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.

The food sounds delicious! I would try to save money in other ways. I eat salmon like I’m rich and won’t skimp on the heating so I need to budget in other areas.

Use up freezer food and just buy fresh veg to go with it. I do that all the time. Find some meat or fish or pasta sauce in the freezer and then just buy salad or season veg on the side.

Why us your DH not on board about saving money this month?

Alternate days ?
1 day dh choice the next a freezer option / cheaper.

Why wouldn't your DC have a packed lunch? You haven't said if your DC is secondary but is that the cost of the main meal or is it drinks, doughnuts etc. I tell my DS he can have a school lunch twice a week and I expect him to take a drink in rather than buy them.

With main meals, I'd look at Aldi/Lidl for some swaps. There are things that are cheaper and sometimes genuinely better in there.
Also, things like jacket potatoes are amazing if you have a side salad, wouldn't want it every night but occasionally it's really satisfying. I tend to shop around the offers so our meals for the week are partly planned around nectar offers. I also buy a lot of frozen fruit and veg, it's not quite the same but it keeps some costs down on mid week meals and in sauces. You could swap meat for a couple of veggie meals, or do cheaper weekday breakfasts and lunches and then a bit spendier for the weekend. Doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach

They don’t keep the full saving they keep a portion of it - it provides them an incentive for longer term habit change and can be very successful.

I still think having your hair done and then asking people yo cut back food wise is ridiculous. When money is short treats have to go first!

Do the food shop in Lidl.

We saved about a third on our food bill doing that - and a third /half of our trolley is veg.

I'd also be asking DH for his suggestions as to where additional savings are coming from if he won't compromise. Or just hand him the family budgeting , refuse to compromise on your haircut s d see what happens.

You need to be on the same page. So both want to save money. And find a middle ground between freezer food and all fresh food. Have a common goal and a hoisehold budget, know where all the money is going!

If he's doing the cooking get him to set a reasonable budget snd stick to it.

Adding black beans to the meat for tacos is healthy abd stretches it out. More salad less meat etc etc.

Look at car insurance, streaming services etc for how to also save money, moneysuperket.com is excellent for this.

that type of freezer food isnt very nice anyway

look on good food website for budget meals

Check your online subscriptions in case you've left any running you no longer need. Or pause anything like Audible to give you a financial break.

Could you ask him to be involved in the meal plan and budgeting? We eat similarly to you in a budget of £500 per month. I'd like to bring that down further so thinking about introducing meat-free Monday' and 'soup Thursday' for example. The rest of the days we'll continue to eat as we were.
There are some fantastic cheap but tasty options. Especially summery foods that can still be home made. Chicken skewers with homemade wedges and salady bits, quiche, new potatoes and salady bits. Pasta bake.
With your son can you compromise and perhaps send him in with £3/day with snacks and a drink?

What’s in your freezer….. beige food or real food?

I would make a list of everything that is in the freezer and use up one or two items most days, supplemented with fresh food.

and not go overboard with the various presents, especially Fathers Day which can just be something symbolic or homemade.

Did you miss the part where they're spending £800 a month on food? I don't think they're in any danger of skipping meals for a haircut.

I think this thread is really about you and DH not the food. How come he is not on board? Is it that he doesn't see the need to cut back? Is it that he thinks a month is too draconian? What would be rather cut back on if he does see the need? It sounds like food has become the battleground.

£5 a day for lunch is crazy. You don’t specify what that covers but I have a DC in sixth form and they get £3 a day. The expensive inclusive school lunch at their previous private was £3.50 and that was expensive.

who is the other adult? That’s quite important!

I’d be miserable eating fish fingers/chips/nuggets etc for a month and I think many other people would be too. Surely there’s a middle ground, food wise?

How much of the £800 is going on drinks? Juices, fizzy, alcohol etc.

I wouldn’t want to give up eating like that to live off nuggets for a month.

But I wouldn’t want box-dyed hair either.

It does sound like you expect DH to compromise on what he loves, cooking, but you won’t compromise on what you love, nice hair. Why should he if you won’t?

Something’s got to give somewhere. Why does affording the events necessitate living off gruel for a whole month – can’t you spread the cost of weddings and Father’s Day and whatnot over a few months? Agree on once-a-week vegetarian day, once-a-week freezer food. Sell some stuff on eBay, Vinted, Music Magpie. Or accept that your lifestyle is out of reach of your income.

I wouldn't want to eat shite for a month either!

What's going to cost so much on father's day? DH just has a card and I make a roast.

This solution to this depends on the wider situation really - is this a case of this month you are spending more than your usual disposable income , if so then can you just dip into savings to make up the shortfall, or do you need to rethink your overall budget because you are spending beyond your means ?

I'd go to your local supermarket and get what you can that you would normally eat in the reduced section (get more where you can), freeze it then defrost as needed and voila fresh food.

In fairness, a month of "freezer food" as you've described sounds quite unhealthy. I can't blame him for not wanting to do it. Just on a health point of view, despite me loving a good haircut and colour, I'd stay with the cut and leave the colour then spend it on fresh food. Or maybe grow some of your own, look at shelves at end of day in supermarkets as there's loads of bargains on fresh food.