To think it’s actually hard to live off this for the rest of the month?!

Put stuff in plastic food bags to freeze. Not the most environmentally friendly, but safe and efficient and the food will last in the freezer for months.

This is all good advice.

Do you eat a lot of meat, which is generally much more expensive than veggie food? Things like tofu, lentils, halloumi, paneer etc are great substitutes You could make tons of lentil chilli for instance, freeze it up and parcel it up for meals during the week.

Batch cooking saves money because you don't have to panic buy or buy expensive ready meals, you always have something in the freezer to eat.

Supplement meat with tons of veggies. If you cut them up small you can really bulk up meals like spag bol or chillis, that way you could get four meals for what you may currently be making two out of. A kilo of essential carrots is about 80p, and celery is dirt cheap as well, a kg of frozen peas is £2 and all of these are Waitrose so you can probably get them a lot cheaper. I also buy courgettes which are lovely sliced longways, cooked in a grill pan or air fryer and added to dishes.

Alternate more expensive meals with cheaper food. So some days veggie soup for dinner with crusty bread and then other days seeded fillets with veggie rice for instance (£3 for two in Waitrose on special offer and again, cheaper in other shops).

Asian supermarkets often have food like rice and pulses you can get in larger quantities for much cheaper than small quantities in supermarkets.

I would really struggle to feed my 2 DC on less than £100 a week just for them!

I think it’s okay if you’re not overly fussy and they’ll eat a lot of stuff. But it isn’t luxuriously generous like some posters seem to be suggesting 😶

It wouldn’t be a big enough budget for me but everyone is different in terms of what their household will eat and use, or CAN eat.

Can you cut costs elsewhere to even save £15 to add to that budget?

@munnyya What is sad is that you're caught in a cycle of 'deprivation' of no cooking education and no /little idea of nutrition.

Did your own parents not cook?
Did you not learn as a child?

Because this is how your own child is now being brought up.

Your toddler should be learning to cook alongside you.
They should be helping you chop vegetables and fruit (within safety limits of course and not sharp knives.)
They should be enjoying mixing and making things like simple soups or biscuits.
It's part of their learning and 'skills for life'.

Somehow, you've missed out on vital life skills - being able to cook a simple, cheap nutritious meal.

Your parents let you down, but now as an adult you can access everything online.

There are a handful of simple meals you should know how to cook all of which your child can eat with you.

A roast chicken dinner
Spag bol
A curry
A casserole
Fish cakes
A fish pie
Pasta bakes - like macaroni cheese, tuna, etc.
Vegetable risotto
Homemade soups

The idea that a child has to have 'child's food' in rubbish.

That's more than a dooable amount I spend around 135/140 per week on toiletries / cleaning/food.

That's family of 4 with two teens one who trains in 2 sports 7 times per week and eats tones of fresh fruit and veg and likes a wide mix. And as DS still growing, think DD stopped now, it is like he has hollow legs
All meals are planned and cooked fresh every night and yes we both work 40hr per week so that is doable even with the constant club journeys.
Think about meal prep, think about planning meals, think about home food delivery as I made the mistake the other week as so much other stuff on, in forgetting to do my food order and ended up going to the shop and spent just over £200 instead which was ridiculous
Think about batch cooking if you feel time limited and freezing so it's just a re heat job

I survive on less than that. I don’t buy anything branded, and i buy very few ready meals. I sometimes buy pizzas and a lasagne. I will buy cheaper cuts of meat and chuck them in the slow cooker for stews, tagines etc. i try to buy things on offer, and if i buy a packet of potatoes or something we incorporate them into several meals.
It’s not the most exciting way to live, i won’t lie. It’s a total grind. I am extremely busy and I hate cooking with a passion. I do the shopping online as it’s easier to stick to a budget. DH does the cooking 3 nights a week, but I end up with all the planning.

I think you need to sign up for a real life cooking course asap. YT is not optimal for that. You cannot go through life as an adult without basic cooking skills, this problem will not go away. In this case it’s significantly affecting your finances.

You lost my sympathy at Duck Breasts

Tesco do zip lock bags, I use them to freeze things. 10p each.
Well £2 for 20. The medium are huge.

O come on, you are not seriously buying Little dish on a regular basis and then wondering where you money is going!

4 simple home prepared meals are the same price as one little dish meal, at a pinch, 5 or 6. And you don't want to me feeding your child ready meals anyway. Massively unhealthy, likely to lead to obesity, and all those related issues.

And ready prepared potatoes!?

OP if you buy a decent ready made pasta sauce, eg Loyd Grossman or these Heinz ones, a pack of mince and some pasta, that will cost about £6 and it will make 2 meals for both of you, so you're effectively feeding yourself for free compared with buying the Little Dish meals.

This is a really quick and easy start to very basic cooking and you'd have most of the pasta left over for a few more meals. You could then freeze half of the sauce for later on or eat it in the next day or two.

sounds like you may also have to change your habits. Do you shop some items for convenience? They always cost more. What sort of dish are you buying for dd that is £3. Can you not make her a meal or both have the same meal.
edited to add I realise now what the little dish meals are, cut them out and you’ve saved £27!

Agreed.

Little Dish meals are basic meals in small portions e.g. pasta, sauce and veg. Very easy to make, freeze in portions, defrost and reheat in a microwave.

They actually taste and smell disgusting. I did buy them when my DD was a toddler when there was a risk she wouldn't eat food at other people's houses. ,(I think she actually only did it once.)

It’s not rocket science though. All of Delia Smith’s recipes are on line. She has many learn to cook ones with step by step instructions. There are you tube videos showing how to cook. It just takes a little effort. Even the most basic cook can make a jacket potato.

It’s really not that bad for one adult and one toddler. It’s not even for 4 weeks.

boots has good price shampoo
do you have any points for any shop coming in?

the bbc good food website has budget meals

And you say you can't cook? Can you watch any YouTube videos for ideas? Or local colleges sometimes have cooking classes? If you get UC, sometimes these are free or very cheap. Our church recently did a cooking course for those who use their food pantry to help with healthy cheap meal ideas.

That would be plenty for me, dp and 2 dc to get us through to the end of the month without a doubt.

Buy the shops own brands. I find Tesco and Sainsbury's are the most reasonably priced.
And Iceland if you want a £1-£2 ready meal each
Butchers for the meat too
Local farm shop for our fruit and veg (but we do buy more in Tesco too)
Amazon or pound stretcher for toiletries

Hi op! A few things:

If you can’t cook, I kid you not, Dorling Kindersley illustrated step by step “how to cook” books for dc are bloody brilliant. I hand them out to uni students!

They cover all the basic dishes, and all the proper techniques, and every step of each recipe is described and photographed in a really clear, easy way to follow.

The recipes are really good as well, it’s not just nursery food. Thoroughly recommend.

And Nancy Birtwhistle on Instagram is great to follow for tips. She is very practical and thrifty and a great cook. She has published a couple of books on green house-keeping and has a good recipe for home made dishwasher tablets which are far cheaper than the supermarket variety. She makes all of her cleaning products out of simple ingreds like bicarb, vinegar and washing up liquid.

Finally, dried red lentils are ace to pad out any dish using mince and veg. Full of protein and healthy.

Good luck!

The average shopping bill for a family of 4 is probably around £5-600 pm. The OP is a single parent of a toddler and has £350 to last for 3.5 weeks, so it's an above average amount for a half sized family that doesn't have to feed the larger appetites of older children or an adult man.

Most people would feel perfectly comfortable with that budget, probably because they'd look at a Little Dish meal and think 'fuck me, you're having a laugh' rather than filling their trolley with them.

I don't think it's loads, but it's enough to have decent meals and the toiletries needed.

Well to me, it is 🤷‍♀️. £350 over 24 days. Plenty!

Are you other expenses high that you are left with that amount per month? From your take home salary, how much goes on nursery fees, other bills etc? It's a decent amount but you feel its not enough, so its looking at where you can save money elsewhere, or can you do some overtime/any promotions worth going for?

People spend so much more on toiletries and washing powder, you can definitely cut back on this for a few weeks and buy the very cheapest options.