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

We do our food shopping online and this really helps me to budget. I do it from home so I can physically check if I need something or not, the total builds as I shop and we can see what we have for treats. Delivery is £24 for the year (less than 50p per week)

I batch cook lunches and dinners. Last night I made pasta with veggies, mushrooms and chorizo inn a homemade tomato sauce for the DC and enough for DH & DC to take to lunch for two more days.
Peas: 10p
Sweetcorn: 10p
Tomato: 33p
Tom purée: 10p
Garlic: 10p
Chorizo: 35p
Mushroom: 50p
Pasta: 50p
Onion: 15p
Basil: I grow
Total £1.83... divided by 12 is about 15p per meal.

I buy in bulk and cook in bulk and it saves tons. One of DC also has ASD so I can’t imagine it’s so difficult if food helps you cope xx

it might seem like small changes but that’s what I need
The small changes are sustainable though op, going in full steam ahead will end in disaster.

Coke - you definitely need to ditch this it’s probably rotting your insides. 10 cans a day, cut down to 9 a day for a week. Only put 9 in the fridge so you’re not tempted by the 10th. Then reduce 1 per week. By April you’ll be down to 1 a day hopefully.

Takeaways / Wine - Again, instead of picking up 5 bottles just grab 2. If you really miss the wine you could pick up a bottle of soda water or cheapo lemonade and make a spritzer to make it last longer. Takeaways again start ditching once a week.

Cooking - you can cook, you’ve said yourself you can cook mac and cheese. Do you work? (You said you had more time during the day). If so, while the kids are in school and you have some quieter time, start by 1 day a week perfecting a recipe. Start with simple stuff like a spag bol from scratch or a shepherd pie. Prepare all the food first (like weighing and chopping) that way you can concentrate on the recipe and not get panicked about timings etc.

Your husband really needs to limit his intake of food though, 6 sausages and a whole readymade portion of mash is just gluttony. Unless he’s burning tens of thousands of calories a day he doesn’t need that ridiculous amount of food.

I never get this idea that carbs = bad
Probably the same way that everyone was led to believe they fat is bad. One flawed study but somehow it stuck. The Seven Countries study did that for saturated fat, but actually when you research it, it’s so scientifically flawed it’s ridiculous.

I’ll add that my DH has a very physical job and eats like a horse whilst never gaining weight (not jealous at all...) so bulk buying for him is vital! Plus two growing boys who have no end to their eating capacity

Mn cook from scratch always lot fascinate me. Who has the energy. Are you all SAHM's?

I am actually, but I don’t do the cooking in our house, DH does, who works full time. I know, shock horror, a stay at home mum who doesn’t do everything in the house .
DH cooks from scratch every day as he enjoys it. It’s his way of winding down from a stressful job in banking. If you enjoy doing it, of course you can be bothered.

@AnnDaloozier I can call my baby whatever I like, she likes the word bubba and it makes her laugh so is a nickname for her! 🙄

A lot of suggestions of how to eat cheaply are based on carbs. Potatoes. Rice, pasta

The OP doesn’t need to eat ‘cheaply’, she just wants to be less wasteful than spending £250 a week.

Her starting point and target are not the usual MN budget eating levels.

family of 7. 3a 4 children 16 11 7 and 7 we spend £150 a week in asda including nappies wipes and everything think you need to meal plan and stop or reduce the take aways

Oops

I have 6 grandchildren. I feed 3 of them every day. The 6 altogether maybe once twice a week.
I batch cook. Save left overs and ake into another meal. Home made soup in my house is a main course :-)).
Yes. Your time is precious. But cooking and freezing. Saves a lot more time. Very little convenience food. That's a treat.

Lidl are selling the “eat well for less” books at the moment, there’s some great easy meal ideas in them including pizza, pasta dishes and veggie dishes.

It is a lot but contrary to its reputation, I think ASDA is one of the more expensive supermarkets. On the odd occasion I've shopped there I've spent an absolute fortune. I think a lot of it is the 'roll back' marketing; makes you feel you're saving a lot but it all adds up. Plus they do nice quality, reasonably priced clothes and home things so I invetiably end up buying those too.

In this day and age of the internet, Instagram etc it really is not difficult to learn how to cook simple, nutritious meals for the family.

That said, for the sake of your own health you need to sort out your diet coke habit ASAP. £40 a week on wine is also a problem imo.

That's a lot of money on food OP.

We are also a family of 5 - DP, me, 10yrs, 5yrs and 11 months.
I spend roughly £120 a week including formul/nappies/wipes toiletries and cleaning products.

I buy a lot from Iceland (once a month) as I find it cheaper and I also do a weekly shop at Asda. I found that shopping online and having it delivered cut my weekly shop by quite a bit. I put my order in while the older 2 are at school so theres no "can I have this.." down every frigging isle.
Maybe you could try that??

I absolutely dont not buy fizzy drinks ever. 1. They're expensive.

1. Dont like any of them.
2. They make my kids go crazy.

Ordering online enables you to really see what you've got and compare prices/deals that you might otherwise miss with the distraction of little ones.

Why not try this for a simple meal plan this week:

Mon- jacket potatoes with whatever toppings you like- tuna/cheese/beans

Tues- spaghetti bolognese. Start with a dolmio jar until you feel more confident cooking.

wed- sausages and mash. Buy big bag of potatoes. Will go much further than ready made mash, plus can use for other days’ dinners.

Thurs- veggie or beef burgers with homemade chips and salad

Fri- chicken stir fry. Chicken breast, pre-made stir fry veg and sauce with rice

Sat- takeaway

Sun- whole roast chicken, veg, roast potatoes

Could you try swapping Diet Coke for sparkling water? Get the same “fizz” on your tongue, but none of the sweeteners and nasties.

Not sure why you won’t do online shopping, but I do it, and it stops impulse purchases.

Online shopping, bottles rather than cans of Coke and you can only have another coke if you have a full glass of water first

Hello Fresh (recipes tend to be more basic than Gousto) so then you can build up a bank of recipes. Once you're confident with cooking move to Gousto as they have some takeaway style meals for you to cook too - these will also be added to your recipe bank.

Buy stuff you use often in bulk (Diet Coke maybe).

Meal plan - why do you shop every day?!

I am going to suggest something completely different

Follow the great ideas on this thread to cut the food bill
then
Spend some money getting some support, respite, counselling for yourself. You have a young child plus a child with SN and I think you need a bit of a helping hand and a bit of looking after. I suspect that your own wellbeing is near the bottom of your list of priorities right now.

Mn cook from scratch always lot fascinate me. Who has the energy. Are you all SAHM's?

No I work a full time job and a little evening job as well. There are so many '15 minute meals' type of cook books available nowadays that take very little time. Had a Gado Gado Indonesian salad yesterday from the Green Roasting Tin - active cooking time maybe 15 min? Healthy as well.

Oh and don't peel potatoes for mash. You can rice them unpeeled. peels simply remain in ricer. Honestly.

It would never occur to me to use processed food. I’m just used to cooking I don’t even call it from scratch, for me it’s just cooking

Good for you Ann.

I'm not a SAHM but meal planning and having cooked quick meals for years helps, I'm not sure why this is even a thing, OP is keen to learn.

I don't know what 'from scratch' even means.

Does it mean you never buy bread or biscuits?

I get you wouldn't buy jarred sauces but what about condiments like mayo or ketchup?

"From scratch" means you personally go and milk the chickens.

I’m going to be blunt...

Step 1. Stop making excuses for this horrific lifestyle.
Step 2. Stop buying takeaways and have a look at bbc good food
Step 3. Find a coping strategy that doesn’t involve pickling yourself in cola and wine. It’s absolutely obscene to drink 3 litres of cola a day, and spend £40 on wine a week.
Step 4. Try to take exercise each day.
Step 5. Stop being ridiculous and do an online shop.
I don’t mean to be nasty, but you are being absolutely beyond unreal.

I am knitting some lentils at the moment.

We mainly cook from scratch i.e. don’t use jarred sauces, ready meals, make our own burgers. However, I do have things like fish fingers and often have oven chips in the freezer so when we get in and everyone’s hungry and tired I can just stick it in the oven.

I think cooking from scratch is cheaper and can be quick. I made chicken wraps last night (sliced chicken breasts with a spicy tomato sauce). I am going to turn the leftovers into chicken arrabiata pasta tonight which can be done whilst the pasta cooks.

can be done whilst the pasta cooks

Pasta which I presume you've made from scratch rather than the shop bought dried stuff?!