Clueless at budgeting for food, help please?

krlyr

With the pet food, I would say that supermarket food is often false economy. While the price per bag is on the cheap side, the poor quality ingredients mean you have to feed a greater volume of food - so the price per meal isn't as cheap as you think.

What I would recommend is finding a slightly better quality food, still available on a budget, by searching online or in your local petshops. Buying a 15kg sack is often cheaper than the 2kg bags that Tesco etc. will hold, and it will last a while in an airtight contain (if you really can't get through it all, e.g. your dog is a teeny toy breed, maybe find someone local to share half a bag with)

Check out the Pets section for threads that will give brand recommendations, but I would say look at brands like Skinners, Autarky, Wainwrights to name a few.
Also check out the search feature on Which Dog Food, you can search by breed, age, exercise regime and budget - you should be able to find at least a 3 star food that costs the same, if not less, than supermarket foods
http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/advanced-dog-food-search.php

I don't have cats, so can't really recommend a similar website for cat food, but one may exist. It may be worth looking at the CSJ range - they do several budget dog foods and I believe the cat food isn't too badly priced. You could drop them an email or a call to request some samples, to see if you cat likes it.

daisiegg

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Have a veggie night a couple of days a week such as macaroni cheese (you can add peppers, onions, tomatoes, chunks of bacon, chorizo, slices of pepperoni etc to it )

.

You realise it's not veggie if you add bacon, chorizo or pepperoni to it :rotfl:

Broomstick

I'm posting this as someone who's never had a cat and last had a dog thirty plus years ago ie I know nothing!

However, I wondered whether it would work mixing a bit of the cheaper animal food in with the more expensive, increasing the amount each day. If the tinned foods were kept in the fridge, would they last long enough not to have to throw anything out?

Sorry if this is a barmy idea.:D

B x

Okydoky25

Have you got a slow cooker? These are great for making cheap cuts of meat into a fantastic meal very cheaply and you can freeze leftovers. We have a left over night where we all have something I've frozen over the week even if we are eating dif things as I've only had small amounts left.

Re the yogurts. Use cheap value natural yogurt. I mash & steam fruit (look at what's on offer) it doesn't matter if it's going out of date as it's all mashed up and I freeze portions in muffin trays and take one out a day and mix with yogurt. Saves nearly £5 a week!

Try and find a few hours to batch cook a week. Bulk out food with veg and lentils. Always nice to just take a fresh meal out the freezer each night than having to cook it and saves on the washing up every night to

jalapenojojo

I find it works best for me to keep costs down by doing just 1 shop per week - and plan meals in advance. I also have 2 freezers which are full of lots of leftover cooked meat (for pies/casseroles) and reduced meat.
I find that if I pop into the shops 2/3 times per week I spend so much more. Yes the veg may be fresher but I can honestly say once it's been cooked you really can't tell. Oh, and as has been suggested go down a label. I recently bought tesco own brand sweetcorn to go on a pizza, but served some up for tea secretly and it's a winner, only 20p or slightly more for a tin.

mummygems

Other than carrots and potatoes (and salad type stuff) all my veg is frozen veg as I dont waste anything. If a recipe calls for fresh stuff then I try and buy that exact amount. I also buy the own brand/value natural yoghurt and think its lovely.

missty25

I've worked out that per week after formula, nappies and pet food have been bought that we have between £30 to £40 per week for food. My freezer is pretty full so planning a weeks worth of shopping around what's in this week. I done my shopping online and it has come to £29, I will go to the shop tomorrow for my shopping though and am going to look into perhaps doing a bigger order once a month for the animal food, nappies and baby formula online.

Normally I buy chicken breast but from now on I'm going to buy a whole bird as I could stretch this to 2 days dinners plus soup.

I have a slow cooker but the most I really do in it is soup, stew or mince so I need to search the recipes for good slow cooker recipes.

I'm hoping that after the year I will be able to get so e overtime at my work which would hopefully boost our income by anywhere from £60 to £500 per month depending on how much is available and how many people are fighting for it, lol. Also looking for another part time job as well.

Thanks everyone for the advice, it's appreciated.

missty25

mummygems wrote: »

Other than carrots and potatoes (and salad type stuff) all my veg is frozen veg as I dont waste anything. If a recipe calls for fresh stuff then I try and buy that exact amount. I also buy the own brand/value natural yoghurt and think its lovely.

Sorry if this seems a silly question, but do you buy most of your veg pre frozen or do you freeze fresh bought veg yourself? Thanks

Tillytrotter1

I just buy pre-frozen veg, some things just aren't the same as fresh though. I think your budget is really tight, I have 2 children under 2 1/2 and 2 adults and struggle to get it under £300 at the moment. The key really is to plan and stick to it and buy meat where you will get a few meals from. I'm planning to really buckle down after Christmas. The lidl nappies and wipes are brilliant BTW, wouldn't use anything else now. Good luck

CompBunny

Our budget is £30 per week for 2 adults and one dog for food, drink, toiletries, household items like detergent and bin liners, etc. Its fairly easy for us to stick to as all of our evening meals are vegetarian and my partner has meat in his lunch sandwiches 3 days a week - we are also lucky that he works 5mins from home so always comes home for lunch.

What works for us:
- Big shop once per week. Very very rarely buy anything extra midweek as this is where our money used to go down the drain with the "I'll just grab xxxx while I'm there!"
- Use your freezer to help with this. Eg we get through 2 loaves of bread per week, so buy 2 and put one in the freezer to use in the second half of the week.
- Have an "on toast" meal once per week. Beans on wholemeal toast is filling, tasty, cheap and not that bad!
- Look for cheap protein - lentils, eggs, chickpeas (tinned, because I've never used dried and stock up when they are 25p/tin), kidney beans are winners for us.
- Frozen veg helped us eliminate waste. Prefer fresh, but frozen works out more economical for us as none of it gets forgotten at the back of the fridge.
- Stock up when things are cheap/reduced if you can afford to
- Create an arsenal of super cheap recipes that your family will eat. Prepare in bulk, freeze if you have space or serve in different ways for a few days. Chickpea curry, soups, dahl are a few of ours.

Nothing groundbreaking I'm afraid, everyone elses tips are much better but just thought I'd share.

However, for dog food I've found that SKINNERS MAINTENANCE is brilliant. Its mid-range quality but cheap as it is VAT free as it is meant for working dogs whilst they are not working. £18 for 15kg. Highly recommend it. My vet ok-ed it too x