How can I have a v low spend forJune .. with DH not necessarily on-board

[coldanddark]

We need to spend as little as possible in June.
We have a GP birthday, fathers day (dh & 2GP), wedding (eve only, I will drive to save drink costs and taxi. Dh not coming). I am having a much needed haircut and roots done.

I want to basically live out of the freezer. But dh won't do that. He loves fresh food. We need 1 month of v hard cutting back, to get us back on track in the bank. We spend circa £800pcm on food shopping for 3 adults and 1dc and a dog, plus dc has £5a day for school meals. He wouldn't eat packed lunch and it would go to waste.

Meat and fish yellow stickered items only, these can go in the freezer to use later.
Swop from Tesco to Aldi or Lidl
Use the local market if there is one and if it's not an expensive organic one
In season food only
More veggie dishes
Reduce DS's £5.00 per day - for comparison, school dinners at my school are £3.00 for a teachers meal of hot dinner plus fruit/pud. I know it's different ar secondary school, but go through the menu and see where cuts can be made - is some of the money going on bottles of water/other drinks/snacks? Work out what is reasonable, possibly supplemented by cereal bars or something easily portable. My own DC didn't like taking packed lunch mainly because no one else did and there weren't really facilities for it in the same way that there are in primary, but there are ways of making it cheaper.
Ask DH what he would like to cut back on, if he's not prepared to cut back on food ( £200 pw is quite expensive, we feed 3 adults for about £100 pw.)
Snacks in the larder cupboard are expensive unless you seek out bargains. A packet of biscuits works out cheaper than individual bars. Toast is cheap, oats are cheap.
I've found that shifting meal times so that supper is earlier ( say 6 rather than 8pm) means that opportunity and desire for snacking is reduced.

If DH is the main cook it will hard to change the whole months ingredients and budget without his agreeing. If he thinks theres no need for this, you could encourage the children to make homemade Father’s Day and birthday gifts. You could also offer to cook twice a week and make a stew with cheap veg eg carrots spuds and a couple of leeks, with tinned beans, or pasta with homemade puttanesca sauce and salad. Look out for sell by date reductions and use them the same day.

Can you give him a weekly budget for this month?
cut back on expensive fish and meat, up the pulses. Chicken thighs work out cheaper than salmon. Salmon in a stir fry works out cheaper than everyone having a steak each.

Does your ds really need to spend £5 a day? Can he take snacks like cereal bars from home and then just buy a lunch item. Could save quite a bit if he can spend £3 a day in school instead.

If you can’t get him on board with saving money could you play it from a ‘I think it would be healthier/better for the environment to have fewer meat based meals?’

£5 a day for school lunches is unnecessary.

A packed lunch doesn’t need to be a sandwich. Do Pasta salads, veggies sticks and hummus, wraps, fruit, yoghurt.

You would save a huge amount by stopping this one thing.

You could save a fortune buying frozen meat, fish and veggies, as well as dried herbs and spices. No need to just live on beans on toast.

We quite often have a week where we clear freezer and just spend on fresh bread , milk , eggs and veggies but our freezer is mainly stocked with protein and main meal type items not convenience food so it’s easier

Forget Father’s Day, or just buy cards.
If it were me I’d be forgoing the hair cut and roots, or just get the cut and do the roots with a box dye to tide you over. I use a temporary root touch up spray if things are bad and I can’t make it to hairdressers.
Combine freezer food with some fresh ingredients? I’m thinking frozen pizza/lasange/chicken goujons with a nice salad. Or do you mean you have frozen batch cooked meals? Cos those are great and if OH doesn’t want those he’s an idiot. Maybe you could Google those websites that suggest how to make dinners for four for £20 a week that sort of thing.
Speak to your teenager about things he could take to eat at school even just a couple of days a week? £5 does seem a lot. Is that to eat in the school canteen or is he out at takeaways etc at lunchtime? Because if it’s the latter I would definitely be curbing that or giving him less to spend. A bag of chips, roll and sausage or shop bought sandwich doesn’t cost that. Where I am school lunches are about £3.25, not sure cos my daughter takes packed lunches.

Once your DH has seen the June weekly shop budget, maybe he'd enjoy the challenge of a different menu for the month? Different cuts of beef or lamb that take longer to cook but are delicious - do you have a slow cooker? Minced turkey for burgers or meatballs. Take it as a chance to shake things up a bit.

What would be the point of giving him a packed lunch to save money then giving him money anyway?

Try switching to a new bank. This can earn you up to £200 and from what I’ve heard it takes very little admin

Could you try and introduce a vegetarian day?

Maybe a veggie bolognaise with lentils. Vegetable curry.

Cheaper meats/fish - turkey mince meatballs, canned tuna mayonnaise baguettes.

Salmon is quite expensive but I like it so I tend to buy smoked salmon for myself and eat mackarel for dinners.

Skip the haircut and roots.
Feeding your family is more important.

Also, rethink the events. Give cheaper presents, maybe skip the wedding (feign being ill??).

Tbh I don't think your DC should have his lunch money decreased to fund gifts for family members, you going to a wedding and a haircut, assuming that's a reasonable amount for him to be spending daily at school. I'd look for the cuts elsewhere.

Send a card only for Father's Day (no presents) and tell your DH that the food budget is £100pw so he needs to do the best he can with that.

What about ‘Too good to go’ - have you tried? You get a load of lovely food very cheaply which would otherwise go to waste. All sorts - Eat a Pitta, bakeries, all sorts.

Not sure if it's been mentioned on here or not. But to compromise on fresh food. So make more than needed then freeze the remaining for another day. We do this and have saved a lot compared to buying frozen meals.
We slow cook meals about twice a week too. Can use relatively cheep ingredients but make something delicious. We use cheaper cuts of meat and pulses.
Fathers day gifts there's a lot of good hand made gift ideas out there.

Homemade Father’s Day pressies would be a good please do start saving money.
Shop at Lidl, or do an online food shop at Tesco or similar so you can easily budget.
A mixture of fresh and frozen food would be a good compromise. Good luck!

School lunches don’t cost £5. You can usually get a meal deal for less than £3.

How about meatless Mondays? Beans are so cheap and nutritious in chillis and stews.

Write a meal plan for the week together and work out where you can budget better.

Sounds your method of saving is weird. Some meals can be cheap while remaining fresh.

Your issue is his denial, once you both agree you need to save a bit, it should be easier to find a way how to do it.

Ideally you need DH on-board. If not, come up with a few ideas that are cheaper to cook and ask DH to cook, or volunteer to cook yourself. Breakfast doesn't have to be a fresh croissant, cereal, toast, yogurt or fruit should be cheaper and more nutritious.

By is DS's daytime food £5? If at school cooked lunches will be less than that and add some fruit for a snack. If he can have a packed lunch, a sandwich, fruit or veggie sticks and nuts/chuck of cheese/occasional sausage roll or cereal bar would be a lot cheaper.

If you really need to save, look.at home colors or let your hair grow out naturally and just have a trim, your hair doesn't have to be done every month.

Other ways to possibly save, walk to local shops if you have them or friends, instead of using the car. A day trip can be a long walk taking a sandwich with you. If you've got credit with your energy supplier, check if you can get a part refund.

If you really haven't got the money, cut back on special occasions.

He sounds like an amazing cook who cares about making delicious meals, could you channel him? Set him the challenge of meal planning on a budget but it not just being beans on toast or fish fingers? Maybe see if there are some online free recipes he could get inspired by... I'm thinking amazing Indian spreads with daal and home made flat breads (flours cheap), spiced chickpea wraps etc etc
I feel from the sound of these meals he loves and cooks now, it's too much of a shock to switch straight to value pizza from the freezer and jacket potatoes all week.
I'm blunt with celebrations now "sorry I'm afraid we are being tight but we love you, here's a homemade card and some home made chocolate brownies" . Last Christmas I just made everyone homemade chocolates and got some cheap boxes from amazon, the kids joined in and everyone liked the thought. I make cakes for people too instead of buying gifts.

What are you eating caviar lol 800 is a lot for food. We are about 80 to 100 per week for 3 adults all meals in this budget plus any toiletries we need

Your DH meals sound great, but expensive. Could you omit one or two condiments per meal, eg sour cream, salsas. They add to the costs and are mostly garnish (I know they taste great, but....). I agree with PP to tell DH a budget for shopping
Also the father's day is a card and a scratchie...

He enjoys cooking- tell him you're doing a month of food challenges where he has a restricted budget, just like most working chefs.

Anyone can make fantastic meals when the ingredients are the star, the real talent is using cheaper and fewer ingredients and learning a new way to cook.

Also who's the third adult and can they contribute to the food bill? I understand they might be a student in which case I wouldn't expect them to contribute but if they are a working adult it doesn't hurt for them to chip in when needed.