To wonder if people actually spend 200+ on a weekly shop

[pleasemothermay1]

Watching eat well for less and I just can't believe people actually spend 200+ a week on a food shop

One lady was giving a teen 20 a week to get chips and chicken 😟

We have 6 in our family

One baby
One toddler
One teen
Me and hubby
And a cat

I spend £65 a week including nappies and toiletries

This gose up to £90 during holidays and the teen is eating at home not collage

It's mad what are these people feeding there kids

My children have breakfast lunch and dinner I don't encourage grazing all day they can have fruit in between meals and I cook from sctrach pretty much 5 days a week junk on a Saturday then roast on a Sunday

Pressure cooker is the other option. Bung the ingredients in and walk away.

Misery chicken

That's down with homeopathic bolognaise.

However I think we shouldn't be too snotty - in an ideal world yes everyone would buy corn fed free range from up the road but if you can't afford it and need to feed a family then it might be the best option.

Of course everyone will now tell me it's better to be veggie then...

No ... Roses casserole gets eating the next day ... Heated up

Every week now, we get posts from members with a fiver left to feed their kids on for a week - and then we get threads like this, in which others of us spend half the UK's per capita income at Waitrose.

The difference is, that those of us who spend a lot aren't telling those who don't spend a lot that they should be spending more. Whereas a number of those who spend relatively little are telling those of us that spend a lot that we are being 'wasteful' and need to shop more sensibly.

The thing is though that portion sizes differ from family to family. We are a larger family (2 adults 5 children) and I aim to keep the food bill around £200 per week. That doesn't include school dinners (which are another £60 per week) and toiletries etc.

I used to read larger family blogs for meal ideas and was horrified at the amount they were feeding (or not feeding!) their children. Half a bagel with cheese for lunch for a mid teen for example; there would be a riot in my house if I presented that for lunch, or omelette with one slice of toast. There is no way I would continue to have children if I couldn't afford to feed them properly.

Ah got it on roses and the re heated casserole.

My point om work timings remains the same though. If I get in from work at 730 or 8, I'm fucked if I'm spending 3hours cooking and getting things out of the oven for the next day at midnight!!!!

And you can't give food away, I have some frozen meat and fish that came in one of those wanky meal boxes that I never liked or remembered ordering. I've put something on the local FB page and nobody wants it so I'm probably going to bin £20 worth which is sad

We have a family of four but are making 3 adult portions for every meal we eat together (DS and DD count as 1)

We usually spend about £50-60 on a Sainsbury delivery which doesn't include nappies (washable), wipes for home (washable, but we buy for nursery) or much washing powder (only use it on nappies, otherwise mainly wash balls). Includes bubble bath, kids snacks, sometimes shampoo.

We then have a veg box every other week (£15) and I buy lunch at work twice a week (£10 total), DH about 4x a week so probably £20. I'm in a coffee club but might get one £3 coffee occasionally.

Children get lunch at the CM included in fees one day and nursery lunch is £7.40 for the two of them a week.

We probably have a family meal out once a week which is usually a lunch of beans on toast but yesterday we went to a noodle bar and spent £25 instead of £10.

Milk is £9 a week delivered. Almost no top up shops but maybe £3-5 on that (used to have to get the big tubs of peanut butter at the health food shop but Sainsbury do them now) and £3-5 at the nice bakery, to be generous. DH buys cheap cereal bars at Home Bargains.

About once a year we buy a big refill of washing up liquid and hand wash online.

Total about £135 a week.

How are you stretching 400g of mince to 18 meals?! shock*

It probably gets told it's really a mumsnet chicken.

I did laugh at that

£1.50 for chicken breasts?
£1.50 for salmon?
£2.50 for a whole chicken??

Really?

See, that's why we spend more, I would never buy a chicken that has somehow been raised fat enough, farmer sold, and supermarket still selling for £2.50. That is not going to have had any sort of life, it will have been fed with cheap filler and often pumped with water to increase weight.

In comparison here from butcher/ fishmonger/ Waitrose:
X4 salmon fillets -£9
X4 chicken breasts - £7.50
Whole chicken -£10-12

Mince for a bolgnaise would be about £5-6 from our organic, free range butcher,. So add the rest of the ingredients like onions/ carrots/ celery/ passata/ pancetta/herbs/ white wine, pasta plus a side salad and it's at least £10-12 to make a family meal. Also we would cook the bolagnese at least 3 hrs, not 30 mins

Not ' bolgnaise is cheap and easy'

Its not only meat and carbs, its also loads of fruits, veggies, we had 1 strawberry, 2 raspberry boxes with couple oranges for a day like today, it could easily cost £6, plus couple of yogurt each and a little cheese£10?). Usually we have a big breakfast then skip lunch then a big dinner on weekend and today it must have cost another £25(juice, milk and maybe couple of beer for dinner). Weekend could easily cost £70 if we want to eat in nicely with grocery bill is also includes all washings, toiletries, foil, oil, butter etc. Still its so much cheaper and healthier than eating out so I think its ok, its a quality of life to us that I dont want to cut. Some people might choose to spend more on clothes and eating out and cut dailies. Each of us has a different choice if lifestyle

NowUSeeme/ crisps etc- no excuse for not cooking every night? Why would anyone need an excuse???

Maybe people are doing other things they prioritise. I like to go for a cycle/run/ Pilates class when DH gets in from work- I'd rather do that than prep and clear up after a roast. How is that lazy? It's more active than fannying around with pots.

Sometimes people want simple fast food so they have time to do other things

Get home from work, bung 2lb cubed braising steak in a bag of seasoned flour, shake, fry off quickly in batches to brown, add to casserole in which you are,sautéing two chopped onions, gour sliced carrots, perhaps a bit of turnip, add a glass of red wine, thyme, beef stock and bung in oven for 2.5 hours. Meanwhile boil some pasta bows, quickly fry salmon steaks, make a salad, stir in pesto with pasta. Have a lovely dinner, tidy up, watch an you of tv. Take casserole pit of oven to cool overnight.

Or alternatively. Get home from work, quickly shove the kettle on, make pasta and sauce and get it on the table in 20 minutes because you need to get DS1 to help out at Beavers in 45 minutes. Get home from dropping him off, clear up kitchen, do bins, go back and pick up DS1, drop him home, take DS2 to Rowing training, get home just as DH gets in, sort him out some dinner while he gets a shower, go back and get DS2, come home, log on to work laptop to make up the time you missed this morning since you had to drop kids at school. Work for an hour. Check everything ready for the next day, make up pack lunches, go to bed.

If everyone is doing all this home cooking with lots of chopping, frying off, making stock etc, who is eating all the wedgies, ready made pies, cod steaks in breadcrumbs, pizzas and oven chips etc etc which I see loaded in peoples trolleys?

Okay wankers mine are older teens now but I still don't get home until 8 on Mondays and 9 on Tuesdays,due to after school stuff. Those are the nights I might reheat the casserole. Especially if I have mash in the freezer.

Sometimes we have ready made steak pie, chips and peas. Yum 😋

There's cooking and cooking though. I don't really see baking a potato to go with a couple of ready to bake salmon steaks (which is no different to frozen wedges and frozen fish really) as cooking from scratch, at least not cooking of the sort that involves marinading, simmering and loads of chopping e.g. casserole or tagine. Maybe that partly explains the difference in attitudes? I'll happily shove things in the oven on a weeknight fresh or frozen but I'm not about to make anything that starts with raw onion and 4 spices or requires standing in the kitchen balancing different sides.

Mine are teenagers but not old enough to drive and there is no public transport - they do activities most nights and are both doing DofE as well. I do cook, but not every night and not always from scratch. No ready meals bought this week as activities are mostly off for the holidays, but I have had to buy some easy made food to leave for them to make for their own lunch. I have however bought some ready made pizza bases as they were £1.10 for two and the time taken to make our own isn't really worth it. This way I can leave teens to make themselves a pizza each for lunch.

Miracle not anyone who has to cater for food allergies or intolerances, that's for sure!

We have stuff like those Birds Eye fish with a sauce that go into the oven and DH loves a Chicken Pukka Pie so do I but they are a bit fattening usually with some vegetables which don't need much prep and potatoes, It just seems like on these threads everyone just eat chicken and mince with lots of marinating and faffing which I certainly can't be bothered with after work.

When we buy meat or fish we usually get it fresh, make a marinade and marinade a large batch in fridge a few hours. Then freeze all seperatly, often chopped on skewers.

Then in the morning we can just grab a handful of whatever meat or fish skewered we want. Leave in fridge whilst at work. Home 7pm, throw meat/ fish on a grill pan. Make a salad or share some veg or whatever. All eating by 7.30pm.

Yes to whoever said that full time has a variable meaning.

I work more sensible hours now but for much of my career I have regularly done 12 - 13 hour shifts (often 3-4 day or night shifts in a row) with up to an hours commute each side. Fortunately I was reasonably well paid with no dependents a so could buy healthy things for quick meals (ready prepared salads, better quality ready meals). I could have cooked from scratch (and did on non working days) or spent my life batch cooking but for me at that time throwing money at the problem made life tolerable.

Next time I make bolognese I will provide photos both in the slow cooker ( I fry off mince and rinse it in boiling water first) and then plated up. Like I said earlier I mix the bolognese into the spaghetti I don't just dollop it on top.

I've just posted this week's meal plan on another thread, so I'll copy it to here:

Lamb, chickpea and butternut squash tagine with couscous
Tuna pasta bake with salad
Sausage and tomato bake with polenta
Baked rice with chicken and chorizo and salad
Penne bolognese with salad
Pulled beef chilli wraps with salad

Lots of chopping and frying off involved with those! But all fairly low maintenance once they are in the oven.

Also I recommend people take a look at this website
www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/portion-sizes-table-2015
Many people overfeed their dc.