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

Family of 23 here and we get by on 1 chicken a week and forage everything else.

I don’t think that’s too bad, tbh.

Try batch cooking, and eating lots of cheap veg with every meal (carrots, spring greens).

@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?

I don't use quorn veggi chilli is red lentils (no need to pre-soak), 2X cans of tomartos and either red kidney beans or black eye beans. I serve with nachos (40p for huge bag) rice, salad and natural yoghurt.

Make a list of 14 main meals you know everyone will eat and just rotate them, it’s not too repetitive that way. With each meal on the list, look at how you could make it cheaper eg, for bolognese could you use less meat and pad it out with lentils? When cooking a casserole/slow cook dish, add extra veg and make an extra portion that either someone can use as soup the next day or you can freeze (and label) Once you have five individual meals (not necessarily the same as each other) you get a “free” night. Buy a set amount of yoghurts/drinks/snacks a week and have the kids understand that a refill won’t happen until the next big shop. Buy a whole chicken and it will do for three meals (cheaper than buying a load of chicken breasts)

Babyboomtastic
So you spend 400 pounds a month, but you're 2 adults and 2 young children - OP is basically buying for 5 adults (if my 13yo is anything to go by), which means that you would quite easily be adding another 200- 300 pounds, which would bring you up to what the OP spends!

I'd agree with everything said before but please don't stop buying at the butcher's! Instead, use the meat more sparingly, more veggie or low-meat days, and if you don't already, then a slow cooker is a godsend for cheaper cuts of meat - I also do a whole chicken in mine, strip it and then use the cooked meat in various dishes, it goes waaaaay further. Same for various cuts of beef - I cook them in the slow cooker with just a little seasoning, then shred and use in stir fries or with noodles etc - you get the meaty flavour but can get away with using a LOT less.

Meal planning and shopping online helps us.

I stopped for a few weeks when tesco click and collect started charging £1.50 but noticed I was spending a lot more than than on impulse buys that we don't need.

I don’t think it’s too bad either for a family of 5.

• cheaper cuts of meat (chicken boneless thighs rather than chicken breasts, just as tasty in curry etc)
• half the meat content of stew, fajitas, curry, chilli etc add beans or chickpeas instead
• go for cheaper fish, so mackerel and sardines are cheapish and very healthy because they're oily fish
• when you see meat substantially reduced, buy it and freeze it
• calculate how much you spend on non-meal 'treat' items eg. booze, smooothies or fresh juice, nuts, olives etc . . .. I was quite chocked when I did and then gave myself a limit to how much I would buy in a week, eg. one bottle of wine and one of juice a week

Good luck!

I know using a local butcher is great and a lovely idea and all but if you want to save money then do a price comparison for the meat you get from them.

Unless they can price for price match a supermarket then only use them for special occasions.

Online shopping saves me a fortune as they have a lot of special offers so I can stock up on tinned toms, kidney beans and chickpeas for normally 4 for £1.

GO OWN BRANDS!!!! or cheaper brands... search, search search.

I go through the cupboards, fridge and freezer each month to see what I'm running out of and make a list.

I have a set amount to spend and add things and remove things over several days until I'm happy :)

I get cheap whole chickens for under £3 and a 1kg bag of chicken boobs for £3.50 from Tesco.

The chicken gets smothered in garlic salt and pepper and a cheap onion up it's bum. Comes out lovely. or I will cut them up and use the legs in stews, pies etc.

All the bones and uneaten bits from a cooked chicken gets bunged in a pot to make a nice stock as you can pick a ton of meat off the bones :) :) (I add in bendy veg and a chicken stock cube as I like a nice robust flavour)

Chicken boobs I use in so many meals.

Also chicken thighs are cheap as chips as well and I use them in a ton of recipes (mmm.. chicken stew full of cheap veg)

Cooking bacon is really cheap and I use it in chicken pasta baked dishes. You sometimes get a HUGE lump that you can cut into decent chunks :)

eggs are brilliant for making spanish omelettes using any veg that needs using up.

Also I part cook my omelettes in the pan then finish them off under the grill, they puff up lovely and makes it seem you are eating more than you are.

A bag of cheap 20 sausages are about £1 and are lovely in a sausage, tinned whole toms and tinned bean casserole to fill up hollow tums.

For puds cheap ice cream (99p to £1.50 for 2 litres) and tinned broken madarins (about 45p a tin I think)

Look at the veg you buy. It can be cheaper online as well (1kg carrots 49p, cabbage, 49p, leeks, 99p, 2.5kg all round spuds around £1.50)

Also I use their cheap beef mince and it makes a lovely slow cooked ragu for spag bol or cottage pie (filled out with loads of mushrooms, frozen peas (99p a large pack) carrots and other veg I can sneak in)

Dont use cook in sauces.

Easiest tomato sauce is slow sweat an onion til soft, add in a crushed garlic or two, add a couple tins of cheap toms, a bit of sugar and salt and pepper and simmer for about 30-40 mins then whizz it all up.

You can vary the taste by adding spices you like. I love adding a GOOD squeeze of malt vinegar and tablespoon of sugar. Really nice flavour.

Look at what your family likes to eat and then just use cheaper ingrediants.

I had to cost cut due to money issues and I was amazed at the amount of stuff we wasted.

I also set a budget for snacks etc. Once they are gone they are gone. Boxes of broken biscuits are really fun and cheap (Iceland sell them)

oh! and Tesco cheap pasta! OMG! 20p anyone for 500g of spaghetti or 29p for 500g of pasta tubes?

The tubes make excellent pasta bakes!! and the spag, once covered in a slow cooked ragu (or even just a bit of butter, cheese and black pepper) tastes REALLY good.

Oh OH! Cheese... if your family get through a load of cheese look at my partner you can get HUGE blocks of cheese cheap as well (mature). I add it to loads of things.

sorry its a bit long :)

Yes always check cupboards before you shop, this keeps our bill down. DHwill just buy everything we normally have but when I do it and check first, it’s far less.

Only eat meat / fish 2 or 3 times a week. Or only have meat Monday's and fish Friday's.

@ExpectTheWorst

No, because food costs don't scale like that. When I lived alone my food cost was similar when as a couple because there's less waste. We often cook meals that last for 2 nights, or have guests, and whilst they are now expensive than a single meal for three 4 of us, they aren't twice as expensive by a long way. If I buy a jar of sauce, it would likely be used for us 4 or 4 adults, it would just end up a little less saucy, for example. Obviously some meals are a lot more with more peope

And the £400 a month that I'm spending is without worrying about the cost or much meal planning. It would be very easy to shave that down, but it's struggle to spend more unless in developed a booze habit. And we are quite big eaters

Make sure you maximise your ingredients. For example, if you roast a chicken then boil up the carcass for stock and make a nice soup.

Go through and see what you are buying which is expensive per portion. With your family you can probably get economy of scale.

Things that come in small packs are often the culprits. Eg berries, baby corn, small fish portions. Or snacks, branded cereals, fizzy drinks. Have an allowance for treats as teens can burn through this stuff in no time.

Anything that can be got in sacks, frozen or from Costco or a farm shop go for it. Then look at Iceland, Aldi etc.

Make your salad and veg seasonal. Buy whole lettuces not prepackaged leaves etc.

I would analyse your monthly spends and work out where the money really goes and then you can target where it helps.

Tbh you are buying for 5 adults ,teenagers will eat just as much as you or more, i think.your bill is reasonable which probably isnt much help!
Meal plan, cook from scratch, end of day bargains at supermarket, supermarket own brands , more veggie dishes, but you are probably doing that already!

Lou what size chicken are you recommending that would do three separate meals for a family of five people ? the infamous MN chicken

I live with 3 teens and can see why your food costs so much when you use a butcher

My tips are

• you need to use more than one supermarket. I use Aldi for cleaning stuff and meat. Tesco or Morrisons for fruit, veg and stuff that I can't buy in Aldi eg teen dd likes teen sanitary towels. If you don't like Aldi toiletries consider a discount shop like B&M or Farm Foods for stuff like detergent

• analyse your waste. My teens used to do things like cook 6 rashers out of a pack of 8 and chuck the rest. The remaining 2 rashers would make a sandwich for me!

• work out how much each meal costs. Save the expensive ones for the weekend or days when everyone is at home

• what about drinks? I shop around on fizzy drinks and have a rule that it's only bought for weekend meals. That's obviously cheaper and healthier

• what about snacks? Do you buy seasonal fruit and buy what's on offer? I wouldn't buy strawberries in winter.

• less meat! If you've cooked a roast, stuffing, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings are much cheaper than meat

• get a freezer. Supermarket heavily discount joints at Easter and Xmas. I stock up on lamb joints at these points of the year as they are so pricy (but delicious!)

• do you have a lot of leftovers? Either reuse in tomorrow's dinner or remember to cook less next time

• does your butcher ever do promotions? If he advertises them on social media or whatever follow him and plan meals around these promotions

I’m addition to all the great comments on here, I used to drop into my local supermarket and grab bargain markdown of the day for supper which I had to stop doing when lockdown happened and dh needed to Shield.

So I had to start getting deliveries and meal plan rather than pop to the shop.

I’ve been rotating through asda. Tesco, Morrison’s and occasionally get a Sainsbury’s chopchop delivery or delivery from out local green grocer market stall.

I’ve found that meat quality and prices vary, even within a supermarket. So if we want steak I usually go for asda - we like their 3 for a tenner sirloins and enjoy it as a treat. But haven’t had decent steaks from Tesco so don’t order it from them any more.

Mince I make sure I get the 5% fat stuff - asda have a kg pack whereas Tesco seems to be 750g and the asda one is pretty good but I can get it from either, I just end up with more portions off the asda one.

Pork steaks seem to be about £3.50 for 8 - so approx 8 pork steaks for 1 beef steak. We’ve eaten a lot more pork in lockdown - I tend to cook all 8 together then we eat 4 one night, ds1 is a hollow legged teen growing rapidly so he will have another, thevothers are handy to have in the fridge or freezer for nights we have things on at different times - different people like different things so it’s an easy way to accommodate them on such nights.

Asda do a nice fresh base for a pizza for a pound which goes down well - fills an entire baking tray. Cheap part baked baguettes (Costco/Aldi/Lidl) all taste nice and make a nice change to make suppers that are more substantial in the summer if you carve up a steak or couple of pork chops with lots of salad in.

Slow roast pork can be turned into pulled pork to make it stretch further. Challenge family members to work out cheap and cheerful tasty pasta recipes that they can all help to cook.

Keep an eye on the special offers - both Tesco and Asda seem to have fruit and veg deals of the week which introduce variety and don’t cost much.

Look for refills too - hand wash is much cheaper when you buy refills!

I remember a poster once who was fretting that her teens would eat 2 punnets of blueberries for a snack. And another one whose DH was getting through a £3 box of cereal every 2 days. You just have to take control sometimes. Then budget the nice bits back in (proper coffee, Sunday roast).

A veg box might help you as it’s a fixed cost and commit to not buy any more veg until it’s used up, no matter how much cabbage.

That doesn't seem a lot to me (however I spend £500 pm for two adults and a toddler, so my view may be a bit skewed)
That averages out about £160 per week for you all, which is £32 per person. That's super reasonable I would say. If you're struggling financially to find this, then you need to look at meal planning, bulk cooking etc. Perhaps cutting down on meat products, and upping carbs per meal.

There's me and DD here but essentially two adults, I can easily spend £70 - £80 a week including cat food, but excluding toilet rolls and cleaning stuff which I buy in bulk, so your bill sounds high but not excessive to me assuming you're eating well. There should be some economy of scale feeding 5 adults though, and I'd be looking to stock up on good offers, I do that for the two of us, my pantry is always well stocked with shelf stable stuff bought on offer and rotated. If there were more of us I'd buy big bags of rice, pasta etc.

Family of 23 here and we get by on 1 chicken a week and forage everything else

A whole chicken? You need to forage as well after a whole chicken?

30£ a week would be loo paper and washing powder alone in my house

Now that is a ridiculous amount to spend. How on earth?

But the OP might struggle to reduce her spend significantly as it's about average for her family size, especially if the amount quoted is all groceries not just food.

OP have you reviewed the rest of your budget to free up more money for food if you can't trim much from your food spend?

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Another way of solving the problem?

Change to shopping in lidl Instead of asda and that will drastically reduce your monthly food bill. Asda is expensive compared to other shops around my way anyway. Not sure for you.

Sorry if this has already been covered, I’ve not read all the thread.

Hope you working something out :)