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.

As well as Lentils, I use chickpeas. It helps if you like curry.

Chick pea curry, with mushrooms. I use frozen spinach and sometimes peppers, it doesn't cost much more than beans on toast. I also buy value tomatoes and tomato soup.

One Green Planet has good Vegetable recipes.

Sweetcorn and courgette fritters are good too (with the aforementioned cheap drumsticks). I roast the drumsticks, DD makes the fritters (which are like delicous little yellow and green pancakes and one courgette goes a long way(.
Also, frozen spinach, very cheap and can be added to curries.

Have recently mastered home-made pizza. Roll bread dough out very thinly and cook with the toppings in a large frying pan before finishing it off under the grill. Lots of dried oregano. Tastes superb and much better than anything from the frozen aisle!

Big 750g mince pack from Sainsburys then bulk with grated veg. Can make definitely two, maybe three meals from that.

Buy a ham joint to soak and bake rather than packets of ham. Watch you don't cut too thickly or you won't make it last like the thin ham.

Veggie stir fry - add one small pack of pork if the family make a fuss about no meat.

Homemade tomato sauce and spaghetti

Use pitta breads toasted on a hob and cut in to strips to bulk out a meal.

Sainsburys sell a 4kg bag of basic potatoes for £1.90. Will last all week and cook extra with a one meal and then you have some for a weekend breakfast with baked beans and bacon.

Regarding the actual shops I find that as long as you go with a list or at least a rough plan you are fine. Sainsburys, Morrisons and Lidl are my normal choices. Sainsburys have very good offers so as long as you are looking at what you choose you will get good produce for a small price.
I have switched to online groceries and start by using the search box to get the essentials on my list (they will then show in your favourites) then I go through the offers on meat, then frozen then fill in the gaps. You never go over budget if you shop online.

You also don'y buy cleaning wipes or baby wipes. Washable cloths - you can cut up old worn out clothes - I still do this. You wash containers, no tin foil, and use old tea towels to cover leftovers, rather than clingfilm or tin foil.

When I have been hard up the problem has always been my perception - so I couldn't do a value tea bag - it needs to be Yorkshire Tea. Homemade bread makes any toast meal a treat. Homemade lentil soup is delicious. Tinned soup made me feel poor. Everyone is different and they need to find what works for them and doesn't depress them. My friend eats tinned soup all week and lives for her sat night Chinese - we all need different things.

And there's nothing crap about beans on toast.

This is nice - I've made it a couple of times now.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-sweet-potato-curry

Following with interest having utterly ballsed my finances up this month on 100% unnecessary, "luxury", consumer type spending (so am not fishing for sympathy).

Lunches can be done cheaply if you will eat things like cheese spread, tuna and eggs. Make your own tuna mixing with some smart price salad cream and a a bit of frozen corn. Same with eggs and add a bit of letice or cucumber.
Breakfast
Smart price wheatabix is about 70 p a box and taste the same as brand names.
Reduced bread can be bought and frozen and then used for toast. Smart price malaralade or jam is around 30 p
Diners
Spaghetti use a small pack of mince, brown it off and remove the fat add cheap tinned tomatoes, smart price mixed herbs, frozen mushroooms and peppers. Onions are cheap so add an onion to help bulk it out. Check the reduced produce section and buy and freeze mushrooms, peppers, onions, cabbage or anything else which will bulk out a meal. It often works out a lot cheaper than buying prepacked frozen veg.
Curry, casserole or shepherds pie. All can be made cheaply using a little meat and bulking out with reduced veg.
Jacket potatoes and beans, tuna or any left over casserole, curry etc.
Frozen pizza with some frozen veg or old bread spread with garlic butter( Make your own out of your usual spread and either a fresh clove of garlic or a frozen) and baked in the oven.
Don't buy ready sauces as you can make your own a lot cheaper.
Don't meal plan but buy what is on offer or reduced and plan your meals around that.
Drink water, squash or milk. You don't need carton juice or fancy bottles of smoothies.
Smart price tea bags are ok as long as you don't like strong tea, buy which ever coffee is on offer.
Toiletries lidl chin brand are cheap and fine to use. Same with kitchen roll, loo roll and cleaning products
Use half the recommended amount of Soap powder/liquid. If something is stained soak it first.

2 adults + 2 toddlers. £50 inc same size nappies, couple packs of baby wipes, bleach and anti bac wipes. All own brand.

Porridge with frozen berries for breakfast.
Eat 90% veggie. Meal plan so only buy what I need.

Make big batch of veg and lentil soup for DC and my lunches. Make big batch of black bean and rice dish for DP's lunches. Plus dinner leftovers.

Everything cooked from scratch. Blend frozen ripe bananas for 'ice cream'.

Go for cheap vegetables. They don't have to be expensive to be good for you!

We are a family of 6. 2 adults. 4 dc between the ages 1-6. I do £60 per week shopping. Household items from poundland for around £10 per month. We have cut meat down to once a week for the roast dinner apart.
Our meal plan is
Risotto, quinoa, jacket potatoes with salad, roast dinner, pasta with veggie tomato sauce, carrot and lentil soup. All homemade and cheap. We also buy this in Waitrose so could possibly be cheaper from a different supermarket. Included in my shopping are two different sized packs of nappies, stuff for lunches, cheese/jam. Cereal, bread and eggs for breakfasts plus raisins and fruit for snacks

My quick cheap meal (for myself) is couscous - fry up a quarter of an onion, garlic, grated carrot and add spices ( cumin, paprika, turmeric or whatever) add to the couscous soaked in boiling water with a third of a chicken stock cube. Really tasty. I normally add spinach and leftover meat if there is any.

Toilet roll £1.99 12l rolls
The apples and pears I put on my list were wonky fruits it said average of 12 per pack for both. Apples were 80p and pears were slightly more I think 90p off the top of my head.

Other general tips for this type of thing would be to use up as much as possible if you have things 'in stock' even if it means eating slightly odd combinations.

If people are trying to free up extra money for Christmas rather than being on the breadline, they might have quite a bit of stuff in that they could use up and also be quite freeing from a Marie Kondo type perspective.

Home Bargains etc rather than supermarkets for toiletries, cleaning products and toilet roll. Use washable cloths rather than kitchen roll and wipes if you have them,

World food aisle for things like spices, canned pulses, rice and tomatoes much cheaper than even supermarket own brand ranges.

Shop around if you can, different things are cheaper in different places. Instead of going to the same supermarket on the same day each week, mix and match if possible, which can save loads over time.

Cheaper cuts of meat and the Mumsnet chicken approach. It's not ridiculous frugality to use the breasts for a roast, followed by using the thigh and legs in a curry, pie or pasta dish and then the carcase and bits of meat left over in a soup with pulses or noodles. It's how people used to eat before the advent of relatively cheap mass produced meat and chicken several times a week. A similar approach can be taken with lamb shanks, pork shoulder or a piece of gammon. Look out for offers in the supermarket or butchers and build meals around what is available cheaply - seasonal veg like carrots, potatoes, cabbage, swede, parsnips sprouts all very cheap at this this time of year.

Now is a good time of year to break out the slow cooker if you have one for lots of soups and stews with lots of veg and pulses and cooked with little fuel required.

Home made suet puddings, or rice puddings etc can be a cheap way of filling up perpeptually hungry teens and manual workers.

Also look for ways to increase money available like cashback for changing bank accounts or selling unwanted possessions. Also check that all direct debits are necessary and there are no unnecessary subscriptions. Cut back on Sky if relevant.

Not sure why pasta is getting a bad rap here - filling, and big bags of value dried pasta are so cheap. I make a lovely pasta dish that's just pasta, passata, chuck in some cheese to melt before serving, creme fraiche if you happen to have it and then herbs and seasoning. You can chuck in any leftover veg, meat etc too but it's really tasty as it is.

What I did when I had a bigger freezer was crush garlic and chop onions and fresh herbs when I can pick them up cheap and freeze garlic and herbs in ice cube trays with olive oil (stuff the herbs / garlic in the tray, and just cover with the oil). For a couple quid I had lots of stuff that makes any meal taste nicer, so you're not so worried about stuff being cheap. Makes all the difference.

Stir fry can be really cheap too - dried noodles, buy a cheap pack of chicken thighs or a whole chicken on offer, chop it all up and freeze in portions, use whatever bits of veg you have lying around, bit of soy sauce... easy (although my twins are allergic to soy so haven't made it for them, will have to try it without!)

Check out local butchers for deals. One of my local ones has this for €20:
Joint roast beef
Large fresh chicken
Joint loin pork or bacon
2 supreme of chicken
Tray dinner sausages
Tray spicy wings
Tray steak burgers
Tray famous sausage burgers
Tray bbq style drumsticks
2 large stuffed chicken legs
Tray garlic potatoes or garlic bread
Tray spicy wedges and onion rings mixed
2 chilli ginger chicken steaks

I'd say you could get a couple of weeks out of it.

Meal planning is the key if you're sticking to your budget.

Some ideas for a meal plan -a lot of these can be batch cooked and frozen
Spaghetti bolognese
Pasta and tomato sauce
Sausage and mash with veg or bean
Chicken tray bake - chicken thighs and veg roasted in olive oil
Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans
Homemade soup with crusty bread
Chille con carne
Toad in the hole
Shepherds pie
Macaroni cheese
Homemade pizza
Sausage and lentil casserole
Sausage tray bake - sausages, potato wedges and veg roasted in olive oil

When I was poorer, I took to buying loose tea from supermarkets. I hate really cheap tea bags, and loose tea is cheap and even the cheapest is decent quality. You have to make pots of tea though really and I can no longer be bothered.

Also I know my cooking ideas only really work if your fuel is not too expensive. I know being on a pre payment meter can be a nightmare. So you need quick things to cook like pasta and veg stir frys.

I use half a 750g mince to make a spag bold sauce bulked out with veg it serves two meals. Either just as basic spag bol or lasagne. The other half I would make a chilli this would be enough to serve 5 possibly with a portion for lunch or the freezer.
We also make burritos which work out quite cheap, pork mince, onion, grated carrot and a few other little bits (dp''s recipe) add a sachet of micro rice and we're able to get two meals. We use cheap wraps and lettuce and cheese. It's a fairly cheap meal but doesn't feel like it.

Pasta we have a few pasta meal that are quite cheap. Tuna pasta bake - tuna, pasta, cheese sauce (homemade) and a tin of sweetcorn. Easy meal. Turkey meatballs using turkey mice rather than beef slightly healthier not quite as much flavour but still a decent meal. I use a generic tomato and veg sauce that I make in bulk from tinned tons and fridge veg with an aubergine or courgette added. We also use it for pizza sauce and for another pasta bake dp adds some cream, herbs, bacon, onion and mushrooms.

I wouldn't bother with veg shop most nearby me seem to be much more expensive than supermarkets. I would try the butcher though we buy chicken breasts in bulk. £20 for 20 large breasts cheaper, and much nicer than the supermarket and we freeze them. We use two or three breasts per meal depending on what it is but could cut that down probably if we were desperate.

I also make quiche myself following a recipe from BBC website which is a good one for leftovers. It's a huge quiche and usually leaves plenty for lunch the following day.

bratsy my point is not that person need to budget for going for coffee but that people often post that it's easy to keep to a very tiny budget and that they do so themselves, without acknowledging that they and their families actually do most of their eating and drinking from sources other than the weekly shop.

*person was meant to say people

Yeah that is fair enough.

Oh and filled pasta from aldi. Not the fresh stiff but it's really cheap 89p a packet. And either your own or a jar sauce. It wouldn't be a meal I'd be looking forward to every nice but it's simple and cheap and not too bad nutrition wise.