How much do you spend

[tidytidy]

A week on food, clothes and petrol?

I'm trying to introduce a vegetarian meal once a week. DH is ok with it but my 8 year old feels seriously short changed if dinner has no meat or fish

I suppose if you order online you would know. I shop as I need it.

Plus I have a freezer and store cupboard that could see us through a mini ice age.

Roast chicken-

I would eat a drumstick, OH likes a thigh, other adult also eats a drumstick,DD eats a thight, DS eats half a breast. So after a roast dinner I have one and a half breasts left, plust all the tasty bits- wing meat, back meat. More than enough for a second meal.

I just read my post back and to be clear, I was not implying that anyone who can't make a chicken last for more than one meal must be eating too much, I was really just musing about the fact that obviously in our house we don't eat as much meat as others do, that's all.

Family of 5 (3 teenagers who eat a lot). I'm trying to behave and this week budgeted £10 a day for food and cleaning stuff. I now have £45 left for 4 days. But I have to get cat litter, milk/bread top ups out of this too. Even though I blew a tenner on 12x beer I'm doing alright!

Diesel about £20 per month, buses about £10.

Clothes??!! No idea. I spent £750 on one jacket for me - ONE! This time last year. I'm usually a lot cheaper.

With regard to the magic chicken, we just buy a normal Sainsbury's chicken. We just don't eat huge amounts of meat at each meal.

We have a Sunday roast - DH has a leg, then the DDs and I have a few slices of breast meat each with veg, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and stuffing and gravy

On Monday we'll have the same portions as above with mashed/jacket/new potatoes and salad or veg

I then pick it apart and usually get enough off it to make a chicken and veg pie

Our bill comes in around £70, I don't scrimp and I'm not particularly frugal.

Don't worry treacle. You came across just fine and given me food for thought.

I'm also doing the veggie day thing too. Sadly my dc don't eat fish do that cuts down options yoo

I'm quite surprised that most posters spend more on food than me, but much less on clothes. When there are 4 of us at home the bill goes from 80 to £90 but we eat very well. Maybe it is because I don't include wine or dog food in this?

Well we obviously eat more chicken than most when we roast ours. I have half a breast as I am not a huge fan of roast chicken, but the rest of the family love roast chicken. Ds1 has a full leg and a slice of breast, DS2 has the wings and a slice of breast, DH has a full leg and a slice of breast (sometimes 2 slices). which really only leaves the other breast for carving up and making a few sandwiches for packed lunch the next day.
I could boil up the carcass but it would only be useful for making stock which isn't a meal. There is never enough left on the carcass for making pies or pasta dishes as the DC stand picking at the carcass after I have carved the chicken and am dishing up the food.
None of us are overweight and we never eat the chicken skin.

Stinkle same here....my chickens come from Aldi...my sister gets hers from Asda and claims that one chicken is bald of meat after a roast lunch.

I save a fortune shopping online as I stick to a list. Its as much as 20 quid less.

I don't think we are huge meat portion eaters either but I don't think one chicken drumstick or one thigh as a portion would impress any of my family!

tinkerbell- I guess it what you are used to. My family don't enjoy eating large amounts of meat- a drumstick is as much as I would want. I always offer seconds to everyone but there are usually no takers. We do load up on veggies and other things though.

Inthedark I'm cross with you now. Why did you have to mention chicken skin?! I want some now!

Mmmmm. Crispy Chicken skin. DD and I fight over it when the chicken comes out of the oven.

I am literally dribbling now damn you

Sorry to all who are now craving chicken skin. I would gladly have you over to dinner to eat all of the chicken skin in my house.

Ds likes crispy chicken skin

What time should I get there inthedark?

We probably spend about £100 a week on food for all of us - 2 adults, 3 kids, 1 cat and a small flock of sheep that are eating hay and hard feed at the moment.

I fill my car up once a month, which costs £95 to fill. We live out in the sticks so any trip out is a proper trip. My husband has a company car so pays a certain amount per month towards private mileage.

Clothes I have no idea as I just buy them when we need them. School uniforms for my two DDs last them all year, apart from shoes which is probably twice a year and my DS's nursery jumper is given free each Christmas! Added to that are clothes for their various activites; judo, swimming, horse riding, Forest School. I try to buy a lot of those sorts of things 'pre-loved' as they are often in excellent condition and a fraction of the price. School uniforms I buy from M&S when they have their 20-30% off sales in the summer. Shoes are all from Clarks, wellies are usually Sainsburys or Joules (from their outlet or in the sales) and they all have a pair of Crocs in the summer. We do a lot of outdoors stuff so high quality warm/wet gear is essential and I don't stint on that at all.

We don't really drink and we don't smoke so our outgoings are fairly minimal. DH also works long hours and I have auto-immune conditions that prevent me from getting out as much as I'd like. We tend to visit friends as a family, or have people to ours to entertain, which is a lot cheaper than going out to the pub or restaurants.

so what exactly is wrong with a decent meat portion? Plenty of goodness and it fills you up. I think it's generally carbs people eat too much of.

I spend probably £120 for four and I went to Aldi today although I will have to go and get a couple of extra things they didn't have. For me personally I find Sainsbury's massively expensive (although it does depend on what individuals buy). I find Morrisons reasonable also.

We spend about £100 on the 'main' shop and then another £20 on bits we forgot. My sister is always complaining about how much they spend on food but doesn't meal plan. She once had seven jars of marmalade in the cupboard - this type of waste drives me made. We have one jar, will replace when finished!!

Clothes - no set budget just buy as and when. Probably £300 for me per year and £150 for the kids (they get hand me downs and presents)

Petrol about £80-£100 per month.

Oh, and we grow our own fruit in the summer (apples, pears, raspberries) and some of our own veg (lettuce, french beans etc). We also butcher our lambs for our own meat. We sell some of them to friends and family and keep one for ourselves for the freezer. We are getting chickens in the spring so that'll cut down on our egg bill - we go through a lot of them with all our baking!

What time should I get there inthedark

Sunday at 5ish, if you try to take the wings though ds2 might possibly kill you (it's the only bit of skin that you can't have)

This is useful for knowing what portion sizes should be;

www.healthyeating.org/Portals/0/Gallery/Album/Healthy%20Eating/portion%20size%20hand.JPG