How DO YOU feed a family on <£250?

quintwins

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Quintwins- The op does say they never stay in budget in their first post

Yes but they could easily go over by £10-£15 a week and still come in under £250.

FireWyrm

I was managing on between £120 - £150 per month for two adults, two children and 3 cats. I've recently increased this to a positively comfortable £200 a month for the same number of humans plus two more cats.

I can understand your scepticism, but its more to do with mindset than actually having some secret formula.

1) You have meal plans. I know week by week exactly what is to be consumed so I buy that and only that. I dont do BOGOF unless it is either a non-perishable, or its something I was going to buy anyway.

2) Know where you are being ripped off. Do you buy tesco 'ready meals'? You know, the ones in the tray that you just have to bung in the oven. Usually, its a chicken breast wrapped in something or with a sauce? Did you know you could make that, from scratch in under 20 minutes for a fraction of the cost? Lasagne is another absolute rip off. I saw one in the frozen isle the other day for £4.50 and it was billed as 'family size'. Did you know, lasagne is easy as chips to make and costs about £2.50 for enough to make two meals feeding 4 people each time? How is the frozen version value for money?

3) Buy books. Learn to cook. We've all been raised on the idea that shop bought somehow tastes better or is easier...its not. If you want consistently nutritious, easy to knock up and cheap food, learn to cook Chinese, Indian and Thai. Leave the heavy roasts and dense meats for the weekend.

4) Use vegitables to bulk out. I use 1lb of meat per day for 4 people. Its what I buy and all that is available. You dont need classical english dishes daily. Go veggie one day a week for instance.

5) Buy bulk and split. I buy bulk meat once a month and I split it into portions. I usually buy towards the end of the day from the local market and I get very good deals for paying in cash and taking lots of his remaining stock. Often, I get odd stuff thrown in simply because he'd have to chuck it anyway.

6) Shop in the early morning or late at evening on a Sunday. All the mark-downs are there. Be quick, there are others with the same idea as you.

7) Ditch large supermarkets. Since I stopped frequenting the green one, I've literally halved my food bill right there. I used to spend £350 a month easily and then put 'incidentals' on top of that! By shifting to no-frills shops, I save hundreds a month. Swallow your pride and look around an Aldi carpark....what do you see? Clapped out bangers, or BMW's? I can tell you, an informal poll of a local carpark on a Satuday morning from the window of a MaccyD opened my eyes to the type of people going to these shops. More to the point, is the quality of produce the same as what you are used to? The answer is, by the way, yes, and in some cases, better even.

8) Source your eggs from local farm shops. Not quite as cheap as a supermarket, but then the hens are better cared for. Personally, its worth the additional pennies.

9) Dont buy cakes and things, buy flour and ingredients. You may ask, who has the time, but its actually propoganda perpetuated by the supermarkets who have a vested interest in selling you the idea that you are time poor. You really arnt.

10) Buy from the local Chinese cash and carry. You'll find plenty in there and many people willing to translate for you. Oh, and it's a quarter of the price for double the quantity.

determined_new_ms

antonic wrote: »

I`m single and feed myself on approx £100/mth.

I am also an expert shopper in Asda in the Oops aisle & chilled cabinet as well as an expert buyer of BOGOF`s.

This will all end in 3 months time though ! (see my sig for details)..

I have just spent £104 on food for a month for 3 adults (one 18yr old) but as another poster said this did not include any alcohol. If we wanted that it had to come out of our own pockets. Its amazing how we only drank once or twice a week then!

What I did was a number of things - including heavily shopping for reduced stickered items and changing meal plans accordingly. Going to the supermarket specifically for yellow stickered items and if they didn't have any/weren't really good bargains or wouldn't be used I left empty handed.

Having a soup and bread night once a week (you can throw in a sponge desert as well!)

using up items in the cupboard, using approved foods. Addiding lentils and veg to any meal to reduce meat.

Making sure I don't waste anything. So my friend gave me some hm veg she wasn't going to use. Out of this I made some roasted veg, got some hummous and for lunches for the last week we have had pitta, hummous, roasted veg and lettuce (must say am very glad to have a egg mayo wrap today as I am sick of it after a whole week!), courgette soup which was dinner for 1 night and my lunch for a few days, and a moussaka.

Toilettries go to the £ shop, buy the things you use when on offer, know the regular prices for these items so you know when they are a bargain and when its just clever marketing.Try lidl/aldi washing powder, washing up liquid, try soapnuts. I liked them and you can do a trial for I think 70p. Look out for coupons

DON'T THROW ANY FOOD AWAY!!!! Keep an eye on your fridge and cupboard, everyday until you get in the habit. Almost everything you can freeze, vegs you can make into soups and sauces and freeze.

bake your own cakes and biscuits while the oven is n for something else.

Look on mysupermarket.com to see what is on offer where and what is cheaper in say sains/asda

Try the butcher vans on the market - you can get some good items there.

I hope this is helpful. I think its a process that you get better at with time, effort and experience.

HeadAboveWater

FireWyrm wrote: »

6) Shop in the early morning or late at evening on a Sunday. All the mark-downs are there. Be quick, there are others with the same idea as you.

Definitely!! I posted this on my diary this morning actually!! And we'd do that kinda shop any day of the week, not just Sunday.

We're 2 adults and 3 girls, and we'd manage on about £150ish a month. For us, reduced is the way to go!!

We make 5 rounds of sandwiches for lunches every day :eek: That's not counting toast for breakfast or supper if they're wanting that too!! If we were buying bread at full price that'd be £5 a week minimum. Whereas reduced shopping we'll get the bread for between 10p and 25p usually.

We NEVER buy ready meals. Waste of money and they taste horrible. And we can make the same meal, far tastier, for a fraction of the cost.

Me and OH often laugh coz we're commenting on how we're 'eating like royalty' for pennies

poppasmurf_bewdley

Don't buy toiletries, etc from the supermarkets.

Go to the Poundshop or Wilkinsons where you will find everything for the bathroom and kitchen at much lower prices than Tesco, etc. Wilko also have many own label items which are much cheaper than their leading brand prices.

Iceland is also much cheaper for frozen foods than the big supermarkets, but you have to be careful as some items are not good value.

FireWyrm

HeadAboveWater wrote: »

We make 5 rounds of sandwiches for lunches every day :eek: That's not counting toast for breakfast or supper if they're wanting that too!! If we were buying bread at full price that'd be £5 a week minimum. Whereas reduced shopping we'll get the bread for between 10p and 25p usually.

And 1.5Kg of strong flour is 68p. You get 3 loaves of bread out of that. A decent breadmaker is about £30. Assuming you're like my family, bread should be made at night at is sufficiently cool to be used in the morning. You know what went into it, it doesnt revert to it's 'dough-like' state if you squeeze it and no-one cut the flour with cellulose to keep it cheap. You can then swap olive oil for butter to make it cheaper.

Good bread, wholesome, nutritious, easy and cheap.

With regard to alcahol. I brew wine and beer routinely now. I havnt bought a bottle from the shop in months. Brewing is so easy and I have two Demi-Johns on the go right now plus 40 pints of beer which will be ready on Saturday.

As the others have said, buy toiletries from cheaper shops but my experience of bleach is not to bother. However, one of the biggest spends I've seen in supermarkets is the likes of Vanish for washing and tablets for dishwashers. Look on Ebay for something called VWP instead. It knocks vanish into a cocked hat and I've not needed to buy dishwasher tablets in ages. VWP is about a £1 per 100g and doubles as a general purpose sterilising solution for many purposes.

YORKSHIRELASS

I spend £300 a month on grocery shopping for two adults, two older kids and a dog. This includes all toiletries, laundry products etc. I could do it for less if I really had to but this figure is about right for us. We do eat meat every day and that is not going to change but I know that makes a difference.

Mealplanning is essential for me and thats what really brought my monthly grocery bill down from £400+ a month. I only buy what I need.

I also have the principle of "I wont buy it if I can make it myself". Although I do buy some shop bought bread for convenience!

Nothing is ever ever wasted in this house. Even small portions of leftovers are frozen to be combined together later on.

We are limited by living in a very rural area so this cuts down your buying choices. I like shopping online and getting it delivered because I know what the final total is going to be and I am less tempted by the so called special offers.

My advice if you dont already do it would be to start mealplanning. It really focuses your mind but it does take a bit of practice to get it right.

Norfolk_Jim

Thats all great advice and tips, thanks. Much of this I already do but I still find myself running out of food budget before I run out of month, so those of you who can manage this have my admiration.
One thing I want to try and get a handle on is batch cooking as Mrs Jim isn't a good cook and I have limited time, so doing batch cooking at the weekend would be a good skill to aquire. Thanks to all.

CarolynCh

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I have just spent £104 on food for a month for 3 adults (one 18yr old) but as another poster said this did not include any alcohol. If we wanted that it had to come out of our own pockets. Its amazing how we only drank once or twice a week then!

I would say apply the same principle to soft drinks too - cans (or bottles) of fizzy drink can be very expensive - don't add to the shopping trolley and members of the household can buy their own if they want it - drink water instead - much cheaper and healthier too!

Takeaway_Addict

quintwins wrote: »

Yes but they could easily go over by £10-£15 a week and still come in under £250.

I must be missing something...4 weeks in a month at best so 4 x £60=£240. A ten pound overspend is a £30 overspend a month and so on?