How long would this last you? And How?

ChasingButterflies

valk_scot wrote: »

What's wrong with something like stewed apple with a bit of honey or yoghurt mashed in?.

Sorry to crash in

OP doesn't say how old her youngest is but I am assuming that if food needs to be pureed then under 9 months?

Honey should not be given to babies under 12 months see more info here http://tna.europarchive.org/20130513091226/http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2010/jun/honey

Sorry again just a heads up...

theoretica

If you are washing up by making a bowl/sink of soapy water you could probably save on the washing up liquid by putting a squirt directly on the sponge.

Avacados seem very pricy at the moment.

Spendless

If you find that your veg/salad is going off before you've used it, put a layer of kitchen roll in the salad tray first. I've been doing this for years and the produce lasts ages. I also wipe any veg that comes out of bags that feel 'wet' (have moisture on them) before putting away.

I used to go through loads of kitchen roll then I started buying the thicker brands when on offer combined with using microfibre cloths for a load of spills. With 3 young children you must get a fair bit of clothing that no longer fits and isn't in a good enough state to be passed on, cut them up and use them as cloths/rags.

I also buy (brand name)wash up liquid when on offer and have some 'in stock'. January is quite a good month to find offers on on this.

I too thought you were veggie from your shopping list, missing the clue about the packed ham. Making a meal plan using the food you already have in your cupboard is the way to go. I agree that you'll find cooking a joint or a whole chicken and using that meat for sandwiches cheaper, though I've found gammon joints the quality depends on where you've bought it. I live in a large market town, one stall sells lovely ones, once when they'd sold out I bought further along and it was so horrible and tasteless I threw it out.:o

GwylimT

We are a family of two adults, a four year old and an almost two year old, this is our typical weekly food consumption, we don't tend to do one weekly shop.

Meat (bought from butcher every month or so and frozen), 1 lb of beef mince, 1 lb of stewing steak, two pork chops, two chicken breasts, two large gammon steaks, 1/2 lb of bacon.
Fish, bought every six or so weeks from the fish monger, buy the offer on at the time.
Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, cabbage)
Potatoes, sometimes normal sometimes sweet
Fruit (bananas, apples, oranges and sometimes a fruit on offer)
Salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radish)
Brown rice (we buy the large sacks, they last around 6 months)
Pasta (we buy gluten free, but I'll look at normal prices)
Soya yoghurt
Porridge oats
Tinned tomatoes
Tomato passata
Ginger paste
Dried herbs when needed
Noodles when needed
Meat/vegetable stock
Bread/wraps/pitta/naan
Coconut milk
Soya milk x 4
Mayo
Free range eggs
Biscuits
Cheese
Honey
Frozen veg
Mushrooms
Soya spread
Weekly treat, we always buy something naughty as a treat to eat on Sunday after lunch.

We have a take away every four weeks on a Friday.


Our food shopping works out at around £60 a week at the moment, our meat is £25 a pack but it lasts 4-5 weeks, our fish is £10 and that will last us a month.

We do plan our meals, that includes school/work lunches as well, so we tend to just buy what we need that week, unless a store cupboard item is on a very good offer, such as tinned tomatoes, rice etc. Obviously that is just an average, when we need a new bag of rice the amount that week shoots up.

FR_262

Gwylim- mine's pretty much like yours, but I buy flour to make Sunday Lunch Pies, cakes etc.

In my family are my 2 teenage sons and me. I remove every last scrap of meat off the chicken. This includes those things which look like kidneys (very tasty but I only like them warm, when cold they go to the dog).

I sort the meat into two piles - one for us and one for the cats and dog (ie the bits that might have a bit of gristle on them).

Cut all the veg, yourshires, stuffing etc up into bitesized pieces.

Line a tinfoil pie dish with pastry, put in all the chopped up bits, blob some gray on, give it a pastry lid, put 3 cuts in the top to let out stream and you're done.

I've got one of those sealer things where you put the food in a plastic bag and it sucks the air out so you can freeze your sealed food - reduces freezer burn.

gayleygoo

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

baby wipes - never pay more than £1 for a packet. I used cut up facecloths and towels just wet with warm water.
rich tea biscuits, chocolate biscuits x 2 packs
kitchen towel, toilet roll, rubber gloves - stock up when these are on offer. I use old towels and reusable clothes for anything that isn't greasy - they wash well!
crackers
quiche - make your own, cheaper and tastier!
yeast
baby fruit pots (baby wont eat real fruit), baby biscuits
washing up green scourers, cleaning fluid, bin bags, cloths, washing up liquid - these all last me at least a couple of months. Rip green scourers in half so you get twice as many!
eggs
ham x 3 packs
jelly
plums, grapes, raisins, apples, bananas
sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, baby potatoes and normal poatoes!! Try a local veg shop or market - often you can get big bags of potatoes that contain an assortment of sizes, I get bakers and baby spuds all out of the same bag!
brocolli, avocados, onions, carrots, celery, peppers, squash, turnip, cauliflower
cereal
individual apple juice cartons and orange juice cartons - it's fraction of the price to buy bigger cartons and decant into bottles you've saved. (much less rubbish produced too)
milk, cheese
gnocchi x2 packs
6 tins tinned tomatoes, passata, chick peas
lentils
honey
2 tins tuna
crisps
bacon
yogurt
chewing gum

Spent £80 and will probably buy more milk and fruit before next wed.

What are your thoughts please?

As others have said you need to separate the food from the household stuff so you can get a better picture of what you're spending on food. Never buy full-price cleaning products, they're always on offer somewhere Will that make all your dinners for the week, besides the extra bread and milk? Do you have a meal plan to use up all the vegetables? If you don't already make your own babyfood or give your baby family dinners, it's a good idea to start now (assuming baby is over 6months), it is much healthier for your baby and cheaper for you

For or family of four our food budget is £50-£60 per week, which includes OH's Carte-Noir coffee, meat most days, packed lunches, and several blocks of cheese and butter a week. and I spend less than £10/month on cleaning supplies and washing powder etc. I don't understand why people use throwaway paper products for cleaning up stuff that isn't really dirty or greasy - the likes of juice or food etc. I buy kitchen roll only for when cooking a fry or chips, or cleaning mouse poo off the floor or whatever. OH gets told off when he tries to use if for anything else, and directed to the sink cupboard to get an old raggy cloth for cleaning!

skogar

Another vote for meal planning. I was amazed how much difference this made. Make plan for the week (trying to use things you have already in the freezer, fridge etc so things get used up). Make list of what you need to buy. Now the tricky bit - go shopping and ONLY buy what is on the list. Much better at knowing what to do than actually doing this. :rotfl:

The other trick is only buying reduced for quick sale / things on offer that you actually use / will definately get used up and are immensely good value.

We usually have a couple of meals a week which are HM ready meals out the freezer. These tend to get substituted if needed with things that need using up, leftovers or something on reduced for quick sale and then they just stay in the freezer for next week.

Do you manage to get through all your veg before it goes off? You can always use veg that needs using up to make soup or if you don't have enough freeze it for when you do. I freeze mine in takeaway containers and then take it to work for a cheap and yummy lunch.

Also on the ham front. I cooked a ham hock in the slow cooker yesterday. Half the meat was used for ham in creamy mustard sauce with rice and veg, the other half is in the freezer for a pasta sauce (there's only 2 of us). The stock made 7 batches of lentil soup (1 pk lentils 2 carrots, an onion and a few sticks of cellery). But you could use the ham instead of the packets of sanwich ham. The ham hock was only £2 from the market and its much nicer than sliced ham.

Good luck.

Willowpop

skogar wrote: »

Half the meat was used for ham in creamy mustard sauce with rice and veg,
Good luck.

Skogar, do you have the recipe for this please? sounds delicious. :T

Ladyluck1

Cutting down out meat intake, portion sizes and having some veggie days has really helped us.
Also making cheap veggie soups which taste lovely. Using a whole chicken, making stock out of the carcass etc.
Meal planning and shopping at Aldi/Lidl and also picking up some reduced bits for the freezer.
I also use my slow cooker a LOT!

Ladyluck1

I also buy baby wipes from amazon, usually around £6 for 12-14 packs of pampers/huggies