AIBU to ask if you had £50 for a weekly food shop what would you buy?

[FuckingDiet]

This is not my situation and in no way a begging thread. Between now and the run up to Christmas we see a lot of these types of threads so I thought it would be a good idea to put all our advice in one place. That way if anybody is in need everything is in on place.

I will set a challenge of 3dc aged between 2-10 and 2 adults, your meal plan for the week, shopping list and where you would buy it from with a rough total. Lets see which one of us can come up with the best result.

Do the hypothetical DC and DH have school/work lunches? Is washing powder, dishwasher tablets, toothpaste etc included in the £50?

Oh good question? I guess we should make it 3 meals a day for all 5 people and yes to laundry supplies but no to toiletries. Complying my list etc now thought it would be relatively easy but now not so sure.

That sounds tough, we struggle to keep it to £50 with 2 adults and a toddler.

I would shop at Aldi and eat mainly veggie if it were me (IME you can get everything you need at Aldi whereas lidl is more hit and miss)

The thing I struggle with is that I know lots of cheap healthy recipies but they take time, presumably with 3dc there's even less time for cooking.

Good idea for a thread though

Do we have all the usual shops close by and access to transport for carrying the heavy stuff.

I would add frozen veg, supermarket own brand as opposed to premium.

Switch fruit juice for squash

Full fat dairy, more calories for same quantaty.

Will have a think and come back.

Working or not working?

Slow cooker and freezer?

Sorry to be pedantic but I'm trying to set reasonable parameters to work from.

1 working parent one stay at home parent.
I would say most places have an Aldi and at leadt 2 major supermarkets close by, most people have a car but wasn't including transport into the budget. And yes to all modern appliances

Veg wonky where possible, otherwise, in season and cheap bang for buck - think savoy cabbage rather than tenderstem broccoli.

3 for £10 deal on meat. Look for one of those £3.50 gammon joints to boil for lunch meat, rather than piddly little packs of wet ham. Sainsburys frozen pollock is dirt cheap and makes a great korma.

Wouldn't work for us now, due to food intolerances, but a big block of tasty cheese is great for adding flavour and protein and making a meal more satisfying eg as a veg stew with cheesy dumplings or on top of a vegetable pasta bake, mixed with breadcrumbs.

For laundry supplies, stick with big box powder for most items. More economical and cleans better as well as being better for your machine. If you must use fabric conditioner, use a 1/4 dose. It's plenty, even with very hard water.

Following! Sounds like a real challenge. I guess supplementing with a few crap meals like beans on toast would help. Aldi beans 29p a tin and a couple slices of bread.

Not sure if we have a full ladder of spices etc. If not, I would try to free up a few pounds for cumin and paprika. Almost everything tastes better with one or both, and they're the base of fajitas, which can be veggie with whatever veg is on offer and some homemade flatbreads.

Able to go to fruit and veg stall? The fruit and veg is way cheaper than at a supermarket. And makes eating veggie meals very cheap. Its where all the asylum seeking families go where I live.

Here's a healthy option. Not sure about prices but wouldn't be much:
Carbs: plain porridge oats, flour, potatoes, rice
Fruit and veg: carrots, onions, cabbage, frozen broccoli, peas etc, bananas, apples, pears, perhaps some special offer fruit, tomato sauce,
Dairy: milk
Protein: eggs, different dried beans (cheaper than tinned), mackerel/kippers for some omega 3
Fats: rapeseed oil, peanuts

Other than that, I'd just get some cheap tea, sugar, salt, pepper and some curry power (or some other spice)

Herbs I'd grow on a window sill. If I had a garden, then would look into planting fruit trees as can save hundreds a year that way.

It's tricky but if I was in this position I'd go to the well known cheaper shops such as Lidl or Aldi buying as many own brand items as possible, just buying the absolute essentials with no treats, or very few. Fresh fruit and veg bought when in season and cooked from scratch would help.

It doesn't leave much elbow room for Christmas or birthdays - it could be pretty joyless.

Great idea for a thread. Noticed today whilst doing my online Morrisons shop that from Thursday there is a wonky veg box for £1 contains 8x Wonky Potatoes, 4x Wonky Carrots, 4x Wonky Onions, 1x Wonky Cauliflower, 1x Wonky Cabbage, 3x Wonky Parsnips, 1x Wonky Swede. Really good buy and I always buy their wonky veg and whilst they might not look pretty quality is always good.

I'd go to Iceland (the shop not the country). Frozen veg, frozen mash, decent pizzas for £1.50, even their southern style coated chicken is only £2 for 8 pieces. Supplemented with economy tinned fruit, eggs (cheap ones if needed), porridge for breakfast and homemade cheap soups for lunch it could be done. I'd also do a cheap stew with lentils and sausages etc.
It wouldn't be a luxury week of eating but, I use the above as an example of what I did once. My 1995 slow cooker was a godsend.
I was feeding two working adults.

What about posting recipes, using cheap ingredients? When things were tough for me I'd use tinned baked beans to bulk up veg casseroles. You can rinse the sauce off, or drain it into a container to use for to add flavour to sausages, done in the oven, later.

FGS - plant a fruit tree?? I suspect families might need their food slightly more urgently that the number of years a fruit tree takes to mature.

Anyways, I shop at Aldi/lidl to save money, and clearly cooking in bulk is wise.

I think - ? - that the OP was thinking of a list of recipes, where ingredients can be sourced cheaply? That would indeed be very useful.

More useful, indeed, that the suggestion to grow a bloody tree in order to feed my family!!

As you were.

I cook a lot of cheap meals. I have a cookbook passed from my mum called Poor Cook, that has a lot of cheap meals. Things like cheese pudding with baked potatoes and frozen peas, veggie curry - make your own sauce, stir fried veg, and poached frozen white fish. TBH we tend to eat more healthily when we have less money.

this week I spent £51 in Aldi (usually around the £35-£40 mark) for 2 adults and a toddler.
Toddler is at nursery Monday and Tuesday so no food for him except breakfast. We all have the same breakfast of cereal or toast. Husband has standard lunch of sandwich, crisps, yogurt and a penguin type bar.
I have leftovers from the freezer re-heated when at work or soup/sandwich when at home. Toddler has leftovers or I make him something fresh for his dinners/lunch when at home. I usually have a batch of homemade pasta sauce portioned out in the freezer which he loves.
M - ready meal (husband plays football so back late)
T - chicken and veg curry
W - spaghetti
T - slow cooker beef casserole
F - halloumi and pesto stuffed peppers with new potatoes
S - gigantes plaki with fish
S - prawn and pea risotto

Curry sauce is made from stuff in the cupboard, risotto all ingredients I have, I have frozen fish.
I needed the beef, peppers, halloumi, feta, butter beans plus other fresh bits for sandwiches (usually ham or a sandwich filler), bread, milk as standard! I try to buy a tin of tomatoes or beans with each shop so I have them in the cupboard to make a quick curry or pasta sauce. This week though we're using jarred sauces for the first time in forever for ease. But these I had lurking in the back of a cupboard.

Lots of pasta with meat and veg sauces (stretches the meat out)
Casseroles/stews with lots of veg and baked potatoes.
Stir fries. Meat/chicken/fish pies (home made).
Limit booze

Some general thoughts...

• move down a brand level for foods, toiletries and cleaning products

(Ie named to own brand, or own brand to value)

• check when supermarket discounts meat etc and shop then.
• buy discounted meat etc when you can and freeze it
• buy larger packs of meat than you would usually and use it for two meals instead of one
• use less meat and more (seasonal) veg
• bulk out meals by using thinks like beans, bread and pulses
• don't buy "female" versions of things like razors - the genetic men's ones are cheaper and do the same thing
• make packed lunches (for adults too) whenever possible, for school, work and trips out
• don't buy magazines etc, read online etc instead

Also Iceland have great deals. Bought Pizza Express margarita pizzas in there recently for 50p. Buy frozen prawns from there and make a pasta and tomato prawn meal - cheap and lovely.

Few recipes we have regularly:
Cheese Pudding - heat up 2 mugs of milk, add to 2 slices of bread torn into small bits. Mix in 4 eggs, 2 large teaspoons of mustard, 8 oz of grated cheddar cheese, and bit of pepper. Stick in an ovenproof bowl and cook on about 160 degrees for 45-50 mins. Serve with baked potato per person and cooked garden peas.

Good thread idea OP - thanks :)

Errrr - no need for fruit juice OR squash if you are on a tight budget.

Just tap water.

I always cook a bit more than needed, luckily most recipes serve 4 so that what I make, and where possible I freeze leftovers for quick lunches or meals for the toddler.

I cook from scratch where possible, and nothing in my house goes to waste.
Slightly bendy veg gets turned into soup or put in a casserole, fruit for pudding for the toddler so that's never wasted, or I'll have it for breakfast with yogurt if it's not at it's best.

Jack Monroe's book "A Girl Called Jack" has some great cheap meals in for those on a really tight budget.