, or a veg soup or a leek & potato soup which is really filing for lunches with bread.

I would love to have soup everyday for lunch, but we don't have a microwave and I really can;t stomach it cold ) Hubby has Tuna and Cheese, I have the left over chicken. I used to make soup, but with working have got out of the habit, will start again though

As for cleaners give Stardrops a go, its cheap and lasts ages and does everything

Never heard of Stardrops do you get this from any supermarket?

we have much smaller portions and have a roll or slice of bread n butter with it to bulk it out so you dont cook as much or you have enough to do another meal with leftovers.

We started having smaller portions about 6 months ago, as a result I have lost a stone :T

Celery soup's a favourite with Dh and kids at the moment very cheap to make and as I always cook soup in batches, they're always there for a quick ready meal , roast root veg soup is also good this time of year.

I love Carrot and Parsnip soup, but when I make it always tastes really bad, lol. I may search for recipes again tonight and have another go at the weekend



Thanks everyone for all your help. Anymore ideas I would love to hear them

lynzpower

Could you get some flasks- I wouldnt fancy cold soup either!!!

You can definatley get stardrops in Home & bargains and Wilkinsons.

angchris

stardrops are fab!:T i dont bother buying anything else now as it cleans just about everything its a bit like a very concentrated liquid soap and comes in a tall see through bottle the liquid is yellow. i bought mine from asda i think it was about 78p and it has lasted me for ages. i clean my kitchen floors/tiles/cupboards/bathroom with it and have even used it as washing up liquid many times everything comes up sparkling clean with a wipe from a microfibre cloth and stardrops i cant rate it enough :j a bottle of stardrops and a bottle of bleach is all i have in my cleaning cupboard!