sammy_kaye's £100 a month food budgetting

OrkneyStar

hilstep2000 wrote: »

I've got £2 left from last week which gives me £27 this week! Hw can I splurge?!

Extra eggs and flour or some nice lemons for pancake day ?

zarazara

JackieO wrote: »

whilst decorating this week I found an old shopping lined book from 1970 in which I listed some of my shopping

sugar 1s.8d for 2lb (8p)
spring onions 1/- a bunch (5p)
Leg of Lamb 17/6d (86p) This was my weekly joint and woulld last from Sunday until at least wed/thursday
cucumber 2/- (10p)
1.lb butter 2/3d(11p)
5lb potatoes 2/6 (13p)
It sounds really cheap but my housekeeping for my OH, myself and two small children was £8.00 per week plus 10/- (50p) for gas and 7/- (35p)for electric (we had two meters in those days as we lived in a one bedroomed flat. Our only form of heating was a gas fire and we had to share the toilet with two other families, and had no bath so the kids and I would walk to my sis-in-laws once a week for a 'proper' bath instead of a washdown. So much for the 'good old days '

in todays money
35p = £4.20
50p = £6
86p = £10
5p = 60p
http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/

you can check out the prices here.
The £8 housekeeping is approx £100 a week now.

[Deleted User]

I remember we had a fruit bowl on the sideboard that used to hold 3/4 oranges 3/4 apples and a few bananas.We had two veg along with meat and potatos (usually greens and carrots)That was the extent of our fruit in 1970. Five a day would have been probably considered a bit gluttenous to be honest.my little DDs had their veg and fruit was a treat .
In the summer we would go out to the outskirts of Dartford heath to pick blackberries (free of course) and if we saw any (fallers) from an apple tree they were rescued and taken home to be made into apples and custard or a pie.My children didn't have mountains of various flavoured crisps as I thought they were a waste of money Snacks were carrot sticks or celery which they both liked. A Sunday afternoon outing was often to a pick-you-own when possible.
HM ice lollies were also a treat for them. If I did buy any chocolate it was always a Mars bar which went into the fridge and when cold was sliced up thinly between them.I had grown up during rationing so sweets were always something of an occasion for me as a little girl.My two DDs are now 43 & 45 and they still slice up a cold Mars bar as a treat when indoors . My grandchildren do it as well if they are at my house .They think its great and never complain as I tell them this is how Mum had her sweeties as a child.
I often wonder about this 'nannylike 5-a-day' rule.I daresay it seems like a good idea but its not hard and fast as my two children didn't have 5-a-day and are perfectly healthy individuals

claire1234

ive just come across this thread,
very interesting thank you sammy_kaye for posting!

it would be interesting to see the actual meals out of this shop,
im trying to get in the swing of meal planning n i dont waste anything. there is 2 of us.

i did a bulk shop from tesco came to £120
very pleased with everything i bought but things like the potatoes, onions, bread we ran out of stright away,

i try to aim for £30 - £50 weekly spend (to include most things)
i go to town once a month to shops like home bargains, £land, b&m to stock up on cheaper stuff,

very good thread, thank you

candygirl

Allegra wrote: »

I dunno, but it IS still possible to feed a family for £100 pm :

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

Thanks for that link, have been looking at the site, and am v impressed with all the veggie recipes:D:D

candygirl

JackieO wrote: »

I remember we had a fruit bowl on the sideboard that used to hold 3/4 oranges 3/4 apples and a few bananas.We had two veg along with meat and potatos (usually greens and carrots)That was the extent of our fruit in 1970. Five a day would have been probably considered a bit gluttenous to be honest.my little DDs had their veg and fruit was a treat .
In the summer we would go out to the outskirts of Dartford heath to pick blackberries (free of course) and if we saw any (fallers) from an apple tree they were rescued and taken home to be made into apples and custard or a pie.My children didn't have mountains of various flavoured crisps as I thought they were a waste of money Snacks were carrot sticks or celery which they both liked. A Sunday afternoon outing was often to a pick-you-own when possible.
HM ice lollies were also a treat for them. If I did buy any chocolate it was always a Mars bar which went into the fridge and when cold was sliced up thinly between them.I had grown up during rationing so sweets were always something of an occasion for me as a little girl.My two DDs are now 43 & 45 and they still slice up a cold Mars bar as a treat when indoors . My grandchildren do it as well if they are at my house .They think its great and never complain as I tell them this is how Mum had her sweeties as a child.
I often wonder about this 'nannylike 5-a-day' rule.I daresay it seems like a good idea but its not hard and fast as my two children didn't have 5-a-day and are perfectly healthy individuals

Totally agree hun, I think it's a load of crap too

blackandwhitebunny

The whole five a day campaign is very subjective. In some countries they recommend much higher fruit and veg intakes but count potatoes in the list. As I understand it the aim behind it was to increase people's consumption and five was catchy. Some of the actual portion sizes are quite small and I think lots of people eat more than one portion at a time. Eating a variety is obviously good but this can be balanced over a week rather then a day.

LondonDreamer

Thought I'd update costing on this... current costs are in bold, taken from Mr T online.

Food Wise
tesco value bananas £1.25kg 81p £1.15 (now in a 1.5kg bag)
tesco value apples polybag - 86p £0.65 (wonder if the bag size has changed - it's tiny now)
tesco value potatoes - 2.5kg x 2 £2.00 £1.95 for a single 5kg bag
tesco value onions - 2kg - 78p £2.00 (red would be cheaper at the moment)
tesco carrots - 1kg x 2 - £1.24 £0.76 (Mr T recently doubled the size of their bag but kept the price the same)
tesco value swede - 1kg 65p £0.89 (whole swede, assuming large size)
brocolli - x2 a approx 48p each - £96p £1.14
2 x cloves of garlic - 35p each £0.60 (£0.30 each)
tesco value mushrooms - 750g £1.47 £1.79
tesco unsmoked back bacon - 500g - 16 slices - £2.90 £3.00 (value would be cheaper)
free range chicken (thanks hugh!!) approx 1.3kg - £4.80ish £6.29 for 1.5kg (couldn't order 1.3kg)
2 x 800g value mince - £3.30 £4.00
fresh stewing steak - 0.370kg - £1.52ish £2.03
fresh porkleg joint - £2.85 Don't know what size this is - £3.84 for smallest joint
butter me up spread x 2 - 1kg - £2.96 £2.00
tesco value cheese - cheddar mild - large - £4.93 £5.63
2 x free range eggs box of 12 - £4.90 £3.40 (cheapest free range)
4 x 4ltr semi skimmed milks - £5.36 £4.00 (on offer, assume this is actually pint not ltr - usually £5.00)
500ml natural yoghurt - 78p £0.82 (or 49p for value)
muller light multi pack (2 for £3.50) 12 yoghurts £5.92 on offer :eek:
tesco frosted flakes - 750g - £1.29 £1.45
tesco rice krispies - 600g - £1.37 £1.59
tesco malt wheats - 750g - £1.18 £1.24
tesco cornflakes - 750g - 97p £1.28
tesco wheat biscuits - 48 - £1.82 £2.14
tesco hot oat cereal - 750g - £1.32 £1.29
3 x tesco porridge oats - 1kg each - £2.07 £2.97
tesco value beans x 6 - £1.20 £1.68
tesco value spaghetti x 6 - 90p £0.84 (assuming this is tinned, not dried)
tesco value chopped tomatoes - 23p each x 6 - £1.38 £1.98
3 x tesco value quills - 500g - 57p £0.60
1 spaghetti = 500g - 23p £0.28
tesco value ketchup x 2 570g each - 50p £0.50
tesco value jam - 907g - £1.17 £0.76
1 x value lemon curds 411g each - 35p £0.22
tesco vegetable oil - 3ltr - £2.21 £2.95 (on offer, usually £3.93)
sugar - 2kg parcel - £1.53 £1.34
3 x 1.5kg plain value flour - 1.5kg each - £1.08 £1.56
4 x 1.5kg self raising flour - £1.92 £2.08
6 x 1.5kg strong white bread flour - £2.88 £3.00
3 x tesco yeast - 48g each - £1.50 £2.01 (pack size larger now)
3x 10 value fish fingers - £1.47 £1.68
2 x orange juices - 2 for £2.50 £1.80 (assuming this is 1L fresh juice cartons)
2 x blackcurrant - 2 for £2.50 £1.98 (on offer, assuming ready to drink and not squash)
80 tesco value tea bags - 32p £0.27
tesco sultanas 1kg - £1.12 £1.28

So the shop which would have cost around £85 (excluding household items) is now £92.77. Would be cheaper if you waited for more offers, or dropped down to value on some of the items - particularly yoghurts.

[Deleted User]

LilacPixie wrote: »

What are you eating to spend 15-20 a week on F&V for two??? Sounds high to me.. Do you eat alot of exotic fruits? I am around the £10 mark in winter, less summer and autumn for 4.

Vegetarian food. Uses a lot of fruit and veg.

quintwins

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

I spotted the comment about the freezer, but even so the list of the fruit and veg bought is for a whole month to feed two adults and a child.

For example the list shows just one bag of apples for a month. How many apples in the bag? About 5 or 6. So that would be two apples a month per adult and one per child. I could understand if the list was for a week perhaps.

I am not having a go at the list just curious how to reduce my food budget and still try and eat 5 a day. For my husband and me an apple a day is 14 a week which is about 56 apples a month.

i buy my fruit in the farm shop a bag of apples has 10 in it, we buy clemintine or manderine oranges which have 20 in them (both £1 per bag) bananas i buy in the sm at the mo cause there cheap we use 10 a week tho which is £1ish so for us bananas are the dearest per month but i have 3kids but the older 2 get 2 peices of fruit aday in nursery (1 for snack and one for dinner) then i use mainly frozen/reduced veg, the only fresh veg i buy full price is carrots and onions, we also get a 20kg bag of spuds from the farm shop for £6 which lasts 2 weeks+

so i spend about £15 a month on fruit and veg, i tend to only eat apples and oranges and my oh will maybe eat 2 apples a month, and will only eat veg if i put it on his plate, he loves stewed apples tho