Feeding a Family of 4 - Realistic budget

Ex-Spendaholic

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

For those of you who are trying to cut down too, good luck. I have found that writing stuff down on here has made me determined.

As for wine, I have no need to buy any for a long time. We must have about 40 bottles of the stuff which has been given as presents etc. However rather than use it I always look at it and think I'd prefer my usual rose. So I'm going to use up what's in the cupboard before I enter an off licence again.

Ex-Spendaholic

Just thought I'd update this thread.

This week I've spent only £27 on food. :j I'm really pleased. Now granted that my kids had dinner at their grandparents on 2 days and I just had pasta but Still a lot better than before.

lil_me

Well done, you're definately making progress. March 2007 Grocery Challenge thread is stickied at the top of the forum if you fancy joining us

Ex-Spendaholic

Thanks Lil Me. I never noticed that. I'll join now. :beer:

npsmama

That's great!

I just wanted to add that what really helps me spend less is to have my milk, eggs and veg/fruit (ie my weekly staples) delivered.
I get other staples like flour, sugar, tins, catfood, etc... once a month online.
Meat I get from the butchers as and when. Cheese I get the really good stuff from the farmshop in small quantities about once a week.

For me the key is to stay out of temptation's way, that is supermarkets.

LittleBrownFrog

I haven't read all the other replies to this, so apologies if I'm duplicating. We're a family of 5, but as our children are aged 4, 2 1/2 and 6 months, we probably count as 4 for budgeting purposes. We aim for £200 a month & when I'm being disciplined, that's a reasonable amount...

Here are my top tips...

1... Stay out of the shops!! We try to shop once a fortnight (milk is delivered - more expensive, but more ethical & saves spending an extra £5 when you 'just pop in for some milk' a few times a week, & we have a veggie box each week which provides our staple veggies) My theory is that you tend to overspend by a certain amount every time you set foot in a shop, so doing bigger shops less frequently is a good move.

2... Cook in bulk & freeze ahead, but only freeze food you know you all love (I made the mistake of bulk-cooking some new recipes & things ended up lurking in the freezer for ages).

3... Keep something in the freezer that will compensate for not having that takeaway - for us it's often a pizza or some other convenience food & although it's not as good as cooking from scratch, it's a whole lot better than spending £20 on a takeaway.

4... Work out how much of your mortgage you could pay off with that twenty ... we did this last night as we've fallen back into the takeaway trap over the last few months having been exhausted by three poorly children since before Christmas! ... anyway, for us, it's about a day and a half of mortgage - we've cut up our takeaway menus & replaced them with a notice to that effect!!

Good Luck

CFC

Your first step must be to stay out of M&S. Nice, but very very pricey!

Second step - meal plans for whole week. Make a meal plan, write a shopping list, have what you want, including snacks and what have you but do it in one or two shops,and only buy stuff off your shopping list.

You'll find that will reduce your bill without making any change at all in what you have to eat.

BBC

I have to agree planning is the key. Have a look for some staple recipes for dishes everyone eats and then make a list of the ingredients do a meal planner and stick to it. The reason that this works is because you know what you are making everyday and you don;t have to make any unexpected shopping trips to pick up impulsive buys. It really cuts cost. I try to do a monthly supermarket shop and a weekly farm shop ....... it doesn;t work all the time but most of the time

Mrs_Cupier

Hi, just wanted to chip in - I feed 5 (2 adults, children 5, 4 and 2) on £250 a month, and the most effective thing has been planning the left overs. It helps that DS1 (5) is a creature of habit who likes to be able to predict what he's getting for tea, but the point is sound: I buy a joint for Sunday - chicken every other week because it goes a long way, beef or lamb or gammon in the 'gap' weeks.

On Sunday we have roast and all the trimmings; on Tuesday we have cold roast with mashed potatoes and other veg and reheated gravy; on Thursday we have pie or casserole made with the end of the roast and gravy. I've never yet got less than 4 meals out of a roast that cost between £5 and £8 (because the pie filling often does two). I can get five meals if I force a soup out of Sundays leftovers too (any cold veg plus a dollop of gravy and a handfull of the meat shredded. A little potato for thickening and some stock). The soup does lunches for those of us that eat at home. The uncooked veg bought for Sunday (because we can't eat a whole cauli in one go) make a cauli / macaroni cheese for one lunchtime.

I also get all my veg from the market (£10 a week max, closer to £7 most weeks). In a really frugal week I can feed us for £45, but the kids get a bit sick of beans / cheese on toast for lunch for that money!

Hope this helps you.

dianadors

Banked my £400 from last month and started again for March (i'm keeping all receipts this month so that I can see how much I spend). Its hubby's birthday this week, we are taking him to Cafe Rouge as I converted my Tesco points and have £50 vouchers to spend. He's also having a bit of a do at home, but we are doing this "Mexican style" with a slow cooker full of Chilli and tons of potato wedges. The £400 we saved last month wasn't all food saving, but I had identified it as an area where we could make enormous savings. I cannot believe how much we did cut back last month - and I havn't started being frugal yet! The kids have commented that the meals are nicer too. Like Mrs Cupier, I have been brushing up on my school girl cookery lessons and being far more inventive with leftovers.