Constantly going over on the food budget, help needed...

7_week_wonder

NikkeiPositivity wrote: »

SOLD!!!!! I would love some of your recipes if you don't mind sharing. I desperately want to get in control of this and even try and cut our budget a little more. In the words of my manager at work: don't work harder, work smarter, that's what I want our food budget to do!!!!!!

Morning! I'll post the recipes over the next couple of days. I might have to do it in a couple of goes as I've got relatives staying and I'm slightly up to my eyeballs at the moment! But don't worry - I haven't forgotten!

DundeeDoll

To get chicken on the bone off the bone i boil a couple of legs for 30 mins then let them cool, strain off the stock, pick off the meat, and throw the bones away. I then have yummy chicken and stock very cheaply, add carrots, seasining and beans. I guess i could do more than 2 and freeze some of the meat and stock but i have to be careful cos i only have a small freezer

maddeningly

NikkeiPositivity wrote: »

DundeeDoll you've just given me a giggle with your pizza comment. The first day of this month's food plan was homemade pizza to be made by my oh and son (he's 8) It was a disaster!! Oh didn't follow the yeast instructions, he didn't leave the dough to kneed in the mixer for long enough and then the dough didn't rise. It took over three hours to make and it was the most horrendous pizza I've ever tasted but we ate it all as we didn't want to upset my son. So definitely a no to having time to make homemade pizza I definitely think batch cooking would be a way forward, especially as my workload is set to increase as I will be taking on some of the work of a colleague who leaves in two weeks. What kind of things do you tend to batch cook?

There is a really easy pizza in the bbc good food website where you don't have to wait for the dough to rise! My children love making them.

QOTD

My two money saving tips are firstly to bulk out minced beef with lentils. When I first did this I only added a handful of lentils as I wasn't sure if the family would notice - they didn't so know I put loads of lentils in. To tell you the truth no one noticed, and it was about a year later when I finally admitted it (after the OH commenting that I make a good cottage pie!)

Second tip is to buy a whole chicken instead of breasts. I can buy 4 breasts for around £6 or a whole chicken for £5. I "quarter" the chicken (not quite right as I get 6 pieces); 2 breasts, 2 legs/thighs and 2 wings plus the carcass. The breasts can be used for curries or whatever and the rest go towards making a pie, risotto, Spanish omelette. The carcass makes a fab stock for soups or ready to make the white sauce for a pie.

I work long hours, have two kids but always make time for something good to eat as it helps keep me going if I am up late working. Plus it gives me a break and time to think so eve though you might not fancy spending time cooking, I would recommend it just to give yourself a break from studying

MaddyWaddy

Everyones situation is different. The main question is what do you have access to and how much time do you want to put into shopping and cooking? I spend 1 hour a week doing a shop but it is mainly on foot and saves us loads (I shop around)

My slow cooker is my best friend - brilliant for quick no fuss meals when you get in from work.

Here is what we have bought this week and what I am planning to make. We are fortunate that we have a local butchers and a green grocers (quite competitive priced as there is a lot of them). I meal plan weekly and I buy more at the beginning of the month to make sure we are eating well at the end of the month (I tend to buy one or 2 extra portions of meat weekly) This will feed me, my husband and little girl.

Our monthly food budget is £275 for food, toiletries, household and petfood (sometimes alcohol)

Breakfast is usually ready brek (I don't like the porridge lumps), toast or cereal. Snacks are fruit - if we want a chocolate bar we purcahse them by the bar otherwise I eat too many!

Lunches (most of my lunches have salad with them)
Ham Sandwiches
Left Overs x 4
Jacket Potatoes
Scrambled Egg
HM Lasagne (made with left over Bolognese)

Main Meals.
Chicken Curry & Rice (leftovers for 1 lunch)
Roast Chicken and veggies
Spaghetti Bolognese (left overs for1 lunch)
Cottage Pie – with veggies (leftovers for 1 lunch)
Sausages, Chips and Beans
Pork or Gammon Steaks – with veggies
Diced Beef with veggies (left oversfor 1 lunch)

Shopping List

Butchers (we are both meat eats and never have vegetarian meals)
Whole Chicken (2 meals) £3.40
Mince 2lb (2 meals) £4.50
Sausages £1.60
Pork or Gammon Steaks £2.50
Diced Beef £3.40
Ham £1.50

Green Grocers £7.00 (Approx from thisweek)
Bunch of Banana, 5 Apples, 5 Satsumas, Mushrooms, Carrots, Lettuce, Cucumber, Onions and Tomatoes

Supermarket – Aldi
Rice 1kg £0.40
Potatoes £2.00 (I buy a huge sack for £10 amonth or 6 weeks)
Frozen peas £1.00
Frozen mixed veg £1.00
Frozen sweetcorn £1.00
Beans £0.30
Oxo £1.00
Cornflour £0.50
Pasta £0.30
Chopped Tomatoes £0.35
Mixed Herbs £0.30
Ready Brek £1.50
Milk (8 pints) £2.00
Bread £0.80
Jam £0.30
Cheese £2.00
Eggs £1.50
Butter £1.00

Non of the food is reduced and most of the meat can be bought at the supermarket for these prices. I do opt for cheaper cuts and slow cook them. This totals about £40 a week on food but items last longer than a week so I rotate what I buy and when. I do try to build my stockcupboard up and I only do a big bulky shop about every 3 months (for tins, cereals and things)

Take advantage of any offers only if you will use the items. We use a lot of frozen veg because we like different things - the nutrients are still as good as fresh. We eat well and I am doing well health wise as we hardly use any fats to cook with.

There is a good website that I can send you the link to if you pm me - The man cooks for 2 adults and 1 child in about 20 minutes and it is good stuff, a lot of our meals are based around them. He has created 2 pdf e-books which you can downlad (I found him through this website).

Hope this helps.

MrsCautious

Hi, I have got my food/groceries budget right down and I wondered if anything I said about how I've done this may be helpful. I'm buying for me, 2 teenagers and a small dog.

I have more time than I've ever had, I was spending more than £100 a week when there were 2 adults and two kids, all in one place, and not even using the loyalty points.

I now go to the 99p Store and Poundshop and buy stuff like foil, cling film and kitchen paper, I also buy branded biscuits here. Two single items I bought today saved me more than £3 -- Jaffa cakes
and Jordan's quick porridge.

I buy fresh fruit and veg from Aldi, and meal plan to include its Super Six. I have a figure of 50p per person in my head for a main meal ingredient but I do buy dearer than that and make it go further. I look at offers that come through on leaflets with my local free weekly paper and

this has led me to Nisa and Iceland, I won't pay above a figure I'm happy with for eggs or milk. I buy Basics range s
in Sainsburys.

There are certain things I just won't buy now oven chips, pasta sauce, any type of soup, coleslaw, potato salad, there must be more, but make them instead, all quick and easy.

I still shop at Sainsbury's but knock off £10 from my shopping as often as I can with nectar points. I boost points through Nectar adpoints (watching ads to get points) Nectar Search (use instead of Google) and nectar eshops -- get points from other shops online.

One night a week/once a fortnight, we will have either bacon or ham omelette or beans/and/or cheese on toast, I have a certain amount of what I consider really cheap meals in my head, including chicken drumsticks/thighs -.I remove all the bones before serving. I saw a top chef on TV once saying thighs were best for curries etc as the meat takes on the flavour best,

tonight we have had cottage pie but I used sausage (Sainsbury's Taste the Difference) instead of mince. That works out at about 50p a portion for the number of portions eaten/left over.
I'm using up a load of toiletries as there are plenty, including bath and shower stuff, rather than my old trick of grabbing those on offer without any real thought.

I think main savings have come from meal planning, using cheaper cuts of meat, bulking out meals with veg.

I have a rule that I won't buy anything however
much of a bargain it seems if I already have something comparable. I go shopping later in the day and buy yellow sticker items. I won't eat anything out of the cupboard (rice or pasta) if there's fresh potatoes or anything tinned for pudding if we have fresh fruit/cakes -- this must sound so obvious to many but has made a major difference to me. But then I won't buy fresh meat etc if I know I have plenty in the freezer.

Aldi has brought significant savings through their washing powder and washing up liquid, both recommended by Which. I also stock up on meat from a brilliant local meat market.

I've found Aldi bread at 55p a loaf ok, especially for toasting and spread Philadelphia type cheese is half the price and just as nice, ditto fruit juice.

Lastly, and I am well aware how obesessed I must sound I have started putting back impulse buys (mainly sugary snacks) before I pay!

Good luck, like others we are eating better than ever, can't remember the last time we had a Ready Meal or threw food away x

NikkeiPositivity

Hi All

Sorry for the late reply, I was working my second job yesterday and when I got home I had a mock exam to complete which took me til bedtime. I did pop on but was incapable of putting a sentence together after attempting the mock (it didn't go to well )

Anyways! I've decided tonight I'm going to do a stocktake of everything in the kitchen cupboards and use this a starter for making a food plan for next month. I'm determined to come in under budget. Will post my first week food plan when I'm done!!