Feeding a Family of 4 - Realistic budget

Ex-Spendaholic

Hi

I'm new to posting, having lurked for ages.

My current spending habits in terms of food have been nothing short of ridiculous. There are 2 adults and 2 kids in our house. To be totally and brutally honest I have no idea what we spend per week on food but I know it's something scary. To give you a flavour:

1. I never do a big weekly/monthly shop.
2. I call at M&S at least 3 times per week on my way home spending £20-£30 a go. :eek:
3. I go to the local Mace/garage 2/3 times per week to say get milk/bread and spend about £30 each time too. :eek:
4. We have a carryout at least one night each week at a cost of £20.
5. I always write cheques/use switch when paying for food. :eek:
6. Whilst I have a good store cupboard there is nothing in the freezer.
7. It's not unusual for me to chuck £10 of stuff in the bin as it's gone out of date. :mad:

I have one child at school and his dinners cost £10 per week. I know I could drastically reduce that by sending packed lunches but he really enjoys his dinners and the packed lunches never seemed to fill him so I'll continue on with this.

OK everything has to change. It's no wonder we never have any money and I'm ashamed at this wastefulness. I would really appreciate some guidance or even a link to a previous thread (you guys must be sick of seeing the same old thing on here).

The one change I have made so far is that this week I went to the butchers and bought all my meat/chicken for the week and to the greengrocers for all my fruit and veg. This will mean that I don't need to go shopping everyday of the week so is one small step in the right direction.

I'm also planning on getting involved in the what have you spent today type threads in order to embarass myself into wising up.

All tips welcome on how I can come up with a realistic food budget and stick with it.

Bargain_Rzl

Hi Ex-Spendaholic

I'm not in a position to advise, seeing as I'm single and have no experience of budgeting for a family, but I suggest you have a look at the current month's Grocery Challenge thread for some ideas on how other families are managing:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=363303

If you get paid at the end of the month, perhaps you could decide to make a fresh start in March?

Rzl xx

whatatwit

I am new to this bugetting lark, but I started by writing a list of what we liked to eat and then doing a shopping list from that.
Most of the fresh meat I buy, gets frozen, so I don't end up throwing it away.
Make extra when you are cooking and freeze it, then you have an easy tea next time.
I think that going slowly is the key.

jcr16

hiya , i am a family of 4 , 2 adults , 2 children ( 1 is 3 and very fussy and 1 19 month old who anything and everything) and 4 cats and i spend £200 a month. this is for everything.

but the way i can stick to my budget is by meal planning and staying out the supermarkets as much as i can. so i try to mainly do online shops.

HTH

skintas_2

i spnd about £40 to 45 a week, my kids wont eat pack luch so spend £20 a week on there school dinners. shopping includes a cat and his litter, sometimes i can do a big shop like£80 it will last me 2 weeks. i buy uht milk, cos everytime i go buy milk i spend more, and i freeze the bread.

vixtress

i am fairly new to this too but have literally halved (and more) my shopping bill and i can honestly say we have never eaten better!
there are 4 of us, me, oh and children 4 & 2 (the 4 yr old eats like a teenager though!)
my main tips would be:

- menu plan, write all evening meals for the week and stick to it. include veg, potatoes etc
- before menu planning look in your cupboards and see what you have got to use up.
- get a good stock of 'cooking ingredients' spices, seasonings etc
- eat at least one meat free, preferably pasta meal a week
- buy stardrops, vinager and use half amounts laundry powder (see threads on here)
- include milk, bread, fruit, snacks etc in shopping list, be realistic and you do not need to go to the supermarket between weekly shops. you can use a greengrocers for fresh veg between.
- take a bit of cash to work (if you really have to) leave your purse at home.
- cook extra for most meals and freeze it
- take left overs to work
- cook what you can from scratch
- do one monthly big shop at tescos/morrisons/asda etc then shop weekly at lidl/aldi (they really are good quality stuff)
- STAY AWAY FROM MARKS AND SPENCERS!!
hope this helps, i am sure there are many more things

shell2001

We are a family of 4 - 2 x adults, 1 x 4 year old and 1 x 2 1/2 year old and I have a food budget of 350 although I have got it down to 300 this month (yeah!!). I hope to reduce this further over the following months but dont think I will ever get at low as some people do on here. What they spend on a family of 4+ I spend in the veg shop along in a week!! I guess it depends where you live and what shops/markets you have available.

My main success has been meal planning. I tend to do a month at a time and one big on-line shop for all store cupboard items etc. I dont drive and work 3 weekends in 4 so find this easiest. Not only does the plan help with the budget but I find spending an hour a month creating the plan means no more getting till an hour before tea and thinking what are we having tonight. The plan is not set in stone and i swap meal around but know all the ingredients I need to make it are in.

I dont buy processed foods and tend to make as much as possible from scratch, biscuits, bread, cakes.

Good luck and remember any changes made are positive, its not a race so babysteps stay in your own comfort zone.

nodwah

This is all so familiar to me... I try to do a big shop at the start of the month and think in terms of 'dinners bought' but I get waylaid by the shops for milk and bread every couple of days. When I really try to stick to a budget and cut out uneccessary stuff my Oh goes up to the shops and comes back with a huge bag of crisps, biscuits and drink! Also now Lent is coming up he's decided to go off meat and I've just filled up my freezer with smashing 'bargains' off the reduced counter of all sorts of roasts of lamb etc
I really need to get a grip!

lil_me

I managed with £260 last month, I did try £220 this month but failed, saying that I am going for £220 next month and adding the overspending to it, as I will have enough meals left with the extra buys, and the washing powder in bulk I bought will probably last about a year. I am also trying to shop more locally. I add takeaway costs to this to put me off buying them. I used to spend £600+, actually some months closer to £800 with the takeaways etc, now I make my own. I no longer pay by cheque, ever. Only use a card when shopping online. Use cash otherwise (made mistake of using card and ignored what I spent)

What do you need, well meal plans are the biggest key (I do them without set days or get bored, just what meals for next 7-14 days), use what you have in then add to list anything required to go with it. Make your own ready meals for takeaway style/easy nights. Shop from the list, but if there is a good bargain do consider it (or you can loose out) but if it's a bargain you'll end up flinging don't buy it. Don't take the extra cash/cards to work. Never shop hungry (possibly why spend on way home) Keep a list of what you throw out and how much it was, if that doesn't scare you like me, nothing will! If you go to shop just for milk/bread etc take just enough for that. Consider getting milk delivered if it works better for you, saves the temptation spending. If you don't want to look nerdy with a chuncky calculator all the way round use your mobile phone. Keep a spending diary and all reciepts, see where you spend and if it's cheaper elsewhere.

Other things you need (these are free) imagination to cook with what you have in and experiment, determination to never step foot in M&S again and to do this, and a big smile

If I can do it anyone can! Good luck! (if this time last year someone told me what I would have achieved this I would have told them where to go jump as it was impossible, but here I am making my own bread, every meal from scratch and have cut our shopping by more than half)

Crazychik

Welcome Ex Spendaholic

Small steps first, advise I had for you as allready been mentioned.

Im a family of 4, 2 x adults 2 x Children age 10 & 7, plus 3 cats, 1 Large dog, 2 hamsters & 1 rabbit. Our weekly shop comes to around £50-60 per wk, incl, pet food (1 cat being on Iams meat & dry and wont eat nothing but) & cat litter, toiletries, cleaning stuff, some frozen, fresh meat to freeze, fruit & veg. Sometimes I run my cupboards low, stock up again - spending a little more, but I know that will last me a while longer

We buy bread on offer or reduced, and freeze it, as all 4 of us has pack up's for the week. Buy as much reduced stuff, (to your taste of course) and freeze.

Luckily were a family who eats sensible, have no longer have biscuits or fizzy pop in the house. As a treat, the kids will get home made baking, kids are happy to drink milk or water, and rarely drink the robinsons juice I buy.

Never shop when hungry, as your encouraged to put things in your basket for the sake of doing so!

I only tackle a supermarket, once a week, only go with limited cash, (no cheque book) as that encourages spending. A calculator, and a shopping list of the essentials required. Always, my trolley is full, all items on the list has been ticked, and Ive just about reached my budget, Im happy, cos I know my family (incl pets) will eat good quality home made meals for the week and we've not gone over budget. However, it does take time to get to this stage, with plenty of determination, you will do it.

Invest in a slow cooker, you will be surprised the lovely HM meals you can make. I have an e-book of over 400 slow cooker recipes. If you would like it sending, please PM me.

Meal plan, and make extra to freeze, to make another night easier, if you dont feel like cooking. Limit your take aways, reduce it to once a fortnight, we did this, and now have a treat once a month!

Try and get into the habit, of not nipping here or there cos you've run out of things, and only take the amount of cash required you need for milk/bread.
I only need to visit the local shop usually twice a wk for milk. And usually, I get OH or DS to do it for me (reduce temptation of buyng extra's)

Cut back on ready made meals (if you dont buy these, then ignore this bit), just look at the ingredients and you could make the same meal at half the cost.

I still have to stick to certain well known brand's, but now Ive got use to buying shops own brand too.

Ask people for recipe idea's, and log onto campbells.com to get some cheap & amazing recipe idea's at a low cost.

HTH for now

Churchmouse

Crazychick, have PM'd you, but no rush, thanks.