To spend between £6 and £10 on the evening meal

[ShouldiWork]

We can 'afford' it - in the sense that all bills get paid on time etc - but I feel a bit sick when I tot up the months groceries - and I remember when I worked to a £2 per meal budget.

On the other hand - maybe it's what things cost now - and it seems a bit mean to scrimp on food for DH and DC - when the cash is there & DH works hard for it.

Example of recent shop

Fajitas is a really expensive meal! We love it but don't have it often as it's so expensive, or we go for a 'cheap version' which is mainly just chicken (1 breast between 2 of us) spices from the store cupboard, lots of peepers etc to bulk it out, wraps and maybe some sour cream or homemade guacamole.

I have never worked out what our meals cost individually but £6- £10 doesn't sound at all bad to me with the number of people you're feeding.

We eat vegetarian meals at least 3 times a week and meat every day is too expensive.

Gremlin that's pretty much the recipe we use too. I never buy the fajita kits, it's cheaper to just marinate the chicken yourself and buy cheap wraps. The salsa they put in is vile anyway!

For six people spag Bol I would spend 50p pasta , £2 mince , 50p lentils , 66p tinned tomatoes. I think your ingredients are expensive.

Very impressive truffle, what time did you shop?

six plus some veg? Plus seasoning/wine/tomato purée. And 50p is a bag and a half of value penne or 500g spaghetti. I could make it cheaper - but not by much - and it wouldn't be 'the same'.

I don't find discount shopping works for me - because normally the 'expensive' stuff is discounted iyswim. I rarely see 'normal' food marked down.

I did save money meal planning/batch cooking - but I'm trying to run down the freezer atm to do a full defrost - and that's pushing me to more 'quick' meals. The spice mix sounds fab. I won't use it this time - because I'm trying to reduce storecupboard load - and buying a whole jar of coriander and garlic powder would set me back - but it was def one of the things that made batch cooking cheap.

I feed 6, 5 of us being adult sized with big sporty appetites. I budget £20 a day, to include packed lunches and toiletries/cleaning stuff etc.

If we are having meat we use two of those Tesco packs, so £7. Sometimes, if i'm lucky there is a bit left for the next day's lunch.

As people have said on here, I mix the meaty days in with cheaper days. I would never buy something like a spice mix, ( for fajitas I use paprika, cumin and cayenne) or salsa or guacamole. But I am fortunate to have a magimix a
nd enough time to make stuff like that myself.

I recently found an old tesco receipt from five years ago. I was really shocked at all the stuff I would never buy now; expensive fresh juice, fresh berries, chops and other expensive cuts for midweek. I have gradually been cutting stuff without even realising it.

The only person who gets expensive food in this house is 14 month old DD. She loves raspberries so I buy her a punnet a week despite the price but I wouldn't pay that for fruit for me and DH! We have whatever is in season and on offer. Chicken thighs are much cheaper than breasts. We've still got a long way to go with meal planning and food budgeting but are much better than we used to be (when we had 2 high salaries and no DC!).

We are 4, the boys are young but have big appetites (not overweight in the slightest before anyone suggests it!).

I budget £140 for the week, £20 a day. That includes a good quality joint to roast on a Sunday, often £25-30 goes on that.

I buy free-range, local where I can, we eat very limited processed food. I'm happy with how much I spend, I would rather put good food into my family than have more money to spend on clothes or whatever.

I think so long as you can afford it it's fine. You know you can budget if you need to.

I spend about that and sometimes more for 7 of us, two of them teens.

I cooked a veg lasagne for tea tonight

It came to about £14 with the sides.

Add meat and it is more.

With teens who eat big portions and leftovers I think it is reasonable enough.

you pays your money and takes your choice!! So long as you are not scrimping on other essentials then it's okay for you

I dread to think how much I spend on groceries, but almost every meal is from scratch, decent quality veg and meat, nice bread, lovely fruit, nice wine..... it's difficult to say this without coming over as smug, but that is what matters to me, we don't run flash cars, we don't smoke, we don't go on long expensive holidays

We generally meal plan...usually four of us here, often dd is MIA. Grocery budget could be tighter, but unless we need to then we run as we are.

and great yellowstickerage up thread from trufflehunter Dh LOVES the reduced section...it's the Hunter Gatherer kicking in!

I never find guacamole to be cost effective to make at home. Especially when you only want a small portion.

Likewise salsa in winter. In summer, fresh salsa is fab.

To an extent my food spend has crept up as a trade-off to not having a cleaner. When I 'price' up convenience food, I also consider how many bowls and pans would be dirtied to cook from scratch.

OP, I don't understand why you say and it seems a bit mean to scrimp on food for DH and DC - when the cash is there & DH works hard for it. Why do you not include yourself in this?

Depends on whether it's every night or not. We can also afford to pay that much and so we do have more expensive meals e.g. good steak. madagascan tiger prawns, scallops... Yes I can feed us cheaply (and some of our meals are very cheap) but don't always choose to do so.
We don't spend our money on clothes, drink or gambling so feel comfortable with our choice of more expensive meals.

Nydj DH earns more money than I was raised with.

I find a lot of things about our lifestyle a bit uncomfortable - such as buying clothes new and eating out. However - I think the 'issue' with me - and I should try to balance natural thriftiness - with not actually spoiling the fun of our perfectly nice lifestyle.

Shouldi you're right it probably isn't completely cost effective to make guacamole at home... I just can't stand shop bought guacamole or salsa! I'd rather make fresh and scrimp on the ingredients elsewhere.

Salsa's not too expensive though is it? A few tomatoes, a red onion, bit of coriander, lime, chilli. I agree, I hate shop bought gloop and we treat salsa and guacamole more like sides than condiments so need larger quantities than you get in those little tubs.

Err - a few tomatoes - £1. coriander £1. Lime 40p. Chilli 40p. Plus you'll need some decent oil.

And this time of year tomatoes are nasty rock hard jobbies.

£1.50 supermarket salsa is cost effective for the time of year and the quantity required.

Tonight we have had homemade pizza; base from the breadmaker, homemade sauce, value mozzarella, salami, red onion, mushrooms, pepper. £5.50 tops I reckon and fed five of us. Much, much nicer than shop bought too.

Poverty ha a long lasting effect. The low cost meals blogger, Jack Monroe, has written about this here

I think this is what you are experiencing- you've spent a reasonable amount to feed six people (some would spend more, some would spend less, that's life).

Should well I'd normally use half of a 70p bunch of coriander, half of a 30p lime. Chillies are pennies and I never put oil in my salsa.

And I really don't like supermarket salsa.

We were never food poor growing up and it's the one thing my parents never scrimped on so it's not something I feel guilty about.

Although I did have a Tesco delivery saver and my weekly shop was coming in at around £110 plus bread and milk top ups in the week and the odd lunch for me. Oh and school dinners on top and 2dc who get fed at the CM or grans 3 nights a week. So easily £150 a week.

I don't think the cost of your actual meals are that expensive OP, I wouldn't think twice about a tenner for a family of 4.

Oh and I agree fajitas are bloody expensive and are essentially a glorified sandwich!

Tinkly I'm trying to train myself out of the 'half a bunch' costings.... Unless the meal planning is top notch - the other half rots (or at best, goes to the freezer).

Homemade pizza
£1 for base from the breadmaker
£ 1 homemade sauce (2 tins of toms plus veg & herbs)
£1.50 value mozzarella, (2 packs)
£1.50 salami,
40p red onion,
20p mushrooms,
60p pepper.

£5.50 tops I reckon and fed five of us. Much, much nicer than shop bought too.

I make that over £6 .

My crew would expect to see the tail end of the dough in doughballs with a garlic butter dip (50p) and a salad on the side (£2). And they'd look sad if a pizza supper didn't finish with Carte D'Or . Which obviously isn't an essential - but it shows how even a cheap meal mounts to £10 easily.

Rosy possibly.

We moved into this house 2 years ago - and we still don't have living room curtains because I wince at the cost - but it makes no sense because we're going on ££££ family holidays that DH pays for - and I think DH earns enough to reasonably expect to live in a house with curtains!