...to doubt posters who say they feed a family of four on £50/week

[twofingerstoGideon]

I'm really broke myself, so I'd love to believe this is true, but that works out at £1.78 per person per day (£50 divided by 7 days divided by 4 people).

Some people go even further and say they 'run their household' on this amount, implying that they manage all bills, buy loo rolls, cleaning products, sometimes even nappies, etc., for fifty quid.

I'm really good at budgetting, freecycling, buying second hand etc., but I can't help feeling a bit about some of these claims. It's just a kind of one-downmanship, isn't it?

(Awaits flaming...)

Yanbu but my sister spends £40-£50 on food each week for her family of four but her kids go to their dad's two or three evenings a week. I spend £100 per week on a family of six.

Ps. We could spend way less but we like to eat ethically reared meat and some organic veg and fruit.

Don't know really - usually our weekly shopping comes in at 50 - 60 quid for 2 adults, a 4 year old and a 2 year old. This includes cleaning products and toiletries but not nappies or pepsi...it can be done.

i can do a weekly shop on £35 for 2 adults, 1 dc and 2 guinea pigs if I am really tight and put my mind to it.

There are ways of doing everything!

I think these are the things people forget about... the evenings family members don't eat at home, the school dinners (sometimes free).

What sort of food does your sister eat? Do you think they eat a balanced diet for that amount? Fruit, etc., is so expensive...

I think you can do it, but not on food that I or my kids would want to eat! I've known people to feed their kids boiled pasta with nothing on it etc. I wish my food bill could be anything like that amount, but it's not!

Sorry, that question was for FlamingBingo.

BonkeyMollocks, I could do that, too, but I couldn't sustain it over a period of several months.

it can be done - especially if it means only food, not other stuff such as toiletries.

it means that you bulk-buy stuff, you shop around, you buy in season, you don't have snacks other than made yourself (a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar adds up)

I am a bit dubious too, some weeks I could manage it quite easily, if it were just food. But weeks where I need to top up on soap powder, shampoo, need new toothbrushes etc, I would invariably go over that amount.

I did find that our shopping was a lot lower when I was on Maternity leave though, because I had more time I shopped around more, all fruit ad veg was from the local market, other bits and pieces from the pound shop etc. Even with nappies nad formula I found we were only spending around £45 most weeks. Now I am back at work and can't be bothered don't have the time to shop around as much, it's risen.

I spend £250 a month for 4. That includes nappies, formula, toiletries, cleaning stuff, cat and dog food. We eat fresh fruit and veg every day and a lot of fresh meat too.

I feed 2 adults and a 3 year old on about £50 a week, incl cleaning products. It involves lots of meal planning, making things that can be used for a couple of nights, own brand stuff, stocking up when things are on offer etc

My average weekly shop is £50.
I meal plan, that does dh and ds's lunboxes.
Includes all toiletries and cleaning stuffs.

two I bet if you are in a position where you have no choice you could! Its how I learnt! Somethings just have to be done because there is no choice.

it must be just value food, not big portions and no junk food, booze etc and they must drink mostly tap water and value tea.

I think people can do it, but only if they are prepared to put time, effort and petrol into it. I freelance which means I'm very aware of what my time is worth - I don't mean that to sound like my time's worth more than other people, just that for every hour I spend shopping, I could be earning £x. I wouldn't be able to save enough on my shopping to justify spending the whole day doing it.

Although do accept we could eat less meat (I am very fussy about only eating good meat, my DH likes to eat meat a lot, so that adds up) which would cut our bills a lot.

I also think people 'forget' about odd top-up shops: a pint of milk here and there, the forgottten loaf of bread...

(Still dubious.)

I used to seriously doubt it too until I discovered Lidl. If you make your own bread (bread flour 58p for 1.5 kg) and ate meals centred around things like rice, pasta, potatoes, home made pizza, chilli, etc, you can definitely do it. Nappies are £5 for a large packet there (and they are nice ones!) Their vegetables are lovely too.

People on here who shop at Aldi seem to have similar experiences.

Alls bits would be a bit of a stretch though. You'd have to be a bit of a budgetting legend to manage that.

Excluding baby milk just now I do this. And yes that includes toothpaste and bleach and all that stuff.

It's not rocket science but I can't be ducked getting involved, having been called a liar many times over on threads like this.

I was going to copy down my receipt once but can't be bothered!

Plan, plan and accept branded products are few and far between. I allocate a fiver of that a week for household and toiletries, as obviously you don't buy it all at once.

Totally possible to do this and eat healthily but plenty of people will be along to tell you otherwise!

My dad is the master of this. He plans meals for the week. Each day is allocated a meal, Sat isegg and chip night so I visit then. :)
It was odd growing up not being able to eat allocated food. We just had no crap in the house. We got our meals and the odd packet of crisps. Kept us becoming fat.
The blw's wouldn't have fun, no choice, just eat it or eat nothing. :)

All BILLS. Bah.

BonkeyMollocks I have frequently been in that position, but found it unsustainable over the long term. As someone mentioned above, as soon as your toothbrushes need replacing, you've buggered that week's budget.

There's only 3 of us but a week's shop costs around £35. But we shop in Lidls

We spend around £60 on a family of 4 + a dog.

I have a cash and carry card so buy things like loo roll, dog food, etc in bulk

I enjoy cooking and baking so most meals are from scratch and we have a lot of homemade cakes, etc.

Fruit & veg I get from the market and is really nice and really cheap

Meat is quite cheap at our farmer's markets and fish straight from the fishermen

I shop around a lot, I don't get everything from 1 supermarket

It's totally possible to do it without resorting to plain pasta or cheapo freezer food! It's just down to meal-planning, not wasting food and shopping in Aldi. Although when Ocado are kind enough to send me a money off voucher I can get the shopping delivered by them for the same price. If you have to then you find a way.

Wilson that's totally right. Going to Aldi saves me twenty quid and takes 40 minutes door to door. Including time in shop. It's so wee compared to the massive shops. My time is worth that. I don't get that at work! Add another 10 minutes a week for planning it's worth the effort to me.

No top ups here. 2l of milk is 85p in Aldi compared to 1.65 round the corner. I'd be mad not to buy enough!

I do it, at the minute we're 5 but includes 3 children. I buy value everything, cheap meat, don't eat meat every day and buy whatever fruit is on offer. We eat frozen/tinned veg/fruit.

I batch cook and freeze individual portions - seems to stretch further. There's no drink included in the budget. My husband works shifts but the £50 or slightly under would include his packed lunches, and a meal before he goes in to work