Household food budget issues

VisionMan

greenwoodlad wrote: »

Hi, we have the some issues trying to keep the food bills down, and argue about the costs daily.

We eat well, good quality food etc we look at these forums and my wife says there is no way you can feed a family of 4 adults and a child on £100 a week or even £125 !!!

There are 2 adults, 2 late teenage boys and 1 child in our family . The lads work and have hard physical jobs, often out 10 hours days - they take 2 pack outs a day ! My wife estimates their packouts cost £30.00 a week at least. My wife works for a major supermarket & gets discount so she does not bulk buy she tends to shop on a daily basis as we live in the middle of nowhere.

We spend approx £150-£175 minimum a week that includes dog food toiletries etc Add a few bottles of wine and we are spending well over £200 a week / £800 a month.

We do buy savers items such as tinned kidney beans , pasta

Roast leg of lamb - leg of lamb cost £11.77 - that was 1/2 price and with wife's discount - so by the time we had the meal and a bottle of wine the meal came in at about £20 for 5 - there was a little left for pack out the next day, but no where near enough for all the packouts

Fresh fish - we are good eaters(!) we had grilled fresh fish (haddock) for 5 of us, mashed potatoes & peas.. the fish cost £19.00 for this 1 meal !!!!

When you like to eat good fresh food and eat well how do you feed a family of 5 for a fiver - my wife says a large fresh chicken is £6 - 7 ! so by the time you have bought veggies etc your hitting £10.00 + for the meal

My wife says that you can by a packet of sausages for a pound but she wont touch them as they are full of additives etc - instead she will but 2 packs for £5.00 of the decent sausages etc
She says that even the meat for a stew can be £8

We chat daily about the food bill - my wife says we cant cut food bills - she doesn't have time to pre-cook & freeze etc or we cut bills and eat c**p !

We do tend to eat a fresh meat meal every day .

At my wife's supermarket there are offers like 3 meat items for £10.00, but she says that there is no where near enough for our meal in one of those items.

Another example is bread - £1.45 a loaf - we've tried the cheaper loaves but they are not good and don't get eaten , my wife gets the best wholemeal sliced or fresh baked bread.

We have 1 takeaway a week on a friday night - this is included, I know what you are all going to say but here goes.....

your thoughts !!!

Lamb is now dearer than sirloin steak. And fish is even dearer than lamb. Expensive habits these days, sadly.

£1.45 for a loaf? Ouch. I take it thats a Warburtons or Hovis. Wrong supermarket. I buy them for £1 where I shop. But if you only buy fresh baked quality bread thats what it costs unfortunately.

Meat for a stew costs £8? How many to feed, twenty-odd? I can cook a stew with £2-£3 worth of meat for 3 adults and 1 child and thats not skimping either.

Budget sausages are garbage and I wouldn't feed them to a dog for what they contain, so I too buy expensive (Richmond) sausages for the family. BUT! Only when they are on special offer like half price. Then I bulk buy them in 3-4 packs at a time.

Spending £30 a week on two packouts is an outrageous amount of money, so what do they actually contain?

In summary, save the lamb and fish as treats and not regulars. Shop around, both Lidl and Aldi sell quality meats and fresh produce at some cracking prices. Even cheaper than your wifes half price main supermarket discounts.


Over to you OP.

arbroath_lass

VisionMan wrote: »

Budget sausages are garbage and I wouldn't feed them to a dog for what they contain, so I too buy expensive (Richmond) sausages for the family. BUT! Only when they are on special offer like half price. Then I bulk buy them in 3-4 packs at a time.

Richmond sausages (looking at the 12 skinless) contain Pork (43%),Water ,Pork Fat (8%) ,Rusk (Wheat) ,Potato Starch ,Vegetable Protein ,Less than 2%: Salt, Flavourings, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Diphosphates; Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite ,Antioxidants (E300 & E307), Colour (Cochineal)


http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=257447210


Hardly a quality sausage. The 2 for £5 are generally better.

VisionMan

arbroath_lass wrote: »

Richmond sausages (looking at the 12 skinless) contain Pork (43%),Water ,Pork Fat (8%) ,Rusk (Wheat) ,Potato Starch ,Vegetable Protein ,Less than 2%: Salt, Flavourings, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Diphosphates; Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite ,Antioxidants (E300 & E307), Colour (Cochineal)


http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=257447210


Hardly a quality sausage. The 2 for £5 are generally better.

2 for £5 sausages what? What are they, what are they made of, where do you get them and how many do you get?

catwoman73

VisionMan wrote: »

2 for £5 sausages what? What are they, what are they made of, where do you get them and how many do you get?

They mean the supermarket's finest/taste the difference/the best own brand ones. All the supermarkets do them and they're generally pretty good, as sausages go.

VisionMan is correct, Richmond sausages are towards the low quality end.

Gillyx

I buy Aldi sausages, they're 95% pork, taste gorgeous and only £1.99 for 6. We love them. The only sausages I prefer are the pork and chorizo M&S type.

getmore4less

VisionMan wrote: »

Budget sausages are garbage and I wouldn't feed them to a dog for what they contain, so I too buy expensive (Richmond) sausages for the family. BUT! Only when they are on special offer like half price. Then I bulk buy them in 3-4 packs at a time.
.

Richmond are budget brand thats why they are on 1/2price or 2-4-1 a LOT.

When water is the second biggest ingredient and the biggest(the meat) is <50% you know there is a lot of water in them.

look at this richmond 16 skinlees ( £4 853gr)
Pork (42%),Water ,Pork Fat (10%) ,Rusk (Wheat) ,Potato Starch ,Vegetable Protein ,Ingredients Less than 2%: Salt, Flavourings, Stabilisers: Diphosphates, Guar Gum; Antioxidants: E300 & E307 ,Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite, Colour: Cochineal

against the Heck 97%( £5 800gr)
97% British Pork Shoulder,Salt ,Cream Powder (from MILK) ,Spices ,Preservative (Sodium SULPHITE) ,Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid) ,Filled into Natural Pork Casings ,Allergens: See capitalised ingredients

VisionMan

getmore4less wrote: »

Richmond are budget brand thats why they are on 1/2price or 2-4-1 a LOT.

When water is the second biggest ingredient and the biggest(the meat) is <50% you know there is a lot of water in them.

look at this richmond 16 skinlees ( £4 853gr)
Pork (42%),Water ,Pork Fat (10%) ,Rusk (Wheat) ,Potato Starch ,Vegetable Protein ,Ingredients Less than 2%: Salt, Flavourings, Stabilisers: Diphosphates, Guar Gum; Antioxidants: E300 & E307 ,Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite, Colour: Cochineal

against the Heck 97%( £5 800gr)
97% British Pork Shoulder,Salt ,Cream Powder (from MILK) ,Spices ,Preservative (Sodium SULPHITE) ,Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid) ,Filled into Natural Pork Casings ,Allergens: See capitalised ingredients

Thanks for the info getmore4less. I now just have to convince my wife.

Query - if I want to ask a question about food, which board should I post it on?

arbroath_lass

VisionMan wrote: »

Thanks for the info getmore4less. I now just have to convince my wife.

Query - if I want to ask a question about food, which board should I post it on?

Probably on the "Old Style" board. If it's about shopping, cooking etc.

themull1

The manufacturers of Richmond sausages have to call them 'irish recipe' sausages, because there's not enough pork in them to call them pork sausages on the packet!!

greenwoodlad

Hi all, thanks for your valuable replies - lots of useful comments for us to take on board here.

By the way my wife's store is Morrisons. Or nearest Aldi and Lidl are 43 and 29 miles away respectively so we have only visited very occasionally as we dont get out there.

The sausages were Morrisons The Best - 2 packets of 8 i think for £5.00. Yes we can get Richmond sausages for 99p but yes full of additives etc

My sons pay decent board money and don't earn big money so we thought we would not ask them for more towards pack ups, but i agree with the idea:T