£150 for the months food shop, possible ?

[Cussons]

Hi.

Currently going through some hard times financially. It's just me and my daughter, she's 6. I've got £150 for food shopping (the month of feb). Do you think it's possible?

I'll eat anything, I like cooking so can easily do that. My daughter is pretty fussy.
In terms of breakfast she'll eat:
Cereal
Toast

For dinners she'll eat:
Chicken
Stir fry
Spag bol
Fish fingers/ nuggets
Lasagne
Salmon
Noodles
Chips
Cucumbers

She will not eat any potatoes, rice, pasta or anything like that.
She will either just have chips, noodles or cucumbers with the other things. Will refuse anything else.

Do you think this is possible ? Also if anyone has any meal ideas that you think she may like please let me know!

Also to add, we don't have much freezer space either.

Yes I think this is possible. Try to get to the supermarkets when they are doing the daily reductions to get your food with 50-75% off and you can easily do this!

Perfectly manageable if its just one adult and a small child. How come she will eat lasagne but not pasta? Unless there are any other reasons then she will have to learn not to be so fussy.

Buy supermarket own brands. Shop early evening when fresh things are reduced.

Homemade veg soup with bread is filling and nutritious and cheap to make. Buy yellow label veg.

Make veggie lasagne.

Shred chicken to add to stir fries. A medium whole chicken in lidl is £3.50 and you would easily get 3 dinners each from that. Ie chicken and chips, a chicken stew, and chicken stir fry.

I mean it’s possible do you live near a supermarket. I used to work out what time they did the yellow stickers.

Noodles with frozen veg and an egg whisked through for protein is quite balanced.

There is always food banks, community food places where you can buy ten things for £2 or food share tables where companies and individuals put out things to be taken for free.

Yes I live pretty close to a supermarket. And she's just so fussy. I have no idea why she will eat lasagne but not pasta. I've tried to give her it but she just won't eat it.

I'm glad it's possible. Was pretty worried about it tbh.

What is your freezer full of?
And your cupboards?
February is a short month

I have been doing this for a family of 6, including nappies and toiletries. I have become a bit of a pro at yellow sticker shopping. I go to Asda and Morrisons between 6:30-7pm and regularly get chickens, packs of good quality meat, cheese, hummus, veg, fruit etc for 10p an item. I freeze lots. I was sick of the money we were wasting on food. I actually added it up today and in January we’ve spent £137 on food, nappies and toiletries and we are still eating really good meals as I find the yellow sticker shopping encourages me to be more creative. I hope that helps x

The freezer doesn't have much in it. Just small. In my cupboards, I have some pasta, rice, a couple or jar sauces ( could have with chicken), chopped tomatoes,cereal. Not much tbh.

It’s more than possible. If I can do it for 6, you can do it for 2. You just have to think about meals a bit more and shop at certain times.

@Namechangedforthisonetoday wow for a family of 6. Can you come shopping with me please ?

Is the £150 just for food or does it cover cleaning stuff and toiletries? If so, it might be very tight.

Honestly it really is doable. Watch some yellow sticker shopping hauls on you tube. You will be amazed at what you can pick up. I’ve had 5 vegetarian wellingtons today for 30p each, some posh chips for 10p, 4
cartons of strawberries for 10p, 3 pizzas for 10p - you get the drift! Morrisons is the place to go if you want lots of meat at very good prices. Go around 6:30pm on a Saturday evening if you can. Same with Asda.

Tonight we had cottage pie for dinner. The 1kg of mince I used had been reduced to 86p and then frozen and the potatoes on top were 4 jackets reduced to 10p last week - still tasted absolutely fine.

@EmmaGrundyForPM yes covers everything. I think I can get all my tolietries and cleaning prod

I would say it was easily doable to manage with £150 for your February food shop, especially as February is a short month.

Firstly, make a list of all the store cupboard and freezer food you have. If you list it here, posters will come up with meal ideas to use it all.

What does your little girl eat with the spag bol if not pasta? Would she eat porridge for breakfast as that could be cheaper than cereal? Would she eat homemade soup? She eats toast, so would she eat beans or cheese or eggs on toast?

*products for about £10. So I guess would knock £10 off. £140 on food.

It is doable. I spend around that on my and my son ( and the cat)

don’t be afraid of tins. Peas, carrots, beans you can get for around 20-30p new potatoes you can get for less than 50p.
nuggets are relatively cheap unless she’s fussy about the brand.

own brand noodles taste the same really

spend £50 on a “big shop” then top up £20ish each week on fresh stuff like fruit, salad and milk. A few more tins here and there.

She will eat spaghetti with spag Bol. But not pasta twists or anything like that. And weirdly enough that's the only time she will eat spaghetti, with mince. No she won't eat porridge. She would eat soup! Only really chicken soup though. With toast, she will have peanut butter or Nutella. @AdaColeman

@Danikm151 I do have two cats aswell. But luckily, their not too expensive to feed. So didn't factor them in the costs. I don't think I'm great with budgeting tbh. I do like cooking but sometimes I feel it's a waste. As my daughter won't eat a lot of what I cook. So I normally have leftovers for later on in the week but get sick of eating the same meal pretty quickly. Or just eating what my daughter eats to make it easier.

Do you have a community shop near you? There’s a few in my home town and it’s 10
items for £2.
Id also use ‘good to go’ app if you can get one for a supermarket. Might help stretch out the money you do have.

Are you on the olio app? You can get free, local food before it goes to waste. Lidl do a £1.50 box of veg. Strangely, our local have it AFTER the checkout, so unless you know about it and can push through the one way barrier to collect, its almost impossible to buy!

Well, that's really not too bad is it? She likes chicken, and you can get a few meals from a chicken for the two of you. Then use the carcass to make stock, and all the soup that you make with the chicken stock will be chicken soup, even if it's got mushrooms or leeks in!

If she would eat chicken in white sauce, that's lovely with spaghetti, so she might eat that?

@Teatime55 community shop? I'm in London. I've never heard of one. 10 things for £2. Wow. I've got too good to go on my phone actually, I've never used it. I'll give it a go!

I would do a monthly meal planner then I would get all the staples then keep back the rest for and split it into weeks for the top up fresh things