to ask what your family eats?

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

The thing is, I have realised, is that talking about dollars/pounds is a bit meaningless, because it's not a straight conversion. Food is more expensive in Australia, and the dollar is really strong against the pound so in pound terms, my food budget has doubled in the last year, but I'm spending the same actual dollars, iyswim. Also we don't have much price difference between supermarkets (near-monopoly situation) and no BOGOF offers, so I have hardly any control over the actual cost of things.

So can I tell you what we actually eat, and can you tell me if it's on a par with what you eat or if I'm wildly extravagant? All food cooked from scratch unless specified.

This week is probably a bit more frugal than usual, because I'm trying hard, but not far off the norm.
Friday night: rotisserie chicken, cherry tomatoes, Brie and crackers, canned lychees. This is our post-supermarket-shop supper meal; this week just DH and DD, I was out.
Saturday breakfast: french toast with bacon and onion. Lunch: something my DH calls bobo, which is mince and rice and bits of vegetables simmered together. Dinner: 1.2kg pork roast with potatoes and carrots and pumpkin. Half the pork went to leftovers.
Sunday breakfast: boiled eggs for DD and me, muesli for DH. Lunch: leftover chicken from Friday, salady bits. Dinner: beef stirfry with rice, baby corn, beansprouts and sugar snap peas. Peach and strawberry crumble; the topping was a failed flapjack attempt mixed with flour and spread on top.
Monday dinner: chicken curry with potatoes, peas and cauliflower with rice.
Tuesday dinner: soup made from leftover roast meat and vegetables with pearl barley and more root veg added.
Wednesday dinner: cheese and cauliflower pie.
Thursday dinner: special fried rice with diced leftover roast pork, shrimp and spring onions.

Weekday breakfasts are toast (us) and porridge (DD). Lunches are sandwiches or leftovers from dinner. Puddings and snacks are fresh fruit or popcorn, I think we have a little bit of vanilla ice cream in the freezer as well. No chips or sweets in the house apart from that. DH drinks nice squash or fruit juice, I drink water, DD is allowed one small fruit juice a day and is still young enough to have quite a lot of milk.

What does your family eat?

Breakfasts - cereal everyday. Occasionally porridge or eggs at the weekend. Bacon only if guests are here.

Lunches - sandwiches, wraps, bagels with ham, cheese and salad.

Dinners - this week we'll have chilli pork x 2, olive chicken x 2, soya mince spag bol x 2 and fish, baked potato and salad. All meals are padded out with veg like peppers, carrots, brocolli, courgettes.

Other dinners are usually a mixture of meat and veg with rice, pasta or potatoes (lots of curries). All from scratch. No dairy as dh is lactose intolerant.

Snacks and suppers - fruit.

Dcs have fromage frais.

We all drink water and i drink tea.

Food generally.

I have managed to wean them off cardboard and grass.

I am currently trying to cut costs as we were spending a ridiculous amount on food previously, and have started going to Aldi, Lidl, local butchers shops for meat and the local market for fruit/veg.

For breakfast each day, DH usually has toast, I have a couple of Ryvitas with marmite and followed by a banana, DD1 has a breakfast bar as she leaves early for school and eats on the bus, and the 2 youngest have cereal or sometimes scrambled egg on toast. For lunches the other 4 have sandwiches, a yoghurt, fruit, crisps etc, and I have quorn sausages with beans, or cottage cheese and salad (I'm doing WW) or a Weightwatchers ready meal.

Evening meals that we have are:

Shepherds pie made with steak mince or Quorn
Chilli made with steak mince or Quorn
Beef casserole
Chicken casserole
Shepherdess Pie (basically shepherds pie with beans/veg replacing meat)
Pasta bake
Roasts
Homemade quiche with wedges and salad/veg
Baked potatoes with beans/cheese/salad

Snacks are things like toast, crumpets, mini pancakes, yoghurts, fruit, veg sticks, cheese sticks, breadsticks, cheese and crackers, crisps, chocolate bars, dried fruit etc

Your menu doesn't sound too extravagant, as you are using up leftovers and things like that.

However, it is a very British menu. What I would strongly advise is to talk to some of your Australian friends and the Australian mumsnetters. Things that are ordinary here and expected to be cheap are not the same in other countries, including Australia.

When I lived in Australia, for example, I used to save a lot of money by buying in bulk. This is easy there, as ordinary supermarkets stock large sizes, and most people have large freezers. People tend to cook more from scratch too, so very few ready meals are available. I was shocked when I first came to the UK and found everything very expensive as I was trying at first to shop and cook as I did in Australia, it was difficult to buy in bulk, and freezers here tended to consist of the tiny freezer box on the top of the fridge as there's no space for anything else. I've never managed to find a supermarket where you can buy a 2 litre bottle of plain white vinegar. It's probably something you have to get off the Internet.

Anyway, I don't know where you are in Oz - in the country it's easier to, for example, buy a whole sheep for the freezer, but assuming you are in the city, hit the markets. Buy a tray of tomatoes at the end of the day and make pasta sauces. Grow your own fruit and vegetables. If you are in a suburb where they allow this, get a few chooks. Eat more mediterranean style with lots of pasta and/or Chinese/Malay style with rice as the main ingredient. Most Australian cities have thriving Chinese/Malay/Vietnamese areas where you can get ideas, (not to mention the huge Italian and Greek areas) and it's a lot easier to get the ingredients (and bulk sacks of rice/large cans of olive oil etc) from normal non/specialist supermarkets.

Eat more fish and seafood and remember the fish is different there, don't look for familiar fish like cod and plaice and pollack which even if you can find it, will be pricy. Learn to fish/go crabbing as a fun family thing on the
weekend!

Buy a couple of Australian recipe books such as Stephanie Alexander's Cooks Companion, the Women's Weekly ones or maybe a couple of magazines such as Australian Table. Australians LOVE food, and like to eat well.

Not all of this will work for you, but hopefully some of it should. And I thing you made the right idea to prioritise your hair.

I am in Australia too - Melbourne. I could have huge shopping bill every week too but have really tried hard to get it down.

I do all of my meat shopping at the Queen Victoria markets and buy in bulk. It is so much cheaper than the supermarkets and I think the quality is so much higher too. I think I recall you are in Adelaide, have you shopped at the central markets? I also try to buy bulk items like potatoes and onions there too as I cook with them a lot too. This is great if you have plenty of storage space and a chest freezer.

We have Costco here too so I tend to bulk shop there to for all pantry items. Whenever my Mum goes to Adelaide she stocks up at a place called Gaganis which is a wholesale market which sells in bulk. She lives 4hrs away so doesn't get there very often.

I also try to sneak in a couple of cheap meals a week like quiche or jacket potatoes. Usually meat free and easy too.

The rest of my shopping tends to be at Coles which is bloody expensive too. We are a family of 5 and it is only going to get more pricey!

I think the cost of food has gone up a lot. My shopping bill has gone up by £20/£30 a week for 5 of us. And that with only one in nappies now.

Like you I cook from scratch most days, but now I'm including meals like cheaper meals like

Egg & chips
Jkt pots and filler
Pasta with plain Tom sauce.

I don't think you can reduce unless you start buying ready made meals.

I now make sure I use up all leftover or freezer for another day.

We spend around £150 a week for 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats; however DH has gf/cf diet so his food is quite expensive.

Breakfast - DH has a cooked breakfast, the DC have porridge and smothies, I have toast

Lunch - packed lunches for DC - sandwiches, carton of juice, flapjack, fruit. DH greedy bugger has a salad, soya yogurt, soya milk, fruit, gf/cf biscuits, crisps. I'll have a sandwich crips and a biscuit

Dinner is usually a casserole in the slow cooker; spag bol; cottage pie; curry etc

Saturdays we have soup for lunch and steak and chips for dinner

Sundays we have a roast for sunday lunch and then something like baked potatoes for dinner.

No real set pattern here, but all cooked from scratched (no choice in that due to DDs my own intolerances) & we are also pescetarian, so eat none of the meats, only fish & veg

breakfast will usually be eggs of some sort for DD, seeded egg-bread, omelette, & sometimes banana pancake (the indonesian breakfast , that I think you might eat out in Oz too?) for me usually porridge with linseed, DH has his own cereals

Lunch, for DH will either be last nights left overs, or sandwiches which he takes to work as a pack up, for me it varies, but often a baked potato & bit of salad, & DD has sushi, some sort of wrap or occasional sandwiches, with a tub of chopped veg/salad & & tub of fruit

& during the course of the week our evening meal, which is always our main meal, will be anything from Fish & vegetables, mushroom, fish or cheese risotto, veg or tuna curry, various stir fry fish, prawn or veg with some sort of nuts,stews such as pescetarian Irish stew, fish stew, etc occasionally pasta, salmon/pine nut penne, lentil lasagne etc etc.....

meals that freeze well, such as curries, chilli, stews etc I always make in large batches (never costs much extra to do that) & freeze - these are our ready meals, night I'm to knacked to cook

We always have a decent Sunday Lunch, left overs can end up as Sunday tea, or DHs Monday work lunch.

Generally I keep a store cupboard of rices, grains etc etc & cook according to whats in the fridge & needs using up veg/cheese wise, use frozen fish & I buy seasonally & shop around & have a bit of routine as far as where I go to shop for bargains, which helps keep the cost down, - I also will make a cake, flapjaks etc for packed lunches.

Generally our food bill is pretty low & we still eat well, but it does take some effort, but I enjoy cooking so its not such a chore, & as I said, don't really have a choice

Ooh, yes, and if you are in Oz you can save on wine by buying cleanskins.

It sounds lovely, OP. We eat probably too much meat too, but DH loves it - however as we are on a budget now and as I rule I only buy happy meat, I asked him to choose from a list of veggie recipes I found, and we try and have at least one veggie day a week.

This is our menu for dinners this week:

Monday - Spring vegetable stir fry (mushrooms, leeks, potato, petits pois etc mixed up in a sauce made from tarragon, cider and stock) with noodles

Tuesday - roast chicken with all the trimmings

Wednesday - Pasta in tomato & mustard sauce with leftover chicken and some veg on the side

Thursday - salmon, with instant rice (I know, I know.. but I work on a Thursday and it has to be quick!) and frozen veg

Friday - bacon, beans, scrambled egg & toast

Saturday - takeaway or eat in a cafe (usually fortnightly)

Sunday - paella (from a mumsnet recipe!)

Breakfasts tend to be cereal, toast and fruit.

Lunches are sandwiches, or soup, or leftover meals, or eggs, or pancakes - just quick/cheap things really.

Also I find meal planning (as above) has helped in terms of cost, but I find it pays not to meal plan on the day we shop or the day after as there are often things reduced as they are nearly at their sell by date - I can usually throw a quick meal together from reduced section things!

Tortoise, I was thinking of you when I did an online shop yesterday and it came to $160! the only meat was a bit of chicken, there were no cleaning products, hardly any snacks, no nap pies or wipes. The only extravagant thing was some frozen raspberries. Usually, I could have got more for that amount at but dh is away and kids are sick so I thought I would order from woolies. I really don't think you can get your budget down much from $200.

More for that amount at aldi, I was trying to say

We usually have a veggie soup once a week ( only way to get dh to eat vegetables) as a cheap meal. Pasta with cheese and a tomato and onion salad is another one. My favorite is my version of a shaksouka - garlic and chilli flakes fried in a bit of oil, put in a tin of tomatoes and then poach some eggs in it. We alternate those sort of meals with meat and fish.

Porridge, muesli or cereal most of the time for breakfast.

Sarnies & leftovers most of the time for lunch.

Potatoes + 5 veg + a meat portion most of the time for tea.

I don't spend much on food, but I live alone with my 5 year old, so we don't need much. Also, we have a roast dinner at my parents' house every Sunday, so I never buy big joints of meat. Last week we had:

Monday - Tuna pasta (cheapest meal ever! - we always have a small-ish dinner on a Monday because we have a huge meal on Sundays.)

Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolgnese (which we both had for lunch the following day)

Wednesday - Chinese chicken and noodles

Thursday - Fishcakes, chips and salad

Friday - Sausage and mash

Saturday - Bits and pieces, DD chooses her own dinner, this week it was houmous, veg sticks, pitta bread, ham and cheese

Sunday - Roast at parents' house

Breakfast is always cereal and/or toast, DD has a packed lunch and I work from home so usually have a sandwich/salad or leftovers from the night before.

I buy supermarket own-brand products, and shop around for cheap deals and offers. I also stock up when something is reduced or BOGOF.

I think everyone has said this but
lunch is almost always either sandwiches or soup,or if we have them leftovers

2/3 nights a week non meat eg - jacket pots, pasta and tuna, eggs maybe

Hecate, there are no bones if you use the tail end portion of salmon. I go to a fishmonger and get a few child's portions of tail end and maybe another child's finger portion further in and freeze.

I'm in Australia too so I know how you feel about the prices! Apparently my local Woolies is the most expensive one in NSW - gulp!

I tend to scour the catalogues from the 4 local supermarkets (we have Coles, IGA, Franklins and 2 x Woolies) and shop around to get the good 'specials'. I get most of my meat from the IGA as I prefer it to the Woolies stuff. What I tend to do is buy stuff that's on special - so one week I'll buy shitloads of chicken breasts and freeze them. Then the next week it'll be pork steaks. That kind of thing.

At the moment, my grocery shopping is around $900 per month (me, DH, 7.5yr old DD1 and 21mth old DD2) but I do need to cut it down.

It's hard, though, when the basics have skyrocketed - the other week, potatoes were $4.99/kg but this week they're on special for $1.99 (at the IGA that is). 16pk of loo roll was $8, then rocketed up to $11.50 and now it's been 'knocked down' to $10 or thereabouts... so they tell us they're knocking down prices but they're still more expensive than 18 months ago.

Also, I used to use a fair amount of Value/HomeBrand products when I was in the UK. But I've found that a lot of the value lines here are absolute shite. The quality is lacking and often I've found that they're MORE expensive than whatever named brand is on special. So frustrating!

Have you got an Aldi near you? I know they're running a bunch of adverts at the moment saying how much cheaper they are, and one of my friends at school shops there most of the time and says it's great. I really ought to give it a go!

As for my weekly menus, I'm so dull with mine and probably still very 'English' in terms of what we eat (been in Sydney 5 years now)... and still even buy the Heinz "English Recipe" baked beans LOL

We've recently started menu planning, which helps cut down on food wastage, and mean that I actually know what we eat. I try to make enough so that we can have leftovers for lunch during the week. I spend loads on food, especially meat (as I buy free range/organic). I tend to use a little meat and loads of veg to make everything go much, much further.

Last week's menu:

Sunday: breakfast?bagels, scrambled eggs and bacon; lunch?roast beef sandwiches; dinner: sausages, mash, carrots, buttered leeks, broccoli; flapjacks.

Monday: breakfast?cereal; lunch: Sunday's leftovers; dinner?shepherd's pie, green beans.

Tuesday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Monday's leftovers; dinner?filled pasta with roast tomatoes and bread (I was away, so DH 'cooked' this).

Wednesday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?more of Monday's leftovers; dinner?spinach and ricotta puff pastry roll, roast tomatoes, salad and sweetcorn.

Thursday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Wednesday's leftovers; dinner?risotto with chicken wrapped in bacon, garlic bread.

Friday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Thursday's leftovers; dinner?fish and chips.

Saturday: breakfast?American pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and eggs; lunch?soup and bread; dinner: lamb koftas, pitta bread, roast tomatoes, peppers and onions and rosemary potatoes; baked cheesecake.

This week's menu:

Sunday: breakfast?bacon and egg breakfast burritos; lunch?ham sandwiches ('nice' ham and 'nice' bread ) with salad and fruit; dinner?toad in the hole, onion gravy, roast potatoes, carrots and curly kale; chocolate brownies.

Monday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Sunday's leftovers; dinner?lasagne with garlic bread.

Tuesday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Monday's leftovers; dinner?pasta with chorizo.

Wednesday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Tuesday's leftovers; dinner?spinach and ricotta puff pastry roll, roast tomatoes, green beans and salad.

Thursday?breakfast: cereal; lunch?Wednesday's leftovers; dinner?chicken quesidillas and sweetcorn.

Friday: breakfast?cereal; lunch?Thursday's leftovers; dinner?fish and chips.

Saturday: breakfast?bagels with scrambled eggs; lunch?quiche, salad and fruit; dinner?pork in cider, mash, carrots, broccoli; sticky toffee pudding.

Tigurr - aldi is fantastic! The chocolate ( moser Roth), nappies and wipes are better and cheaper than anywhere. They have quite a bit of organic stuff too. Only their pasta isn't great. I was really upset doing my online shop at how much the cornflakes and rice cost at woolies, compared to aldi. But there's no way I'm dragging feverish children through aldi.

OK, we're veggie, but for a comparison (and maybe some ideas)

Friday: Toad in the hole with cauliflower and broccoli

Saturday: Roasted vegetable pasta bake

Sunday: Feta,squash and caramelised onion tart, roast potates, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots

Monday: Tofu and mushrooms in peanut sauce with noodles

Tuesday: Lentil soup and bread (I make it thick and filling!)

Wednesday: Red pepper and olive pie with spinach salad, raspberry pavlova (had dinner with friends, hence second pie-type thing this week)

Thursday: Leftover lentil soup with pasta

Friday: Vegetable crumble with jacket potates

Lunches are sandwiches or leftovers, breakfast is usually toast, occasionally scrambled eggs or beans on toast at weekends.

I try and buy veg at the market if there's time; it's cheaper and fresher.

How much do you spend on food each month Tortoise - is it really more than in the UK? UK prices have shot up and I spend £600 - £700 per month for 3 of us incl all lunches. I think this is substantially more than the $900 Tigurr is spending but have no idea if we are comparing like for like?

Clearly some folk in the UK manage to spend significantly less than I do - I buy organic meat and dairy.

What yummy grub some of you have. Anyway here goes and before you comment we are all within our BMI's. I think two teenagers in the the house explains it.

Sat: dd and I, cheese and tomatoes on toast respectively. DH and DS - breakfast bars (box) and two cartons of juice on way to football. Luch was cheese and crackers and soup but the DS also had a double fried egg sandwich when he got back. Dinner was chicken breasts with rice, chorizo, green olives and red kidney beans with salad.

Sun: dd and I cheese and tomatoes on toast respectively. DH and DS another box of breakfast bars and two cartons on juice - this time on way to rugby. Late lunch was pot roast beef joint, new pots roasted, yorkies, broc and sugar snaps with a winey rich gravy.

Over the w/e dh had two large bottle of English Inda Ale and two stellas and I shared a bottle of white on Friday with a friend and had a couple of glases of red on Saturday - rest went in the pot roast.

Over the w/e the children ate: 6 mivis, 6 bags McCoys, 2 packets jelly squirms, one camembert, 1 box biscuits for cheese, 1 carton OJ, 1 carton pomegranate juice, 1lb grapes, 4 bananas, 4 sausage rolls. On top of that I baked a large 12 portion cake for dd to take to school to raise money for Japan today.

Monday: Breakfast - DC had hot dogs - I know I know.
I had a poached egg. DC have school lunches and I took a salad nicoise to work. For dinner the DC had pizzas and salad and I had two slices of left over beef with a salad. (Rest of beef will be made into cottage pie and frozen for next week)

Tuesday - much the same (finish the hot dogs). For dinner smoked haddock, poached egg, saute pots and green beans.

Weds: Breakfast back to cereal or toast, etc. Home-made beefburgers, salad and small jackets.

Thurs: Large jackets with tuna and salad.

Friday: Fish fillet, chips and peas.

The DS will also devour slices of toast and nutella when he gets home - finish pretty much what is left in the fridge and I will probably buy a box of eclairs and some ice-cream on the way home. Add to that lot a bottle of elderflower cordial, a bottle of squash and four bottles of fizzy water and not a lot will touch the sides except a bag of satsumas and a bag of apples!!!

The DH is abroad Mon to Fri so that cuts it down a bit.

with toiletries and cleaning stuff on top I manage to get through about 600 UK pds a month providing we don't entertain. Admittedly I shop at Sainsbury's and because it's convenient and on the way home from work at Waitrose for top ups during the week.

All I can say is I am so jealous of all of you! Your meals are seriously creative