Food budgeting with a large family?

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How do you all do it if you have a large family or older children?
I've four children but three eat adult portions so basically five adults and one child.
I'm quite good at cooking from scratch and we never waste food, we use up leftovers and I know how to bulk food out with lentils etc.
My problem seems to be going to the supermarket too often and while I'm there thinking oh I'll just get a few other things.
It would be pretty impossible to buy a weeks shopping for us all as we'd need so much.
We all have breakfast/evening meals at home (even though it may be different times or if one of the older ones eat out dh will take their leftover meal for his lunch the next day so no waste)
Then I eat lunch at home while dh and older two take lunches from home and the youngest two get school dinners (costs a fortune but they prefer them to packed lunches)
Nearly all our disposable income goes to the supermarket and I feel like I'm really missing a trick somewhere.
How does everyone else do it? Smaller shops more often? Strict meal plan? We're lucky that we aren't on the breadline but seem to spend everything we have when we should be saving.
I'm not even sure what a reasonable amount would be to put away for the food shop and if I should plan it for a weekly budget or monthly budget.
Any tips would be appreciated.

We have milk delivered. It costs more, but means I can do a whole week's shop on a Saturday without needing to go for top ups. It makes a world of difference for us.
On Saturdays I empty and clean the fridge, then work out a meal plan for the week that takes into account anything that needs eating up, and the days of the week that packed lunches will be needed. I also add in a few extra meal options that can be made with the same ingredients, in case I change my mind. I always have a few snack options in the cupboard; we have lots of teenagers with hollow legs.

I have a budget and I track it. We meal plan and I don't buy many snacks.

own brand pretty much everything. I meal plan and budget.

first shop of the month is usually a big one where i stock up on all cupboard essentials (tins of beans, chickpeas, chopped tomatoes etc), crisps and lunch box snacks for the month (I get enough to cover everyone’s lunch for the month so if they’re eaten before then they do without) and any freezer essentials we need.

the each week I just get get fresh fruit / veg and meat. I’m sure I’ll get slated for saying it but lately I’ve been getting a large chicken we do a roast then I strip down the carcass completely to get all the usable meat and make 2/3 more meals from it (bulked out with veg and lentils etc) also I make my own stock for soup from the carcass.

it works for us.

I've found that the less times I go to the shops the less I spend. I'm walking distance so often pop in for a few things but was spending too much. I've started doing a big shop online (asda do some delivery slots midweek 8.00pm that only cost £1) after pay day and found I'm spending a lot less by having a good stock in, including freezing milk as that was often what I popped to the shops for and spent £30🤦 it also helps that I'm getting all the heavy stuff delivered which also reduces the number of times I have to walk across to the supermarket as I'm limited by how much I can carry each time. In short being better organised and more mindful of what I'm buying has saved me about £150 per month since I started doing it in January.

4 adults 1 child

I shop at Aldi, we do meat free - mon- thurs. Lots of rice/pasta/bulgar to bulk food out. Minimal snacks. Aim £95 per week inc top ups.

I have five teenagers at home and I have a weekly Tesco shop, budget is £100-120 ish and that includes all toiletries and household things. I hate going to the shop so I've done it this way since my twins were born 15 years ago. Meal plan, batch cook, my kids cook more often than I do. Only thing I add is a joint from the butchers for Sunday lunch twice a month.

Aldi saved me a lot of money when mine were all eating at home. I bought most of my canned goods there for so much less than elsewhere. (Crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, various beans, etc).

The only fresh fruit I ever bought was apples and bananas. Everything else I bought frozen for smoothies or incorporating into desserts. I also bought frozen green beans in Aldi as the quality was nicer than fresh anywhere.

I did most of my cooking from scratch and served leftovers 3-4 times a week.

Lots of pasta, rice, couscous, bulghur, and bean dishes, lots of hearty soups and bread (I have a bread machine).

For snacks and desserts, bargain basement ice cream in huge tubs, anything on sale or BOGO.

I had a big freezer which was worth its weight in gold.

I stuck rigidly to the shopping list.

first shop of the month is usually a big one where i stock up on all cupboard essentials (tins of beans, chickpeas, chopped tomatoes etc), crisps and lunch box snacks for the month

How can you do this ? We (family of 4) use 8 cans of tomatos some weeks, 2 cans of chick peas and 3 cans of different beans. To be fair we are veggi but I couldn't store enough canned food for a month.

I’m also interested in this!! I try to do a weekly shop or half-weekly shop but always end up topping up. Maybe I need to be stricter about meal planning though.

Following with interest. My kids are still both tiny, but we meal plan fairly strictly and its helped save us loads of money. Its interesting to see how families with older kids work it.

I've found that the more often I'm in the supermarket, the more I spend. Although, if we are in then we buy lots of reduced price stuff and freeze especially meat

You say it would be pretty impossible to buy a weeks worth of food because you need so much.
But you need it anyway - you're just spreading it out over more trips with added extras.
The easiest way to save money on the food budget is to shop less often, this reduces the "oh i'll just grab this while i'm here" extras.
Going once a week for a large shop (or fortnightly/monthly) is not excessive if it's just what you need for that time period. And will save you a lot of money in the long run.

If the school lunches are that expensive i'd be seriously eyeing those up too. Great if you can manage to support a child's preference. But it's just a preference, and if that's making a major dent in your budget, then you switch them to packed lunches.

If you aren't wasting food, I would say it doesn't matter if you go more often, because everything will get eaten, plus you need to buy a lot, so it's going to cost a lot, and it might be more practical than doing infrequent massive shops.

So you need to look at what you buy, and get it for the best price, plus think of a selection of cheap meals that everyone will eat and shop for those and just cut some of the expensive meals from your repertoire. Plus look for offers and reduced items and make your meals around those.

For example, the range that something like a roast costs can vary massively. You might spend £20/30+ on a leg of lamb or beef rib or you could do a roast with a large chicken or a pork joint for maybe £10 or under. Serve a bit less meat and more veg, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and stuffing to make the meal sufficient. With a large chicken, take all the meat off and it should be plenty for six portions. For veg, you could spend quite a lot on sprouting broccoli and a prepared root vegetable selection or you could get a couple of standard broccoli heads and carrots instead. You get the idea. Also look for reduced or special offer joints for the freezer, or see if there are any butchers doing meat packs you can freeze.

Likewise a chilli, put lots of beans and peppers in and less meat per portion.

I remember a poster on here who claimed it cost £28 to make fish pie because they bought their fish fresh from the Waitrose counter. You could reduce the cost by 70/80% by buying frozen fish from a cheaper supermarket instead (let the fish defrost, squeeze out the water and just put it in raw, add some veg like frozen green beans and cover with parsley/white sauce).

Also look at Costco but bear in mind that it's not always cheaper than supermarket special offers or buying in Lidl/Aldi.

For packed lunches, egg sandwiches or maybe cheese if you get big blocks of cheese at a cheaper cost per kilo or pasta salad with tuna in costs less than sliced meat.

Careful about the amount of drinks and snacks you buy, especially if your family use them up fast 'because they're there'.

For fruit, bananas and whatever is on offer, along with frozen berries, work out much cheaper than fresh berries or exotic fruit.

Order online. Keep to your list snd you won't be tempted by extras. Plus it will save you loads of time!

Do you spend a lot on snacks? I know this will horrify some Mners 😉 but with snacks, a good idea is to hide the snacks and then portion out a day's worth to the cupboards. My kids would easily eat a week's worth of snacks in a day.

I also second buying frozen stuff. I love frozen chopped onions because they are so much easier to use than fresh onions. Also, frozen broccoli and spinach is great because you can just toss a handful in at the end of cooking and it doesn't go off like fresh stuff.

I have a home delivery, so you can live within a budget and stops you putting random things in the trolley. I only ever go to the shop for fresh milk and berries.

I used to have a big freezer and freeze everything. You can freeze milk.

Salad type stuff was eaten at the start of the week and by the end of the week it was more robust vegetables.

We ate veggie 3/4 days a week minimum.

Fridge soup for lunches at the weekend.

Decent Snacks were minimal because I couldn't afford them. So only what was needed for packed lunches.

There was a tin with cheap biscuits in it for them to eat or they got a bowl of cereal or toast if they were hungry.

Fruit was apples and bananas with berries and peaches (more soft fruit) only as a treat.

There was a lot of pasta and home made pizzas.

I have drastically cut down how much meat is in dishes, bulked up with long life veg. I have no fridge space so put portioned meat in freezer and defrost. Means i can bulk buy. I also used jarred minced garlic.

Oh and I shopped in Lidl. And only Lidl. If they didn't like it they were free to go get stuff from elsewhere but my food came from Lidl.

(There once was an epic row over who ate whose fancy crisps that they had bought with their own money)

So true!
Since we started having milk delivered, I only go to the supermarket once a week.
I used to do 1 big weekly shop plus 2-3 'pop to the shop for milk' trips which were never under £30/trip because I'd grab various extras which we'd still eat but weren't essential. I saved a fortune.

Someone mentioned up thread about putting away snacks and treats until needed. I do this and it cuts down on the additional top up shops and saves me money. I put all the snacks in the spare suitcase in the study and then get them out when needed. Nobody has twigged that's my hiding space, I hide birthday gifts in there too! 😀

were a family of 5 but not veggie so prob use less than you but I’ve just turned a whole kitchen cupboard into a can store.

i pretty much cook everything from scratch but we only use 2/3 cans of chopped tomatoes a week so for us it’s possible to calculate what we’ll need based on my meal plans and order what I’ll need.

Just an example but I’d cook up a red sauce to be used for spag bol, chilli and tacos using 2 cans of tomatoes, some tomato purée, stock (homemade chicken one) and if needed some 1/2 a box of passatta. Makes a fair bit of sauce then I just add meat, veg and lentils to when needed during the week.

to keep spending down I try make sure I make meals that will use things that we already have in for that month instead of buying new things. Honestly it’s not as soulless as it sounds and we’ve had some great meals based on working out we can make with what we’ve got in the house.

i used to be really careless about the food shopping / budget but we were creating a lot of waste with things just not getting eaten or used (cans of kidney beans lying round forever) so I decided to change up how we do things. Has also helped with the rising food prices! 😥

4 adults here, plus dog. I get Tesco delivery once a week Monday am. All meals and lunches prepared from scratch. I get at least ingredients for 4 days and try and get biggest sized cheese, ham, crisps, oil, shampoo, conditioner, soap etc. i also get 50/50 fresh and frozen vegetables. We have butchers meat weekends and a takeaway that one of my DS’s will pay. I do have to pop in shop for top up, usually bread, but stick to what I need. Before getting food delivered I used to go shopping 3 times a week and wasted some food, doing it this way now does save on wasted food.

Yes use Lidl

Those with larger families always have lots of cereal on hand. Mind you, it is not so cheap as it used to be back in the day. Though porridge is still super cheap.

I am a bit confused by what your problem actually is.
Are you saying you buy expensive food? You havent got time to track down the bargains? The reduced items? That your kids have expensive food choices?

Most supermarkets still do packets of 20p pasta.

I am unsure of your real problem.
Yes, if you have 4 kids who teenagers, then yes that will be more expensive than having 2 children.

Do you claim all your benefits?

I would say a strict meal plan, write your shopping list for absolutely everything you will need. Top up shops are my downfall, and they're not even top up shops! I decide to pop to Morrisons to see what meat they have in the whoopsies (most of our meat is whoospie meat) but while I'm there I get distracted by homeware/baking stuff/toiletries etc and in the end I haven't said anything because I've spent money on stuff I didn't need 😶 we are having to tighten our belts a lot this month due to our childcare costs tripling so I have been banned from going to Morissons!

There are 7 in our family and we usually feed 8-10 people on a sunday.

First of all meal plan properly prioritising using up anything that is about to go out of date and then secondly things you have already in your freezer. I do all my shopping online so there is no temptation to impulse buy and I can take time to properly work out if deals are worth it. Our milk lasts most of the week. If you have a problem impulse buying try only taking the money you need for the milk out with you when you top up. Set yourself a weekly budget to your shop and if you go over be ruthless in what is non-essential and you can cut. Try the own brand version of things you usually buy, if you don't like it go up a price point, don't automatically go for the big brands. Basic beans, tomatoes and own brand cereals are all a big hit in our house.

We keep weekday meals pretty light on meat, using it more as a flavouring and leaving more heavily on eggs, beans and pulses to meet protein needs. We do eat a lot of eggs because we have chickens and everyone likes them.

So weekday meals are things like
Carbonara and salad
3 bean chilli
Eggs, beans and chips
Omelettes and chips
Sausage and bean casserole
Bacon, cabbage and potatoes with a fried egg on top
Lentil dahl
Egg or chickpea curry
Soup using up any veg knocking about, homemade bread and hard boiled eggs/egg mayo
We eat a lot more BBQ type food in the summer, but can reduce the amount of meat eaten by putting on quinoa salad, baked potatoes etc.
In the winter lots of slow cooker type stews with cheaper cuts of meat, and can bulk out again with homemade bread and eggs.
We rarely have a chicken breast each, more likely to be chicken thighs in a curry or white wine sauce. You already said you were bulking out your mince with lentils.

On a saturday we get a takeaway every other week and make pizzas every other week. I know we could cut the takeaway and save more money, but it's a treat we can afford.

Sunday we tend to have a big roast or a BBQ in the summer. We can swap the likes of roast beef for brisket or beef bourgignon using beef pieces if we need to cut back that week.

We don't do school dinners because I honestly don't see the need for two full cooked meals a day (plus dessert!). There is also often a chip option and I know that's what mine would go for, so packed lunches are much healthier.

We keep the fruit bowl stocked up with cheaper fruits like apples and bananas and there is always oatcakes and natural yoghurt in, and carrots and cucumber in the fridge. There's no real need for much else in terms of snacks. If I bought biscuits or crisps they would disappear in seconds and they have no nutritional value, so why spend on them? They have their pocket money if they want to treat themselves.

There are probably people doing it cheaper than me out there, but for us this is enjoyable and affordable. Having people over for sunday dinner is one of my favourite things and the kids love spending this time with their extended family.