£350 till end of the month. family of 4 + dog

[AnxietyLevelMax]

How do we survive? Needs to include formula for the baby. Other ds is almost 5 yrs old. Fuel to be included. We are sorted for this week and have few lunches in the freezer for the next week, but otherwise have to manage within the budget and just dont know how! Each grocery shopping is about £200 for a week with careful planning, we just cant afford it

No tomatoes at all does make it trickier.

traybakes (chicken thighs and lots of vegetables with seasoning and some stock)
pasta, pesto and tuna
stews (lots of vegetables not much meat, bulk with pearl barley and lentils)
cottage pie
noodle dishes
omelettes and homemade chips
curries
meat (thighs, jointed whole chicken, drumsticks) and veg, stuffing and gravy
jacket potatoes - I imagine that’s tricky? No baked beans or chilli, but you can make chilli without tomatoes, use stock instead and a range of beans, sometimes we put in diced sweet potato.

I assume doesn’t want to if lasanga is fine.

I read that as her and son eat lasagna when dad is at work all day? But it wasn’t clear.

Another one who doesn’t get the £200 per week food shop! I spend that for me plus three primary age kids and I shop at Ocado, buy organic meat and waste loads of money on expensive fruit and snacks! It must be possible to cut down if you budget, meal plan and shop at Aldi, even with a husband who eats for two.

Agree, he can't allow himself to be greedy if you are struggling.

Versatile ingredients and own brands are your friends. As PP have said use a tin of lentils (dried can be cheaper but tins are super easy and still cheap) with everything mince based you make. Don't buy pasta sauce, use tinned tomatoes (salt and sugar will make it taste better than premade sauce).

Hover around yellow-sticker areas in supermarkets for reduced meat or fish (as long as you'd eat it anyway). If your DH needs seconds he can have toast (also an argument for lots of bulking out) - you may need to portion out the meat bit and then allow more of everything else. He'll moan but he'll live.

I get one of those massive tubs of peanut butter for about a fiver from Lidl and use it as protein in a stir fry, make Jack Monroe's peanut butter granola with plain oats, PB and honey (or sugar) - super versatile. Frozen veg is often as good as fresh (green beans, peas, sweetcorn for starters).

@AnxietyLevelMax

How long are you taking off on mat leave ? Why didn’t you back earlier?

No one is trying to fix his problems!!!! What problems anyway. We have joint finances, joint grocery shopping and eat the same meals so meal prep for the whole family.

and A LOT of people suggested tinned tomatoes so i only replied he csnt have tomatoes or red sauce. Not an excuse just one thing less i csn use to meal prep!

whats your problem

I go back after 9 months, as soon as we can get 30hrs free childcare

I think there are two linked issues here - the immediate squeeze and the longer term quite high food bills.

Short-term I wouldn't be looking at TGTG, Gousto etc, much as I like them. I'd have simple breakfasts with porridge oats; seasonal fruit, value biscuits and homemade popcorn as snacks; and one more meal a week being an egg and chips type dinner, or veg soup with a toasted sandwich. You can also often get chicken thighs/drumsticks very cheaply at the supermarket to oven cook or shallow fry, they are delicious with rice or potatoes and obviously high in protein.

Longer term I think trying to get to the bottom of your husband's diet and what he needs or wants sounds worthwhile. This can be his to sort.

We are both struggling. Not once i said he eats well and i cut my portions. He just eats more than an average guy in my opinion but if we have a “cheap day” (beans on toast, baked potatoes etc) he will eat the same thing.

@AnxietyLevelMax perhaps get your dh to go on a diet so he doesnt need to eat so much food. it would also be better to help him lose weight. better for his heart too - every pound overweight, your blood has to travel 22 miles further!!! that means your heart has to work a helluva lot harder!!

My DH is also huge, when we were broke he was the one that went without every single time. He often skipped two or all three meals in a day to make sure the rest of us could eat and he’d walk instead of using expensive transport. For him that’s the bare minimum.

Not to brag but to say your husband should be proud to make sacrifices for his family, not finding excuses imo.

Do you shop at Lidl? There app is really good. I joyfully went yesterday to get my free bits that it gives you. I check what the best thing i can get and yesterday a got 7.5kg of potatoes for free! No its not in my meal plan but you bet I'll use them.
I also got 3 free bakery items and some free crisps. Once you've spend about £250 you get 10% too so I make sure that's when I do big bulk shop of coffee toilet roll ect.

I also meal plan which makes it easier.
When I was really watching money I actually found online shopping better as I could whittle down my 'trolley'

I spend about £150 a week for 5 of us including alcohol. None of us are that fussed by meat so we tend to only have that 2/3 times a week which probably helps.

Absolutely! There's loads of cheap meals OP could consider:

beans on toast
Baking potatos
Frozen pizza
Porridge
Buy on offer veg and make a vat of soup
Bird's-eye chicken breasts made into wraps with lettuce and peppers
Aldi 5% mince is cheap for like 700g and delicious (you could make about 12 portions of half beef/half bean chilli for under £15)
Sausage and mash
Toad in the hole
Pancakes

all can be made reasonably cheap

she could also:
Check the cut price section
Go to farmfoods for bulk deals

Sainsburys have packs of 12 tins of dog food on offer this week at £6.60 which is good quality and a bargain. Just add dog biscuits or cooked vegetables etc

He does sacrifice and would eat bread so i can have a meal!!

where is it coming from!

all i said he is huge and eats a lot. If we have baked potatoes i will have one and he can have 5 with tin of beans. Many times he had only 3 and topped it up with some milk and cereal but was hungry so you can only reduce as much!

and i never said he was fat @allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld but thanks for health advice

How is he having baked beans if he can’t have tomatoes or red sauce?

This was actually weeks shopping and meal plan for this week for £96 without alcohol. I know there are 2 meals with tomato's but they would be easy to change to something you do like.

Im sure if it helps but thought I would share.

5 baked potatoes or 5 normal sized potatoes baked?

If you search cheap meal plans, there are loads of really good ones out there. Tesco and BBC do a week for £25 for four, so your husband can eat the baby’s portion. We do them and I have a big eater too - it’s plenty. Trickier if your fine year old is fairly specific about food (mine is) but I tend to leave off sauces/ resign myself to them having a fairly bland diet for a couple of weeks.

This is mint. Love the planning

Anyone suggesting Gousto for a family of 4 and a dog who is struggling is nuts. To be honest looking at the husband’s dietary needs and bigger portion needs, Gousto will not fill him up even if they could afford it.

She needs to start shopping at Aldi like the rest of us do and starting cooking easy basic meals that don’t cost the earth. My weekly food bill is about £120 tops with a cherry on top (treats and very healthy fruit and veg!) it’s criminal that she can’t even afford fruit for her and her husband with £200/week! Even Waitrose doesn’t cost that much a week!

Something is off here.

Not sure why people are making a big thing about tomatoes. Everyone has something they won't eat be it green things or a bloody steak.

All the tomato based dishes can be made with gravy/stock. Loads of sauces with a dollop of anything creamy.

Ok I was with you on the husband thing until this ……..FIVE baked potatoes? That’s absolutely bloody ridiculous and you know it!

If he’s twice the size of an average man, he needs twice the potion size. He sounds like he has an eating disorder