What is the least amount of money you could feed a family of 5 on in a month?????

[drosophila]

Interested to know how cheaply you can feed a family of 5 (one is only 4 months and being Breast fed). WOuld hope to eat reasonable food.

[drosophila]

Anyone????

[AramintaCane]

I would love to know roughly what people buy as well. Or maybe stuff they don't buy so that they save.

Porridge for breakfast has saved us a lot it keeps everyone full for ages and is really cheap.

are you including washing powder and shampoo and stuff in the price?

[Doobydoo]

Would be very interested in this.Could do with help myself.

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

I spend about £250 a month on food. There is 4 of us. That is mainly fresh food and home cooked meals, very little frozen food for us.
HTH

[Doobydoo]

We buy very little processed food and I make cakes etc.Still can't get it below £120

[Doobydoo]

Please tell me what you buy for £250 a month.
I am including ds2's nappies and our toiletries in that.

[Doobydoo]

£120 a week!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paolosgirl]

Am v interested in this thread, and how you can get a family of 5 fed, with nappies, household cleaners, loo rolls, washing powder, and 3 meals a day for under £250. This would be wonderful

[Paolosgirl]

Dooby - I spend around £80-90 for 5 per week, if that's of any interest?

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

well i plan meals weekly, so only buy what is needed. I shop in aldi so dont get tempted to buy "extras".
I do washable nappies, and dd2 is on cows milk but before then was bf so never brought ff.
I dont wear makeup unless going out, anbd aldi toiletries are all good, so dont buy others (apart from dh gel)

Weekly meals are normally

Chicken curry
Roast
Pasta and pesto with chicken
Stir fry
Salmon and coucous
chic pea curry
spag bowl
sausage, mash and vegs
fajitis

we all eat the same meals and lunches are normally packed lunches for work/school/cm

hth

[CheeryCherry]

I spend abput £100 a week, 5 of us and cats,dogs,rabbits,hens!

[CheeryCherry]

I spend abput £100 a week, 5 of us and cats,dogs,rabbits,hens!

[CheeryCherry]

(not twice a week though!!)

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

if you buy a chicken for sundays, you then strip it the next day for curries ;)

Loo rolls are normally brought when on offer in asda or tesco

frozen meats are cheaper and taste fine
we dont eat red meat at all

Oh only thing i am fussy about is my washing powder

[LaurieFairyCake]

I spend £100-ish per week for three of us (plus dog/4cats/rabbit)- dh is a runner and eats a lot of cheese/food and dd is very greedy. DH is veggie and dd and I eat only occasional organic meat (once or twice a week)

Cook everything from scratch, cakes, bread etc.

That book by Gill Holborne "How to feed your family family for £? a week even if you have..." is fantastic for cheap recipes.

TBH dh and dd eat enough for 4 people so I think a £100 a week is about right particularly if you care about ethics and only use free range eggs/organic meat occasionally.

[drosophila]

lisa... Do you feel like you have to watch every penny or do you feel quite relaxed about it all. I am impressed with what you manage to do on a tight budget.

Thanks for all the contributions..... Food for thought (excuse the pun)

[Fizzylemonade]

There is a fantastic series called Economy Gastronomy on BBC2 at the moment.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m5wtl/Economy_Gastronomy_Episode_2/

above episode on BBC iplayer shows a family of 5, they have had a 80% paycut currently spend £330 per WEEK on food, they teach them to cut it down drastically.

The family have children aged 11, 9 and 7. They make a big beef stew at the beginning of the week and use that stew as "leftovers" for a pasta dish and then (I think) pasty things.

It is full of information on food shopping and cooking.

I have found it very interesting

[Paolosgirl]

There was a thread about this recently - the family cut their bill down from £330 to £210 A WEEK!!!

[Goober]

There are 5 of us and a dog. Children: 10,13 and 15 so eat plenty. My budget includes everything we have. Toiletries, dog food, washing powder and dishwasher stuff.

I mostly use Lidl. A few things we have are not available in Lidl so I get them in Sainsbos and stick to the list. I meal-plan too. Lidl do a leaflet each week showing what will be on offer the next week so I encorperate the cheapies into our meal-plan. Eg. this week their gammon joint was £3.59. One day we had half with egg and chips, the next day I made a carbonara.

In total about £90 a week.

[frazzled74]

I dont scrimp with grocery shop, there are always a few luxuries in cupboards and we spend about £100 per week. I shop around and dont just use one supermarket.butchers for meat,aldis for nappies, wash powder etc, and the 29p fruit and veg and cereals, Tescos for tins,sauces,biscuits and crisps.There are 5 of us.

[frazzled74]

I dont scrimp with grocery shop, there are always a few luxuries in cupboards and we spend about £100 per week. I shop around and dont just use one supermarket.butchers for meat,aldis for nappies, wash powder etc, and the 29p fruit and veg and cereals, Tescos for tins,sauces,biscuits and crisps.There are 5 of us.

[drosophila]

I have a problem with meal planning as DS is highly allergic and as a consequence also highly fussy. DD tries to copy him too. AAAAgh... But that is a whole other thread.

This breastfeeding lark has me starving too.

Do you do packed lunches for school too?

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

drosophila yes I guess we have to watch the pennies, especially since dh got sick, we seem to be struggling to get out of the dip we got when first sick.
I budget for £250 a month but aim at £55 a week but if i see something extra I can get it if needed.
We used to spend £90 a week in tesco/asda

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

drosophila yes I guess we have to watch the pennies, especially since dh got sick, we seem to be struggling to get out of the dip we got when first sick.
I budget for £250 a month but aim at £55 a week but if i see something extra I can get it if needed.
We used to spend £90 a week in tesco/asda

[Goober]

Mine includes packed lunches for DH and all 3 DCs.