£50 per week, family of 4?

timeou

Ive recently become a big fan of Rosspa.co.uk

I spend about £35 a week (inc delivery) which is all the fruit, veg and storecupboard and cleaning stuff, then about a further £15 on meat from whatever supermarket has the offers on

We are a family of 4 too xx

irnbru_2

mrshaz wrote: »

so what can we do to stick to this £50?

Which stores do you have access to?

What do you buy and where from?

Growing veg is fine but be aware that you're unlikely to get the volume to be sufficient. Cost wise it's hard to justify growing some things e.g. I gave up growing carrots when you could get 1.5Kg for 69p (now 89p) in FarmFoods. On the other hand: 500 Lettuce seeds for £1.50 even if only a 1/3 germinate then it's a saving.

mrshaz

so today we are going blackberry picking to make jam and crumbles, might stick some in muffins too.
we are off to the beach today so wont get the chance to batch cook so will do it tomorrow when my frog is at school.

i think one of the reasons we want to grow our own food isn't just cost (even though that plays a huge part) is teaching our kids where there food comes from, plus we know whats been used to grow them.
besides you can't beat the feeling of accomplishment when you are eating your own food.

valk_scot

You need to come across and join the Old Style forum here. The entire forum is devoted to thrifty shopping and you'll get 100's of tips and ideas, plus lots of support. £50 per week is perfectly do-able...i've got 2 adults, 2 big growing kids and 2 cats and I do it on £75 per week in comfort.

jamespir

mrshaz wrote: »

hello

im in desperate need of some help and motivation!
we have a budget of £50 per week for food and toiletries (plus food for hamster, fish and cat)

i've tried to keep to it but can never seem to succeed, i've tried buying food daily for what we need but that seems to work out more expensive.

we ideally wanted to bulk buy but dont have the initial £200 we'd need for the 1st months worth, we live week by week.

we have 2 freezers so space for batch cooking, i have a bread maker (does it actually work out cheaper) and slow cooker. we are thinking about a yogurtmaker but is it worth it?
next year we aim to grow veg in the garden. but until then we havbe to buy it all we do get sacks of spuds though when needed.

so what can we do to stick to this £50?
any cheap batch cooking recipes? cheap versitile sauces (made from scratch) that again can be bulk made and frozen ready to add stuff tooand does doing all that make it cheaper really? and preferably low fat we are trying to stick (whithin reason) to the slimming world
diet.

i think its the fruit and veg that always gets me with the price, id rather my kids athe fruit then chocolate and biscuits etc but they work out more expensive, which shouldnt really be a factor seeing as i want the best for my kids but unfortunatly cost is always an issue!!

sorry for the ramble but i really want to start saving money and at the minute it just isnt happening because we waste so much on food!

thank you

if you get this months bbc olive magazine theres a article on feeding a family of four(and recipes ) for 35 pounds for a week

ampersand

Entirely do-able and enjoyable, too.
For your jamming etc, check out bulk sugar prices[I've been away so don't know who's best atm. Mr T did eventually pricematch Poundland]

No need to use a breadmaker - big plastic bowl and little hands do the job for me and it's a cathartic thing. With a family, children can have a little knead, feel special making 'their' own loaf.

Gather abandoned F&V bags @ Mr T[or whoever you patronise]and bubble plastic from same department. These bags replace clingfilm, sandwich bags etc,etc, and the bubble is useful for ebay/Amazon wrapping - which you can add to your repertoire of £stretching astuces.
Definitely frequent the Old Style MS Thread and check the Home-Made Bread recipes and variant Threads re: same.

Approved Foods[and their customer service]win brownie points over and again.

If you must use a yogurt maker - it's one of the constants at carboots [along with foot spas] £1>2 will buy one easily.

Hedgerow harvest is good family no-spend fun, too - well done you! Carry on picking - and don't forget Freecycle for possible swaps/offers.

mrshaz

hello
thank you for all your replies

we went blackberry picking got enough for a jam and a crumble, i was also lucky enough to get some cooking apples from my aunts little orchard, now i know she has them i know where to go in future so apple and blackberry crumble, apple cake and the apple to go in my jam, sorted.

we discovered that we have a massive bush type tomato plant growing in our garden, they are only cherry ones but there are going to be a fair few on there, its funny we had them growing in a container and when hubby empty it he just threw the old bush in the garden, there must have still been some fruits on there.

i will look at that approved food sites, might be handy when i start batch cooking properly. i have a catering size of tinned toms and beans i'm going to use that for a tomato based sauce that i will freeze, i'm off to home bargains tomorrow for my passata a big jar for 99p.

we have £35 left this week so i am going to get some chicken and make nuggets to freeze and for dinner tomorrow which we will have with wedges and peas. mince for meat balls to go with the tomato sauce.

i will make rolls for the lunches, along with a batch of muffins.
we still ahve a few staples in the cupboards, flour, yeast sugar etc so i have plenty to use.

i'm actually enjoying being thrifty because i know most things we eat i have made from scratch plus i know there will be plenty (hopefully stored in the freezer) for a later date.

sorry for my ramblings again!

mrshaz

i made my tomato sauce for pasta etc, i managed to get 10 portions out of it (they are the large takeaway containers im using) i can then just add meat or pasta to it.

i bought 2lbs of sausagemeat and got 3 portions of meatballs from it, i'm very happy with that i thought id only get 2.
i also bought 4lbs chicken breasts im going to prepare and freeze nuggets...i also plan on making duchess potatoes and freezing those, i can then just grab some out of the freezer...quick and easy if needs be!

i've spent a little more than £50 this week, more like 60 - 65. which isnt too bad as i have a lot of meals to prepare and freeze so in future weeks the bill will be less...in theory

helen190390

if you ever see potatoes in the bargain sections, you could cut them into wedges, slightly cook them in boiling water for about 5 mins, then cool, season and freeze for some brilliant potato wedges
we do this, and they are brilliant every time! and also cutting carrots up ready, and freezing them.

mrshaz

thank you...we actually have a huge sack of spuds we got from the PYO farm...25kg for £6 and they are delicious. i might have to try the wedges, especially when we get closer to the end and they are starting to look a little wose for wear lol