A little advice please!

Sizeclan

Hi all,
I'm a long time lurker and would really like to get my food budget under control, but I have no idea where to start! Looking at my bank for this past month I have spent £600 on food so far :eek: I know that a lot of this is popping to the shop for bits and buying extra stuff I didn't need. I don't even buy brand name stuff!!!! I am trying really hard to menu plan and do one shop a week but I don't really know what is a realistic budget to try and keep to. There are 6 of us in my family, 2 adults, 1 teenager, who eats more than me!, and 3 children.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I can see that the reason we are skint most of the time is because i don't stop buying food!!!!!

mi_jardin

I am no expert, but I think you hit the nail on the head: menu plan! It really does help, although I have to admit to being rubbish at it!
On terms of budget, you know you spent £600 last month, maybe try and reduce it a bit at a time. Try for £550 this month and £500 the next. Don't go mad and slash it it half now as it will be too difficult on you.

mummybearx

First thing I would do is write a list of everything that is in the fridge, in the freezer, in each and every cupboard.

Meal plan from that. See what you need to buy to make this last as long as possible.

Also, a good tip for a big family like you have, make a starter before dinner. You can make a big pot of soup with very little money, this will help to reduce the amount people eat for their main dinner, so saving you more money :-)

x

Sizeclan

I like the idea of the soup starter!! The kids are always moaning they are still hungry after tea!!! So i tell them to eat fruit which is lovely and healthy but gets expensive when they are eating it like it's going out of fashion :rotfl:!!!

Linz4383

if you try the grocery challenge they have some great ideas on there and also have a lot of recipes on the 1st page of the thread HTH

mummybearx

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3695287

Post three on the Grocery challenge is the start of the recipes. Helpful to look for something new, and most recipes are a bit thrifty.

You should, for the next few weeks, keep a list of every single bit of food you buy. I kinda half done it myself for December and realised my biggest problem was that I didn't meal plan at all. I literally went to MrA or Mr T several times a week and bought whatever I fancied. There is only me and my husband at home, and our wee dog, and I was spending £350-£450+ a month.... for TWO of us!! Honestly, that was a shock!

I don't meal plan like some people do, I don't know what Im having each night of the week. But I do buy things that I can make lots of things out of. I buy carrots, onions, potatoes, canned beans, chopped toms, passata, mince. Can make bolognese, chilli, veg soup, veg shepards pie with sweet potato mash, and more things that I can't think of just now.

Also, adding grated veg to bolognese/chilli etc will bulk it out and make it go further x

krlyr

Sizeclan wrote: »

I like the idea of the soup starter!! The kids are always moaning they are still hungry after tea!!! So i tell them to eat fruit which is lovely and healthy but gets expensive when they are eating it like it's going out of fashion :rotfl:!!!

Could you look at frozen fruit? Can be half the price of fresh, I only ever use frozen berries in crumbles nowadays because nobody seemed to notice the difference when I switched!

zepsgal wrote: »

Also, adding grated veg to bolognese/chilli etc will bulk it out and make it go further x

This is a good idea and you don't even notice it. Lentils can help too (and if you cook the bolognese etc. for long enough they "melt" away into the sauce)

Does the teen get any income? We had a rule as teens that any snack food had to last the month and if we decided to eat it all in week one then tough, we went 3 weeks without. If we wanted something different to what was in the cupboard (i.e. whatever was on offer) then we bought it ourselves.

orangesmartie

Also look at whether all that spend is food, or whether you have household items like toiletries and cleaning products in amongst it. Then start looking and how you can also reduce that spend.

Dilly

One thing that doesn't seem to happen today, but I grew up with was that I and my sister were not allowed to raid the fridge or fruit bowl whenever we liked. Any food we wanted outside of the SET meal had to be asked for and permission given. This was because it might be 'reserved' for another meal
Today it seems everyone just helps themselves and cooks what they like, when they like. So its no wonder that food bills are huge. back to basics, once again

hakeber

Only just started doing this so still learning. what we've done is written a list of everything in the fridge freezer and cupboards and then cross it off as it's gone, at the beginning of the week we then meal plan from the list we managed the 1st 3 weeks of jan without a big shop. i then went to lidl and did a big shop of what we had run out of hoping to not buy those things again for a month i saved £19 compared to what i had bought from our local co - op and morrisons.
We now have a spread sheet with what we buy and the price and from which shop. so that has stopped the "just going to get" moments.
(some things i should have bought more of like eggs and cereal but i know for next time)
we also meal plan together as a family. which means we all get to choose things we like and the boys know what is coming up.
bek

mummyyof5

I joined the grocery challenge this month...estimated was spending £600 a month..this was for 5 adults..1 teen a 5 year old who eats more than me..a very fussy 2 year old and 4 cats...so far I have only spent £380 this month ...me thinks I will be under budget:j

We are actually eating better and I think twice before every penny I spend.
Come and join in ...theres loads of tips..encouragement and great recipes xx