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

Sorry, got distracted !

Meat, veg, pasta, etc to start with ?

I was spending far more, ashamed to say. It's easier than you think (we ate out 2-3 times a week min plus lunches Monday to Friday x4 people, breakfast and coffees,

I'm down to £60 but only me now (kids went to university, h is now stbexh) and the £60 includes drinks, meals out but I admit I don't always pay my way, nice new dp

Not much to add that hasn't been said but if you want to keep the coke and enjoy it I'd stick to own brands you'll save a lot

You must feel quite overwhelmed Whome91 but really cooking is just following a list of instructions. I think you could have a lot of fun learning with your DC. Let us know how you get on.

Shepherd's Pie. Serves 4-6.

1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
450g lean minced lamb
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
100g split red lentils
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g tin chopped tomatoes
350ml lamb or beef stock or use a stock cube dissolved in boiling water.
3 tbsp chopped parsley plus extra for optional garnish
Sea salt
Black pepper
Potato topping
750g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chucks
75ml semi skimmed milk
25g butter
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Chicken and green bean casserole. Serves 5.

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
5 chicken thigh fillets, skin on
2 large onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
140g tomato purée
3 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
600g sweet potatoes, washed and cut into chunks
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
500g long green beans, trimmed and cut into 3 cm lengths
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Chicken satay noodles Serves 3

300g chicken or turkey breast, cut into strips
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cornflour
125g dried egg noodles
4 tsp rapeseed oil
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
1-2 hot red chillies, finely sliced
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
200ml tin reduced-fat coconut milk
50g sugar snap peas
100g mixed frozen peas and beans
75g frozen sweet corn
Juice of 1 lime
1 carrot, peeled then cut with a peeler into thin slices
40g spinach leaves
To serve
1 tbsp roughly chopped cashew nuts
1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander sprigs
1 mild red chilli, finely sliced
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Salmon Fish cakes Serves 6

675g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
500g boneless and skinless salmon fillets (about 4 fillets)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 1/2 tsp English mustard
Zest of 1 lemon, chopped into wedges to serve
1 1/2 heaped tbsp chopped parsley
1 1/2 heaped tbsp chopped dill
4 1/2 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
150g dried breadcrumbs
6 tbsp sunflower oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Mixed salad leaves to serve

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I'm conscious about filling up the thread so if anybody else wants any recipes I'll start a new thread in the recipes/cooking topic

I wasn't taught to cook, my Mum hated cooking and so we had weird things to eat for dinner, always something easy like toast or fishfingers.

My Dad could cook but it was all very traditional British cooking like pork chop, boiled potatoes and 2 veg. He hated anyone being in the kitchen so we never learned. Plus we didn't have any money to spare so you couldn't be trusted to cook anything in case it spoiled and there was nothing else. They also shopped daily. It was a nightmare pondering over what they fancied that night at 5.15pm.

My sister became a vegetarian when I was about 15 and so she cooked for herself, my Dad refused, and I learned from her. It meant I was self sufficient enough to cater for myself at uni.

Fast forward to now, I have a family and I learned to cook from watching TV shows of cooking, I am a visual learner and YouTube is amazing. Full of ideas that you can see, and how things are meant to look.

A slow cooker is amazing, a literal dump dinner. Batch cooking at the weekend once you know how to cook something will help you portion out individual dinners for anyone who has limited diets. Again, there are loads of videos on YouTube for batch and meal prep cooking.

It is daunting, start off slow with a couple of new things. Do it when there isn't a time deadline, so a weekend rather than a weeknight.

I didn't have parents so no one taught me to cook either but what helped immensely was becoming a nanny as I obviously had to feed the children. I looked after children aged from newborns to 12 so the whole range from milk only to weaning then full meals. As time went on and I married and had my own family I got more adventurous and as I've been very successful my confidence has grown which means I have tried more fancy things. It's all practice. I invent things too.

There's a youtube video for everything nowadays, including how to boil water.

I have a family of 5 and a cat and we'll spend around £35 to £50 a week. Including nappies, cleaning stuff, cat food/litter etc. We mostly shop at Aldi and I've cut back on meat, plus I do a few things like grow salad on the windowsill. I limit snacks and make soup a couple of times a week, we even limit milky drinks like tea it coffee. We quite like a green tea anyway so it's not a huge loss. Toast, pancakes or porridge in the morning is cheap but we still have cereal a lot.

Thank you @SunshineCake

I have a family of 5 and a cat and we'll spend around £35 to £50 a week. Including nappies, cleaning stuff, cat food/litter etc

Bloody hell - in 1986, as a single person, I lived on £30 a week (plus £30 a week rent). How the fuck do you / a family of five and a cat manage on £35?

That's one pound per person per day! That's shocking!

I don't see how you can have a healthy diet for so little.

I would assume it’s more like £50 than £35. Theres 5 is us and we are about £65 - £110 (the higher end is when I do cleaning supplies and fill the freezer) looking at my previous shops - I don’t overspend and we don’t eat rubbish. I probably could get it down to £35 if we were all vegetarians or if we skipped lunch or something. Do your kids eat school dinners maybe?

I can’t imagine being able to feed my family of 5 on £35 for a week including enough fruit/veg, I would be interested in seeing your receipt/meal plan for some ideas.

I think that’s rubbish!

I shop Aldi and always go for cheaper but unless you’re living on £1 pizzas and basic chips or plain pasta for 5 days that’s not doable

You can easily cut back OP, but I’m sure you know that. Maybe things like meal planning would really help you, and thinking of cheaper alternatives to certain things.

On the other hand, I am perplexed at the idea of feeding 5 and providing for a baby & cat on £35, or even £50 per week. I do a weekly nip round Lidl for fruit, veg & bread products, plus a few odds and ends. That normally comes to around £35 and rarely includes protein, dairy, cleaning products etc.

@Steerpike902 surely green tea costs more than normal tea?