Reasonable amount for weekly food?

suki1964

What are the frozen lunches ??

I have to agree about the chicken. We buy a larger then needed chicken because a, saves cooking time and b, a chicken can be stretched to serve at least 9 adult meals, 12 if you are really canny


For 3 adults here, one a builder so an outside physical job, mum who eats like a Trojan and myself who doesn't like a piled plate and only eats one meal a day usually, we average at £35 a week. However we have hens so get eggs, we grow some veg and I like close to a poultry processing plant so pay very little for poultry


£100 a week could be cut easily to £70. Just down grading on the brands for example. Tomato sauce jars can be replaced really easily to a tin of 25p toms, a squidge of tomato puree, an onion and a few herbs

Curry sauces are easy as well. Just need the spices which are cheap enough to buy at an ethnic shop. The ones I use the most are cumin, coriander, turmeric, garram masala, chilli and paprika. With those , tinned tomatoes, onions, and garlic and ginger, you have the means to make a vast amount of curries.


Curry is also great to make a non meat meal interesting


Choosing cheaper meats, use thighs instead of breast, do a pot roast with a cheaper piece of brisket and loads of root veg, change over to cooking bacon packs, check price per kilo on cheese, even the special offer ones can be a pound or two more per kilo then one that's not. Check price per kilo/litre on everything to be honest. The calculator on my phone is used a lot when shopping

Meal plan as best you can. Mine not written in stone, it depends on what's already in the freezer, what's ys and what is good value for money. I then meal plan around that, buying veg that can multi task, so half a cabbage required on Sunday with the roast, the other half will be bubble and squeak with eggs later on in the week ( healthier then chips )

suki1964

amalis wrote: »

I don't use leftover, because I usually don't have any leftovers.. somehow. If there are, my mum eats it for lunch the next day (she lives with us and due to health reasons cant cook).
Yes,I don't buy the whole chicken and all the meals I mentioned which includes chicken , these are separate items (drumsticks for the roast, fillet for the stir fry).
I am now thinking that the whole chicken would actually last me for a couple of days. This is the first thing I will change in my shopping :-)
It takes a bout 2 hour in the oven though, no? so that would be Sunday cooking only.

Yep around two hours depending on size so turn that time into batch cook time, cook two - esp when they are on 3 for £10

Whilst the oven is on, pre cook your jacket spuds and freeze, make a few crumbles, do as much as you can whilst you have to be indoors cooking. My husband is a star and does all my veg prepping and we actually have a nice time working together

SailorSam

amalis wrote: »

It takes a bout 2 hour in the oven though, no? so that would be Sunday cooking only.

Don't cook things in the oven unless you have to. You're paying a lot to heat an empty space. Use a slowcooker, and if you haven't got one, go out and buy one. That'll save you a lot of money. It may take longer but you can fill it before going to bed, or before going out for the day, and your meal will be waiting for you when you get home.

Kanichen

We are a family of 3 (2 adults and one 3 year old who can out eat most adults!) and we do one big shop in Lidl every 2-3 weeks of £100, then we top up inbetween on milk, bread, fresh veg if we run out etc. We also get a few bits from Costco ie trays of tinned tomatoes/baked beans. So not sure what we spend but it is certainly nowhere even close to £400 a month. £175 at a max I would guess?

So I agree with your husband, £100 a week is alot, but its easy to see how you are doing it. You've fallen into the 'convenience' trap so many of us hit. So easily done, especially with toddlers at home.

So the good news is, yes - absolutely you can save money, and I promise you can do it without becoming a slave to the kitchen. But it is going to feel like more work at the start until you get used to it, so it is probably worth picking one thing to change, do that for a week or 2, then make the next change. Otherwise you'll get overwhelmed and just dial dominos!

We used to buy the Dolmio jars. Until we realised quite how much sugar was in one - about 10 teaspoons :eek: So we decided it couldn't be that hard to make our own, and its not. I promise it takes no more time. Buy a tin of tomatoes (the values ones are fine, no need for a fancy brand, its tomatoes at the end of the day its not like the ingredients vary!). Fry off some diced onion and brown your mince, add the tin of tomatoes and add some herbs and spices (oregano, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, a little paprika and chilli if you like those), a squeeze of lemon juice (from a bottle is fine), a squeeze of tomato puree and half a teaspoon of sugar (you may need a little more to start while you adjust from the jars). Job done, there is your bolognese. I also do things like grate in a whole courgette - makes the meal go further and tops up the veg count, but that's something we only started fairly recently. My husband doesn't like courgette on its own but is perfectly happy eating it like this. Also instead of buying those garlic baguettes I keep a tube of garlic puree in the cupboard. I squeeze some into a bowl and mix with butter. Throw some bread in the toaster (ideally the ends of the loaf) and spread my garlic butter on it. Ta da, garlic toast for pennies.

As for the toddler, what sort of things does he eat? I'll confess, my toddler is a very good eater so I don't have the fussy element you have to deal with. The easiest thing I find is making her freezer meals. So if I make a bolognese, I put a portion for her in the freezer. So when she needs dinner I ask her what she wants and pull it out of the freezer and defrost it in the microwave. I do this with everything, casserole, shepherds pie, macaroni cheese, even just pots of mashed potato... I also buy sausages/fishcakes/cauliflower grills and portion them up and freeze, and I keep frozen bags of mixed veg in. So if I'm feeling lazy I can have sausage, mash and veg on her plate with 0 chopping or any real effort on my part and feel that she's still eating a good dinner. Sweet potato wedges are also a favourite. Chop a sweet potato into wedge shapes (don't peel it), chuck in a bowl and coat with a teaspoon of oil, throw into a hot oven for circa 20 mins. They don't go particularly crispy but still very tasty.

Another winner here is fish parcels - seen on Eat well for less. I slice sweet potato really thin, and lay it on a sheet of grease proof paper, top with a handful of frozen veg, top with a frozen salmon fillet. Drizzle a little oil or butter on top and maybe a small amount of seasoning but that's optional (salt & pepper, or parsley or something like that). Wrap the greaseproof paper up to make a parcel and ding in the microwave for a max of 5 mins until the fish is cooked through. Serve either in the paper or decant to the plate (my LO found eating it in the paper a pain but some kids like the thought of eating it from its parcel). This is one of her favourites and is so low effort she could almost make it herself. Low on washing up too!

What is your LO fussy with? I find toddler meals really bland (the once or twice I've tried them my toddler wouldn't eat them and I couldn't say I blamed her!) so you might need to go easy on flavours at home while you are introducing new things. What sort of Ella's kitchen stuff are you using?

If you can find some of the Eat Well for Less series on youtube/iplayer then they might be worth a look, they are aimed at families like yours.

I understand with the working full time - my husband and I both work full time and my hours are condensed into 4 days with a 7am start. We do negate some of this by having a cleaner which definitely helps - maybe that might help as incentive if you could direct some of the money you save on food to a cleaner or ironing lady or something that gives you a little time back? The way we share the load is we both get madam ready for bed - ie teeth cleaned in PJs etc. Then one stays and reads bedtime stories and gets her into bed, while the other one cooks dinner. We alternate each day, so I did dinner last night and tonight is Hubby's turn.

Good luck!

amalis

Wow, I didn't even expect to get so many practical advices! really grateful.
Eat well for less is a revelation for me, will be exploring the web.
The problem with my toddler is that I never know what will he fancy eating. He is 2 and in the stubborn stage, so sometimes I spend lots of time cooking for him (children sized Bolognese or pies) and he will refuse it flatly. So I always keep things I know he will eat (like bisquits or Ellas' kitchen fruit purees, yoghurts, ready kids meals..). And sometimes he refuses even those, so it all goes to the bin...

Kanichen

One thing to bear in mind now that he's 2 is that he is growing at a significantly slower rate than he was before, so his food needs are reduced. So if he's refusing stuff he would normally eat then chances are, he's simply not hungry. My daughter has days where she eats us out of house and home, and days where she just grazes. I work on the basis as long as she has had access to healthy, nutritious food I have done my bit. If shes not hungry, she won't eat.

Do you ask him what he wants? That helps reduce the waste, but only works if you have options on hand of course. At that age I'd have said something like 'would you like X or Y for dinner?'. Now I just ask what she wants and if we don't have it (or shes asking for macaroni cheese yet again :rotfl:) I explain that she can't have that but she can have X or Y. I also tailor what I am offering. If shes been only picking at meals all day I won't offer a heavy casserole for dinner, I'd offer soup and bread to dip, or cheese on toast, something easy and light.

Honestly, I would knock the biscuits etc on the head and make them treats. If I was only peckish I might refuse dinner if I knew biscuits were an option If my LO refuses dinner and then asks for a snack later she gets offered fruit (normally a banana or apple) or if I think shes genuinely hungry, a piece of toast. Or I might whip up a bowl of instant cous cous - something very low maintenance so if it goes in the bin the world doesn't end. Alternatively if I think she was just being a fusspot she gets told she should have eaten her dinner and she has to wait until breakfast (but shes 3 so that little bit older and that's a very rare scenario).

Pollycat

Kanichen wrote: »

I also buy sausages/fishcakes/cauliflower grills and portion them up and freeze, and I keep frozen bags of mixed veg in. So if I'm feeling lazy I can have sausage, mash and veg on her plate with 0 chopping or any real effort on my part and feel that she's still eating a good dinner.
Good luck!

As well as buying larger packs of mince and portioning them (as mentioned in my earlier post), when I buy sausages - I always buy a high meat content 90% minimum - I buy 2 packs of 6 and open freeze them so I can use 2 each. That way 2 packs of sausages do us 3 meals instead of 2.

I also do a sausage & bean casserole.
In my slow cooker, I put in onions, peppers, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes and beans of your choice.
I use baked beans, red kidney beans, butter beans and whatever else takes my fancy.
I grill the sausages, then cut into 4 pieces.
Add the sausage in & serve when hot.
I make this in bulk & freeze it, serve it with mash.

suki1964

Get a cheap stick blender (£5) , save your empty yoghurt pots and make
Your own fruit purees, esp taking advantage of reduced fruit or even bags of frozen. They can be stored in the freezer

meg72

There is lots of advice and help on this thread, feed a family for £20
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4148389

TheThriftyScrumpers

Hi
I would also recommend getting a slow cooker. I use mine to make the usual curry's, chilli's and stews but also tagine's, soups and joints of meat. It's brilliant for whole chickens too. I wipe the inside with a little oil (to stop it sticking) and then just chuck the whole chicken in and leave all day. The meat just falls off the bone so you get every last bit. For a gammon joint you just pop it in and put either apple juice or water half way up the joint and turn it a couple of times during the cooking time. Oh and pulled pork is another favourite. I put all the ingredients in raw. Some people sear the meat and veg first but I never do so it really is quick and convenient.

As well as adding grated veg like carrot or courgette to mince to make it stretch you can also add a couple of handfuls of oats or lentils.

My DS was incredibly fussy when he was little so I do sympathise. School dinners have helped no end and he will now eat lots of different things. I remember someone telling me to gauge what he ate over a whole week which made me worry less if he didn't eat a lot for a day or two if he made up for it afterwards.

Another thing that works for me is to shop online. I spend far less as I meal plan and can check the cupboards rather than buying things "just in case I have run out". I have an App on my phone for the supermarket I use and I use that as my shopping list during the week adding things as I run out. I find this really saves me time too.

Good Luck! Hope that helps.