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OS Meals for 8 - what is a reasonable spend?

Hi


I am hoping for a bit of help - I am a long term lurker. I cook for 2 DParents, DH, our 3 DC (12, 11, 10) and a stray DN (20). And me. So 8 most meals - 5 adults and 3 children. DPs have very healthy appetites and DN is constantly hungry, as are the kids. My dilemma is how I keep food bills to a reasonable level and also prepare healthy food in a reasonable time frame. I don't have endless time - 2 of the children have health needs which I have to take care of (and am happy to, of course), plus there is homework to supervise, housework to do and all care needs for DPs to sort out and I work. DH works very long hours. I try to produce healthy home cooked food, but time is an issue and food doesn't seem to last long in the fridge! Also, it is very difficult to come up with dishes that everyone will eat - DPs like very plain 'traditional' food, my kids are used to quite 'modern/foreign' food (lasagne, curries, chilli etc.), DN was brought up on junk food and is incredibly fussy. I am getting better at finding things all will eat though.


So, what is a reasonable weekly spend for 8 (my grocery budget also covers cleaning stuff/loo rolls/kitchen rolls/toiletries)? Any ideas for dishes that are cheapish, quick(ish) to prepare, feed 8 and appeal to a wide range of ages and tastes?
Our bills feel very high atm and really need to be brought down fast. (150-200 a week :eek: on a bad week.) Our income is being squeezed from all angles, so being able to save here is really important. Currently, DH and I are the only ones able to contribute to the shopping although when DN starts working, he will have to contribute. I meal plan (although not everyone in the house seems to buy in to this) and try to shop only for what we need - others have different ideas about what is necessary, though. Any suggestions welcome!


Thank you for your help
MMSM
«13

Comments

  • Gigervamp
    Gigervamp Posts: 6,583 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Why can't the parents help out with the food costs? After all, if you weren't making them food, they'd have to buy their own.

    As they don't like "foreign" food, something you could do when using mince is fry it off with onion, take out their portions, then add spices/herbs etc to make lasagne, chilli, bolognese. Also, the mince can be bulked up with lentils (good for protein) and veggies.

    Most people like casseroles and we'll soon be having the weather for it with autumn coming. Casseroles can also be bulked out with lots of veggies.

    Making bread at home works out cheaper than shop bought.

    Your "stray" isn't a member of the household, so should be greatful for what he gets! "This is what's for dinner, if you don't want it, go without."
  • Lizling
    Lizling Posts: 882 Forumite
    I actually think £19 to £25 per person per week on food, toiletries etc is quite reasonable! Is that for all 3 meals every day? I'd think that for that money, you're probably already using most of the tips usually given on the OS board about stretching things out with lentils, making soups etc and you do already meal plan.

    Would buying catering-sized packs of things help? You are feeding so many!

    Can the parents and nephew really not contribute anything at all? Couldn't everyone else help with the cooking sometimes, too?

    I also think that when you're doing all the cooking and the paying, they should be happy to eat what they're given (other than catering for health needs, of course.) Well done for putting your foot down about extras.
    Saving for deposit: Finished! :j
    House buying: Finished!
    Next task: Lots and lots of DIY
  • Bread and potatoes are the OS staples for feeding hungry offspring. My father and his 2 brothers were brought up on bread and gravy - this was passed on to my mother when they married, and even today I don't feel I've had a proper Sunday dinner if I don't finish it off with bread and gravy.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • maman
    maman Posts: 29,353 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'd echo others in asking why the parents aren't contributing to their food costs.


    Your bill sounds pretty average for 8 adults and as the children aren't that young that's really what you're catering for. There is room for lowering it but not if you try to cook 3 or four choices at each meal.


    I think you need a few house rules to stop food disappearing from the fridge. If you want to provide snacks for between meals then you need to make it absolutely clear what these are so that nobody touches ingredients you've got earmarked.


    I'd go for basics that most people will eat. Things like sausage and mash or fish (fingers?) and chips or cottage pies or really simple stuff like ham, egg, chips and beans. I make HM burgers but I'm not sure they're any cheaper than buying them. If you think of the sort of dishes that are on pub menus that's the type of thing I'm thinking of. Maybe not the healthiest but I think you need to cut yourself some slack until you get some more money/help.


    For lunches I assume you don't have to feed everyone a hot meal. Parents could have HM soups with bread or a sandwich, depends on how much they can do for themselves.


    Where do you shop? Like many people I've switched to doing my main shop at Aldi and it's a big saving on other SMs.
  • maman
    maman Posts: 29,353 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Bread and potatoes are the OS staples for feeding hungry offspring. My father and his 2 brothers were brought up on bread and gravy - this was passed on to my mother when they married, and even today I don't feel I've had a proper Sunday dinner if I don't finish it off with bread and gravy.


    That's something my nana used to do. I think it was a throwboack to when times had been harder in the 30s.


    I was often invited round to their house for Sunday lunch and delighted in finishing off with a slice of bread in the gravy. Happy memories!
  • Do you do one weekly shop or do you go to the shops every day?
    Aldi is the place to go for good quality cheap food and use your local butcher, market, greengrocer and use farmfoods they have some really good deals to save money.

    I feed 5 including a vegetarian and one fussy eater (DD's BF who doesn't have a job who was pushed out of his home by his father.........don't ask) on a very tight budget.

    I will try and work a meal plan out for you based on what we eat but double the quantities.
    Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones that let in the light
    C.R.A.P R.O.L.L.Z. Member #35 Butterfly Brain + OH - Foraging Fixers
    Not Buying it 2015!
  • Bread and potatoes are the OS staples for feeding hungry offspring. My father and his 2 brothers were brought up on bread and gravy - this was passed on to my mother when they married, and even today I don't feel I've had a proper Sunday dinner if I don't finish it off with bread and gravy.

    We do this in my house as well and I always cook three different sorts of veggies and have small portions of meat and do yorkshire puddings with every roast so that everyone is full.

    My DH also loves bread soaked in a mug of bovril

    My DH said to me yesterday he misses the soup and pudding nights that we always have in the Autumn and Winter :rotfl::rotfl:I told him not to worry that it is not far away.

    Basically I make a huge pot of HM soup served with slices of HM bread, followed by a pudding such as magic chocolate pudding, a good old fashioned rice pudding, peach sponge and custard, apple sponge and custard, crumble, fruit pie etc
    Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones that let in the light
    C.R.A.P R.O.L.L.Z. Member #35 Butterfly Brain + OH - Foraging Fixers
    Not Buying it 2015!
  • I'm feeding between 6-10 of us at any given time; usually all adults but we do have 2 12-y-o-s in the house right now. And my food, cleaning & toiletries bill isn't far short of yours, currently averaging about £150 p.w. though I know I could get it down to £120 or below with a bit of effort. However that would take more time than I can currently spare. I have a veggie under the roof, who is remarkably cheap to feed, as fortunately she's not vegan & will eat eggs; we have a small flock of chickens so these hardly cost anything, for us, and eggs are the default option for whoever doesn't like whatever I happen to be serving. I am NOT going down the route of preparing separate dishes for fusspots any longer, though they're welcome to cook their own, as long as they wash up after themselves & tell me if we're running out of anything. Yours are that bit younger, but quite old enough to be learning how to cook, which is an essential skill best learnt at home. And I might even be a bit tough with the parents; they should certainly be contributing, or at least helping where possible, and prepared to try new things; you have quite enough on your plate already & are trying to do your best by all of them. They should extend the same courtesy to you.

    I too meal-plan, though flexibly, around whatever is cheapest at our local market, and always go down at about closing time with my trolley to hoover up the 50p leftover fruit & veg that they just want to get something for. Just £8.50 bought me an entire trolley-full last week & has kept 8 of us in fruit & veg all week, much of it locally-produced & very fresh. I'm self-employed & deliberately arrange my schedule to be free when the market is on; when I was working for other people I made it clear that that day was off-limits, as to buy our food in at supermarket prices would have been ruinous. And probably quite boring, too.

    Aldi & Lidl are well worth visiting for non-perishables; I'm always amused by the cut-glass accents in our local branches. People with real money don't hesitate to seek out genuine good value; that's how they hang onto it! Many of them will have first come across the continental grocers whilst serving abroad in the Armed Forces, and don't see anything "cheap" about them, just somewhere where they can get good food at sensible prices.

    Also - don't miss out on free food! The hedgerows are groaning with blackberries this year; when I lived in London I used to go & pick them down beside the Tube line. Blackberries are only the start; there are all sorts of excellent goodies to be had out there once you start foraging, and it's another vital skill for kids to learn whilst enjoying a stroll in your company. (Though mine refuse to join in with my urban foraging, which consists of knocking on people's doors & asking politely when I can see they're not using their garden produce. They are usually delighted to have it picked & taken away, and even more delighted with a jar of the resulting jam or chutney; I usually get asked to come again next year!) Preserving is something I will make the time for somehow; it's more worthwhile than many other uses of my time, though not always quantifiable financially. But the taste of free elderflower champagne at Christmas, or porridge with warm & spicy apple butter on a chilly January morning, is what it's all about...

    Stir-fries are a good, quick & easy meal which needn't cost much if you can get the veg cheaply. If you have a bread maker, pizza dough is quick to make & the kids can do their own toppings & grate the cheese for you. Baked potatos are a great standby & are often served with leftover casseroles or pasta sauces as fillings round here; I'll bake twice as many as we need, keep the extras and serve them up as Refritas (re-fried potatos) with something different the next day. Re-baked potatoes are quick & easy, too; slice 'em open, scoop out the cooked spud, mash it & mix with things like scrambled egg & grated cheese, with maybe a sprinkle of chopped chives (keep a pot growing on the windowsill) scoop the filling back into the skin, then reheat in the oven & serve with baked beans.

    May I suggest looking carefully at your grocery receipts & working out what's costing the most? I know when I first did this, I was horrified by how much I was spending on breakfast cereals & lunchbox treats - though lunch boxes are not much of an issue now, for me. I cut down to just having the basic cereals, and hardly buy them at all now; pancakes & porridge are my staple breakfasts now as I can make either, very cheaply, whilst doing other things. Both can be made up the night before & stored in the fridge overnight (a big larder fridge is a huge help) and IMHO taste better that way.

    But above all - hold your head high. You're doing brilliantly already & there's only one of you. If your family are expecting more of you, they can all help, one way or another; no-one is too old or infirm or too young to peel a potato, even in a bowl on their lap. And everyone, even those with autistic tendencies like one or two of mine, can try something new every now & then.
    Angie - GC Feb 25: £308.75/£500: 2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 0/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)
  • Another thought re meal planning - rather than producing food that everyone likes at every mealtime, plan the week so everyone gets something they like at some point. The rest of the time they can just put up with it (unless it would actually make them ill). So - have a curry night, a pie and peas night, a family roast, and so on.

    They can't have their favourite every night of the week!!
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • Mum fed a family of 7 on what would work out as the equivalent of £40 a week taking inflation of food prices into account. Mon-Fri breakfast was toast or cornflakes or weetabix (value versions), lunch was sandwiches-either marmite, jam or penut butter, a piece of hm cake and a piece of fruit and some cucumber or tomato. Dinner was potatoes, carrots and peas/sweetcorn with a vegetarian dish such as carrot quiche(made with milk not cream), something done with TVP mince, baked bean stew etc. friday nights was hm pizza and chips. pudding was either a sponge pudding with sauce/custard, apple crumble or tinned fruit with icecream. we also got 2 biscuits a day from the weekday tin-rich tea/digestives.
    Weekends breakfast was cocoa pops or sugar puffs or museli. lunch was bread and cheese and pickles, dinner was potatoes, carrots and peas/sweetcorn with meat-sausages/fishfingers/mince casserole/roast on sundays, dessert as weekdays. weekend biscuits were bourbons/chocolate digestives/custard creams.

    We drank milk and water and tea. Fizzy drinks were only at birthdays. We had one box of fruit juice a week at sunday lunch.

    It was tough , but doable. we had ducks so didn't have to buy eggs, they lay 4-6 a day.
    Credit card respend 2551.58 (15/02/17)
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