Budget urgent help please freaking out

[Nicebudget]

Ok so I've name changed for this

Just had a massive life change and the only thing that can give is our monthly shop budget. We were spending about £500 including nappies, toiletries, cleaning etc per month.

I need to cut that as far as possible. 2 adults 1 toddler. 1 adult full veggie 2nd adult flexible happy to eat mainly veggie as that's probably cheaper. Toddler not veggie eats well - basically eats everything we put in front of her.

I need budget help and ideas and meal ideas. I am open to all suggestions I'm sat here with a pen and paper ready for menu ideas and tips for shopping.

We both work full time so I can't commit to visiting lots of different supermarkets for the best deals but open to ideas. Thank you! I'm panicking.

In terms of meal ideas, because you have already had so much good advice.

We eat things like,
Soups and stews especially in winter, lentil potato and carrot with a touch of curry powder (usual base of onions and stock) is a favourite. Super cheap. We serve with some crusty bread, usually those part baked baguettes as they are so handy.

Also spicy bean soup is really filling and I always buy the value beans as there is no difference between those and brands. (Rarely buy brands at all actually.) We serve that with toasted tortilla wraps if we don't have tortilla crisps on hand. A little plain yoghurt cools the spice for the kids.

The regular staples such as chilli, bolognese, curries. Thinking more along vegetarian lines...veggie fajitas, bean chilli or lentil Dahl served over rice, pasta with a tomato based sauce served with garlic bread, baked potatoes with various fillings, Mac and cheese bake with cauliflower and broccoli added. Different variations on quiche served with salad.

We spend £300 or less a month for a family of 4. I batch cook and freeze a lot, things like pulled pork, meatballs or chilli. Mostly buy supermarket brands and I do most of the shop at tesco.

it will be easy to reduce that significantly, we are a bigger household ( one vegie) and don't spend that amount, and I'm not particularly trying to budget, I did have to review our whole household diet last year as dh who's a very fussy eater- so none of your lentils to pad out meals will work, had a lot of health issues and I just looked at the amount of extras he and we were eating croissants, cakes, salted nuts, family sized bars of chocolate, fancy biscuits and ice creams etc when I cut all these extras out of the shopping trolley and replaced with more yogurts, cooking ingredients to make my own flapjacks, more fruit we still saved a fortune, I still buy biscuits but the basic ones like rich tea that cost pence, not as appealing to the kids 9 and dh) so they don't eat a pack in one go! the next thing was having a meal plan on the fridge so first home knew what to do - this meant the take away's dropped from at least one a week to odd treat, the meal plan itself it based on the general idea I'm not going to cook 7 meals from scratch a week so a couple of meals will be double portions to freeze a portion for next week, a couple will be portions I made last week form freezer, so you probably need a two week plan to start, I try plan the meals around the staples- just 'cos that works for me in planning -so I have a rice day, a pasta day, tortilla wraps day, baked potato day, a mash potato day, a pitta breads or burger bun day ( current family favourite is home made kebabs with lots of salad,) noodles or spiralized veg day etc,
So say rice day ( concentrating on the veggie) we will have veggie curry with chickpeas, or chilli made with mixed beans, spare portion could go with a tortilla wrap next week as burritos, next time it will be chilli made with quorn or the like, the spare portion will go with baked potato another week, or a stir fry with chilli tofu, etc.
For the meat eater as you said they will mostly eat veggie id say focus on the better quality, good for them items like salmon fillets, which you can get cheaply in an aldi or lidl.

As most people have said Aldi will probably cut your spending drastically. I rarely buy branded items now, Aldi’s version of the mars bar are immense. You’re welcome
My fiancé has a thing about chicken so we bulk buy and use it as a staple for most of the week. 6 boobs for about £5 will last us the week.
Is there anything in particular you think could cut down on? I know we eat too much bread. About 3 loaves a week between the 2 of us It’s probably about £15/20 of our monthly budget we’ll be saving just on that alone.
Reading that back it all sounds very bland!

I wouldn’t suggest buying cookbooks when there’s a whole load of recipes on the net.
I’ve been following one pound meals on Instagram it’s basically living like a student. He’s got good recipes and some a bit naff but all stupid cheap. Another chap to check out is Joe wicks.

I have recommended it before and will again as it has saved me in the past, especially as a student. Try using the website theresourcefulcook.com. It gives you a weeks worth of dinners that use shared ingredients often and will tell you how much your shop is estimated to cost and then gives you a shopping list including weights (ie. you will need to buy 100g of blue cheese from the cheese counter) and the recipes are generally pretty tasty. Here's an example of a veggie one:

resourcefulcook.com/mealplans/personalise/plan/ael-veggie-frugal-favourites

I'm not affiliated I promise! It's just saved me loads in the past and has stopped me throwing so much stuff away.

1. Meal plan
2. Shop with a list
3. Shop at Aldi/Lidl - don't get distracted by 5 types of tinned tomato or whatever
4. Use what is in your cupboards/freezer
5. Use frugal food blogs like Jack Munroe
6. Cut out crappy snacks
7. No brands

Just doing this saves a lot of money and you still eat well. I often feel I am the only shopper out there with a list! Like a PP when I go into Waitrose now (just for odd spices) I start feeling ripped off

Shop in Lidl.

We had to do what you are doing about five years ago and I decided I was going to buy everything EVERYTHING from Lidl for a fortnight and see what was good and what wasnt.

I was a foodie snob as well.

Some things are disgusting (their pizzas - now we make our own) but most was fine if not better and it halved my food budget without doing anything different.

yes absolutely don't buy cookbooks.

There are tons of cheapy recipes on the internet.

£10 on a cookbook is a day's food budget!

Write a monthly plan, monthly shop household items, staples etc at Aldi, saves a lot, then top up with fresh

Oh and on other thing, if you can, shop online.

If I go to the shop I spend at least 40% more than I intended to by seeing all the crap I don't need.

Online at first takes a while to find everything and see what is best value, and you do need to check every so often if there is a better value size pack or whatever, but now on tesco I have my favourites so I can trawl through that for my staples and then if there is anything else its only a couple of things I have to manually search for.

Freeze herbs, spices and flavourings.

I do this with whole chillies, lemon and lime slices, grated coconut herbs and chopped shallots.

I also make my own ginger and garlic paste for curries which is then frozen into ice trays.

To stop frozen herbs clumping together, I freeze them spread out on a tray, then decant into a small container or bag.

Try Iceland for branded frozen food. Masses cheaper.

I don't meal plan, but a couple of years ago I wrote down each meal I made for 3 months. It gave me a quick reference and made shopping easier.

If you can budget for it, a monthly subscribe and save with Amazon is worth looking at, bulk packages of baby wipes and nappies worked out much cheaper, I get tea and coffee too. Someone things are not cheaper, you have to work out the unit price and compare it to your usual brand.b

500pcm for two adults and a baby is incredibly high. Which supermarket do you use? Could you swap to Aldi etc.

"Don't have expensive phone contracts (£20 per month each and can't break the contract anyway) "

That's very expensive tbh. Phone contracts start at £4/month with 150 minutes, 500MB data, unlimited texts.

I don't think 'minutes' are that useful these days, so if you need more data, you can get 4GB for £8/month, or something in between.

Look to change the contracts ASAP.

Look up an Irish woman called Catriona Redmond, I think her website is called Wholesome Ireland. She lost her job about 10 years ago, at the worst possible time, and had to scrimp and save to feed her family. She started blogging about it and I believe ended up writing a book and making a new career out of frugal but healthy eating. I remember reading a news article about her and her rule number 1 was to treat your kitchen like a business. That resonated with me, hopefully you might find her useful.

Frozen fruit is great, especially in winter when strawberries and raspberries are expensive and no waste. I chuck a few in a bowl, add porridge oats and milk and then microwave for a cheap breakfast. Frozen veg great in a soup and less hassle. You can get butternut squash, sweet potato etc.
Buy larger cuts of meat - a whole chicken is cheaper than 2 chicken breasts and you can get a couple of meals out of it.
If you have a microwave at work take leftovers. It stops you over eating and means you don't nip out for bread half way through week and spend a tenner!

Also look at Girl named Jack. She has loads of great budget friendly recipes

I spend less money when I shop at Aldi and their nappies and wipes are great.

Make a list and stick to it. Meal plan and stop buying brands (if you do). Don’t buy branded medicines either, there’s no point, they’re the same.

Me and DH are vegetarian and we spend around £150 to £200 a month on food, toiletries etc.

As others have said, menu planning is the key. Also always take a list when you go shopping and stick to it or shop online.

We use loads of lentils, chickpeas and beans in our meals and buy them in large quantities as the small packs work out much dearer and don't last 5 minutes. If you have an indian supermarket near you that is the best place to buy them.

At the moment we are eating loads of stews and curries. Egg and lentil curry (Delia Smith recipe) is absolutely delicious and it's quick and easy to make and inexpensive I usually make at least 2 portions and freeze one.

Making double of meals and freezing half means you haven't got to cook from scratch when you get home from work. Also you could batch cook one day a week.

I soak big bowls of chickpeas, beans etc overnight then cook and freeze in portions in bags. Then when I want to use them I don't have to faff about with the soaking and cooking.

Lentils are cheap and you can make many meals with them - curries, shepherds pie, lasagne, bolognaise, chilli. Beans can also be used for meals like chilli or burgers.

Do you have a market near you that you can get to? Usually fruit and veg is cheaper than in supermarkets and if you go when they are packing up most of them sell things really cheaply.

You can use just veg to make things like chilli, shepherds pie, lasagne, pasta bake, curries, ratatouille, roasted veg, veg tart (roasted veg on puff pastry).

Look online for recipes.

I don't buy brand names for cleaning products. Own brand work just as well.

When I was really skint and didn't really have an idea were to start to save money, I spent two weeks writing down every penny I spent and what on. It was a real eye opener, the odd bar of chocolate, giving ds a couple of quid for his hobby ( it was for food, now he takes food and drink with him), nipping to Tesco for cat food and spending £20 on odds and ends, random amazon orders etc. Once I could see the drip of money going on nothing I stopped it and I'm much better off now. I also question any purchase I make to see if I actually need it.

Switch to Aldi I fill up a trolly overflowing for £72 we are 5 2 adults 3 DCs 6,4,1
We don't eat alot Of red meat. Think filling food with sides that are cheaper. Like lasagne and cheap garlic baggets. I buy a big bag of Lentils once a month so if I make a lasagne/spag bol I use 1/2 Lentils 1/2 Turkey mince it feeds 5nof us twice. Shepherds pie I use mince Carrots and frozen pease and corn again I'll get 2 days out of it. If I do a curry I make a little extra rice then fry it the next day with egg pease and corn and reduced salt soy sauce it makes a great egg fries rice that costs pennies and all my kids love it.
Left over chicken from a Sunday dinner goes great with mushrooms soy sauce cornflower paste (1tbl spoon cornflower 2 tbl spoon cold water) tastes like chicken and mushrooms from the Chinese take away and Great with 79p for a big bag of Prawn crackers! Cheap chopped tomatoes and mixed herbs instead of pasta sauces taste great mix some cream cheese in if you like creamy pasta bakes it adds a really nice flavour.
Also chicken bakes are great if you buy cheap chicken thies roast them with wedges of lemon chopped up potatoes and any other veg you like (we use broccoli) and about 5 cloves of garlic skin on pour a little olive oil over once cooked ig you press the garlic with the back of a spoon it should be like a paste mix it all in and serve.

I also forgot to say what has saved me the most is a strict once a week shop I always keep a back up loaf in the freezer and a litre of Uht milk in the cupboard then I don't end up spending an extra £20 that I don't really need to just because I went to Tesco!

What made a huge difference to us was taking out our weekly budget in cash and only spending that each week. I keep the shopping money in a separate purse. We then save up any left over cash at the end of the week. It's so easy to spend a tenner here and there on your card without noticing.

Agree with meal planning, own brand/Aldi/Lidl etc.

And turn your heating off. We only ever have the heating on for an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. The kids know to put on an extra jumper if they're cold or grab a blanket. I grew up in a very old house with no central heating so having it now is a luxury!

We found the best way to cut back was meal planning for the week. We do an online shop and strictly only buy bread and milk from the local corner shop. One takeaway or meal out per month, no coffee shop coffees or bought lunches etc. I started by cutting the online shop cost by a few pounds a week - largely by making everything from scratch, buying own brands, buying larger packs and freezing and, like you, mainly eating veggie.