How do people feed families on £40 a week?

tessie_bear

dinotrain i hope you showed him the door and you are on your feet now...what a g$t

ALIBOBSY

SandA wrote: »

I tried to make my own sauce but to be honest it tasted disgusting.

I added a good quality tinned tomatoes, beef stock cube, garlic clove, peppers, onion and slow cooked in my slow cooker for around 6 hours, and although it did taste bolognaisey, it was just missing something. I found that buying jars just end up being cheaper but I then have the issue of buying other food for the LO since he can't eat jar food because of the salt.

My issue is taking my OH with me I think, I go to pick up value range stuff and he throws a strop in the middle of the store. I just entered next weeks shopping on Asda groceries and I have managed to get it too £53 including £7.99 formula and kitchen towels, is that fairly good? I opted for more of Asda's range instead of brands. I am going to get myself to Aldi or Lidl and see what I can do there. I suppose those shops just have a taboo and I'm not sure why since my mother used to buy there crisps and chocolate bars and I always thought they were nice.

I have heard there fruit and veg is very nice too, and the best around claims my mother so I will go there. Can anyone vouch for there meat and staple foods? I guess I am worried that since the meat is so cheap the welfare must be poor, can anyone inform me correctly about this? am I just led to believe meat should be that expensive because of Tesco's prices? I have noticed there meat has gone up significantly. I used to get 500g of chicken breast for £4 but I can never seem to find it at that price now.

Thanks

The jars of pasta sauce will have a fair bit of salt in them and usually sugar. The sauce you made appears to have no herbs. When I make mine I add thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaf, plus pepper. I grow my own herbs, but dried are good too and pretty cheap-Lidl do those little jars for not alot. I also taste to see how acid or sweet the tomatos are-this varies tin to tin, jar to jar or carton to carton. I usually add wine vinegar and/or a teaspoon of sugar to adjust the balance of flavours. The other thing is if you do your sauce in a pan or pressure cooker it cooks down and concentrates. In a slow cooker this cooking down/thickening doesn't seem to happen so you need less liquid from the start. I would also add a squirt of tomato puree and some chopped veg-carrots and celery and whatever is available in our garden.

I have worked at Asda and have friends who have or do work in Aldi and Tesco and I can tell you now Tesco no way have better quality than either of the others, certainly Tesco's meat quality is pretty poor even for the best ranges.

Do you have any good local butchers or as in my case a local farm butchers. I can get a large locally produced FR chicken for around £6, amazing well hung locally produced high welfare beef (can visit the cows in the field if you like) and High welfare locally produced pork, bacon and sausages. I can't recall all the prices off the top off my head as we tend to buy in bulk and stock up the freezer, but last week I got 5lb in weight of best steak mince-their own, beautifully lean and tasty and NOTHING any of the big stores come close for £12.99 and 5lb in weight of FR chunky chicken breasts for £13.99. These last ages even with 6 of us. We also have a local farm shop for veggies, cheese etc. 25kg of local maris piper have gone up this year due to issues with the weather, but still are around the £6 mark.

I do use Aldi and Lidl and find their products to be the equivalent or better than the big stores "finest" ranges or brand name stuff and if I didn't have the farm stores I would use their meat as well.

I use these boards to look for good bargains in Mr T and Mr A etc al as well as the yellow sticker stuff, but could NEVER afford to go in any one shop and do a whole weekly shop, especially in Mr T.

There are 6 of us and we can live on around £40-£50 a week, and less in summer when the garden starts producing, BUT I have the time to garden and shop around as I don't work full time and what I do is from home.

Ali x

ash28

There are 3 of us -2 adults and an 11 year old. I shop every 2 weeks....have a good store cupboard and have bits left in the fridge, like chorizo, carrots, ham....this is my shopping list from last weekend...I will have to buy milk and more bread.

The cost was £59.90 for 2 weeks....and there is no cleaning stuff in there...I only buy it when I need it...same with loo rolls etc...so not every time I shop. Sometimes I spend a bit more and sometimes a bit less.
cat litter
baked beans
coffee
butter x 2
baking marg
beef mince (dog)
lean steak mince x 2
lean diced beef x 2
tuna in brine x2
whole chicken
chicken breast
chicken thighs x 2
mayonnaise
tinned toms
sugar
gammon joint
passata
sweet pointed peppers
mixed peppers
family pack mushrooms
large cauli
large cabbage
red seedless grapes
cucumber
vine tomatoes
frozen petit pois
leeks
spring onions
1kg bananas
6 oranges
pineapple
Swede
green beans
2l oil
jaffa cakes
custard creams
tin potatoes
salad potatoes
pack 2 naans
2 loaves bread
blueberries
low fat natural yoghurt x 2

Breakfasts consist of either toast, smoothies made from bananas, blueberries and natural yoghurt, scrambled eggs on toast, fruit salad and natural yoghurt...

Lunches are normally left overs from the night before if they aren't being frozen, beans on toast, tuna sandwiches, chicken sandwiches or salad, egg and tomato sandwiches....

Dinners have been or will be:
Spanish chicken with a tin of potatoes added . made with chicken thighs (rest for lunch with a bit of bread)
home made large cornish pasities (made 5 and have frozen 2),
spag bol with some frozen for a lasagne next week
chicken curry and naan, (made with chicken breast, peppers onion, mushroom, green beans.
roast chicken dinner, sandwiches for lunch.
gammon, roast pots, cauli, petit pois
gammon, salad potatoes and salad,
soup made from gammon stock and carrots, swede, leeks, yellow split peas, (will do lunch the next day)
chicken stir fry, chicken breast, spring onions, shredded cabbage, carrots, noodles, mushrooms
chicken casserole, chicken thighs, onion, mushroom, carrots, swede, potatoes
beef casserole, beef, onion, mushroom, carrots, potatoes
Chilli and rice or home made pitta.
and one day will probably be a bit of a pot luck day could be corned beef hash...or will buy some fresh fish.

ianlawn

Im gonna try to spend very little and eat through all the food i currently have, I live alone and gonna try to mainly keep to foods under about 50p for 1kg such as
baked beans 14p tesco express
Pasta, Potatoes, cans of spaghetti, cans of spaghetti bolagnaise, rice pudding, peas, rice, curry sauce, cornflakes, bread, jam

and 1kg sausages for £1

Anyone got any other really cheap things, would especially like to know anything in aldi as dont know any prices in there

flea72

ianlawn wrote: »

Im gonna try to spend very little and eat through all the food i currently have, I live alone and gonna try to mainly keep to foods under about 50p for 1kg such as
baked beans 14p tesco express
Pasta, Potatoes, cans of spaghetti, cans of spaghetti bolagnaise, rice pudding, peas, rice, curry sauce, cornflakes, bread, jam

and 1kg sausages for £1

Anyone got any other really cheap things, would especially like to know anything in aldi as dont know any prices in there

That diet is going to be way over daily salt intake, so i wouldnt advise it. Its also quite high in carbs/sugar, which also arent good for the body. Where is your protein, calcium and vitamins comin from?

Aldi have a 'super 6' fruit and veg offer every week (69p) you would be better off buying these to base your meals around. Aldi sell cheap meat, but i dont think they even do £1kg sausages, what meat content are you getting for that? However aldis finest sausages are £1.99, compared to sainsbobs £3. Tins of beans are 23p but the ratio of bean-sauce is more comparable with heinz than blue stripey. Same with tinned spaghetti. I would say everything in aldi is cheaper than the other supermarkets, but the difference is getting smaller. Whereas a few years ago i could get most stuff half the price of sainsbobs, its now only a few pence per item. They have also started stocking alot of branded products and doing away with own brand so the cheaper alternatives are getting less

Overall though when i shop at aldi i can get a full trolley for about £70. At other supermarkets im nearer the £100

ianlawn

As said i have lots in cupboards and freezer so everything is taken care of.

I would say value brands are much cheaper than aldi, Sainsburys do 80 fair trade teabags for 27p for example. Dry Spaghetti is 19p for 500g, I would expect aldi to be more and isnt much difference between all brands of spaghetti

Though granted you can argue about the quality of value brands compared to aldi

ALIBOBSY

We found the Tesco value teabags to be pretty yuck unless you like hot water, but the Asda cheapy ones-simular price are actually quite good, OK you have to leave them to brew for a bit longer, but they actually taste like tea. Both Lidl and Aldi do good teas for a bit more money. But the quality is like the branded stuff-this weekend Lidl has their knightbridge gold ones at 69p for 80.

Think we had a newspaper coupon for a box of free teabags from one of them last year-worth watching for the coupons in the papers for both A and L.

I like Aldi dried pasta and the everyday essentials range at 29p for a 500gms bag is a good price. Also the tinned tuna seems to always be on a cheaper price than the big stores. The washing up liquid-Magnum has won plenty of "which" awards and beats fairy so is well worth swapping to.

TBH the OP wants to show her OH all the "which" awards Aldi have to show the discounters aren't passing off "cheap food".

Good Luck
Ali x

OrkneyStar

meer53 wrote: »

Wow :eek:

Where are you shopping ? I can get 3 for a tenner at Tesco or 2 for 8 quid at Asda. I also like Aldi fresh chickens, medium ones are about £3.50

Perhaps some people are referring to chickens which are actually treated a bit better? I just cannot bring myself to buy cheap chickens, which have suffered, despite being on a budget!!!

paulineb_2

ianlawn wrote: »

As said i have lots in cupboards and freezer so everything is taken care of.

I would say value brands are much cheaper than aldi, Sainsburys do 80 fair trade teabags for 27p for example. Dry Spaghetti is 19p for 500g, I would expect aldi to be more and isnt much difference between all brands of spaghetti

Though granted you can argue about the quality of value brands compared to aldi

Aldi's food is good quality, Id much prefer that over value brands.
And that doesnt mean I never buy value brands, I do. But as someone else said, they do a super 6 every 2 weeks and items of fruit and veg are between 49p and 69p.

Aldi does have its own value range as well, I think its called essentials. They do pasta dishes cheaply, the fresh pasta, Im sure I saw similar in Tesco the other week for about £1.50 a pack, in aldi its around 70p a pack, stuff like spinach and ricotta filled pasta.

I buy quite a lot of stuff from approved foods, but I top up in Aldi more than Tesco these days.

Their alcohol has also won awards, they do decent wine and a very similar lager to stella (st etienne), much cheaper.

jay1181

Me my wife and 3 kids all 1-6 years old spend about in a 4 week month £180 pounds which works out about £45 a week. All out cupboards are always full as we live in the middle of nowhere. It can be done if you plan it out. We have homemade dishes 6 days a week and one takeout a week if were out on business ect.

We eat steak pie ect mice cakes,pasta etc. It can be done. We have the money to spend more on food ect but as a child i was brought up on very little and even now that i am glad that i have money in my pocket i still revert back to what i learnt as a child not to waste a thing and if possible home make/bake as much as possible. Now i have passed that on to my wife and hope to pass it on to my children too in time

We naturally just try and sit down once a week and make a dinner planner we use my supermarket etc as they do try and deliver to us asda/tesco etc to see who is the cheapest and go from there.
As i said it can be done on £40 a week but its not easy far from it but when your used to it it comes as second nature to you.