Only £70 to live on for next week, help!!!

chewy62

Thanks lil-me, think my middle son is actually getting better, he just has never had a big appetite so actually shouldn't be that expensive to feed! Oldest son is 8 and eats like a horse and I have just started getting him involved in cooking, he's keen to learn.
Think they're prob not that fussy really, I just think they are!
Have to rethink the things I spend money on, have been keeping a diary but am too scared to add it all up!:eek:

ALIBOBSY

Remeber as well if they had a hot school dinner they can get away with a more snacking evening meal. Sometimes my eldest decides he doesn't fancy what I made for tea so has say soup and bread or beans on toast, mind you he is 13 and usually makes it himself so is easy.
I also have some leftovers potioned up in the freezer as single meals-single serve HM lasagne, single serve cottage pie. These can be defrosted in the microwave then cooked however you want and again these are ready if someone decides they are going to be awkward or if they get hungry at other times-teenage boys lol.

That way I have emergency alternatives stashed in the freezer. But if they had something decent at school even a sandwich will be fine for tea.

ali x

quintwins

i would be thrilled if i had £70 to spend a week granted i could spend that if i wnated but we'd miss out elsewhere if i did, my milk gave me a till split as there off on holiday and i'm struggling to spend £60

i'm recommend a nice big pot of soup, i'm going to make chicken noddle tonight, just chicken stock, chicken chopped up really small, frozen peas, sweetcorn and brocolli, onions and carrots and a packet or 2 of value noodles, makes loads and is lovely in this weather


if you wnat to make main meals stretch try having pudding value rive pudding is only 16p teamed with a tin of value pineapple at 50p makes a nice pudding for all 5 of us for less than £1 if moneys really tight just add a spoonful of jam to your rice instead, or if you have fruit trees you could make crumble

tesco's are doing strawberrys for 50p at the mo aswell

chewy62

Thanks alibobsy and quintwins, great bits of advice there! My eldest 8YO son takes 3 school dinners a week but still seems to need a proper te at night, he never stops!!!I find cream crackers with wafer ham good for a snack as they're only 35p for a huge packet in Asda.
I would sometimes just go for hoops/boiled egg/toast etc for tea, boys more than happy with that.
Actually have atin of rice pudding in the cupboard from goodness knows when, I used to always have that with a spoon of jam mixed in so it went pink when I was wee! Def give that a go!
Am going to do my weeks food shop in the morning and have got it down to £40, hope I can come under????

lil_me

Maybe it would be worthwhile if you have time (unsure how many hours you work etc) to keep all receipts & a food/meals log. Work out where you are spending a lot. Even cost meals out if you can. I'm sure with a good dig through an adequately stocked cupboard £40 will be doable just think the impact on other months. I halved our grocery bill when I joined this site. First thing I did which shocked/embarrassed me was listed all waste, terrible, just kept a sheet on the fridge, after a month I had 2 a4 sheets

Good luck ...... You could even let us know what you buy and make

junior_j

I can feed a family of 4 and fill the cuboard from Asda for less then £70 that covers 7 good meals too. A lot of things smart price like biscuits/crisps cereals as they all save big money getting meat on offer and rice/pasta/potatoes to go with meals and seasonal or frozen veg and seasonal fruit ect. (didnt get a chance to read over anyone elses replies x

Molly41

When you are back up and running and you have a spare few pounds either put them away or buy some staples for your cupboard and freezer so if you are faced with this problem again then you will either have a store cupboard or a little pot of money or better still both!

chewy62

Well, did my weeks shopping in Mr A and I'd allowed £40 and it came to £38!!!Got all on my list and a few other marked down bits, hooray!!!
Worked out all my meals for the week and only bought what I needed for them, bought some snacks but have hidden them in the wardrobe, so kids only get one thing when they get in from school.
Made dinner from sausages found in freezer that my MIL had donated, and on Monday night found 3 random small portions of spag bol in freezer, so that was another tea!!So far so good!

valk_scot

I think sometimes it's just a question of deciding the food bill is going to be reduced and then going from there. It's too easy to stick to the same old routine of not really thinking about what goes into the trolley while shopping or making the same old meals rather than trying something new. A lot of it is because we're short of time of course but more and more people are finding they simply can't affort the time saving options any more and have to cut down.

The usual tools are menu planning + shopping list, making more from scratch and relying less on convenience foods, cutting down on non-essential junk foods, being very aware of the prices/price per gram in the supermarket wate nothing and finally, trying the "drop a brand" system that Martin suggests, where you don't always go for the expensive top brands all the time.

We're a family of four...two adults, one hulking teenage boy and a very sporty 10 year old girl, two fussy cats. On an expensive week I spend about £70-£80 on food, cat food and household stuff like loo rolls and washing powder. I can cut it down to half of that on a skint week and every so often I have a week where I only buy milk, fruit & veg and have a bit of a clear out of the larder and freezer. When I do that I squirrel the balance of the cash away to use for stocking up bargains like cheap washing powder or whoopsied meat for the freezer. I try always to have £10 or £20 in the back of my purse reserved for good opportunities or emergencies.

For after school snacks the kids get soup in cold weather, plaininsh cereal, toast or bread with inexpensive spreads like peanut butter or spready cheese, fruit or on a rare occassion there might be home baking like rock buns or scones. I don't buy many biscuits, cakes, sweets, fizzy drinks, crisps or whatever...I do buy a few but they're for specific meals rather than for grabbing on top of meals. Junky snacks can really wreck a budget for very little nutritional return.

DD stopped having school lunches this term btw because though the food was okay, there just wasn't enough of it for a very athletic 10 year old girl. For £1.95 per day I felt I could provide far more healthy food at lunch time and then she wouldn't be eating me out of house and home when she got in from school! At the moment I'm costing out her packed lunches and it's costing me about £1 per day for a very nutritious lunch that I'm sure she'll eat, plus I'm saving money on after school snacks. If your kids are coming home on school lunch days starving it's worth asking yourself why.

kymbo82

I spend around £70 a week for our family (2 adults 3 children) every week the key is I think plan meals for every day, write a list of everything needed, I also go on the internet and look at how much each item costs at supermarket of choice (or if you have a few by you-compare prices) and that way I know exactly how much it'll come to. I don't buy anything that is not on the list.