£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

The most depressing thing is i know my finance and i am great at planning and organising and living within the budget but cost of living is just killing us and i cant seem to get a grip now. I sit every week and plan cheap meals, do shopping list according to it and boom…bill is still huge. Yesterday had cheesy toasties for dinner and some wraps with leftovers in the fridge.

Pp may be a little harsh regarding your husband, he certainly won't easily be able to go to eating for one overnight. Can you contact citizens advice for a food bank referral? Or see if there is a community pantry/fridge in your area as these can be open access to stop food waste?

Although it does sound harsh, this is clearly an ongoing problem and I agree that your OH doesn’t have the luxury of eating almost 2/3rds of the food for himself when you are struggling

Don’t do a big food shop. You will end up spending on perishables and not eat some of it. Shop every couple of days, looking for yellow stickers, and have a plan for each meal. No snacks apart from toast. Assess what you already have so you don’t buy twice.

So basically you need to live really boringly food wise for the next couple of weeks
noodles with frozen mixed veg
omelettes ( eggs are cheap ish)
tortilla ( eggs and potatoes)
rice with mixed veg
pasta with pesto

basically food to fill you up.

It’s worth having a look at this website, they also have a Facebook page there are weekly emergency meal plans with costed shopping lists. https://fyf20quid.co.uk/

Are you shopping at Aldi? I have similar aged children and a hungry husband and our weekly Aldi shop is 90 pound including everything youve mentioned bar formula. Also their nappies are dead cheap (and good).
It's tough being on maternity! But meal planning honestly saves us. We have a spreadsheet and a load of recipes and just go from there. I can only think it's where you are shopping because I would struggle to spend 200 a week without having steaks and wine every night or something .

You might have to think about returning to work earlier than planned, you can't live on nothing...or your do might need a 2nd job. Do you get any help from universal credit?

A lot of people do this. Why not share you list and meal plan here, lots of people have made good, cheap suggestions.

he cant go hungry. The guy cannot even buy shoes in any store bc no one has his shoe size - this is to tell you he is just huge and tall and needs more food than me or you so no. He cannot cut it in half i am afraid

Will take it on board

Tough, his children need to eat.

He wouldn’t go hungry, he’d just be living like a normal adult.

If you were to not be able to get to the shops, how badly would you suffer? Surely you have things in the cupboards or shops to use up and tide you over? Bulk out with cheap lentils, beans etc.

Bulk buy formula and dog food on Amazon, it works out cheaper per item. Use online shopping delivery if the shop is so far away that it’s costing a lot in fuel.

So tell us what this weeks (or any average week) meals were so we can suggest alternatives? We don’t really have much to go on yet!

So 70 for formula round il to 100 for dog leaves you with 250 for the rest of the month , make that 200 with fuel - practise careful driving and knock the speed off, try and see if a lift share is possible

yiu are on maternity so the car should only be used for work transport- you can walk to and from the shops several times a week if needed

so 200 for 2 adults for say 20 days with what you already have a beg from your parents

thats £5 per person per day

oats with milk - porridge for breakfast. Share a tin of fruit with it or frozen o think is better these days

lunch - jackets with cheese and a carrot and cabbage coleslaw or a simple buttie - give DH jam butties to fill him up if he doesn’t need to diet ( hard to say from your post )

then dinner - veggie curry with a tin of chickpeas and an tin of tomatoes and rice bulked with frozen veg

it might get repetitive and boring but you can eat healthy and sufficient and is a starter point

I don’t understand how your food bill for 2 adults, a child and baby is over £200 if you’re only living off cheese on toast, no fruit and getting meals made for you to help? Surely there’s an error somewhere?

We spend around £120-140 a week on 2 adults and 1 5 year old. So just no baby. But we don’t scrimp on that. We buy mainly organic, lots of fruits, fish, meat, etc.. I could easily take off about £30-40 just downgrading to non organic and more basic ingredients

Please find me cows and gate comfort cheap because i literally dont see it.

Can you sell anything on Vinted or eBay to get through the next few weeks before work? But agree with previous posters that perhaps you should consider returning earlier

Go through your cupboards find everything you already have that could make a meal, tins of soup, tins of tomatoes, etc. it will be boring but doable. Get fuel and formula first, head to Lidl/aldi, buy the big bags of porridge and some cereal and milk, have that for breakfast. Lunch can be sandwiches, or soup, omelettes etc. bulk with frozen veg and cheese. Dinner buy bulk bags of the cheapest pasta (usually penne) and rice, some potatoes. Buy big packets of chicken and mince and portion it out. I find when cooked in the slow cooker and. Shredded chicken goes a lot further. For example 2 chicken breast cooked in a curry (tinned tomatoes coconut milk and spices) then shredded, with some potatoes or chickpeas and frozen veg will very comfortably feed my family of 4 with maybe one lunch the next day. A few nights a week keep it very simple, baked potatoes and cheese/tuna/beans or beans and toast. With careful planning you will manage.

We have been living on it last week after calculating how much it goes on food lately wven though i always meal plan

You’re fixated on the formula - look around to see if you can bulk buy, etc.

But there are other issues too. The main one being your husband seems to eat nearly £100 worth of food alone!

Have a look on Pinterest and TikTok , lots of vloggers make meals plans for £30-£40 for the week . Hopefully if you can pick up some ideas it will help . Have a look through what you have at home before you shop . When we’re short it’s amazing how many meals you can make from tinned tomatoes! You’ll have had enough by the end but it will get you through xx

Bulk buying can be cheaper - but isn’t appropriate for a month where you haven’t got enough to start with as it requires extra cash upfront- hold that thought for next month

You need cheap bulk food for him then. I get what you mean, my relative is 6ft 6 with hands the size of spades!
cheap white bread and butter with meals, potatoes, carrots are cheap (add to mash or roast), rice, that kind of stuff, whoever veg and fruit is on offer at Aldi

I feed family of 3 for around £100 a week for food - most cooking from scratch, no unhealthy take aways etc

Big on our menu is pasta, roast chicken, baked potatoes, veggie soups etc.