Desperately need tips to reduce almost £800 per mth food bill.

[Mumof3almost4]

I am stressing about mat leave pay and how low it is.
Just going through my income/outgoings and my main drain is on food. We are a family of 5, two adults, DC 18, 15, 13.
I am spending between £700-£800 a month on food. Is this ridiculous?!
I do cook mostly from scratch but will use a few pasta jars etc. I shop at local market for fruit and veg and the butchers for meat. We all like a big evening meal usually with meat or chicken and I always make sure there's salad or veg on the plate. I shop at home bargains and Asda for cupboard stuff, mainly use the freezer for left overs and don't like to waste anything.
I do try and plan meals but I think I've got in a habit of not doing this properly and then money gets frittered nipping to the shop. I then spend £30 easily feather than just getting what I need.

Reading this back I know I need to get much much better organised but really need your tips on how??
How do you plan meals without getting bored of it being repetitive?
We all eat well, no fussy eaters apart from a dislike of cheese and eggs.
Any advice for me to save a massive chunk of money please??

Also I hate Aldi. I'd never get a full shop in there

Batch cooking can also help get costs down. Especially in terms of making the most of offers.

Some good tips thanks. Meat free days are a good idea, will have to look up some recipes that are still filling. Everyone has big appetites!

That list is helpful thanks @Getoutofbed25 I'm pinching those ideas

We love soups and stews which will be good for winter and I can start bulking them up with beans and lentils etc.

I'm pregnant so no alcohol, barely buy treats and have already started buying supermarket own brands which I really don't mind.

Looks like organisation is the way forward. I just won't have this income once maternity pay kicks in so I need to start budgeting now.

Does this include all breakfasts/ lunches? What kinds of things do you have for breakfast?

Do you have many snacks?

How about very cheap meals just once or twice a week- such as pizzas (£1 ones or homemade), baked potatoes with lots of fillings, tuna pasta bake, bean burgers and chips, veggie lasagne etc.

Cut down on meat and poultry. Use eggs and beans for protein. No one needs animal flesh every day.

Would your team accept soup as an evening meal (something substantial like chowder, minestrone or chicken noodle)? We try to do this once a week in the winter - healthier than meat everynight too. Veggi chilli is almost imdistinguishable from one with meat in also lasange although you said no cheese.

As everyone says it's down to meal planning. I sat down one day and wrote out a 12 week meal plan which allows for loads of variety. I stick a sheet of A4 on the fridge that has the next 3 weeks which helps me do the shopping list. I shop online so don't buy many extras - just a few treats for the weekend. I rarely throw anything away either.

You don't even have to be that prescriptive. You could just write 'sausages' and choose on the night if that is sausage and mash, sausage casserole, toad in the hole depending on your time and store cupboard.

That's only about 80 bottles of wine!
Over 4 weeks that's 20 a week or approximately 3 bottles a day and there's 3 of you over 18 - so that's about right. Chuck in some big bags of crisps and there's your £800. I do wonder what the little ones survive on though.

@hopefulhalf yes they will eat anything I make, I'm a take it or leave it mum, it's me that doesn't like cheese ha.
Soups and veggie chilli would be fine! Would you use quorn? Is that cheap?

@WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat I like your thinking!

I don't think it's bad for five adults either.
But if you need to cut back then cutting out or reducing meat is one easy way to do so.

Maybe eat more fish instead (cheaper fish like mackerel and sardines, which are delicious). And/or go at least partly veggie/vegan. Easier to do in autunm and winter IMO, when you feel more like eating curries, stews etc. There are so many you can make with veg and pulses. You just need a good stock of spices and some pickles, yoghurt, bread etc on the side.

I think food prices have definitely gone up.

If your butcher is local, good quality and sells local meat I'd stay with them. My meat portions would be shrinking a bit though and pulses would be being upped.

Im

To be fair, for five adults that's not extravagant.

Having some vegetarian meals would cut it down, plus making things like sauces or soups from scratch instead of buying them pre-made. Meal-planning helps too, as does having a few days each month where you just make random meals out of what you have left in the freezer and cupboard. Can be some interesting concoctions!

I guess I’m the only one who thinks that’s an extortionate amount. Family of five here and our weekly shop comes to around £60, so £240 a month, and that’s when I’m not being particularly careful. I can half that easily if I need to. I do meal plans and shop online so I can stick to what I need

Another who thinks it's not bad for that amount of people.
Good food is important. Obviously meal plan and see where you might be wasting money.
I'd also be seeing if your other outgoings can be cut back though. Phone up all of your providers as you're nearing end of contract and threaten to leave, they'll usually reduce their rates to you.
Family phone contract? Don't upgrade at next phones just get a sim only. Get rid of sky and use cheaper streaming services. Switch off lights and heating more often.
Those kind of things could actually save you a lot of money.

I can see how that would stack up with 3 nearly adults in the house, but I think with some careful planning you'd be able to bring it down.
Loosely, I base our meal plan on a pasta / gnocchi, mince, chicken, fish, rice / veggie, sausage & Sunday Dinner. We eat very little red meat really (tend to use turkey mince and some pork - beef very occasionally, usually a slow cooked cheaper brisket cut).

So I'd try save a bit of chicken / gammon from Sunday dinner to put in a pasta bake on Monday for example (bulked out with veggies served with garlic bread & salad). I use pulses a lot to bulk out dishes, especially mince. I've got an 11 & 7 year old so can split a 500g pack in 2 and add lentils, carrot, celery, onion, courgette, peppers (if making chilli) and make a bolognese and shepherds pie - one will go in the freezer for the following week (you might be able to this with a bigger pack of mince).

Chickpeas & veggies make great cheap curry's, or try veggie lasagna - much cheaper than buying meat. And try subbing some of the meat out for more veg in recipes that won't miss it e.g joe wicks gnocchi bake with chicken, kale & mushrooms - I can put one chicken breast in that for us and it usually leaves a portion for someone's lunch the next day.

We also aim to have one really cheap meal a week, like egg & chips / jacket potato & beans / lentil & bacon soup w/ bread / pesto pasta / omelette / beans on toast. And freeze your leftovers if not being eaten the next day. We regularly have a freezer raid and all end up with a random, home cooked, microwave meal each.

If you plan out your week you can make sure any left overs (bits of veg etc) can be thrown into the following days meal and you don't have waste. Only buy what's on the list (don't forget lunches / treats) and keep a loaf of bread & litre of milk in freezer to limit last minute shops that always cost more than planned. Freeze chicken breasts / thighs separately/ sausages in pairs if your not using straight away so your not forced to defrost / cook more than you need too.

Pinterest is great for recipe ideas too, especially vegan / veggie if that's not something you cook a lot.

@vanillandhoney I already do the random freezer teas, me and youngest DS had frozen cod fillets with a tin of condensed mushroom soup as sauce with left over veg, sounds grim but we loved it 😂

Start looking at the price per kilo of fruit & veg, and meat. Look very closely at the price per kilo, and compare it with alternatives. Chicken legs and thighs are far cheaper than breast for instance.

Look at the price of a punnet of soft fruit and how much you need for 5 people, and compare that with the price of a bunch of bananas or a whole pineapple.

Don't expect to get a full shop in one place. To get the best value you have to shop around. And I for one can't see how you wouldn't be able to get most of what you need from budget supermarkets - I do, and I have to feed 4 hungry adults, two of whom have manual jobs and eat like it's going out of fashion.

Meat free meals, frozen veg, don't buy snacks. Go to aldi/ Lidl. I know you don't like it, neither do I, but it's sooo much cheaper

I’d say shop at Aldi but you don’t like it. I’d suggest preparing a meal from what’s in your kitchen rather than popping out for specifics.Have plenty of spices and herbs, garlic, tins of tomatoes, coconut milk, chick peas etc. Eat less meat, we eat far less since DD became a vegetarian and it’s saves so much just eating 3 meat free meals a week. We spend about £80-£100Pw 2 adults, DC 19&16 and a dog.

If you break it down its £40 per person per week, which is not too bad.

I personally would stay with the butcher, if they are good quality.

One of the things we did over lockdown, was sort out all our cupboards and we only buy what we have run out of, rather than think thats a bit low did that and we have managed to shave off a wee bit doing that, but also shops are more expensive and offers are still not really there at the moment, so you might find with a bit of meal planning and not going into the shops so often it is going to come down

We're a vegetarian/vegan household & whilst I use Quorn/soya products quite often I don't always.

Cheap, filling meals that we enjoy are:

Vegetable & lentil stew with dumplings
Butterbean & mushroom curry with rice
Cashew nut stirfry with noodles or rice
Jacket potatoes with bean chilli
Pasta bake (sometimes add sausages)

I guess I’m the only one who thinks that’s an extortionate amount
I'm with you on this - it's an absolutely ridiculous amount to spend!
Chuck in yet another pregnancy on top - cos you know, THAT won't cost extra at all!

Threads like this just confirm that some people have more money than common sense.

@Itsjustabitofbanter

I guess I’m the only one who thinks that’s an extortionate amount. Family of five here and our weekly shop comes to around £60, so £240 a month, and that’s when I’m not being particularly careful. I can half that easily if I need to. I do meal plans and shop online so I can stick to what I need

Are you saying you think you can feed a family of 5 on £0.80 per person per day?

We needed to save about £150 a month as we needed a new car and I felt we were very wasteful of food.

We did it by doing weekly online shopping rather than monthly. I planned exactly what we needed for each meal plus got a few emergency bits (bags of chips/chicken etc) for times when we might have had changes of plans and were in a rush. It made such a difference as we didn't waste anything plus also I could see how much we were spending each week and make better choices if the total was too high.

We menu plan on a Sunday night as a family - there’s no reason why it should be your job. Since lockdown we aim for 2 meat, 1 fish and 4 vegetarian meals per week. (We also divvy out the cooking if that appeals?)

Generally, we don’t buy biscuits, crisps, fizzy drinks and the like at all. That’s for occasions only. However, we have the ingredients to bake so if anyone’s that desperate for something sweet they have to make it. Kids sometimes do brownie in a mug type things too.

We never buy ready meals - closest is tortellini or pizza type food - and have reduced the ham, chorizo, chicken content too.

It’s made a difference and we could go further if needed.