Whats lowest amount feeding a famly?2013?

snookey

My tips. Put some money aside for when you see cheap meat. Then buy as much as you can.
Have a chest freezer for storing the bulk food.
Dont buy pkts of fruit and veg. Bag your own as its cheaper.
Buy big bags of snacks and divide into smaller bags for kids.

rachbc

£200 for 5 is very good.

At a quick glance I would say ditch fromage frais, crisps and biscuits, jellys, donuts etc even reduced or value ones. When your budget is super tight its better to spend the extra few quid on plain yogurt, some extra veg or fruit or wholegrain cereal.

shame your kids don't like porridge as thats a healthy and cheap breakfast - what about oat pancakes? Whizz the oats with eggs, milk (water at a push) and cook like scotch/ american pancakes.

Agree re oven chips - unless you can buy super cheap bags of spuds then frozen ones are as cheap and def a time saver.

I aim for £250 pm for 4 but that includes a teen boy. Meal plan last week was

Mon - Chicken in tarragon sauge, mash and veg (chicken thigh bulk from makro, cheap spuds, tarragon bought and frozen rtc, super 6 veg)
Tues - Bacon and leek risotto (cooking bacon from makro, super 6 leeks, rice rtc 50p aat aldi so got 8 bags)
Weds - Sausage, oven chips and peas (lidl 1/2 price weekend - easy meal as hubby cooks)
Thur - Spag bol (mince 1/2 price lidl weekend, loads of veg and Home Bargains pasta)
Fri - Lamb, lentil and spinach curry (400g of lamb bought as a joint on offer and deboned, diced and frozen, frozen spinach) with rice (cheap 20kg sack from Asian store) and naan (approved foods)
Sat HM Pizza - hm base, mozarella (makro bulk bought), passata, salami, salad (aldi)
Sun - Roast chicken with roast roots (ate half a large chicken saved rest for mon/ lunches, veg was aldi super 6)

Teg-Rem

we spend about £35 a week for 4 adults to make 3 meals a day. it's hard but we have no option. everything is cooked from scratch and isn't what we were used to a few years ago when hubbie had a good job, but hey, you have to get on with it, it's hard but in the long run it doesn't do you any harm, can't even see it getting better now either, no jobs around, we all will just have to adapt and stay strong like our forefathers did.

[Deleted User]

I have a budget of £60.00 per month just for me and eat fairly well on it.I spend about a third on fruit and veg and find that by shopping around and only buying whats on my shopping list as needed make a big differance I have the set amount in cash in a seperate purse and once its gone thats it until the next month.Its how I used to housekeep back in the 1960s and it does concentrate your mind on what your buying.

I bought a stash of veg the other day for £3.70 from my local g'grocers.I price checked it at the Tesco opposite and it would have cost me a good £2.90 more in there.I try to stay away as much as I can from the big supermarkets as they are there to tempt you to spend money you can't afford on things you don't need anyhow.

Aldi's is good for their super six,but I think this weeks ones are a bit overpriced.Apples are very abundant this year so to charge 89p for them is a bit too much.I will wait and see what the next S/six are when it changes later this month.I too agree that if you can get a decent sized turkey leg it will make a pretty good couple of meals.I SC it, then strip all the meat offand use the bones for stock and soup and the meat can be curried,or in pasta or a pie. Lots of meat for little outlay.I also like the 'cooking bacon' that some shops sell.My local butcher does it for 500gms for 80p and it too makes brilliant pasta or with leeks, a pie and even fast fried for sandwiches for my DGS.I usually split the packet in two and freeze so I can use half a packet at a time.Lentils are great for streeetching spag bol or sheps pie or even to thicken up soups .Soups are fantastic and use up lots of 'past its best' veg .Cabbage is great and so versatile .Even if the left over bits end up as bubble and squeek with a fried egg on top a tasty meal for very little.I keep a couple of tins of corned beef in the cupboard bought on special offer of course as corned beef hash is delicious comfort food and warms my DGS up when they drop in after swimming.Biscuits I can make myself for buttons .I only buy ginger nuts or rich tea for myself as I'm not a big biscuit eater but the DGS are :)so its always cheaper for me to have HM biscuits in the tin.I also make cakes for the boys cheap to make and fills their bottomless pits called their tummy's .sometimes afterschool I will make them pancakes as a cheap filler upper until they have their dinner at around 6.30-7 depending on what time their parents get home. I am an truly old fashioned cook and being brought up during and after rationing has made me use every bit of food I buy.There is no wasteage in my house.I even grate oranges before I eat one and save the bits for cooking with :)

westcoastscot

I think a lot depends on what shops you have available - you're doing really well Gailey to manage such a good diet on £200/month. We're £400 a month for 3 adults, but we only have access to Mr T once a month/6 weeks, and it's not a huge one - the rest of the month its local shops, combined with what's available in the garden. I make everything from scratch. I have to work hard to keep it as low as even this.