250 pound weekly shopping/food

[Whome91]

Please try not to judge. We are a family of 5 two adults 7 4 and 7 months kids. Some of that is takeaways that me and dh have at night. I have a Diet Coke habit (20 for cans) I cook meat for the kids most nights. It’s including nappies for two kids in full term and baby milk. Help please

Whome91Not sure if it’s been mentioned as I’m still catching up, but have you tried the gousto,simply cook or hello fresh meal prep service?
They’d help to build up your repertoire and make you feel more confident cooking, then with the recipe cards you can buy the ingredients again on an online shop so you have more control over your weekly spend.

Next time you do a shop, post the items that you bought for a week.

How much food waste do you have?

Do you buy brands/ supermarket brand or budget?

It's cheapest for everyone to eat the same meal. So if the kids have spaghetti bolognese, cooking extra pasta later for you and him and also having bolognese will be the cheapest thing to do.

Do you menu plan?

Are your cupboards bursting with just-in-case food?

Do your kids eat seasonal(ie cheap ) fruit for snacks?

Can you get your Diet Coke cheaper around a bulk buy place like Farm Foods?

Are you buying expensive cuts of meat like chicken breast? Thighs and drumsticks are much cheaper.

If your nappies are branded have you tried supermarket own brand? Sometimes they are made in the same factory as premium

Do you buy convenience food like chopped veg?

We spend on average £130 per week for a family of 5 three DD teenagers 18, 16 and 14 who have adult portions. We shop in Morrison's and it includes top up of bread, milk etc purchased from Waitrose. We buy neat, fish and fresh veg. Frozen fish in breadcrumbs and other frozen food. We make own pizza including base and I never use ready make foods i prefer to make my own. I think £250 Is a lot per week. sometimes we have take out fish and chips once every few weeks

Meant meat not neat

Ha! That’s £250 more than what we have leftover each month after paying rent 😂

We spend about £120 on food a month but that’s only for 3 people. I think it’s easy to get in the habit of over spending on food.

4 DC (10,9,7,

I do that as a family of 6. 2 adults dc of 17,16,12 and 9 mths. I don't have to buy milk as bubba is on dairy free prescription stuff but do buy nappies and wipes plus food for 3 cats 3 snakes and 2 lizards x

“Bubba”. Jesus. What’s Mumsnet become?

1k a month is a lot of money but you don’t anyone to tell you that.
You need to switch to Aldi & meal plan. Make a plan of meals for everyday.
Aldi nappies are well recommended on many money saving sites and wipes toilet rolls etc.
The national average for a family of 5 for food groceries is £126.50 per week. So really you should aim for £150 max
Ban takeaway
Buy jars for dried goods so you can visually recognise how much your eating/have left
I wish you well and hope you can cut it down!! Xx

I do my shopping online and over at least 3 different shops to get the cheapest price. I do have smaller family (2 adults, a 1year old, and 11 year old stepson on occasion) but £250 is a monthly shop.

There’s so many people to reply to so sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone. The slow cooker is a great idea as I’ve got more time during the day when my other two are at school and nursery so I actually think it’s a great idea. There’s so much problems that I think it’s unrealistic to change all at once so we’re going to give up the takeaways and today I got a 8 pack of Diet Coke and got some peach Robinson’s as I do like that it might seem like small changes but that’s what I need.

I want to try and explain why I think I drink and eat crap. My son has asd and everyday is a struggle with him and I think I use it as a comfort. I grew up without much food in the cupboards so like to make sure our cupboards are full. We don’t waste meat or fresh food but when I clean the cupboards I often find out of date cans and tins etc. We spend more on food then I used to make for my first job.

Also there currently no lidi/aldi close but I’ve heard talk of a lidi getting build close by which would be closer then Asda actually. My dh doesn’t drive and I don’t do online shopping full stop

I don’t do online shopping full stop

Why not?

I have a family of 5. I’ve got an Asda delivery coming tomorrow. I meal planned, and played around with the shop until it came in under budget (£125). So much easier.

And I do drive, and am a SAHM so have time to go shopping. It’s just easier online.

I’m honestly in shock at 10 cans of Diet Coke

I’ve always considered myself to be addicted to Diet Coke - I’m in a right mood if I’ve not had one by lunch time but even I draw limit to two cans a day! 10 must be destroying your teeth

Yes I thought DH has a Coke Zero addiction as he had 2 every morning (which he has now given up as it made him feel crap)... 10 cans a day is insane!

Why not start with one dish that you all like that can also be frozen - chilli or spaghetti bolognese maybe?

Kids can eat it earlier and you cAn eat it later with DH. Make double quantities of the sauce and freeze half then you have an easy meal for next week instead of a takeaway.

Maybe try making a roast chicken at the weekend.

Youtube has some great videos where people show what they buy and make for a week to a budget.

We are a family of five but have stopped buying nappies and formula. No pets. My weekly Ocado shop is between £80-£120 depending on washing powder and cleaning products and shampoo etc bought as needed and probably another £30 on ad hoc food during the week and £30 more on a weekly takeaway. Not including booze though - we get that separately.

We are a family of five but have stopped buying nappies and formula. No pets. My weekly Ocado shop is between £80-£120 depending on washing powder and cleaning products and shampoo etc bought as needed and probably another £30 on ad hoc food during the week and £30 more on a weekly takeaway. Not including booze though - we get that separately.

Wow! There's 6 of us. 2 adults, dc are 11, 10, 8 and 3. I spend £70 on average a week. I cook from scratch with meat but use jars for example for curry. The kids all have packed lunches for school, so I get through a lot of yoghurt etc. I buy bulk buys for washing liquid when it's on offer, last washing stuff was £9.50 for 120 washes for example, if I see a bargain I stock up, today wilko had 65 packs of fairy dishwasher tablets for only £8 so I bought 3. We did a big shop at farmfoods today, spent £72 but that will last the month with a top up for fresh stuff at Tesco in between. I'd keel over at a £250 bill!

You can definitely bring that down, I shop at Tesco and Asda, and for a family of six (four adults and two youngsters) plus dogs and cat we spend £85 a week roughly...
I buy mainly own brands, I cook from scratch, and it took a lot to manage to get our bills down this low, but we really want to take the kids away somewhere special next Christmas so we cut down on everything. Lay off the takeaways and you'll save a fortune lol x :-)

I’m sure the OP is interested in hearing of 27,000 other people who do better than her. How about actually looking at her issues rather than telling her about your own

I used to spend £75 on a family of 8 per week plus the dog so £250 is just ridiculous to me.

Takeaways are expensive and unhealthy so ditch that straight away.

Meal plan so you know what you are having each night: helps you to plan and stops you spending on things you don't need.

Stop buying extras: snacks, pre made food and cut back on your diet coke habit, seriously, it's REALLY bad for you. If you're going to drink coke, drink coke Zero. If you buy that much, switch to bottles.

Batch cook on a sunday, that way you can just pull something out the freezer of an evening and stops you reaching for the takeaway app.

A lot of this is about not being lazy and exercising some self control and we can't fix that for you via the internet.

I used to spend around 250 a month for a family of 6! Two adults 2 teenagers and two babies but things like the fresh stuff would never last so had to swap to weekly shop . Then I thought we spend way too much on food and have hardly anything in so I budgeted 50 for the week and switched to aldi I could get a full weeks meals plus snacks ie. Biscuits crisps and stuff plus nappies and wipes! drinks (we dont drink fizzy or fresh juice). But since I've started making the older two pack lunches that's gone up to 80 a week. You could switch to own brand stuff that really cuts your price down and they taste just as good as branded stuff. Your kids are young still so cant eat that much surely? My teenagers and the youngest are bottom less pits and theres always food for them to eat.you said your nit good at cooking but even iceland has great stuff I doubt you would get through 250 worth of food a week. Also have you tried simply cook ? That is brillant especially if your not great at cooking you cant go wrong with their instructions delicious not breaking the bank meals . Ps stop drinking so much coke I've never been a fan just taste like sugar and fizz can not be good for you

OP it seems to me that you have been hoarding food as it makes you feel more secure to know its there. Given your explanation above that makes sense. However your coke addiction is just that. An addiction. It's good to hear you have taken small steps to reduce your consumption as to be fair I'd be far more worried about what 10 cans of coke a day is doing to my body than anything else.
Would you call yourself an organised person or disorganised chaos? If your generally disorganised this will show in your tendency to get stressed about meal plans and prep. You are trying. I hear that. However the change to be truly effective needs to start with you. You can pull things around and change if you want to. Please PM if you would like a chat. Tomorrow is a new day.