Fussy family fed up of over £100 a week food shop

[Tattooedmama]

Please please give me your tips on food shopping, if like me you have fussy members of the house.

I have a 14 year old who will live on southern fried chicken and chicken kievs
Have always had varied meals, but lately he will eat hardly anything we cook (need to be more firm)

My partner is so so fussy on alot of things which is highly irritating because as an adult he needs to start trying new things to save our finances, we cant afford over £100 a week.
He hates most veg except peas, carrots, sweetcorn.
Wont have stuff like casserole, lasagne, veggie curries etc which i want to try as the cost of chicken for 6 of us.

Whats everyone elses food budget and how do you keep it low?
Am i being harsh? Im fed up, because i will eat most things and sick of boring food or cooking different for everyone.

Theres 2 adults, 2 teens, an 8 and 2 year old.

Your food budget sounds ok to me, but your dh needs to buck his ideas up. If he's so fussy then he needs to learn to cook himself and do his share

I think £100 for a weeks shopping for a large family is quite low TBH. Unless you can cut down on the meat /chicken .We try to be meat free twice a week if possible. Large freezer bags of mince are cheap ,and you can use what you want and put the rest back. Padding out meat dishes with lentils /more veg ,also get v large chicken and do roast then some left over next day in a pie .Frozen meat/veg is cheaper generally .Also Iceland do have good deals sometimes .

Iceland do frozen meat/fish 3 bags for £10. If you're making things like curries it's ideal. Obviously different if you're doing a Sunday roast or whatever but could comfortably sort a good few meals.

I am another who makes everyone help.
DC started with a regular night to help cook when they were 7&8.
By age 10 they could cook the family dinner.
They picked what they wanted to cook, but they had to eat it and it had to contain x number of veg.
Now both are very adventurous eaters.
They also had set nights where they had to clean up.
Roster is still followed today although DH keeps forgetting when it is his turn to cook/clean and needs reminding.

Give the fuckers £15 a week each and tell them to sort themselves out.

I think £100 to feed 6 people for a week is very tight, and I can't see how you can make sigificant savings without going meat-free for most of the week.

Sounds like I wrote this. I find it very hard and mine is 100 a week atm which is too much for me!

I feel your pain. I have one veggie child who will occasionally eat fish but dh hates fish. The veggie hates eggs. None of the children like mushrooms. One child has a nut allergy. However they will all eat chilli/bol/lasagne/mild curry (I make separate veggie and freeze).

What about macaroni cheese (you could hide cauliflower blended into the sauce)

Roasted veg (potato, sweet potato, onion, peppers) with halloumi on top at the end of cooking). Mine like this as it's possible to pick out the bits they don't like.

Homemade burgers with turkey mince as cheaper.

Jackets and beans once a week with fruit crumble pudding.

I think you are doing well on £100 a week for 6! We spend around £70 a week in lidl for 4 of us (kids are 10 and 15) plus around £10-15 a week on a local fruit and veg delivery. I also make two meals a night as I'm vegan, DH and youngest DD are veg haters and eldest DD picks meat or veg option depending on what she fancies.

Do you meal plan and make a list based on what meals you are having that week? As soon as I started doing this a couple of years ago our shopping bill really dropped and we have hardly any stuff thrown out at the end of the week.

Batch cooking is also a great way to cope with the fussy eaters. I always have leftover portions of veggie and meat dishes in the freezer so if one person doesn't like what I'm cooking (littlest is the worst for this as she can't tolerate anything spicy) then I can whip out a portion of something for them with no effort. Pasta doesn't freeze very well but you could do something like a big steak pie and freeze in single person portions?

We are a family of 6 too and I spend around 100 a week. I do however have a well stocked cupboard of herbs, spices and oils etc. I meal plan and buy specific ingredients for the meals and any household things we need. One thing that has helped with cost is buying frozen chopped onions, frozen garlic, frozen fish and chicken fillets as it's cheap. If you can cook it's not an issue as I make curries, chicken escalopes etc, fish pie etc Buying frozen has saved me a lot of money. We only have a fruit bowl and I get a cheap packet of biscuits. There will be yogurts in the fridge. I have one fussy child but I won't feed him rubbish. He does like pasta and so I stock up on that. You can't have everyone in the house eating different things as it isn't cost effective and is a pain in the ass. Your DH needs to be the one that works with you in changing how you all eat as a family.

Very fussy people are tiresome.

I think you stick to very plain food and make only one meal.

They eat or starve. Their choice.

As for your partner.
He needs to look after himself.

He's making his fussiness, your problem.

Back away from that.
It's his problem.

Big smile on your face....."best you cook for yourself".

In my experience children will be as fussy as you allow them to be.

I’ll second the frozen chopped onions/garlic thing. I’d not heard of it until a friend mentioned it. I buy a bag of value onions, peel them, and whizz them through my food processor (it can slice them), then pop them in freezer bags. Ditto garlic and ginger. Bloody stinks the place out but I only do it once a month or so.

Btw fussiness in kids...never had that issue with my eldest (13). Thought I was onto a winner, then had my youngest (6)! Both brought up the same, fed the same meals etc....yet youngest is bloody fussy compared with eldest. Luckily the ex (when we were still together) was not fussy.

Thanks everyone for the ideas, im going to sit them down later and see what they can come up with that they like.
If i cant bring the shop down then thats ok, we can still just manage i just thought i would give it a go to see if it was possible.
Macaroni cheese is a good idea, maybe served with some garlic bread.
I will look at getting frozen meat instead of fresh as we do eat alot of meat.
We all like jacket potato beans and cheese which we havent had in a while.
Hoping i can get them to experiment, if not for their own health but for my sanity 😃

It sounds like your DH and your DS are not just a little bit fussy but may have a problem with food which makes sense as these sensitivities are often inherited. Frustrating as they behavior may be (and it is frustrating, I know believe me!), getting tough, insisting and putting rules in place around food is counter productive. You need to do the complete opposite, take a step back, provide them with a safe food along each meal and leave them to it.

A good way of catering for multiple tastes is to deconstruct the meal, e.g. a curry would be ride on the side, veggies on the side, meat on the side and everyone can make their own. You can do this with rice, pasta, noodle dishes, as well as burgers, pitas, tacos, etc, - ingredients all separate and everyone mixes their own version.

It also sounds though like the burden of meal planning, shopping and cooking falls disproportionately on your shoulders. That is unfair and I can see why you’d be annoyed at fussiness when you have put so much effort into meals. Can you get your DH and the teenagers more involved? Couldn’t they plan and cook one family meal each a week. (Sticking to a budget)? That would give you a break and them an insight into how much hard work is involved in all this.

I wish i could get a break from cooking, DP does cook weekends or when he can but weekdays i need to do it.
I have to have dinner done by half 5 when he finishes work because soon as he comes home and we all eaten i go to work (i work part time every evening week days)

I have to have dinner done by half 5...go to work
Nope you do not. You can have leftovers and leave the other adult in the house plus the teenagers to look after themselves and the younger children.

Aside from the fussiness issue which adds its own frustrations, why are you taking on the full burden of this? Your work timing is ideal for leaving the cooking to the others. I don't see why DH can opt out of cooking because he works during the day - millions of people have to feed themselves after work.

@Tattooedmama has your DP agreed that you can't afford your current food budget? Because without him doing that, he's just going to feel resentful and defensive.
As an Adult, he shouldn't be forced to eat food that he doesn't like, but, as an Adult, he does need to live to a budget and he needs to be involved with the planning if that. He also needs to cook for himself, if he wants something different.

I'd compromise with your teen, use a carrot approach and look in Iceland for SF frozen chicken etc.

If you really need to save money and it can't come from anywhere else, fair enough, but try to go for the highest welfare that you can.

@livefornaps, your assumptions wouldn't be correct. I don't just include British people in that. I know people from around the world who don't vear from their 'traditional' diets, when they leave their home country, none of them 'lead sad lives'. Not everyone is food obsessed. You need to think about why what others are eating bothers you so much and why you have the need to control.

He does agree with me that we could try to reduce what we spend.
Sent him a text asking if he fancied macaroni cheese, got a reply 'Ewwwww no'
And breathe
Maybe my only option is he meal plans for himself and i cook for myself and the kids.
Ive replied him and said we need to sit down and look at what he will eat/try.
Also looking at the facebook page feed your family for £20 a week (od course mine will be more than that)

I love most veg so im easily pleased

Thing is he likes cheesy pasta with bacon and chicken, there isnt alot of difference between that and macaroni cheese
I know kids would like it too as they all love cheesy pasta

You need to stop asking if he fancies something. Just tell him that's what you're making, surely.

Do a weekly meal plan, put it up. Anyone who doesn't like it can make a sandwich or fuck off. You're not a chef, and they aren't paying customers.

Just give stuff different names... It's not macaroni cheese, it's cheesy pasta bake etc. In this house we have thick bacon, pink potatoes and chickenish nuggets (gammon, sweet potato and Quorn nuggets), and anything "soup" in a bowl with bread is demolished whilst a casserole on a plate with potatoes would be picked at.

I think there's a difference between very fussy (i.e. only eating 3 foods) and having strong preferences.

This drives me mad....I just would not tolerate the hassle of people choosing to be ridiculously fussy so making my life bloody difficult...

So... Just stop...

Its not a restaurant... As my mum used to say frequently when people turned their noses up... Not liking that shaped pasta /that kind of cheese.... Etc etc...

Stop asking him what he 'fancies'.

You make ONE meal.. If they whinge/don't like.... Right your turn dear husband/child to plan and cook...

Do a menu for the entire week... Pin it up on the wall/fridge....of anyone wants something different... They can change it... BUT they have to take responsibility (if necessary with older child) to plan and cook it.... It teaches them responsibility and just how much hassle it is planning and cooking for fussy difficult whingers...

Sent him a text asking if he fancied macaroni cheese, got a reply 'Ewwwww no'

Err what an idiot. As Hooki says don't ask him just dish it up, stop pandering to the manchild.

Tattooedmama

Just make the bloody macaroni cheese- don't ask him.

You are facilitating this man child behaviour by even consulting him on what to cook.

It is frustrating to read OP.

OH needs to grow up.

*motherofawhirlwind
Just give stuff different names... It's not macaroni cheese, it's cheesy pasta bake etc. *

Seriously?? We are talking of an adult man here, not a toddler who needs food given special names or made into the shape of an animal face.
I wouldn't tolerate this man's behaviour for one moment.

I like adult men.