sammy_kaye's £100 a month food budgetting

sammy_kaye18

Ok so in order to get peace and quiet after being asked nicely, bugged, nagged, harassed and bullied by certain members of the forum - (you know who you are!!:p ) about how i manage to feed my little family on £100 a month. Well here it is!!!!

Now bearing in mind i am not a master chef by any means, parents never taught me to cook/bake/ anything really Im totally self taught and at 23 years of age i think im doing pretty well!!!!

Now I feed myself (i dont eat breakfast, lunch 6 times a week, tea 6 times a week and nibbles) my 3 year old (breakfast, lunch dinner and nibbles everyday) and bf (breakfast, and dinner everyday with snacks - he does take some things to work but rarely as work tend to get food in for him btu he will take a packed lunch if hes on a long run - hes a curtosy car deliverer). This is the order i have placed tonight for delivery tomorrow evening.

Below is what i buy in a normal months shop. I do have a stock cupboard with spices, stock cubes, salt, pepper, other tins, other baking bits - i have a designated box that has yeast sachets, angel delight sachets, jelly sachets etc in it. These are made up and used as desserts quite often for little one as the jellys are sugar free and the whip we sometimes make into ice lollies using a mould we brought in the spring. I have 3kg of rice in my cupboard too which im trying desperately hard to use! my freezer has lots of reduced veg, sausages, blanched and frozen veg. Also our 3 year old is dry in the day whilst hes at school - usually brings home his carton of milk and has toast as a snack in school. In the night he has a tesco value nappy from our back stash which we brought in November - we got 7 packs of value nappies (20 in a pack) which cost us little over a tenner just before christmas with my vouchers.

The house hold items i buy are

tesco 3 in 1 powder 3kg £3.22
Johnsons baby £2.00 500ml ****
Head &shoulders 250ml - £2.39 ****
Tesco Value WUL 13p x 2 - 26p
roll on (womens) 49p
roll on (mens) 52p
Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste £2.93 ****
The things with the stars i tend to shop around for between tesco, wilkinsons, boots and superdrug first to make sure there is not a better offer on elsewhere.I have about 6 months worth supply of sanitary towels squirrelled away from Tescos and wilkinsons BOGOF offers and was on the contraceptive injection for a long time so kept buying them even though i had no 'time of the month' so havent needed to buy any for ages. The same applys with bicarb fo soda and white vinegar - i saw a discontinued label on the shelf and brought the whole shelf full so this is squirrelled under my sink out of the way. All my cleaning is done with these and microfibre clothes which were brought when my OS and moneysaving mission first began.

tesco value dog mixer 4kg £1.39
tesco value dog food 2.5kg £1.22
These are mixed together in a left over big bag which we had left over. He eats dried mainly but is occassionalyl treated to a tin or two form wilkinsons if they have been dented or reduced (for example this week i gto a 8 pack fo caeser pouches reduced from nearly £4 to 10p because the box was broken so hes eating them at present with his biscuits)
All the above totals £14.42

Food Wise
tesco value bananas £1.25kg 81p
tesco value apples polybag - 86p
tesco value potatoes - 2.5kg x 2 £2.00 (we eat alot of potato's - also make our own chips too so saves a few quid buying big bags, mashed,roasted,boiled,jackets,in soup, potato pie, toppings)
tesco value onions - 2kg - 78p
tesco carrots - 1kg x 2 - £1.24
tesco value swede - 1kg 65p (again the above three handy to have for adding to soups or as portions for meals, little one and me snack on carrot sticks too)
brocolli - x2 a approx 48p each - £96p
2 x cloves of garlic - 35p each
tesco value mushrooms - 750g £1.47 (tend to bulk cook alot so the early use by date doesnt fuss me to much as i tend to cook or plana cooking day jsut after vie done my shop)
tesco unsmoked back bacon - 500g - 16 slices - £2.90 (we freeze 8 slices of it - could get the value stuff but its too salty - we use this in spag bol and bfs treat is a bacon and egg buttie on a sunday morning)
free range chicken (thanks hugh!!) approx 1.3kg - £4.80ish (stretched beyond belief - we have a roast - bf has a leg, I have a breast, ben our son is chicken phobic for some reason and wont touch the stuff so has sausages from the freezer, so im left with a leg, a breast and other bits of meat left on the carcass, so usually end up making a curry for bf, sandwiches for me, chicken and mushroom pie and some bunged in a pasta sauce before using the carcass for stock)
2 x 800g value mince - £3.30 (I divide each 800g in two so have 4 portions of 400g - these go into shepherds pie, spaghetti bolognese, chilli, and another meal - usually stovies and are bulked out with either other veg or a handful of oats)
fresh stewing steak - 0.370kg - £1.52ish - use this in casserole mainly bulked out with alot of veg,
fresh porkleg joint - £2.85 (this will be stretched in any way it can be whether it ends up sliced and in sandiwches or cutting into a form of chop or being cut up and added to a casserole style dish, stirfried whatever)
butter me up spread x 2 - 1kg - £2.96
tesco value cheese - cheddar mild - large - £4.93 (I tend to cut this in half, grate half of it and keep it in the fridge and freeze the other half)
2 x free range eggs box of 12 - £4.90 (baking, i do lots of the stuff! plus bfs egg and bacon butty, omelettes, dippy eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, boiled eggs - plus bf refuses to eat anything but free range eggs always has done so we dont mind paying the extra on them)
4 x 4ltr semi skimmed milks - £5.36 (thsi sounds weird but i keep an old 4pint milk container from the last lot of milk we have then pour in 2 pints from a new bottle and add a pint of water - so it waters it down and i get 3pints in a 4pint bottle, then the other pint left int eh newly opened bottle is used for Bens drinks he has before bed - the watered down stuff we only tend to use on cereal and in tea)
500ml natural yoghurt - 78p (my treat for myself - also used if any bananas are left before they turn to make banana bread)
muller light multi pack (2 for £3.50) 12 yoghurts (ben and bf tend to eat these so it saves buying different ones for babe)
tesco frosted flakes - 750g - £1.29
tesco rice krispies - 600g - £1.37
tesco malt wheats - 750g - £1.18
tesco cornflakes - 750g - 97p
tesco wheat biscuits - 48 - £1.82
tesco hot oat cereal - 750g - £1.32 (we tend to eat a fair bit of cereal can you tell? bf likes to have a bowl before bed, ben usually has cereal or toast for breakfast and I'll have the occassional bowl in the evening but dont eat it for breakfast)
3 x tesco porridge oats - 1kg each - £2.07 ( these are awesome - i use them to bulk out meals, and make twinks hobnobs, not to mention obviously makign porridge and hoping to this month blitz them up in new food processor to see if i can make my own sort of ready brek - meaning the fine stuff as bf doesnt like the oaty texture - yet loves the hobnobs which ill never understand)
tesco value beans x 6 - £1.20
tesco value spaghetti x 6 - 90p
tesco value chopped tomatoes - 23p each x 6 - £1.38(these three seem self explanitory)
3 x tesco value quills - 500g - 57p
1 spaghetti = 500g - 23p
tesco value ketchup x 2 570g each - 50p (sometimes mix this with chopped tomatoes if ive run out of tomato puree find thats pretty good. Hopign this year once ive managed to grow my own tomatoes that ill be able to make my own additive free version. Also Ben seems to liek putting ketchup in with pasta and then putting grated cheese on top - my mil introduced him to it and he seems to enjoy it)
tesco value jam - 907g - £1.17 (again hoping to make this myself next year when i raid a bramble bush patch which no one seems to have found bar me :T )
1 x value lemon curds 411g each - 35p (same as above - wanting to try adn do homemade stuff this year too to save a few quid)
tesco vegetable oil - 3ltr - £2.21
sugar - 2kg parcel - £1.53 (helps with the baking and other general bits - tryign my hardest to cut it out of tea and get it off cereals etc so find its lasting ages longer than it was)
3 x 1.5kg plain value flour - 1.5kg each - £1.08
4 x 1.5kg self raising flour - £1.92
6 x 1.5kg strong white bread flour - £2.88
3 x tesco yeast - 48g each - £1.50 (like i said lots of baking - whether its bread, cakes, muffins, rolls, braids, etc etc i use alot fo flour and yeast - we dont eat alot of rolls but bf lieks them with icing on top and the bread never gets wasted - if it does go slightly stale its turned into french toast - am i the only person in the world who calls it eggy bread? - or made into breadcrumbs which bulk out the soups or other things)
3x 10 value fish fingers - £1.47 (ben enjoys them and its somethign different for us)

2 x orange juices - 2 for £2.50
2 x blackcurrant - 2 for £2.50
80 tesco value tea bags - 32p (self explanitory really)
tesco sultanas 1kg - £1.12 (these are eaten as a snack by my son Benji, put into fruit braids and rolls to make scones, put on top of cereals, put on top of yoghurt and a few bunged in a curry)
so after all my shopping im left with about 25p of my budget left - give or take a few pence. It might not look alot to most but i can reassure you that lot of baking/cooking/batch cooking/bulking out etc goes on behind this computer screen and i make home made bread nearly every day. There is lots of soup which we have in the freezer/fridge that me and ben enjoy with a nice fresh roll - nothing tastier i dont think. Also for those of you who like a treat like we do - we do still have biscuits,cakes, shortbread, and other nice nibbles but they are homemade and so i know what my little ones eating. I also make my own pastry for the pies too and am hoping to get to grips with making pizza dough soon so bf can enjoy these every so often. Also i make my own garlic butter too so he gets a totally fresh garlic bread with homemade bread which him and ben seem to eat in minutes!

Fingers crossed this year I plan to start my own vegetable garden which will save us a bit, and like mentioned above I have found a very secluded secret hedgerow of bramble bushes which went unpicked last year judging by how much fruit was on them (yes they are away form the road too) so i plan to go and harvest these a fair bit this summer whilst little ones in school and with him. Also im hoping peas and beans will take well in the garden and climb the fence i have surrounding it, along with some tomatoes, carrots and swedes in tubs.

So anyway after this huge thread i hope your not all bored senseless and hope you guys are all happy with what ive offered up to you all. Lots of people have asked how i do it on £100 a month but it really is possible if you set your mind to it and your not fussy about what you eat - im lucky that my son loves fruit and vegetables and that we arent a meat and two veg a day family. Plus as many of you know, its not always a case of "oh i couldnt do that", its a case of i have to.

Skint_Catt

Sammy Kaye that is an inspiration. What I wouldn't give to be able to do that! I hope that within 6 months I'll be able to feed me and OH on £100 a month - I should be able to do it now, but I have to wean OH off a few things first

I will be printing you shopping off and saving it to look at regularly!

Thanks

Catt xx

Downsizing__for_sanity

Very well done! You are truly inspiring to us all. Is there an icon for a round of applause?

I've gone back to university as a mature student, so not earning and also have less time than before to cook. I'm off to make a list of meals for this week - we've definitely fallen off the MSE wagon in recent weeks due to a financial windfall, but, strangely, it's not as satisfying if I'm not controlling the budget properly. Anyway, windfall is being put away sensibly so we will be back to tightening our belts tomorrow.

Thanks for your motivation and hope you allow yourself to have a few treats once in a while - you deserve it!

DFS

thriftlady_2

:T :T :T
Wow Sammykaye, I'm so impressed, not least because it must have taken you ages to type all that out :eek: . Aside from that though, your list will be really useful to folks wondering how to get started on reducing their food and household budget. Fantastic detail and well done for all the homebaking -do your menfolk know how lucky they are to have you looking after them ?

Churchmouse

What thriftlady said:T :T :T Well done you:D

[Deleted User]

:T Thanks for sharing that! I am impressed! You've inspired me... theres only me & DH so if you budget £100 a month with a little one as well, then so can we! Thanks very much!

sammy_kaye18

thanks guys

I got lots of people asking how i manage and like my last line says i do it because i have to.

I do get the odd ribbing from bf (in a nice way) when im stood coated head to toe in flour kneading bread on the side board but he knows hes getting the benefits from it and nothing makes my little man happier than a day of baking with mummy, the other bonus is i know my familys eating well and healthily.

and yes to whoever commented on the time to type it - thinkit was thrifty again - apologys if it wasnt - you have no idea how much i was praying it went through and didnt get lost in cyber space which has happened quite frequently to me before! can you imagine having to retype all that!:eek:

susank

Very well done - you have done really well very quickly

bellaquidsin

Well done Sammy, you obviously work very hard, I've done similar myself over the years and I know it doesn't happen without effort. I know you have a part time job too. Your family should be very proud of you.

Bella.

charleybabes

wow ..im so inspired.. you do really well and i love the fact that eating healthy hasnt gone amiss either which it can do when your'e on a budget cant it
do you make your own bread or do you have a bread maker??
im loving the idea of making bread myself but dont know were to start !!!

csarina

Well done Sammy, I know how difficult it is OH and I have managed on £100 a month for a long time now.

Keep up the good work and keep in touch.