How DO YOU feed a family on <£250?

grandma247

I can highly recommend buying dry goods like flour, rice, beans and pulses as well as a lot of other goods in Asian supermarkets. I save a lot of money buying in bulk at ours.Flour goes in the freezer for a while wrapped in a clear plastic bin bag.
If you don't live near one try and find one not too far away and bulk buy. Try splitting what you buy with a friend and share the transport cost.
There are also shops online and you can buy in bulk online from several places.
Don't forget app. foods, very useful if you have hollow leg kids.

Spudsey

I remember my sister-in-law complaining about how much she used to spend on her weekly shopping, when I looked at her receipt about £20 was spent on biscuits, tubs of cakes, doughnuts, chocolate, all treats. I would suggest looking at your receipts first to see if there is anything you really needed?

I'm not sure how much we spend we go to waitrose which most people claim is expensive, but it depends what you buy. Waitrose will not sell for example a pack of sausages for 50p! I remember seeing these in my parents fridge, yuk! Certainly not free range piggies and where was the meat!?

I have noticed a lot on mse that people like to get their meat cheap but don't seem to have any concerns about where their meat comes from....very sad.

I did a price comparision online once and waitrose came out cheaper than asda so I don't find them more expensive for what I buy.

I shop at waitrose and probably spend between £30-£40 a week for two of us food and drink, we go to a butchers about every 2 months and spend about £40ish and also to a local co-operative where we buy oats, dried fruit etc. I like to buy free range organic goods as much as possible because I have alot of concerns about where my things come from. household stuff I normally get from the co-operative as the stuff is more ethical and buav approved (not tested on animals) shampoo etc either co-op or superdrug.

FireWyrm

Spudsey wrote: »

I have noticed a lot on mse that people like to get their meat cheap but don't seem to have any concerns about where their meat comes from....very sad.

Oh no. Not true. I very much care where my meat comes from and make a point of reading the information on packs of sausages for instance to determine actual meat content. I dont buy 'frozen' value from Iceland since those will almost certainly be around the 65% mark for meat. On the other had, I cant afford the quantities of meat I would like if I use a traditional butcher. I have come to a compromise which is that bacon and such is always the best quality, whereas I can take a slight hit on quality for stuff like mince since it will be bulked with veg and stewed most the time.

Spudsey wrote: »

I did a price comparision online once and waitrose came out cheaper than asda so I don't find them more expensive for what I buy.

My experience of those two shops is quite the opposite. Waitrose is far more expensive in almost everything than Asda. However, I consider both to be a rip off and avoid where possible.

Spudsey wrote: »

I shop at waitrose and probably spend between £30-£40 a week for two of us food and drink, we go to a butchers about every 2 months and spend about £40ish and also to a local co-operative where we buy oats, dried fruit etc. I like to buy free range organic goods as much as possible because I have alot of concerns about where my things come from. household stuff I normally get from the co-operative as the stuff is more ethical and buav approved (not tested on animals) shampoo etc either co-op or superdrug.

Almost no cosmetics are tested on animals any more. Its a fallacy that all new products are. They arnt. In actuality, what happens is that if the ingredients are of known types and combined in a known way, there is no need for testing as it has been done before many times. Government bodies responsible for testing on animals have dialed the practice back to the barest minimum requirements. That's not to say that it doesnt happen, it does, but it has been scaled back and is much more heavily regulated these days. My sister is a genetic toxicologist and told me that the reams of forms necessary to get a single trial on animals authorised is almost bigger than the drug definition and research information put together. In short, if it's shampoo and it contains known ingredients, then there is no need for testing at all. All this 'not tested on animals' rubbish means absolutely nothing...it wasnt going to be tested on animals anyway....it's a trick to make you think you're getting something special. Take for instance Poundland who were featured in Dispatches the other night. They have packets of KitKats labelled as 6+3 (50% extra) for a £1, when in reality, you can buy a pack of 9 from Tesco for...you've guessed it...a pound, just without the 50% free bit.

Before I get lept on, I absolutely abhor testing on animals and especially for non-essential items such as shampoo and cosmetics, but that doesnt mean that what goes on these days bears any resemblance to what went on in the 70s.

Spudsey

Sorry I didn't mean everyone does this I am glad you care where your meat comes from . I use a traditional butcher and agree with bulking out mince. To be honest I think the world eats far too much meat and so try and do veggie meals a lot of the time much to my partners dismay!! After a few days he is asking where his meat is!

I think it depends what you buy when comparing Waitrose and Asda. I buy veg, dairy products and tinned stuff such as chick peas etc from waitrose. If you buy ready made stuff and pizzas and things I think they would be far cheaper in asda.

I agree that not tested on animals is rubbish on most products, its the ingredients not the product anyway. I believe a lot of unneccessary testing still goes on and feel happy buying buav products only. If it didn't go on I don't understand why big companies such as marks and spencer, co-op, superdrug and sainsburys would be bothering to go through applying to be buav approved if it didn't.

FireWyrm

Spudsey wrote: »

If it didn't go on I don't understand why big companies such as marks and spencer, co-op, superdrug and sainsburys would be bothering to go through applying to be buav approved if it didn't.

For much the same reason as companies used to (until recently) make a big thing about ISO9001 accreditation....it lends an air of credibility to the item being sold. The actual piece of paper means very little, but the punters like to believe that a company is 'ethical' and 'regulated'. The fact that the regulation is entirely toothless is beside the point. Until I told you just now, did you even know that animal testing had been slashed by 90% in the pharmaceutical industry? Thought not. Now, lets not get this wrong, the moritorium on animal testing is largely down to public pressure which is a very good thing, attitudes are changing for the better, but it stil doesnt mean that those 'not tested on animals' and 'ethically produced' stickers actually mean anything very much. They are true, in as far as they go, it wasnt tested on animals....but they fail to mention that it was never going to be in the first place.

Its effectively like saying 'tested on animals some time in the last 100 years but we've been virtuous since then because we didnt like the bad publicity'.

retepetsir

nfollows1982 wrote: »

We are a family of 2 adults and 4 kids under 11 (2 live with us permanently and 2 alternate weekends) and we have a budget of £50 a week for food shopping.

My wife leaves the shopping to me and I meal plan everything.

I’ll give you an example, as I went shopping last night.

Tuesday – Quiche and salad
Wednesday – Sausage casserole + mash
Thursday – Shepherds Pie
Friday – Spag Bol
Saturday – steak pie and chips
Sunday – slow cooked beef + trimmings

Now, I had odd bits in to go towards the above, but I had to buy the majority of it all last night and it cost me £22.56.

None of this was buying pre-made rubbish, the quiche apart; all those meals are made from fresh each day. The Saturday and Sunday meals are to feed all of us as we have a house full this weekend.

Some tips I have picked up –

If you want to buy a sauce (say the bolognaise) don’t buy the one in the tin. Get the packet mix and a tin of smart price tomatoes and pad out with a few herbs from home. The tin sauce is £1 on offer, the packet and the tomatoes came to 52p.

You might not think that’s a lot, but that 52p then bought 24 Warburton’s rolls which are in the freezer for mine and the kids pack lunch.

Definitely try the ‘drop a brand’ challenge on the website. We always always went for branded stuff or ‘the best’ etc etc, we dropped a brand and saved a bomb. You have to be prepared to compromise, for example, drop from Heinz to Asda own ketchup. Maybe try going from Asda own to smart price etc.

I’m not saying you will like all the smart price (or equivalent ranges) but for some things there is no difference in taste, just in your wallet.

Also, you need to avoid these ‘2 for whatever’ offers, unless you are absolutely going to need the extra items. I was a sucker for seeing for eg £1.28ea or 2 for £2. I would always get 2 even though I didn’t need them and these offers are designed to get you spending more.

Once I have taken care of the evening meals (as above) that then gives us £30 (ish) a week. This goes on other shopping items like cereals, milk, stuff for the pack lunches. I normally get this down to about £15 a week.

That then leaves about £13 over which goes towards toiletries, wash powder, toilet roll etc.

As a family we all eat healthily, the kids are not filled with a load of crap and we 9/10 we stay within our budget. It can be quite a challenge sometimes but I’m just left to it and that suits me fine!!

At the end of each month, whatever money is left over, we spend on a treat. Last month we had £20 left as we got a load of toiletries reduced, so we went to the 2 for £10 pub down the road. It’s just a good way to show the family that being frugal with money can bring it’s rewards.

Very interesting. Out of interest, what fruit/veg do you buy as I tend to find that those things can certainly add up each week. We're a couple and it probably costs around £10 per week to buy the fruit/veg :rotfl:

sheeppappar

All these tips are great but I would especially say do the "drop a brand" challenge. I have recently done this - only shopping for 2 adults but I did my online shop as usual but only picked from the everyday value / smart price ranges and I have halved my shopping bill straight away. There are a couple of items that I found were no good (washing up liquid for instance) and I have re-upgraded on them but most things are going to remain "value" in my shopping list from now on. Best example has been 12 breadbuns for about 35p and that's at full price! Value shower gel also is hardly distinguishable from the "better" range and comes in at about 35p a bottle - bargain.

If you have a slow cooker and a freezer then that will really really help too. I couldn't manage without either of mine.

I couldn't agree more about avoiding offers too if you don't need the stuff - you can't spend tins of beans, packets of cereal.. if they are sitting in your cupboard unused then that's money that could be in your bank to be spent on stuff you do need!

Last of all do meal planning and stick to what you need to buy. If you run out of anything during the week go and get that one thing but NOTHING ELSE. Don't get stuff during your weekly shop that you "might" run out of or anything that you don't specifically have in your meal plan..

Good luck and I hope you manage to get your bills down

MacsReturns

One thing I like to do is buy in bulk - I'm self employed so have a Makro card, and I usually pop in there once a month or so to stock up on some items:

• cheese (£3.50 per kilo as aginst £8 or so in most supermarkets)
• coffee (I'm not fussy, just an addict so catering packs of instant do me fine - costs about £7 for a month's supply for my HEAVY habit)
• tinned tomatoes - these always get used up, great for sauces etc - I usually buy flatpacks of 12 or 24 tins at a time
• washing up liquid - own brand type cost <£5 for 5 litres and it's way stonger than your usual supermarket fare for fairy hands or whatever - should last me 5 years the way it's going
• laundry powder - 10kg pack, no messing! That should be a year's worth...
• flour - 16kg sacks keep me in bread for months for about £10

There's all sorts of stuff that you know you'll use eventually which is a lot cheaper if you can get it in catering packs. This has another advantage in that I always have a stash of dried goods (beans, rice, pasta) and tins, and the makings of bread, so if cash does get tight I can always rustle up something from the cupboard without going to the shop, even if it's not very exciting. Tinned-veg-and-tuna bolognese, anyone?

helentad

We have to live on a budget. We eat a lot of pasta which luckily we all like. You can make your own sauces depending on what you want but in my situation we buy the pound pot of Asda pasta sauces with long dates, they sometimes have these on Bogof so even better this with pasta feeds a family inc yogurts for boys for less that £3ish. I did a price comparison on lower price food, some work some don't. If we spent money on fuel going to lido and aldi etc it would cost us more. So we go between the Asda around the corner and track but only the later on a few items. We do go to B&M and home bargains sometimes but mostly the two. I buy thing like shampoo etc in bulk when on off and store it. Same as toilet rolls and cleaning products.
Christmas is coming and I have nearly finished my shopping and we have started writing cards (bought stamps before price rise). Gifts will be wrapped before end of November other than a few last buys. I buy my paper tape and cards in the sale. We go on web for loads and pile points on nectar and boots and tesco cards. These we then use next Christmas for a cheap year.
I budget but leave a little for offer bargains like the bulk buying shampoo. Tesco have some great offers like johnsons baby shampoo large bottle for £1 when rrp is more like £3.50 plus.
A warning we have learnt very quickly cheap toilet rolls and kitchen paper are a waste as you use twice as much. We did the math and it worked out 3 times more expensive.

susybu

Feeding a family of four on about £60-65 per week.
Super tested site. Highly recommended, always includes loads of food and treats, nothing boring here!

utterly scrummy blog page. Blogger is a fab cook and know personally to me. Highly recommended. Would not let me post link as I am new but just had to tell you about Michelle Rice's blog. Great value