What's a reasonable....

suki1964

Lidl sell gluten free bread at half that cost. They also sell gluten free sausages and a whole host of other gluten free products a lot cheaper then the free from range

If you haven't shopped in lidl then give it a whirl. I shop there now almost exlusively and my shopping bill for three adults is rarely more then £40 a week ( that's an average, some weeks I don't need to buy meat as I've stocked up another week )

Toiletries are a lot cheaper in Savers, as are toilet rolls, tissues and cleaning products. When it comes to cleaning products, do you buy loads? Most cleaning can be done with flash, fairy or bleach

Try a local butchers if you have one for meat. All ours sell meat packs which are excellent value. Look at your usual meals and see what changes you can make. For example if I'm making curry or Chinese or a pie, I use chicken thighs rather then fillet. More flavour for at least a third less cost ( I skin and bone the thighs myself rather then pay the extra for having it done for me and the bones make stock). Also look at the things you do eat and see if you are stuck in a rut of buying the same old same old. The what are you making for dinner thread gave me inspiration to change my habits and I'm more adventurous , even going as far as having veggie meals

I also shop in the reduced section. Esp for veg and fish. Huge savings can be made and veg can be frozen to be used another day if not needed that day- or turned into soup

Never shop without a list and just don't bother walking down the aisles that don't have the items that are on your list. If I do go to tesco I go to the baking section, the veg, dairy, soap powder aisle - I'm then not tempted to put those items that I don't need but just fancy in my trolley

Shopping around, shopping as I need, and scratch cooking have been the ways I've cut back on spending.

Oh and we still have treats, just it tend to bake them now . Seriously we still manage to find money for ice cream and crisps and chocolate Just as we have moved to eating healthier we don't want them so often so a little spend goes a long way

I'm glad to hear you are coming to the end of a tough few months. Hopefully you will get inspiration and support to get through this final hurdle and you can move on towards Christmas with a healthier bank balance and more of an idea on how to make every pound you spend work

Butterfly_Brain

I second the asking your doctor for a prescription for bread, cereals, pizza bases, pasta and flour.

I shop in Aldi, the butchers, the market, local greengrocer and farm shop.

I make a lot of HM cleaning stuff mainly it is a good old basic one made from half washing up liquid and half white vinegar, it lasts for ages, stubborn stains are seen off with a bit of bicarbonate of soda sprinkled on top, allow to sit for 20mins then scrub off and rinse, no harsh chemicals in any of it.

I only use half of the recommended amount for soap-powder, shampoo, conditioner , diswasher powder/washing up liquid etc. Aldi dishwasher tablets came in ahead of the major brand, so well worth a try.

I feed five adults on a very tight budget, (one of whom is vegetarian) for around forty pounds a week, We eat veggie two or three times a week, which helps to keep costs low, we also grow a lot of our own fruit and veg.
Aldi super six has been very useful especially when it is stuff that can be frozen, Bulk buy it when it is on offer and freeze it, this way it can stretch the cheap deals.

I currently have ten bags of mushrooms from super six a month ago and 4 pots of HM mushroom soup, 4 pots HM celery soup and four pots of vegetable soup, frozen peppers, runner beans etc.

I avoid branded stuff unless it is on offer. Sweets and crisps ar rare so are fizzy drinks or squashes. They always have been even when they were very small. They were treats not everyday things.

I make my own Bread,cakes and biscuits and everything is cooked from scratch.

What sort of meals do you usually eat? Maybe we could help with cheap meal plans x

mandragora_2

Re gluten-free prescription items, obviously great if the kids can profit from it, but also, do the sums for yourself, too, to see if it's worth your while getting an annual prepayment prescription for yourself, too - 12 months costs £104 (spread over ten monthly payments): would you spend this much just for yourself on the 'free from' items you mentioned?

Link that explains it is here:
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/PPC.aspx

Sally_A

Choose the meat first, then work out what can go with it, it's cheaper than planning meals then buying the ingredients to suit. Asda often do 3 for £10. I highly recommend their large bacon joints, which should last you for 2 days plus lunches (a small bacon joint does 3 of us for a main meal and a pasta bake - £3.50 a joint I think).

Slice it thinly, the more plate covered, the more meat the family think they have ;-)

wildesavings

So many helpful comments! Thank you Unfortunately no official diagnosis of coeliac disease as consultant (and myself) reluctant to go as far as biopsy on my daughter and it would mean them eating gluten for 6-12 weeks beforehand and therefore being utterly miserable, ill, sick and not growing and at the time I wasn't remotely bothered by prescription food. Eating Gluten free was miraculous for my youngest and then went on to solve a list of things myself and middle DD had going on too. We'd both been told we had servere IBS for years. Now that we've been GF for over a year if we do eat it by accident it isnt pretty

Unfortunately no Lidl here and our local Aldi has no GF range as I went and looked today.... but boy its cheap! Will do a 'sample' shop next week and see how that fairs. Our local butchers is huge but posh so although the meat is beautiful its far far more expensive than the shops. I normally only buy there at Christmas, Easter and birthdays... might need to drive into the town and find some bargains there. We all like 'good' food - who doesn't. But I feel we're probably (def) a bit spoilt. My husband would normally declare himself malnourished and neglected if I served a meal without meat but he is totally supportive of my trying to get everything to stretch over the next few weeks/months and then to the point where we have a big buffer against this ever happening again so I may try out some veggy ideas on him.

On the plus side Grandparents have given us a 'little' gift for some holiday fun for the children which is so kind and as its 'their money' I don't feel bad about spending it on them which in turn alleviates some of the pressure on my budget. So I've parcelled them up a picnic, drinks and OH has taken them out to the pier to go on the rides. We get free train travel so no petrol costs involved (must use that more!) Tickets for pier preordered from home and 33% cheaper than on the door They're not allowed sugary stuff during the week so no icecreams and sweets to pay for etc etc (mean mummy lol) and on last text they sound like they're having a blast. Now off to scrub the house from top to bottom.... anyone else find that getting their finances in order makes them want to get everything in order?

DomRavioli

So you're not coeliac then - if you haven't been tested then there's no proof tbh; and there's a myriad of other very similar conditions which can mimic coeliac - I can't go into detail on here

OP, you need to put your children's health before your own "morals"; if it isn't coeliac, they will know straight away and be able to treat it accordingly, but you must have the tests done, because there are some seriously nasty things which mimic coeliac and can end up needing 8 hour operations and life long care, maybe even a colostomy bag if you're lucky and they catch it before you get necrosis and sepsis. I've seen it happen with my own family and believe me, watching your sister having to go through that is a lot worse than a biopsy and 12 weeks of feeling crap.

Such a shame when parents do that; so many things could be prevented but they aren't.

WantToBeSE

For myself, my teenager, my 11 yr old and my cat, we spend £100 a week. I am aiming to get it down to about £70, but not until after the school holidays.

whiteguineapig

if anyone does the booths 3 for £10 for meat or fish, don't forget to scan your booths card as i think you get another £1 back (plus free coffee!)

suki1964

wildesavings wrote: »

So many helpful comments! Thank you Unfortunately no official diagnosis of coeliac disease as consultant (and myself) reluctant to go as far as biopsy on my daughter and it would mean them eating gluten for 6-12 weeks beforehand and therefore being utterly miserable, ill, sick and not growing and at the time I wasn't remotely bothered by prescription food. Eating Gluten free was miraculous for my youngest and then went on to solve a list of things myself and middle DD had going on too. We'd both been told we had servere IBS for years. Now that we've been GF for over a year if we do eat it by accident it isnt pretty

Unfortunately no Lidl here and our local Aldi has no GF range as I went and looked today.... but boy its cheap! Will do a 'sample' shop next week and see how that fairs. Our local butchers is huge but posh so although the meat is beautiful its far far more expensive than the shops. I normally only buy there at Christmas, Easter and birthdays... might need to drive into the town and find some bargains there. We all like 'good' food - who doesn't. But I feel we're probably (def) a bit spoilt. My husband would normally declare himself malnourished and neglected if I served a meal without meat but he is totally supportive of my trying to get everything to stretch over the next few weeks/months and then to the point where we have a big buffer against this ever happening again so I may try out some veggy ideas on him.

On the plus side Grandparents have given us a 'little' gift for some holiday fun for the children which is so kind and as its 'their money' I don't feel bad about spending it on them which in turn alleviates some of the pressure on my budget. So I've parcelled them up a picnic, drinks and OH has taken them out to the pier to go on the rides. We get free train travel so no petrol costs involved (must use that more!) Tickets for pier preordered from home and 33% cheaper than on the door They're not allowed sugary stuff during the week so no icecreams and sweets to pay for etc etc (mean mummy lol) and on last text they sound like they're having a blast. Now off to scrub the house from top to bottom.... anyone else find that getting their finances in order makes them want to get everything in order?

Ha, my husband came from a family where steak was an every day menu item, he's learned that liver and bacon is even scrummier

He's also taken to vegetarian meals, as I don't tell him is vegetarian, it's curry or risotto or as tonight it's cheese and onion quiche- 3 eggs and 4oz of cheese will feed three of us and give him a slice for lunch tomorrow. Obviously you don't do pastry but a crust less quiche or frittata is the same principle

Good food doesn't need to be expensive food, it's learning how to make cheaper cuts flavoursome and interesting. We eat a lot of curry and Chinese dishes, both because they are flavoursome, can use very little meat and often cheap as chips to make once you have the basic spices in

We could eat chops and steak every night but tbh it's boring and if bought from a supermarket usually tasteless I also enjoy the challenge of putting a meal on the table that hasn't used a jar or packet. It's time consuming till you get the hang of it but rewarding when you get cleaned plates and "make that again" comments

bargainhunterss

Sorry if anyone has already mentioned it, but I find Aldi and Lidl are great for meat/dairy/veg bargains. Also tins and jars are good and cheap from their too. Not sure on their Coeliac ranges though..sorry! (Although I would have thought that they would have something?)