food budget of £200

vics1928

How do I do this? That's £50 pw can it be done??

What meals / lunches can be made with that

joedenise

Really need to know how many people this needs to feed. I can do this easily for 2 of us, could probably stretch to 3 quite easily.

Have a look on the Old Style forum, loads of cheap recipes on there.

Denise

ALIBOBSY

It depends on how many people its for and what kind of food they eat.

We are a family of 6 of various ages, and we are meat eaters, and we manage on between £50-£80 a week, but thats baking and cooking most meals from scratch, shopping around for the best value and reductions and having a stock cupboard. I use the discount stores (lidl, aldi, poundstretcher et al) plus two local farm shops mostly with the odd trip to asda/morrisons for yellow stickered stuff and bargains.

In summer I grow alot of our salads, herbs and other veggies which cuts the amount we spend.

I could not do it if we did a whole shop in one big supermarket and I didn't cook and bake.

Ali x

Tixy

£200 for 2 people is definitely doable, but if you have been spending more it can take a bit of adjusting to.

One suggestion is to try the drop a brand challenge, which can make a considerable saving - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping

The monthly grocery challenge is also a useful place to start reading to get some ideas - February 2014 Grocery Challenge

vics1928

It's for 2 of us yes

determined_new_ms

I find doing 2or 4 weekly shops help with sticking to a budget. There are two of us, GC includes a few bottles of wine a month (prob 3-4) and a 2ltr bottle of cider a week and I spend between £140-£180 (depending on what our joint finances are looking like). We both have breakfast, lunch & dinner each day (if we buy lunch out that comes out of our own spending money & 1 takeaway a month

[Deleted User]

It's easily doable.

Even on a 31 day month, £200 is £6-45 per day.

Fosterdog

We have a budget of £200 a month for two of us for food, we usually spend less at around £30-£40 a week.

To help stay in budget I do a weekly/fortnightly meal plan, this way we do one main supermarket trip each week (Aldi first for the main bulk of the shop then Tesco for anything we couldn't get at Aldi) we go to the butchers once a week or fortnight and get any meat needed for the meal plan and freeze things until the night before they are needed. The only time we go shopping in between is for any fresh items that won't keep and can't be frozen.

I plan my evening meals around having an extra portion for me to take to work for the next days lunch or an extra portion to freeze so we have our own ready meals in case we need them. OH prefers sandwiches for lunch but will use leftovers as the filling.

My slow cooker was a great investment and I often batch cook. Things like rubber chicken are also great, one large chicken will do four roast dinners, a big pot of soup with 4-6 servings, a large pot of curry with 4-6 servings and some for sandwiches, by the time it is used for lunches and some frozen we easily get 12-18 meals out of one chicken and around £5 worth of veg.

I cook everything from scratch, it is much cheaper than pre prepared food and tastes much nicer, we grow our own fruit and veg as much as we can and I bake quite often. I tend to do a batch of brownies, flapjacks or a tray bake once a week so we have something sweet to go with lunches.

We could save even more by dropping a brand and cutting back on some of the more extravagant foods we buy but as long as we are within budget and can afford it there's no need to.

foxgloves

Our current budget for 2 of us is £250, but if we need to cut back, we can manage on £200. The good habits which save you money are meal planning for the week ahead, writing a shopping list of the items you need & sticking to it, shopping around, using Aldi/Lidl for at least some things as well as local markets, cooking from scratch, batch cooking & freezing for future meals, replacing some meat meals with cheap healthy veggie options such as pulses, etc. Meal planning & effective shopping lists should mean you don't need to do 'top up' shops, as popping in for a pint of milk can soon turn into a basket of crisps, drinks & treats. Avoid take-always unless it_'s for a treat/special occasion as they are a big drain on a food budget. We used to have at least one a week, but now it's more like 4 a year. Instead, I cook curries, pizzas, etc, so that we don"t feel we're missing out. If you don't do this already, get creative with leftovers. For instance, if you have roast chicken for dinner, the leftovers will do fajhitas, a Chinese-style stir-fry & plenty of soup, as well as sandwiches. Leftover potatoes can be turned into mash to top a shepherd's pie, or can go into potato bread, potato scones or bubble & squeak. If you haven't organised your food planning like this in the past, it will take a little while to get used to it, but it will save you money & you will eat well.

michael1983l

I eat on £20 a month and I am a single person so 2 on £200 a month is easy peasy.

ViolaLass

michael1983l wrote: »

I eat on £20 a month and I am a single person so 2 on £200 a month is easy peasy.

70p a day?!

Agree that £200 a month for two is easy. We spend £150 and could cut to £130 easily.