Need to get my shopping bill down, any ideas of cheap meals?

[elliejjtiny]

6 of us usually, do a roast dinner for 14 on Sunday. Shopping bill around £300. I normally do the same meals for dinner each week. Lasagne, spag bol, jacket potatoes with cheese/beans, frozen pizza, roast chicken, cottage pie, sausages and mash. Every dinner served with either salad or cooked veg. Dc go to breakfast club in term time, breakfast at home is usually toast and/or eggs. Pudding only on Friday. I am terrible at snacking in the evening so going to try and reduce that to save money.

Of course they need cabs and protein.... But they shouldn't be ploughing through more than 1 box of cereal, nearly 2 packs of biscuits each a week etc.

1 box of cereal for 6 people? Come on. I get 4 bowls out of the chocolate squares. They aren't big boxes I'm buying 🤣

I'm going to finish up here as I've taken on some great advice and feedback I will be making changes.

OP I'm sure you also will have plenty ideas to take on.

I didn't ever say that anyone else should eat/order the same as me. I never said I was healthy. I didn't pretend I spend £85 and not a penny more (and yes the free universal school dinners make this easier for me). It's a forum for sharing ideas and chat of course there will be variables. I understand that sugary cereal isn't the best but you would think it's worse than a cocaine addiction from some of the comments here. Good job I'm thick skinned. Hope everyone has a fab day (Coco Pops for breakfast or not 😁)

How does that relate to what I said?

Plus no mention of any toiletries or household cleaning, laundry products apart from one tube of toothpaste! So thats extra also.

There’s still about 12 portions in a box if it’s 370g

Meal plan. Do an inventory. Start using up everything you have. Make/bake snacks. Bulk out meals with grated veg / beans / lentils - red lentils (and pearl barley) will disappear in mince dishes.

Use the loyalty apps to your advantage. Buy discounted gift vouchers (do you have an employee discount scheme?). Buy seasonal veg & the lidl £2 veg boxes. Buy reduced goods at end of day & freeze. Buy squishy etc bananas cheap & freeze, great for making cakes, pancakes, flapjacks etc.

No not extra. I buy what I need each week with the £85-I didn't need much last week might buy washing tablets next week and no cans of coke for example so still works out roughly the same. It doesn't matter how much holes people want to pick out. I generally spend £85 a week. I buy cleaning products when I need them maybe once every few weeks. That's only one example from one week.

And the previous poster was working out the cost of school/nursery dinners to be helpful and make a comparison (I don't actually pay this so £175 isn't accurate for me personally).

This isn't a competition on who pays less. And I certainly didn't say it's £85 and no more I stated at the time I top up every week. I just genuinely pay a lot less than OP and eat less even with the top up take away added on.

Don't buy everything in one place, buy in bulk and where / when cheapest - esp cleaning products. Bulk out mince with all as suggested to use half as much mince.

Use the Trolley app & Hot UK Deals.

Not for me it's not. Each to their own 💗

I don’t think £300 a week is particularly crazy given there are 6 of you in the household with four teens. And it includes pet food and cleaning products. And you’re feeding 14 on the weekend!! We spend a similar amount if we have a family or two over for dinner once a week.

like pp have suggested, you need to replace meat and fresh veg with pasta, rice, potatoes, eggs, pulses if you want to reduce the cost. Less nutritious for the whole family though:

• spanish tortilla: potatoes, eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms, cheese. Top with salsa, serve with salad
• homemade potato and leek soup served with bread and cheese
• Risotto. Home made rice pudding is also cheap and easy to do (esp if you have a slow cooker)
• egg fried rice with whatever meat and veg leftovers you have thrown in
• ditto a ledtovwrs “paella” that isn’t really a paella: easy cook white rice, tin of tomatoes, stock, mixed dried herbs, onions and garlic, leftover meat and veg, throw it all in a frying pan and let it simmer until cooked

also buy cleaning products, toiletaries and pet food in bulk on Amazon

Edit - meant to quote @Mumstheword1983 "1/12 packet is not enough for me"

Or for a growing child. A standard 30g serving of cereal can be only 100cals or so and will keep no one filled up til lunch. I don't think a standard serving is meant to be a whole meal, any more than a 30g serving of bread (1 slice) is meant to.

At who are the additional 8 in a Sunday? Do they ever reciprocate? Can the bring a contribution?

No one eats 30g of cereal, the proposed 'serving size'. Come on!!!!

I'm keen to know this also. OP sounds very generous.

Beef mince, cheese and wash powder get em from Costco or similar.
we have seen at least a £40 saving per week because we have been buying meat from Costco in bulk and cheese - we portion it down and freeze it.
I’ve started making my own bread / cobs which is healthier! Freeze cobs for pack ups and get them out the night before so they are lovely and soft.

I do, every morning. It’s more balanced that I have fruit and yoghurt with nuts/seeds on the side than eating the 3 x portions of cereal that I actually want
I get that children are growing and eat more but a portion of cereal plus scrambled eggs/toast/yoghurt/fruit is better than 1/4 of a box of chocolate cereal

@Mumstheword1983 If you are interested in changing up your family’s eating habits, the food & recipes section here has plenty of threads around affordable, healthy family meals. There’s also a weekly meal plan thread that can be helpful for inspiration. The bbc good food site is great for recipes and off the top of my head I’d also recommend Taming Twins and recipe tin eats for quick and nutritious family meals.

I really don’t mean to put the boot in but I was shocked at the food you listed, especially since you’ve said you can afford to do better. There’s a lot of information out there that says the high sugar diet you’re providing to your dc is setting them up for poor health in their adult lives.

No one is arguing that the cereal is a great choice, no one has said that

Im challenging your point that its standard that people would get 12 portions out of a box, apart from you, no one else would

I dont even eat cereal but if I did 30g wouldnt be enough of course. People dont measure generally, they pour it out in the bowl and 30g looks like left overs.

I measure everything I eat for other reasons and 30g of nuts for example is a crying shame.

Most people would think thats about a quarter of a portion if they didnt measure it.

Thanks. I've never looked at that section. Will do.

Don't provide an extra 8 meals on Sunday, for a start.

Spaghetti carbonara, west African peanut stew with root veg, vegetable curry, chorizo and butter bean stew, mussels and part bake bread, spaghetti puttanesca are all very cheap and tasty.
I’d reduce beef mince. Turkey mince or chicken mince are much cheaper if lentils aren’t an option. If using chicken, you can get drum fillets. In Tesco or Aldi for half the price of thighs or breasts- good for stirfry, stews, pasta dishes.
Corned beef hash is cheap if you aren’t avoiding UPFs. Kedgeree is another cheap option, as are soups (pea and ham/bacon is easy, as is chestnut and bacon).

It sounds like what you eat is already quite cheap, apart from the 14 people on a Sunday.

Is it always the same 14 people who come, and is it every Sunday? Could they contribute to the meal, perhaps £5 per person? Could you alternate who cooks? Could someone bring dessert, or drinks each week to get the cost down?

Catering for 14 people every single week must cost a fortune! And you can't afford it - so it's not fair that you have to keep doing it!

Catering for 14 people every single week must cost a fortune! And you can't afford it - so it's not fair that you have to keep doing it!
this, and are there health/continence needs with 3 loads a day of washing? If so are you claiming all relevant benefits @elliejjtiny ?

Washing powder instead of tablets. Better for your machine too. (no idea why you need to do 21 loads of washing a week for 6 people)