Feed a family of 4 on £100 for a month.

Lexxi

You could always go to the abbatoir for cheaper chicken etc, when I went you were able to specify how much you wanted price wise than weight, if that makes it easier.
Try googling cuts of beef, somewhere there is a diagram with explanations of the different cuts and it tells you what is cheaper and gives advice on cooking, I think there is one for pork too. I can't look as I am on my phone not on the computer.
you could also try jacket potatoes they are cheap and filling, include rice pudding with your dessert planning and try having a veggie night once a week

OrkneyStar

Just wanted to say best of luck with this OP, lots of good tips being given (the only one I disagree with is value mince, would rather have decent mince and bulk out with veg or lentils, or both, but each to their own!). Might be useful to keep a detailed diary, of your successes and failures, as I am sure it would help many others .

flippin36

Rubber chicken has saved the day in our house

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/385066#Comment_385066

Also don't forget to make soups from joints of meat (your slow cooker will make lovely stock). They can be very filling with homemade bread. I've recently made lettuce soup from left over lettuce and it was delicious. Carrot soup is also nice and cheap.

I always buy the biggest value pack of mushrooms I can get my hands on and freeze what I won't need into portions, this bulks out any dish I want to make.

Butterfly_Brain

Have you looked into extra CTC if your wife is no longer working?

Try building up a good store cupboard and freezer stock before your wife leaves work. This will act as a buffer especially if any unexpected bills come in.

• Bake your own bread
• Make your own pizza
• grow your own fruit and veg
• porridge with fruit/jam/honey etc for breakfast or try making your own museli or granola or how about pancakes or fritatta's
• HM yoghurt is easy to make
• Slice sausages to make them go further
• bulk out stews/mince dishes with lots of veggies and lentils
• Eat vegetarian once or twice a week
• Soup and pudding night is a favourite of ours especially in the winter
• HM made soup, HM bread and a nice filling pudding, such as rice pudding or apple/chocolate/fruit sponge etc with custard for dessert
• Pancakes can be served with a sweet filling or a savoury one
• Try filling pancakes with left over chicken and add mushrooms and sweetcorn, cover with a sauce and a little grated cheese - lovely
• Rubber chicken goes along way and I love poached chicken, because it is lovely and silky and seems to stretch a lot further
• Buy bacon bits that can be used in a macaroni cheese, make a soup, top a pizza etc
• Eat more offal such as liver and kidneys - I would go for lambs because it hasn't got a strong taste or smell like pigs (which I avoid)
• Find a friendly butcher and greengrocer who will help you with cheaper cuts etc and you only have to buy what you need.
• Aldi has a lot of really good deals on fruit and veg and on meat

Cheap meals:

• sausage toad,
• sausage casserole,
• sausage pasta, bacon pasta, marmite pasta (Nigella recipe), otr try pasta with garlic salt a little butter and sprinkled with the grated cheese from a box (you could add some bacon bits to this too)
• savoury bread and butter pudding using sausages and veg
• sausage pizza, bacon pizza
• meatball stew
• mince and tatties, cottage pie, meatloaf
• plate pies - corned beef and potato/mince and onion/cheese and onion/cheese and potato/corned beef and baked bean etc
• chicken crumble, chicken stew, chicken in mushroom sauce, chicken noodle soup
• Buy a joint of meat, roast it and slice it into meal sized portions that can be reheated in gravy - we bought a joint in Aldi today for £9.45 and I have managed to slice enough for 4 meals.

his_missus

This is quite a challenge, hope you do well! My advice would be to make a lot of meals using pasta. I find it really filling and the cheap basic own brands are just as good as any other brands, plus with a cheap tin of tomatoes, mixed herbs and a few cooked veggies or leftover meat, you can make a really inexpensive but delicious meal.

quintwins

another vote for value mince here, i bulk mine out with value frozen veg, i split 2 packets into 5 portions for 5 of us so as i use so little the extra fat doesn't annoy me, we also use value pasta, value pasta sauce isn't bad either and at 18p is cheaper than making your own but i'd never buy a deaer one as then it's cheaper to make your own, we use value eggs (beggers can't be choosers and all that) things like poached egg on toast are filling and work out at about 30p per person, sherperds pie is fab for having in the fridge/freezer as it reheats well, i've started buying chicken breats in bulk in makro it works out cheaper than value and there sooo yummy and don't shrink one does my 3 kids there massive

pork shoulder is very cheap and is lovely if cooked in the slow cooker

cooking bacon is cheap and lovely you sometimes get huge chucks when this happens i put them in the oven and then use them in pasta and quiche

i only ever buy sausages reduced and never pay over 80p a packet for them usually around 50p it means we have a random selection and no specific make but it does mean thats sausages beans and mash are a very cheap meal

beans are always on offer we only eat branston ones now because we prefer them and i can nearly always get them for 33-35p a tin or less

i buy spuds in bulk in my local farm shop they keep for 3 weeks (could prob get 4 but we use them in 3 weeks) i've found bananas and grapes cheaper in tesco, and apples/pears are cheaper from the market


£100 will be restrictive but with planning it os do able

the_cake

Wise words as ever .... Things are really tight for us, too, so ... if you are near a supermarket (or even M & S) at about 5 p.m. (they all vary when they make their reductions, but this is "the" time round us) pop in and have a good look through the reduced/yellow label/whoopsie sections - fruit & veg, chiller and bread sections. I get loads of very cheap food this way - the only thing I would not risk is poultry or seafood if the package looks at all puffed up!!! You can freeze lots of it to save for another day. Good luck.

Katnippedkitty

This is my very first post, and as we are in a very similar position at the moment, I thought I'd add my bargain finds that have helped loads so far!
Do you have a local farmfoods?
18 slices of rindless back bacon - £2.50, or 3 packs for £6. These are quite salty, but really good for using in cooking.
500g sliced mushrooms - £1, but on BOGOF, so 1KG for £1.
1kg minced beef and onion - £2.95 or 2 for £5. I have always sworn by fresh mince, but this is nice, hasn't got too much onion in it and lasts forever!
10 pork loin steaks - £4.95 or 3 for £10. These do shrink a little, but even allowing 2 for the biggest eater, there's plenty for 5 or 6 meals for a family of 4. Same price for packs of 6 gammon steaks (which don't shrink as much).
Frozen veg (between 625g for the likes of petis pois to 1KG for things like cut leeks) - £1 each, but often on buy 2, get 1 free. We find buying a bag of broccolli, cauliflower and leeks lasts about 2 weeks.
We would never do our entire shop at farmfoods, but tend to spend around £25 a month to 6 weeks here, as if you use the vouchers, you get £2.50 off a £25 shop, and if you're super organised and take 24 £1 coins, use the stamp machine and get an extra £1 (£25 for £24)!

We always pop into our local convenience stores too. While they're more expensive for a lot of items, most people do the bulk of their shopping at supermarkets, which means they usually have perishables greatly reduced. We got 2 whole chickens for £2.50 yesterday; cooked one and ate half yesterday, the rest will become a simple curry tonight and the other is in our freezer for sunday lunch and sandwiches the following day. Fruit and vegetables are often massively reduced too.
Next one is a bit more difficult as we don't have a car, but a weekly carboot sale on the outskirts of town has a meat van and massive fruit and vegetable stall. We try and go every few months and fill the freezer with as much as we can afford/carry. 8 big joints of meat (pork, beef and lamb), 8 large (and I mean LARGE!) steaks and 2 whole chickens is £30, while 10 packs of bacon, around 40 sausages and 4 large gammon steaks are £15! The fruit and veg stall always reduces their prices even further near the end of the morning, and we quite often get massive bargains like an enormous punnet of mushrooms for £2, a couple of kilos of bananas for £1 (great for making banana cake) etc.
We always have a cupboard full of pasta, rice, herbs and spices, and the good old versatile potatoes never come in wrong either.
It is tough, but we're a family of 4 with another on the way and a cat (can't forget the cat!) and normally manage on around £120 a month, so it is dooable. Good luck!

debtfree2015_2

as most people have said porridge for breakfast - they only do a small bag in lidl 500g for 39p - normally lasts myself & dd 2 weeks.

We have a lot of meat free days, but supplement with cheese mixed in food (1.99 for big block in lidl lasts us 2-3 wks) or eggs on the side, again good source of protien.

Lots of pasta meals - pasta tomato sauce & cheese, pasta tuna sweetcorn mayo, pasta ham & diy cheese sauce, macaroni cheese but with cheapest pasta shapes.

or things on toast, eg cheese, beans, scrambled egg, fried egg.

I cant get to a local supermarket without a huge bus fare so I havent tried them but I have been told they do curry/tomato sauces for pennies ie 9p-20p!

Tonight we are having a chicken dinner, using one chicken breast (last one left in freezer) it will be in a stew so will stretch further anyway and stock/gravy always makes a meal feel more savoury even with the tiniest amount of meat.

I dont make my own soup, as its only dd & I doesnt seem worth while, but one tin of tomato soup & couple of slices of bread works out at about 50p lunch for the two of us. Warming too when its cold.

Do you get working tax credit? If you only get child tax credit, depending on your household income you may be entitled to Healthy start vouchers (£3.10 per week) as you have a child under 4. Only to be used on veg or milk, you can use it on frozen veg too so sometimes goes further that way. Think you have to earn under £16k - and not be on WTC only CTC

good luck

xx_Jo_xx

Im a single mum with just one child, but having been made unexpectedly redundant with only one wage coming in in the first place left me in a similar predicament a while ago. I didnt even have £100 to spend on food, but we still had to eat! And I couldnt really cook either... Im embarrassed to tell you - You tube taught me how!! Seriously, there are videos and instructions to there on how to make and do everything. It will make your life so much easier and your food bill very much cheaper.

Go through your cupboards and freezers and work out which meals you already have. You will be surprised what you can make a meal out of with what you already have! If you lack inspiration, post up your contents and someone will be along to help you out.

Meal plan for the week (or two weeks) and write a list of exactly what you need.

mysupermarket.com lets you compare the prices in the major supermarkets, so if you log on and put in your list - it will show you quickly by flicking through the baskets which are cheaper. It will also show use which stores have offers on those products etc. This will give you an idea of the best supermarket to go to before you leave the house. Just doing these steps and these alone, you will be amazed at how much less you spend.


The following steps are how generally we live now:

• cereal or porridge for breakfast, like others suggested, with honey, jam, stewed fruit etc....
• stewing fruit is great for using it up if its going to go off too. It can also be used with desserts for rice pudding, ice cream etc.
• I only ever buy cheap cuts of meat from supermarkets, and Im another one to recommend the value pack of mince from tesco.
• eat much smaller meat portions. A pack of mince which would have done one meal before will now do two meals.
• Chilli has much more veg in,
• shepherds pie is now bulked out with peas and carrots,
• Lasange with mushrooms... The pack in question from Tesco will do four meals for us, always with leftovers too.
• We make a sausage casserole using only one sausage per person by slicing it up, but with potatoes, veg, or beans but so hearty and filling with nice crusty bread that you dont even feel like your cutting back.
• Have a couple of nights a week meat-free - baked pots with beans and cheese with brocolli is a firm favourite with my little one, as is Pasta with veg/tomato sauce and Macaroni Cheese...
• go shopping late in the evening and pick up yellow-stickered products particularly meat which I either cook that night, or freeze.
• I use a lot frozen veg too... I found that if you are not there to cook every day, and are eating portions of batch-cooking from the freezer, a lot of fresh goes to waste. Frozen is just as good and can be added to the slow cooker as it is - some are best added only for the last 30 mins of cooking though...just as you would with some fresh. Because there is no waste, my food bill is also smaller.
• For packed lunches, sandwiches obviously, but sometimes a cheaper alternatives are wraps/rolls/pitta pockets. Bread and rolls, can be bought yellow-stickered, made into sandwiches and frozen individually ensuring your fillings are freezable too. I take it out in the morning and pop it in his lunchbox, its perfectly fine by lunchtime.
• A pack of sausage meat and some pastry makes a whole load more sausage rolls than premade store ones and my LO loves them in his lunchbox.
• I have little pots with lids which I use to make individual jellys (value) which are a cheaper lunchbox treat than expensive store bought yogurts.
• Cheap noodles, potatoes, pasta make up the carbs for all of our meals.

HTH, and good luck x