Realistic budget and sticking to it?

quintwins

2 of them ave school dinner, but they eat loads as soon as they get home at 1 anyway (hence the huge amounts of fruit we need) really if i was sending them with pack lunch the only extra i'd need is a sandwich/pasta a homemade bun and a yogurt (decanted value ones more than likely) at the moment they get free school meals, but that could change very soon (it's abit different over here you get them if you get working tax credits under £17k), i don't see an increase in my budget when there off school if anything i spend less because i'm in town less and use less desil doing school runs.

do you buy specific lunchbox stuff, like babybel and bottles of water/juice see i think that sorta thing makes it expensive, this is where a massive freezer could come in andy if you can get reduced bread.

rachbc

gosh no babybel etc- I'm far too tight!! I AM fussy about sandwich meat - buy good ham or a joint of meat to roast and slice at home, get through 10 yogs a week and again I (not the kids) am fussy about which ones I let them have - yeo or noms - I've tried them on greek yog with fruit puree but this is now being resisted. DD takes veg sticks as well as fruit so buy peppers, sugar snap peas (she'd eat a pepper like an apple if I let her).

I think dd must be growing again- she had cereal plus toast and a banana for breakfast, apple mid morning, pasta salad with ham and peas,yog and plum for lunch, 2 slices toast, cashew nuts and another banana after school then 4 bowsl of lamb pilau for tea, a pear and a whole magnum (rare treat as 1/2 price in morrisons) Not enough pilau left for me to take for lunch tomorrow now! She's 5!!

I'm not complaining as £240 is comfortable for us finacially and in terms of how well we eat for the money buts is definitely interesting to see what/ how other people manage

mrsgreentoad

oh my god this puts me to shame i spend £120 aweek me ,hubby,kids 15,12,9,6 ill grab a penand bit of paper and see where i can cut down x

Edwardia

mrsgreentoad wrote: »

oh my god this puts me to shame i spend £120 aweek me ,hubby,kids 15,12,9,6 ill grab a penand bit of paper and see where i can cut down x

Don't feel guilty, I spend more than that on 2 adults and a Labrador. Also do main shop at Lidl before going anywhere else, dog food Poundland, and only food going in my freezer is on offer or reduced. I guess it's just that meat is expensive now.

quintwins

i agree don't feel guilty we all ave different targets and different lifestyles, every family is different so every family budget needs to eb different, i'd love to spend £120 a week (altho tbh i think now i'm used to being so frugal i'd struggle) but 1 it would bankrupt me in about 6 months, and 2 i'm savings for a house and a roof over my head i can call my own is very important to me.

I don't mind using cheaper meats as we have very small portions of it as it's bulked out with loads of veg, i do also buy the decent ham or a reduced gammon ect, i can't stand cheapy ham, and the thought of lunchoen meat turns me lol.

rach i really hope thats a growth spurt or your gonna struggle to stay under that £240 lol.

katskorner

hmm still can't decide if I am really spending too much but I guess I can always cut down. We have really been careful the last two weeks and I am trying to get the spend lower and lower but we do seem to get through a fair bit!

I need washing powder and no sign of a half price deal at lidl so going to have to get a normal priced box for £6.49 and hope one comes up soon :P. trying to avoid shops so I don't get tempted by offers that I don't really need. I am developing an aversion to spending full stop at the moment though! Avoided asda after swimming lessons yesterday as really didn't need to go in but usually have a mooch, so that was good!

Hubby wants more orange pop from aldi so hoping to pass and just get that and maybe some super six if I need any when I actually get round to going - but nothing else. I shan't give in! lol.

maman

I've been using this for years and it's perfectly acceptable. £3.36 for 4Kg (or just marginally more expensive per kg if you want to get a 800g box to try).

katskorner

thanks maman but we can't use bio due to some of my family having ecezma but good tip for those who can!!

m40

£35 a week! Milk alone costs £7 per week in our family 2 adults 2 kids. How can you feed a family of four on £35 and include laundry and cleaning items, what do you eat I would be interested in your meal plan.

cazj80 wrote: »

I budget £35 a week for 2 adults and 2 children (2 and 10mo) so £140 a month. This includes nappies, cleaning products, toiletries and food.

I get fresh fruit and veg from the fruit and veg stall near me, I take advantage of the half price weekend offers at Lidl, when they are things that I like, I think i currently have about 8 packs of mince from weekends when it was on offer. I use coupons too, and try and only use them when things are already on offer, so maximising the savings. I use Tesco and Sainsburys when they have good offers on, and try not to use them too much.

I also buy lots of one item when it is on offer. For example, I have 4 1.2 litre bottles of Fairy washing up liquid that I got last summer in Asda for £1 each. I haven't even opened one yet as the 2 smaller bottles I got on offer, using coupons too, haven't all been used. I don't think I'll need to buy any for a couple of years...

sorry for the ramble ...

cazj80

m40 wrote: »

£35 a week! Milk alone costs £7 per week in our family 2 adults 2 kids. How can you feed a family of four on £35 and include laundry and cleaning items, what do you eat I would be interested in your meal plan.

breakfast is normally cereals or toast. I make my own bread in our bread maker, and this works out to about 48p per loaf, and 5p for electricity (which isn't in my food budget!). However that's for full price ingredients. Whenever I get any vouchers from Tesco etc I stock up on store cupboard ingredients. For example this month I have a set of vouchers from Tesco for £3 off a £30 spend and also a set for £4 off a £20 spend (they sent me two lots) and they work together, so that's £7 off a £30 spend, just under 25% off, so I buy my bread flour, yeast etc, so I think bread really costs me about 30p a loaf. Again, I buy butter/spread when it is on BOGOF and use vouchers if poss, I got 8 utterly butterlys this week BOGOF, so £7.20, however using my vouchers this equates to approx 67.5p for 500ml

lunch - I make my own tortilla wraps, make about 10 for 34p of ingredients, or use bread, salad from the fruit and veg stall, or tuna and mayo, I bulk buy my cheese too, and have been making quesadillas (I think that's how you spell it) with my tortillas this week. I buy value/smartprice fromage frais for the girls, and we often have a homemade cake too - 75p - £1 if a 3 egg sponge and with butter icing. Fruit comes from the veg stall - they always sell 3lb of bananas for £1, 3lbs of satsumas for £1, however I have started getting their bargain bags - 12 satsumas the other day for 50p, 9 apples for 5p. They sell 25kg of potatoes for £4, they are normally red (our favourites). The other day they were selling 25kg of potatoes for £1, so I got a bag then, it lasted over 6 weeks, a few went bad unfortunately but that's why they were selling them so cheap.

Dinners - I buy all my meat on offers, and store it in the freezer. I mostly make homemade. sweet and sour pork, risottos (using value rice - 40p a kilo) spag bol, I prefer Napolina tomatoes and got 10 cans this week for £5, however with my vouchers it equated to 37.5p per can, only pennies more than value. lasagne (using value lasagne sheets, or homemade pasta if I have the time), shepherds pie, toad in the hole, frittata (uses up whats left in the fridge), meatballs (home made, I tried a swedish type recipe the other day - very tasty), pasta bakes, sausages and mash, home made pizza.

I don't tend to have a meal plan as such, I think each week what I would like, and what I have left in my fridge to use that up, or I plan around what I have bought on offer or have found reduced.

I got a couple of 50 wash boxes of fairy powder last summer from Ocado when they had the £20 off a £40 shop (i was lucky enough to get my order in in time), they were £8, reduced from £13, but with the discount, worked out to £4 a time. I use half the amount and am still on the first box. I only use this for my girls' clothes, mine and hubby's get washed in sainsbury's basic bio powder, again using half the amount. Fairy washing up liquid, I bought loads of last year, not even touched yet. I use basics bleach (3o-odd pence per 2 litres) a lot in cleaning. Nappies -I buy the smartprice ones from Asda (7p each) and I take advantage of any vouchers I get and save them up for when nappies are already reduced, today I got 40 huggies for £2.99 (should have been £9.99) and a carry pack (28 nappies) for free. so 68 nappies for £2.99. better than value price.

sorry for the long reply, I'm sure I could put more, just can think of anything else at the moment. If I do a menu plan, I'll try and let you know.