Where do I start? How do I feed us all for under £500 a month?

sketchingkari

I've tried so many times, but fail miserably, I just dont kow how to do this.

Our groceries are the single biggest expense, £500 to £600 per month and we just cant afford it anymore, can anyone suggest some baby steps I can take to bring it down?

We dont buy the brand names and am happy to use budget cuts, and the cheaper stores own brands, but still its still so expensive.

A little info as this is what makes it difficult, I am gluten intolerant and hypoglycemic, so my meals have to be wheat free and primarily protein based. Everyone else eats normally, except that my teen girl prefers no meat unless it looks like a chicken nugget

There are 5 of us, 2 adults, one teen, 1 bottomless pit of a ten yr old and a toddler, this also feeds our three cats and the bunny, plus buys household items, loo rolls etc.

Is it even possible to feed us all for under £500?

Penny-Pincher!!

Take a big breath hun. Everything will be fine.

Have you recently done an inventory of your cupboards and freezer, fridge etc so you know what you have in? If not, that would be a good start. I would then write down meal that you all like and write down the ingredients you would need for this. If possible, double up portions and freeze as it often works cheaper to buy bigger packets of produce then you can freeze for the next week.

Then write down breakfasts and lunches that you all like including fruit and veg needed. Snacks, maybe swop to cheaper brands or home bake? I would make heavier snacks such as bread pudding or flapjacks that would be quite healthy as a snack and filling.

The cats...can their food be switched to a cheaper brand or order in bulk at Pets at home and use a voucher code? The rabbits, do they just eat scraps etc?

Cleaning products can be simplified with the same cleaning effect. I use cheap bleach at 29p for 2 litres and is fine. I do like Flash bathroom spray, Mr Sheen, Pledge and camomile floor cleaner, BUT I only buy on offer or Pound-land.

Laundry powder is only bought on special and I set a 10p max per wash limit. The last couple of times Ive managed to get great deals at Amazon. The same with the Lenor. I got 12 HUGE bottles for under £12 delivered.

Do you look on Hotdeals, use voucher codes etc?

HTH

PP
xx

JodyBPM

First off, £500 seems a HUGE budget for a family of 5. I don't have any experience of gluten free or hypoglycemic diets, which I can imagine will put the price up, but even so, its absolutely do-able.

First step is to actually look at what you are buying. Branded stuff? Can you get own brand equivelents cheaper? Are you buying uneccessary stuff, like expensive snack and convenience foods, luxury toiletries or cleaning products etc?

Beans and pulses are a good source of protein and much cheaper than meat, and recently I've found that frozen veg are really great, cheaper, easier to store and less wastage than fresh veg. I'd recommend frozen peas, sweetcorn, green beans, parsnips, brocolli and cauliflower - all are great, but you must make sure not to overcook them or they will go soggy!

You will save a fortune by meal planning, and only buying what you need to make the meals on your list.

Good luck

[Deleted User]

Hi KARI I don't know if you have an Icel**d anywhere near you but, if you do our large town centre one sells 850g of Bacon Pieces for £2.00p and they also sell 450g packs of Ham, Beef, Chicken and Turkey trimmings for £1.75p which are so useful in salads, stir frys, quiches etc. The other big money saver I have here is a local Greengrocer, where the produce is so much cheaper than the supermarkets and the quality is super. If you have either of these available it might be worth a look. Cheers Lyn.

abitofhelp

With a bit of time and effort i'm sure you could quite easily get your grocery budget down. Its amazing how you can bulk out a meal by using some hidden pulses and grated veg. My oh and eldest child have no idea. If you have a look on the Grocery challenge thread at the beginning there is a huge list of recipes which i'm sure you would be able to adapt to feed you and your family. I buy value bleach & stardrops for general cleaning, washing liquid and dishwasher tablets when on offer. Have a look at what you have in stock and do a meal plan, its amazing what you might find. Best of luck.

miasnanny

Are you recieving Child Tax Credits or get free prescriptions? If you do then quite a few gluten free products are available on prescription. If you don't qualify for free prescriptions then it would be worth paying monthly a prepaid prescription which works out at around £12 a month (may be an over estimated as its ages since I last looked) Google prescription costs.

Make more use of natural cleaning products (vinegar, lemons, bicarb, soda etc) lots of really helpful threads here.

Make as much from scratch as you can, aim for one food item a day and double the quantity so you have some for the freezer. Buy BOGOF's where possible BUT ONLY if its something you know you will use or can store.

Keep a notebook of where you are wasting food and what food you are disposing of. Are you dishing up food in too big a portions.

Make friends with your local butcher (mine has a loyalty scheme and does some fabulous freezer offers) and greengrocer mine reccommended a friendly farmer that sells stuff by the sack in season, the greengrocer hasn't lost trade from me because I have more money to spend on things that my farmer can't supply. If there is no friendly farmers handy try farm shops and farmers markets

Make use of the redundant kitchen gadgets :- Slowcooker, soups, casseroles, stews, curries, bolognaise, HM tomato pasta sauce. Breadmaker gluten free bread, cake, jams not just gluten free though. Read the mannual for your microwave and use it for more than just reheating. Dig out your mixers, blenders, food processors and use them. These things all cut down time spent in the kitchen and reduce the cost of your shopping. If you put your oven on make sure it is full - small cakes, cookies (keep dough in fridge or freezer)

I do think that monitoring your food waste will reveal a lot of ways where money is being wasted.

I really hope that this helps you a bit. I am sure lots of other people will chip in with loads of great advice. Just make small changes a day at the time and remember little changes become habits and good habits save money

BitterAndTwisted

A typical week's menu might be a help as I have no idea what a hypoglycemic might be eating day-to-day. Does this mean no complex carbs whatsoever?

The usual advice would be to keep a spending-diary for a couple of weeks, making a note of every penny spent and keeping all of the receipts. Then, go through them all with a highlighter-pen and highlight everything that's absolutely non-essential and see where you could remove completely or replace with cheaper things. I do understand the need to buy treats for kids but snacky-type things are often where the majority of the money goes.

Resist the temptation to have one specialist cleaning-product for every single task in the home. What can't be cleaned with washing-up liquid can usually be tackled with either Stardrops, vinegar or bicarb.

Laundry detergent is often a huge spend when you have a family, so have a think about making a massive batch of "laundry gloop" one weekend. Then every load could cost you a penny rather than ten or twenty each.

sketchingkari

Thank you for all the replies, lots to think about :money:

Its going to have to be small steps at a time I think, instead of making too many changes at once.

I dont think we have much waste, I think our biggest problem is that everyone eats different things.

One example is breakfast, I cannot eat carbs before lunch, so its either wheat free sausages (expensive) or bacon and eggs, my son has toast and jam, my daughter and youngest son i've managed to finally get off cereal bars and onto the same cereal, so cereal and milk, but my husband because he is often out of the door before 6am has cereal bars, or on the days he is home, porridge.

I can eat pulses, but they contain too many carbs for me to have them without a source of pure protein

I think my first job is to write a list of what is in fridge, freezer and cupboards, then see if I can meal plan for a week or so from there, just adding in any essentials.

I think the doubling up on recipes is a great idea, we have cottage pie and spag bol once per week each, so if I bulked out the mince with veg, grated carrots and maybe some beans to make double portions I could freeze one of each and have two weeks meals the mince i'd usually use for one.

The cats have their food from Pets at home, we spend £33 per month on food, biscuits and litter, which I think is pretty good.

Those Icel**nd bags of meat sound a bargain and perfect for me, i'll definately go and have a look.

Where do you find the best place to shop for groceries? I do prefer online, with three kids its so much easier, but I think I miss alot of the bargains.

I dont buy gluten free replacements (ie bread) as they are bad for the hypo, I'm better off going without, so they dont add to the expense

Nicepeach

Hi sketchingkari,

I've reeeeally had to cut back over the past 18months as I've only had temporary work but I've found that it wasn't actually food that was costing me as much as I thought but other things on the household budget were a real drain.

Here are some of the very minor things I've done which have made a massive difference:

I do not buy any cleaning products now except Soda, White Vinegar, Stardrops, concentrated disinfectant such as Ib*col or Zo*flora & bleach. I use soda & vinegar in my washer instead of any kind of laundry powder/liquid & vinegar instead of softener. No more sprays for this, bottles of this for that, special cans of whatever for whatever jobs & certainly no more special potions for cleaning windows! (Can't believe I ever did that!). I also have some good microfibre cloths (from A*ldi) & their sponges with the scourer side on too, these suffice for all cleaning jobs.

I have had to stop my very bad toiletries habit. I still love nice smellies but am having to make do without & am lucky enough to get nice pressies for b.day & cmas. I invested £15 in a soap/shampoo/conditioner dispenser for the shower & now buy Te*sco Val*ue (now re-branded as Everyday Value) baby shampoo & baby bath & put these in the dispenser & am working my way through the conditioners I already had. I also use the baby bath as handwash & refill old handwash dispensers on sinks in kitchen, utility & bathroom with it. My 18yo DS likes "swanky" stuff & can be a bit snobby about "cheap" things but I told him to buy his own things if he didn't want what I provide for free! The money on the dispenser was worth every penny as this also stops him using VAST amounts of anything in the shower as it's measured doses & stops him leaving the bottles in there which get water in them & dilute the products inside too. Going to get one for over the bath too soon.

I have 2 rabbits & now bulk buy my rabbit food & wild bird food for the garden birds from a local supplier who deliver it for free & it works out much cheaper per kilo. I also buy the sawdust from a local joiner's shop. I get an enormous bag (almost as big as the ones they deliver sand to sites in!!!) for £2 & I went to a local stable yard & asked to buy a bale of hay - also £2. If you are buying small amounts of these from s.markets or pet shops you'll be paying eye-watering amounts. Dog's a bit trickier, he has a "funny" tum so he gets a mixture of dry dog food & tiny amounts of chicken/liver mixed in with gravy but no point buying a big bag of this as he sometimes doesn't eat it for weeks.

The biggest tip of all I can give you is just stop & think to yourself when you have picked something up in a shop/supermarket is to really think hard & ask yourself "Do I really NEED this or do I just WANT it?". This has been a revelation for me & I invariably don't buy whatever it is. If I have to buy it, I try & find a cheaper/more cost effective alternative.

The past 18 months have been dreadful financially for me but to be really honest, I feel more in control than I ever have & I think it's made me a better person. I have literally left my purse & cards at home when I can so that I just can't spend any money!

Thankfully, I have just heard this week that I have been successful in getting a permanent, full-time, relatively well-paid job again & the relief was enormous. But I will never go back to spending for the sake & will continue with my thrifty ways & hopefully build up the tiny bit of savings I did have but have almost completely eroded topping up my temp. wages.

Good luck with your endeavours. x

adelight

What's a typical week of menus? Roughly? How much ready made or snack food do you buy? Either cut the snacks out or have a budget for them, ie start with £10 a week for snacks like crisps, biscuits etc and then cut it down slowly.
Do you buy gluten free alternatives like spelt pasta, gluten free bread etc? Does the whole family eat these? They're really expensive, you're better off just eating things that are gluten free naturally like rice and spelt grains and occasionally doing regular gluten food for the family when you fancy something they don't like.
I don't know if there is a thread on MSE but there must be a forum somewhere which has threads on your dietary requirements on the cheap.

Dunroamin

sketchingkari wrote: »

One example is breakfast, I cannot eat carbs before lunch, so its either wheat free sausages (expensive) or bacon and eggs, my son has toast and jam, my daughter and youngest son i've managed to finally get off cereal bars and onto the same cereal, so cereal and milk, but my husband because he is often out of the door before 6am has cereal bars, or on the days he is home, porridge.

Why not just have scrambled eggs or some cheese?