How DO YOU feed a family on <£250?

JayC1987 · 12 September 2012 at 3:02PM

I went out to a Charity Shop and those discounted book shops. I ended up getting a few cook books at a very cheap rate. I learnt to cook. (I'm not an amazing chef yet).

One trick I do is I go to my local market around half an hour before the food stalls pack up, they're desperate to get rid of food and fresh food at that. I just haggle with the market traders and get a bit of food cheaper.

What would the market trader prefer, to throw food away that his not sold? Or sell it at a cheaper rate and get of the food that way?

Also growing vegetables and herbs in the summer its cheap, climate friendly, tasty. Also do you know anyone with any fruit trees? Thats another way of getting fresh fruit.

nfollows1982 · 12 September 2012 at 3:29PM

We are a family of 2 adults and 4 kids under 11 (2 live with us permanently and 2 alternate weekends) and we have a budget of £50 a week for food shopping.

My wife leaves the shopping to me and I meal plan everything.

I’ll give you an example, as I went shopping last night.

Tuesday – Quiche and salad
Wednesday – Sausage casserole + mash
Thursday – Shepherds Pie
Friday – Spag Bol
Saturday – steak pie and chips
Sunday – slow cooked beef + trimmings

Now, I had odd bits in to go towards the above, but I had to buy the majority of it all last night and it cost me £22.56.

None of this was buying pre-made rubbish, the quiche apart; all those meals are made from fresh each day. The Saturday and Sunday meals are to feed all of us as we have a house full this weekend.

Some tips I have picked up –

If you want to buy a sauce (say the bolognaise) don’t buy the one in the tin. Get the packet mix and a tin of smart price tomatoes and pad out with a few herbs from home. The tin sauce is £1 on offer, the packet and the tomatoes came to 52p.

You might not think that’s a lot, but that 52p then bought 24 Warburton’s rolls which are in the freezer for mine and the kids pack lunch.

Definitely try the ‘drop a brand’ challenge on the website. We always always went for branded stuff or ‘the best’ etc etc, we dropped a brand and saved a bomb. You have to be prepared to compromise, for example, drop from Heinz to Asda own ketchup. Maybe try going from Asda own to smart price etc.

I’m not saying you will like all the smart price (or equivalent ranges) but for some things there is no difference in taste, just in your wallet.

Also, you need to avoid these ‘2 for whatever’ offers, unless you are absolutely going to need the extra items. I was a sucker for seeing for eg £1.28ea or 2 for £2. I would always get 2 even though I didn’t need them and these offers are designed to get you spending more.

Once I have taken care of the evening meals (as above) that then gives us £30 (ish) a week. This goes on other shopping items like cereals, milk, stuff for the pack lunches. I normally get this down to about £15 a week.

That then leaves about £13 over which goes towards toiletries, wash powder, toilet roll etc.

As a family we all eat healthily, the kids are not filled with a load of crap and we 9/10 we stay within our budget. It can be quite a challenge sometimes but I’m just left to it and that suits me fine!!

At the end of each month, whatever money is left over, we spend on a treat. Last month we had £20 left as we got a load of toiletries reduced, so we went to the 2 for £10 pub down the road. It’s just a good way to show the family that being frugal with money can bring it’s rewards.

HeadAboveWater · 12 September 2012 at 3:35PM

Wow! Great job nfollows1982. Seems very strict but it works well for you all, and you do get the 'treat' side of things too!

Nice work

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice · 12 September 2012 at 3:50PM

If you can't work out where it all goes it's a good idea to cost your most frequently cooked meals. Then you'll realise which bump up your weekly budget. Once you've identified your rogue meals either think of ways to cheapen them (switch to cheaper alternative ingredients) or ditch in favor of a new dish.

Time_to_face_the_music · 12 September 2012 at 4:06PM

FireWyrm wrote: »

Source your eggs from local farm shops. Not quite as cheap as a supermarket, but then the hens are better cared for. Personally, its worth the additional pennies.

FireWyrm wrote: »

A decent breadmaker is about £30.

We have been buying Aldi's free range eggs at around £2 for 15 but visited a farm shop at the weekend and managed to get them even cheaper, larger eggs and obviously couldn't be any fresher too. Also got 3 cabbages for £1 and 3 cauliflowers for the same price.

This was on the way back from the carboot sale where we had bought a top of the range, barely used, Panasonic breadmaker for £3

katy_ann · 12 September 2012 at 5:43PM

Im single and only need to buy for myself, I spend around £40/£50 a month on just myself, this includes laundry products and shampoos/shower gels etc. My top tips are use supermarket own brand shampoos/conditioners, you can get big bottles, double the size of normal ones for around 80p/90p and they all do the same job, also supermarket own brand food, there is nothing wrong with tesco everyday value tomoato sauce which I buy for 20p a bottle and tastes exactly the same. I will also not pay a lot of money for toilet paper, for that exact reason, it goes down the loo!

x

flubberyzing · 12 September 2012 at 6:22PM

antonic wrote: »

I`m single and feed myself on approx £100/mth.

I am also an expert shopper in Asda in the Oops aisle & chilled cabinet as well as an expert buyer of BOGOF`s.

This will all end in 3 months time though ! (see my sig for details)..

Holy smokes! I'm single and feed myself on £40 to £50 a month!

likelyfran · 12 September 2012 at 6:29PM

FireWyrm wrote: »

I was managing on between £120 - £150 per month for two adults, two children and 3 cats. I've recently increased this to a positively comfortable £200 a month for the same number of humans plus two more cats.

I can understand your scepticism, but its more to do with mindset than actually having some secret formula.

1) You have meal plans. I know week by week exactly what is to be consumed so I buy that and only that. I dont do BOGOF unless it is either a non-perishable, or its something I was going to buy anyway.

2) Know where you are being ripped off. Do you buy tesco 'ready meals'? You know, the ones in the tray that you just have to bung in the oven. Usually, its a chicken breast wrapped in something or with a sauce? Did you know you could make that, from scratch in under 20 minutes for a fraction of the cost? Lasagne is another absolute rip off. I saw one in the frozen isle the other day for £4.50 and it was billed as 'family size'. Did you know, lasagne is easy as chips to make and costs about £2.50 for enough to make two meals feeding 4 people each time? How is the frozen version value for money?

3) Buy books. Learn to cook. We've all been raised on the idea that shop bought somehow tastes better or is easier...its not. If you want consistently nutritious, easy to knock up and cheap food, learn to cook Chinese, Indian and Thai. Leave the heavy roasts and dense meats for the weekend.

4) Use vegitables to bulk out. I use 1lb of meat per day for 4 people. Its what I buy and all that is available. You dont need classical english dishes daily. Go veggie one day a week for instance.

5) Buy bulk and split. I buy bulk meat once a month and I split it into portions. I usually buy towards the end of the day from the local market and I get very good deals for paying in cash and taking lots of his remaining stock. Often, I get odd stuff thrown in simply because he'd have to chuck it anyway.

6) Shop in the early morning or late at evening on a Sunday. All the mark-downs are there. Be quick, there are others with the same idea as you.

7) Ditch large supermarkets. Since I stopped frequenting the green one, I've literally halved my food bill right there. I used to spend £350 a month easily and then put 'incidentals' on top of that! By shifting to no-frills shops, I save hundreds a month. Swallow your pride and look around an Aldi carpark....what do you see? Clapped out bangers, or BMW's? I can tell you, an informal poll of a local carpark on a Satuday morning from the window of a MaccyD opened my eyes to the type of people going to these shops. More to the point, is the quality of produce the same as what you are used to? The answer is, by the way, yes, and in some cases, better even.

8) Source your eggs from local farm shops. Not quite as cheap as a supermarket, but then the hens are better cared for. Personally, its worth the additional pennies.

9) Dont buy cakes and things, buy flour and ingredients. You may ask, who has the time, but its actually propoganda perpetuated by the supermarkets who have a vested interest in selling you the idea that you are time poor. You really arnt.

10) Buy from the local Chinese cash and carry. You'll find plenty in there and many people willing to translate for you. Oh, and it's a quarter of the price for double the quantity.

Excellent post!
Not everyone will be able to do all those things (farm shops for eggs etc.) but the principles are great and people really can eat more cheaply than they do.
I think the best way to boil it down is to just eat healthier - more veg/less processed - and as you say, cook from scratch more.

likelyfran · 12 September 2012 at 6:31PM

flubberyzing wrote: »

Holy smokes! I'm single and feed myself on £40 to £50 a month!

WOW! Share some tips flubbery?

When I was single in the 90's I remember finding a single person could eat for £10 a week if they were careful.

YORKSHIRELASS · 12 September 2012 at 6:47PM

Have you got a slow-cooker? These are fantastic if you are both working and saves that dreaded coming home from work tired and having to start making tea.

Also I notice you have teens. My teen likes his named brands and its so hard to avoid crisps, kit-kats, fizzy drinks and the like. Of course you could just do away with these things completely but I buy a small ration (1 bottle of lemonade per fortnight!) on the understanding that once its gone its gone.

I kind of accept that my grocery budget isnt as low as some but I am happy with it and it works within my overall monthly budget so its affordable for me.

How DO YOU feed a family on <£250?

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