How do people feed families on £40 a week?

Em11

I would also like help with this question. My boyfriend and I have recently moved in together and our first two shops were roughly £85 each!!

This does include extra things that we wont need to get all the time like salt and pepper, cleaning stuff, bin liners etc.

We shopped in Sainsburys both times as I much prefer the quality to Tesco or Asda. And to be honest I have never found either of them cheaper.

We thought we might try getting our fruit and veg from the local market, and we don't get many 'branded' extras like chocolate biscuits or crisps.

If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears! (Or eyes in this case!)

Thank you.

SandA

When we first moved in we went through all the main supermarkets online as at the time they were offering £10 first order, not sure if that still applies?

Do you meal plan or just pick up as you go?

quintwins

SandA wrote: »

When we first moved in we went through all the main supermarkets online as at the time they were offering £10 first order, not sure if that still applies?

Do you meal plan or just pick up as you go?

Oh yeah the supermarkets is a good trick if you get the cheapest delivery slow,you don't need loads of cleaning stuff either, and bleach is bleach so we use value, same goes from cream cleaner, and own brand antibracterial but we do use proper fairy as i feel anything cheaper is false economy. If your just starting out try adding a spice a week to build up a supply, lidls spices are 80p compared to double that in tesco.

Lidl's facebook pages has a £5 off £35 voucher if you have access to a printed you can only use it between the 28th and the 30th tho.

I'm a fan of loose meal planning so we have a rough idea and everything goes in the freezer then and gets picked depending on what we fancy or how much spare time there is, aslong as all the fresh fruit veg and milk gets used most things can roll into the next week.

SandA

I agree I have bought tescos own washing up liquid before and you have to use double the amount to wash your pots. Not tried any other cleaning stuff own brand though, will give it a try

quintwins

SandA wrote: »

I agree I have bought tescos own washing up liquid before and you have to use double the amount to wash your pots. Not tried any other cleaning stuff own brand though, will give it a try

Value bleach is very thin but it does the same job, i use cream cleaner in my loo and bleach after which is the only real place you need thick bleach) every where else is diluted with water anyway, loads of here swear but star drops and vinegar for every thing but i do like having some bleach and antibacterial so i know my house is clean. Value/basic/own brand dishwasher tablets are fine but i don't use the washing powder because i'm alergic to it, and i have a child with bad exzema but i bulk buy mine when makro does half price or bogof (i use the pink surf liquid i love the smell) a years worth costs me £20 and i don't bother with fabric softener and havent for years now because i use a good laundry liquid and dry my clothes quickly they don't go hard and smell lovely. One more thing you only need half the recommended amount of laundry cleaner (powder or liquid) unless your clothes are really really dirty, half sorts out mud and tom sauce here no problem

jeanmd

I'm really surprised that no-one has posted this link again. It's a brilliant site and even has a shopping list.

http://cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html

Fire_Fox

Em11 wrote: »

I would also like help with this question. My boyfriend and I have recently moved in together and our first two shops were roughly £85 each!!

This does include extra things that we wont need to get all the time like salt and pepper, cleaning stuff, bin liners etc.

We shopped in Sainsburys both times as I much prefer the quality to Tesco or Asda. And to be honest I have never found either of them cheaper.

We thought we might try getting our fruit and veg from the local market, and we don't get many 'branded' extras like chocolate biscuits or crisps.

If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears! (Or eyes in this case!)

Thank you.

If it has an ingredients list of more than a couple of items, it's arguably processed, the vast majority of us buy far more than we think. Go through your shopping lists and split down into categories, for example
- plain meat, fish and seafood
- eggs and plain dairy
- fruit and vegetables
- whole starchy carbs (brown, few additives)
- herbs and spices, plain cooking ingredients
- anything processed/ junky/ added sugar/ added fat (may include processed meats, sugary yoghurts, jar sauces, many breakfast cereals, some baked goods, white/ refined carbs)
- toiletries and cleaning stuff.

When you have done that concentrate on the areas that are the most spendy, very often it's the meat and the processed stuff. Look at the prices per kilo of everything you buy, compare Sainsbury, Tesco and Asda prices online from the comfort of your sofa!

Many people seem to be under the impression that fruit and veg is expensive but there are loads of options available for around £1 a kilo, so 40p per day for the recommended minimum of five servings (£3 a week each). The average Brit only eats three servings a day anyway.

For health anything with added sugar/ added fat or is obviously junky or snacky should only be maximum 10% of daily calories, which is one small snack per person per day. I rarely see new nutrition clients sticking to that, even those who claim to eat healthily, but it's an easy area to save money on.

Instead of processed wheat breakfast cereals, consider having porridge or making your own muesli mix for breakfast; large tub of plain yoghurt plus frozen berries or dried fruit instead of individual flavoured yoghurts. In general the fewer ingredients the cheaper and healthier. Instead of bread and white potatoes have more sweet potatoes, other root veggies, beans, lentils (all count towards your five a day), brown rice or barley - once cooked these often work out cheaper per kilo than bread.

If you are spending on meat: buy whole fresh chickens or frozen leg portions instead of breasts, canned oily fish (mackerel or pilchards) instead of pricey salmon and cod, organ meats such as chicken livers, frozen half fat mince that you can stretch out with lentils and cheap veg. Cut down on your portion sizes to the government recommendations, cut back on processed meats like sausages, bacon, ham, chicken kievs, battered fish or cooked deli cuts or look at the actual meat content and additives. Often you are paying for water, salt and sugar.

HTH.

dlusman

SandA wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your answers, I will definitely be taking some of your advice on board.

We went in before, and apparently it smelt and he is under the impression that it must be rubbish food because of the prices so wouldn't walk around. He is a major food snob but doesn't contribute to the shopping bill.

I am going to go to aldi / lidl and see if he notices any difference in the food!

The Aldi "Super 6" is pretty good for next couple of weeks :
Onions 1kg
Parsnips 600g
Carrots 1kg
brocolli 350g
new potatos 750g
Leeks

All at 49p ( ends 6th April )

[Deleted User]

Nada666 wrote: »

A large chicken does not cost £5. 8 or £9 is more realstic.

I bought in my local Sainsbobs last week a just reduced chicken for my DD's freezerIt was fresh and weighed 2.89 kilos.She has a family of six and it will feed all of them for at least two meals plus sarnies It cost £3.85 and she was very happy to chuck it in her freezer until needed over the holiday weekend.She certainly wouldn't pay £9.00 for a chicken unless it was a super dooper M&S one
I live alone and can eat fairly well on a budget of £60.00 per month.about a third goes on fresh fruit and veg usually.True I don't need to make a Sunday lunch as I always go to my DDs for that but I usually take the pudding made by me with me as my contribution.Last week my local greengrocers had a bag of reduced apples for 60p this I turned into a large apple pie which we had as pudding last sunday with some custard
Menu planning is the way to go and on no account take you OH with you if he is sniffy about what shops you shop in You are the one who cooks it so make it ,dish it up and if he turns his nose up then tell him to go buy it himself.As for the little ones food ,invest in a Mouli-grater and the baby will eat what you eat.I never bought jarred food for my two babies after they started weaning and getting on to ordinary food they ate what we did albeit mushed up.A baby will eat a boiled egg and solidier and enjoy every bit.Grated cheese and carrot mixed together is another nice baby food.My eldest DD adored as a treat semolina pudding which I made for her and would cost pennies, and kept very well in the fridge
Babies will grow up and be fine if you don't make their food seem different or special.a bit of toast hardened off in a slow oven will bring their teeth through quicker than rusks and at half the cost.
I make all my own cakes and when I have time biscuits.If the oven is on then it gets filled up with stuff.I bake for my Dd as well as my 7 grandchildren.I can knock up a box of biscuits for very little outlay in around 20 minutes.

meer53

Nada666 wrote: »

A large chicken does not cost £5. 8 or £9 is more realstic.

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