Trying to cut down food bill

[get657]

Help! Trying to cut down on food shop, I'm also trying to lose 2 stone! So we are a family of 3, 2 adults and 1 toddler.

Can I have some healthy family meal ideas?

We are currently spending £100 a week on food and I'm wanting to get that down to £60.

Any other tips to be able to get the food bill down would be much appreciated! Thanks

Food has gone up in price I'm afraid.
Don't buy "offers" if they're not something you'd usually have.
Eat less meat/bulk mince out with lentils.
Switch brands to supermarket own label, or switch down from own label to essential range.
Don't eat/buy snacks.

Nothing earth shattering there I'm afraid!

Don't buy alcohol (very calorific as well as £££)

What are you currently buying ?
What are your current meals?

Thanks @IveSeenThings

We eat a lot of pasta, and potatoes.
I have never eaten lentils so no idea where to start.
I'm not worried about buying snacks unless healthy ones though my husband has the snacks!

@LovingLola

Meals are things like Mac and cheese, spag Bol, pizza, we eat a lot of carbohydrates, we also eat a lot of fruit like strawberries and grapes as a family.

We're a family the same size as yours and I just couldn't do it on £60/week. We spend £40 a week on HelloFresh and then another £70ish (£55-60 without alcohol) at the supermarket. Suppose it would be more if DS was home during the day, but he's at nursery full time Mon-Fri. Our food bill has definitely gone up since DH and I have both been working from home full time and having lunches etc at home and food costs have increased too.

Where do you currently shop?

A-ha. I knew it.

You're buying loads of punnets of berries and exotic fruit etc. That's 10% of your weekly spend right there.

High in sugar and high in price.

Switch to apples, bananas, pears and satsumas/clementines etc for day-to-day fruit, and leave the berries for an occasional treat. If you need to reduce your expenditure you need to rein in your aspirations.

Strawberries, grapes and berries generally are very expensive fruit.

They are great value frozen though! Can you shift across to their fruit for fresh, and enjoy frozen berries with cereal, pudding, yougurt etc?

Do you bin left over food? If so, stop. Either make the correct amount, or make enough for a lunch the next day.

Do you use jars of tomato pasta sauce? It's easy as to just swap out for tinned tomatoes and seasonings.

Thanks for this OP, I was honestly thinking of starting much the same thread!

It's not so much the money here, but it has definitely crept up in lockdown and we could do to get it down again, it's more variety I need.

We're stuck in a food rut.

And I could also do with some more healthy ideas! Lockdown has been cruel for my waistline.
I've collected some ideas already this morning, I'll have a look and post any that may suit!

How much time do you have? It's far easier to keep costs down if you can cook stuff yourself instead of buying ready made. It's also healthier in many cases (because you can control how much salt/sugar/fat in your meals).
So I make pizza from scratch rather than buying them...not hugely cheaper but healthier in terms of how loaded with cheese they are, and the actual size (a supermarket pizza is too big for one person really if you're trying to lose weight).

Making pasta sauce from scratch is also healthier than jarred sauces, and it's a good way to get extra veg/vitamins into you all without seeming too veggie.

The toddler is going through a fussy stage is the one who is eating the berries, will try and get some apple etc into her. I don't buy any alcohol for myself, husband has ciders most weeks. I'm shopping between Aldi, Asda or Tesco.

Treats for adults (booze, snacks) come out of personal spending money, not grocery budget. If there's not enough money available for this, do without.

Do you need to cut your spending, or is it just something you've decided you want to do? But spending less in Aldi should be easy as long as you don't buy lots of treats, booze, more expensive ready meals.

Buy seasonal and special offer veg and incorporate lots into every meal. Eat less meat. Check your portion sizes. Mac and cheese or pizza are never going to be diet food, but spag bol can be OK, if you put lots of veg in. Also try turkey mince, cheaper and lower fat than beef.

eat more veg. Macaroni cheese (assuming you mean that and not crapburgers) is delicious but is not a regular meal if you are watching the calories.

strawberry season at the moment in the uk but not for much longer. Out of season berries need to be frozen, and they are not filling so also a treat. And to check the obvious about cutting grapes?

Lots of stir fries. Eat reasonable portions (about half what you would get in a pub). No diet foods, cereal bars, smoothies (especially not commercial ones), desserts, ready meals.

Aldi. Aldi. Aldi! They also price veg and fruit seasonally so that gives you a clue as to what is best. Lay off the exotics.

batch cooking if you have a freezer. Cook once, eat about four or five times!

Were a family of 4 ..one is 11 weeks and we get paid monthly so our monthly spend for food is around £250 plus extra on top for baby formula amd nappies ..we usually buy meat and stuff from muscle foods they do massive hampers that easily last over a month we tend to put it all in freezer bags and freeze it some times they have a buy one get one free deal so buy a hamper for like £60 and get another for free the rest goes on fruit veg and a few frozen bits for freezer I think in general supermarkets are expensive even baby stuff like formula etc can be quite expensive

An online shop will help get your bill down as no impulse buying.
Don't do top up shops.
Plan every meal including breakfast and snacks.
Double up on meals and freeze for your tired days.
Don't buy expensive brands.
Mine love blueberries and strawberries however these are bought as a treat only. Apples, pears and banana or whatever is on offer. Tinned fruit is also a good alternative.
Bulk out meals with vegetables, lentils, beans etc
I have one adult, dc -are 16, 11, 11. One on a gluten free diet. I can shop for £50 a week.
This week we'll have chilli, curry, chicken, sausage, pasta and sauce, shepherds pie, soups and sandwiches.
Things like a joint of gammon can do two meals I'd do it with potatoes and veg then chips and pineapple.
Left overs can be eaten for lunch the next day or frozen.
Make from scratch this is cheaper than jars.

We have a freezer, it is small but I can defo batch cook some things. I'm just struggling for ideas to cook healthy that are cheap, as I have been finding fruit and veg expensive. I need to go to aldi more. Thanks for all your help

I think impulse buying things we don't necessarily need is my issue. Top up shops are also issue, like husband just said we don't have enough wipes for the toddler to last until Wednesday! We are also at home all day- I'm furloughed and husband is wfh, so eating more too.

I feel your pain! There are 3 of us inc 1 toddler, but our food bill has crept up from £60 at the beginning of lockdown to £100 now. I'm not ordering anything different, I think food has got more expensive.

If you search mumsnet, there have been tonnes of slow cooker/cheap eating threads, that might be a good place to start.

@sewinginscotland ours was £45 before lockdown!

Make chilli or bolognese with 5 percent mince bulked out with extra veg and lentils. We have a smallish portion of chilli or curry with rice for lunch most days since lockdown. Keeps you full and less calories than the 4 slices of buttered toast we were having before!

Start with small changes, e.g. try to add another portion or two of veg to each meal. So a smaller portion of mac and cheese or pizza, with salad and/or peas on the side.

Also echo what PP say re frozen berries. Frozen berries mixed through porridge is my DCs favourite breakfast and pretty good for them compared to what they could be having!

Are you on Facebook op?
There are lots of budget recipe groups on there, im in this one. I've been trawling it this morning looking for new ideas. It's good, plenty that I hadn't thought of.

If you're not on Facebook, maybe look at Pinterest, there are literally millions of free recipes - but it tends to be very American centric so can be a bit trickier with conversion and terminology but the UK is represented on there if you look deeper.

As far as really getting your spend down, you need to meal plan and stick to online supermarket deliveries as it's so much harder to browse and "accidentally" buy crap when you're doing it on there.
Walking round the supermarket leaves too much scope for wandering into clothes/electronics and over-buying things like snacks and treats that you didn't set out for. Never shop on an empty stomach either.
Look for a free printable meal plan template online, it might help and there's lots to choose from.

I also have this cookbook left from our more skint days. Was a good staple even though we weren't students. I'll upload the index if you like? Happy to photograph any of the recipes and attach.

Student cookbook index