Food Shopping

[Deleted User]

Is it possible to do a weekly food shop for 1 Adult and an 11 year old for £25 a week? I am recently separated and struggling to make ends meet and seem to spend a fortune on the food shop every week. DD doesn't eat things like beans, chicken nuggets, burgers etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RAS

Let's look at the other side.

What will DD eat????????

And what do you like?

[Deleted User]

DD will eat anything but junk food. She eats all potatoes, any veg, beef, chicken, turkey, quorn and I will eat anything.

RAS

Pasta? Rice? Cheese? Eggs? Sausages? Bacon?

VfM4meplse

Mrs_Gloomy wrote: »

Is it possible to do a weekly food shop for 1 Adult and an 11 year old for £25 a week?

Yes it is (she says as an adult with low food shopping expenditure), but you need to be careful and plan meals and snacks - this budget doesn't really allow much scope for the unforeseen treat. Avoiding processed foods will help and is easily done as your DD doesn't like them.

A couple of suggestions other than looking at the supermarket bill: is your OH contributing suffiently to cover DD's subsistence? And might DD be eligible for free school meals? Both would take pressure away from you to provide.

tessie_bear

depends what you eat....if you cook food like;
mince in spag bol/sheps pie/chilli
jacket pots and toppings
quiche
h/m burgers
on toast stuff beans/cheese/tuna/spag hoops
sarnies with off cuts of ham/eggs/marmite
eggs..with chips/an omelette/on toast

if you like steak and caviar you may struggle but if you do a meal plan and look out for bargain recipes and yellow stickered bargains im sure you could do it

good luck
tessa

ps if you have a street market you can get bargain bowls for a quid..aldi super 6 are normally great value too

pps have a look at the thread on here feed yourself for £20

bilbodreams

Very good advice on pps. I ve learnt lots on this site( been a lurker for months) and I have reduced my weekly shopping by buying in bulk, the freezer is my friend :0) I separate food in portions before I put them in the freezer, i cook in bulk and freeze lots, I shop in Icelan for frozen food and the rest in Lidls, take always a shopping list based on the menu plan, i shop on my own and after a meal, things like potatoes, pasta and rice are very versatile, i have porridge for breakfast, i dont eat meat everyday ( and dont really miss it) , i make meat go further by adding lots of veggies, for instance 500 grams of mince could be use for 3 or 4 meals, also as per pp meal planning is essential, you can do it. All the best.

Butterfly_Brain

Take a look on the £20 a week thread it has some good cheap meals.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4148389

Also take a look at

http://cheap-family-recipes.org/

created by girls on this forum

kerri_gt

Stretch mince recipes by substituting some of the mince for red lentils, you can easily do a 50/50 proportion.

If you like pasta, make your own pasta sauce, cheaper and healthier than bought jars. I make mine based on this Jamie Oliver recipe but don't bother starting with tinned tomatoes, sieving etc, I just use passsta. Basics version is fine and sometimes lidl to large cartons of it on offer. Use the recipe below and then adapt as needed, add chunky veg, or some bacon (cheap cooking ends are fine if on a budget, sometimes you get some good chunks in the pack), it's a fab base to use up stuff in the fridge.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/the-quickest-tomato-sauce/

Could also be worth checking out Jack Munroes book (borrow from the library or find recipes online) for budget friendly meals for you and DD.

Wishing you all the best x

HOWMUCH

Do you have a freezer? If so gather some plastic take away boxes, friends save me theirs. Then you are ready to go. I make chilli and freeze in the plastic soup containers 600g size, I find this will give me 2 generous portions.
3 tins of everyday MrT chopped tomatoes, 1 tin of red kidney beans again everyday 30p . 250g mince beef I buy the 750g for £3. 150g mushrooms 2 large chopped onions, 1 green pepper. 3 oxo cubes 1 tspn chilli powder.
I get 8 portions out of this.
A further 250g of mince is turned into a lasagna with 1 jar of chunky veg pasta sauce from Azda dry fry mince with onion grated carrot (2) 1 red pepper 150g mushrooms. White sauce from butter,flour and milk, topped with cheese. I get 8 portions from this.
Last 250g mince is turned into a cottage pie, dry fry mince with onions grated carrot(2) add water and thicken with bistro. Top with plenty of mash potato and grated cheese. Again I get 8 portions I serve with veg which every is the cheapest it's normally carrots and cabbage.
In then buy from MrM's their 4 Cornish pasties and 4 cheese and onion you can getaway boys of each for £2.50 they're normally £1.75 each. I serve these with cheap bake beans and HM wedges and e Cornish with mushy peas from MrT's I prefer these to others so Its everyday at 24p for beans I serve 2/3 of a tin and the other third is baked beans on toast for Saturday breakfast. MrT's everyday peas are 16p
We also do MrM's cheap quiche are great for £1 I serve it warm with jacket potato and salad. The other half is frozen for another meal. We find a quarter is a good portion. I buy 2 for the month.
We also like MrM's fresh made pizza I buy the 2 for £4 10" ones, I get 4 for the month pick your toppings that are filling, we get spicy chicken, spicy pepperoni and roasted peppers and pulled beef these are served with salad.
I then look for YS foods.
Breakfast is normally porridge or toast.
Sandwiches HM or HM soup again batch cook and freeze served with YS bread I get from Azda on Sunday afternoons for 1p this our lunches.
I buy for a 4 week period at a time, I buy milk weekly 6pint bottles £1.29p at Aldee.
Look at price per 100g when shopping and do you Heron foods near you or Jack Foulton freezer shops they sometimes have bargains to be found.
Yes you can do it but you may have to look beyond the weekly budget and do it on a monthly budget. And do larger amounts and freeze which is what we call batch cooking

Money_saving_maniac

And don't forget that Aldi or Lidl are your friends. If you can shop there you will save loads. Lidl have half price weekends. Last weekend thin frying steak was on offer, £1.49 and there were 3 pieces in a pack. There are 2 of us so I bought 2 packs and bagged up 3 steak dinners in the freezer for 50p per portion. Add a few spuds and some veg and that's a good dinner. You can't say no to that.
Mince is also another good buy there, it comes in 500g packs, gets bagged up in freezer into 2 x 250g packs. If my OH wasn't such a meat fiend it would be bagged up in smaller packs and go 50/50 with lentils. For you and your daughter 500g would make the basis of 3 meals no problem, even without lentils....
Lidl's luxury muesli is more fruit by weight than anything else, it is fab and is £1.76 a pack if you want to push the boat out with a bit of luxury.

What you can't afford to do is buy rubbish like crisps and fizzy drinks. For a little treat you will have to stick to puddings eg yoghurt or ice cream, there ice cream and lollies are also a really good price.