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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To those who are not sure you can feed a family for less than £100 a week

327 replies

Metoodear · 28/05/2018 14:03

I posted a few pictures on the other shopping conversation of the food I cooked as people simply refused to belive you can weekly shop for less than £100 and not just eat pasta all week

Just come back from shopping and just wanted to show you my list and weekly plan Monday is not on their because I already have the dinner we are having salmon baby roasted potatoes and squash wedges with green beans

I have 3 kids and a cat no less Sp 5 of us in total this list includes stuff for lunch as well for me and husband

I it can be done if you don’t allow grazing and make a meal plan the

To those who are not sure you can feed a family for less than £100 a week
To those who are not sure you can feed a family for less than £100 a week
OP posts:
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5
BackforGood · 28/05/2018 18:13

This is such a weird thread. Confused

I don't spend anywhere near £100 a week, and am shopping for 4 adults , in terms of what they eat, but I can't believe the OP thinks this is a helpful way of helping people budget Hmm

LionAllMessy · 28/05/2018 18:16

Or people like meat

Well that too of course. Sorry, I thought it would be implied that I was speaking in the context of this thread, which is about people trying to spend less on food.

GingerIvy · 28/05/2018 18:19

We spend about £450+ on groceries. Three weeks out of the month, the delivery is about £100, and one week it's about £150 as we have additional supplies (sanitary products, vitamins, cleaning supplies).

My children have SNs, and both have specific food issues so will not eat certain foods. They also need gluten free foods (as do I), so that gets more expensive too.

Because of their food issues, our diet can be somewhat boring as well, because I have to stick to stuff they will eat, although over the years, I've managed to slowly increase the variety.

No soups (except tomato), no sauces (except spag bol), very few "mixed foods." We bake our own bread (GF), bake cookies/cakes as needed with GF flour, and use UHT milk (because running out of milk or running out to the shops to get milk at the last minute is not something that can always be done in our situation - this means we always have milk on hand - and we all are happy to drink it). We have an occasional takeaway or meal out (like Pizza Express as they do gluten free). I try to avoid chicken nuggets, fish fingers, etc, simply because the GF options are pricey and it irritates me to pay that much.

Because new foods can be hit or miss for quite some time, we do have a fair amount of food wastage, but that's life unfortunately. It's important for them to try new foods.

GingerIvy · 28/05/2018 18:19

We eat some meat, by the way, but are trying to increase our vegetarian meals, due to cost, health and at the request of my dcs.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 28/05/2018 18:20

I’m feeding my family for free tonight. I’m using a lasagne I cooked and froze a couple of weeks ago, some garlic bread from the freezer and an apple crumble I made from stuff I already had in the cupboard.

Oh.... wait ..... I’ve had to pay for all those things at some point....

SlightlyJaded · 28/05/2018 18:28

Stupidest OP I've ever read.

weekfour · 28/05/2018 18:34

I can feed my family of ten for a week for nothing from Tuesday. I’m having my shopping delivered on Monday so I’ll already have that in. Confused

cathf · 28/05/2018 18:42

I don't know whether people are being thick, but untrue MN style, everyone is piling in to bully the OP.
I get the point about food already in is not free, but what does the amount of plastic on the OP's fruit or a autocorrect error or whole mangos being cheaper than chopped mangos have to do with the thread, other than trying the take the moral high ground because there is no other argument?
No sure what exactly is 'vile' about the OP's food either, but it was a good opportunity to have another swipe wasn't it?
There are some truly nasty people on here.
Yes, the OP laid herself open to criticism by posting her incomplete lists, but really?

stargirl1701 · 28/05/2018 18:48

Of course you can if you wish.

We spend about £100 a week for 2 adults and 2 DC. I think this is utterly reasonable, tbh. We could spend less but only by compromising on meat traceability, for example. We tend to buy ours from the farm next door, not the supermarket.

MiggeldyHiggins · 28/05/2018 18:54

I don't know whether people are being thick, but untrue MN style, everyone is piling in to bully the OP

Nobody is bullying anyone ffs, and its not anyone else that it being thick Hmm

Frequency · 28/05/2018 18:59

When you're living hand to mouth, counting every penny and trying to cut back on anything you can and you click on a thread worded as if it might be helpful to you only to find it's written by someone who clearly has enough money to eat well it is grating.

Someone genuinely struggling to keep their food budget under X amount doesn't have an uneaten chicken and four salmon fillets left over from last week because they don't buy a single crumb more than they need to.

MyDcAreMarvel · 28/05/2018 19:01

I screenshotted your recipes as well DiggertyDamn . How long do you bake your cheese , egg bread for and what temp? Thanks

DiggertyDamn · 28/05/2018 19:22

About 25 minutes, I put the oven somewhere between 200 and 250, I'm not sure really because we're in a rented plce and the numbers were rubbed off the oven dial when we moved in.

lljkk · 28/05/2018 19:46

I could graze & keep to £100/week. Mind, I think a small bowl of lentils is grazing. Butter, potatoes, lentils would make me happy. We could live on that. Except it's not what my family will eat. No chance. Nor are the meals OP posted.

Rozzzzzalmost35 · 28/05/2018 19:51

Poor OP!

Notmorewashing · 28/05/2018 20:58

Is there any explanation yet as to why OP is giving tips and mentioning she had half the stuff in already ?????

londonrach · 28/05/2018 21:00

Seriously op...some of us have to feed a family for £30-40 a week. Its simple..meat, bread, veg...no extras. If you have to you have to. £100 is a luxury!

BearsDontDigOnDancing · 28/05/2018 21:47

We spend about £80-£90 most weeks on food. 2 adults and 2 children. I then have a £50 a month budget for things like washing powder, toiletries, etc.

This includes lunches for DH as he works from home and packed lunch stuff for the kids to take to school and for me to take to work.

We tend to shop with Morrisons, we get a wonky veg box for the week and fit it into the meal plans, and we tend to get the wonky fruit also.

We eat quite well, without feeling like we are on a budget really. But we do have a list of 7 evening meals we are going to eat and buy for those.

If it has been a bad month and we are at the last week, then we can do a shop in Iceland for about £60, but that cuts out treats and a lot of the fresher stuff. And then we have a night or 2 that we like to call "freezer surprise" and we might end up with a bit of a random hodge podge of stuff. But not for awhile thankfully!

flowercrow · 28/05/2018 23:18

Hang in there, Frequency, I think you're doing brilliantly feeding the three of you on such a tiny budget.
When you have to make every penny count, it's such hard work.

Eggzandbacon · 29/05/2018 08:15

I spent £90 last week (an usually large and expensive shop for us) and I will spend £30 this week.
Can I give tips as I only ‘spent’ £30 this week.

I think £100 for 4 is loads btw

CookOffQueen · 30/05/2018 15:58

I'm just putting this here in case it's useful to anyone.

My previous username was DiggertyDamn fro upthread.

I had a few lovely messages from people so I decided to write it all out. It's handy for us to have everything is one place.

I want to make clear that this is not for money or promotion or anything like that, I'm not looking for feedback or likes, I don't care about any of that. The only reason I'm putting it here is in case someone finds it useful.

I know it has some typos and bits but that's not really the point. It was a pita getting it online so I'll fix it over the next few days. The basics are there.

cheaptastyandeasy.wordpress.com/

BarbaraofSevillle · 30/05/2018 16:03

Is there any explanation yet as to why OP is giving tips and mentioning she had half the stuff in already

I assume it was in response to the other thread about how £280 pw isn't that much really and if you are spending less you must be eating crap and deficient in fruit and protein.

QuackPorridgeBacon · 30/05/2018 16:15

CookOffQueen I’ve had a look and I’m definitely going to try this one day. Just need to get the courage and wait until no one is sick and do this when both kids are out of the house. Will make dinners so much easier and if I do fancy something different that night it won’t feel like a chore to make it. Even if our four year old won’t eat the curry it will be nice for me and her dad when she’s in bed. The three year old doesn’t eat.

Plumsofwrath · 30/05/2018 16:38

I’d be gutted if @metoodear ever namechanged. Each and every post is ridiculous and/or unintentionally hilarious and/or racist and/or batshit.

DiggertyDamn · 30/05/2018 16:39

Good luck with it :)

Our DS refused loads of things until we started doing this.

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