£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

Do you shop around for what is on offer? Also do you make the most of the loyalty schemes, eg points that give fivers with morrisons and coupons with Lidl for money off? Or do you have tesco vouchers/nectar points you could use?

£200 a week for food is an awful lot. Assuming one of those 4 is a baby too, or is it 4 people and a baby? Food is expensive now but if you need some cheap weeks it’s definitely do-able. Make a list of what’s in your cupboard, fridge and freezer and ensure you’re using all of it. Chat GPT etc can probably give you some recipe ideas too for those items. It might not be the healthiest, but you can pick up some frozen food to see you through. Sausage and mash, Spag bol, Chilli. Mince is cheap, and pasta and rice cheap enough to fill up on. Mac and cheese, pasta bake. Cheap garlic baguette. Write out a meal plan and only buy what’s on it.

How old is the baby? If they are over 1 you can start weaning onto cows milk which saves a fortune.

Huge bags of pasta and rice, stock up on frozen veg, onions peppers, tinned tomatoes, cut out meat for a lot of meals. Big bags of porridge. Get a large mince, add a couple of tins of mixed beans and split make a chilli that in to portions.

Go to Iceland and stock up on some of their deals. Obviously a lot of junk but they do chicken skewers and frozen chicken breast etc.

I shop in Tesco and you can get a month free on Tesco club card plus, which gives you 10% off two shops. So you could do a £200 shop and get £20 off twice.

We also buy cashback cards, we use an app and every month we prepay our shopping by buying a £400-500 Tesco voucher. We get 5% cash back so we’re up £20, there too. So each month we save or earn £60 towards our shopping.

I can see how your shopping can be that high but there’s no way it needs to be. I mainly shop in the finest ranges for meals and my DW is pregnant and a bottomless pit for food atm. We spend £250 for the first shop of the month where we stock up on toiletries, cleaning products and essentials for the cupboards and freezer as well as the shop for that week. After that we spend £70-80 a week and that’s with a very expensive Diet Coke habit (3 boxes a week) So I can’t see how my wasteful shopping is less than yours. If we needed to we could save £00s per month.

Finally, if it gets that bad you should go to a food bank. Maternity pay is rubbish and sadly you’ve blown through your savings so if you need to you should go and stock up on some basics. Someone’s already mentioned cost of living payments from your local authority. You should try that too.

Mom can be a midlands thing.

People saying that they don't understand how you spend £200 and telling you that they spend £80 for a family of strapping lads are being unhelpful.

Op doesn't just mean food. She means loo roll, shampoo, laundry stuff and everything else a household needs to run.

Can you post a receipt and a meal plan @AnxietyLevelMax ?

Things like boxes of washing powder work out cheaper than liquid or pods. Also, it was kn here that I read that we use way too much detergent to wash our clothes. So try using the smallest amount of powder possible to stretch a box.

In terms of cheap meals, veggie staples like chickpeas will be your friend. Often cheaper in the world food aisle.

Also, egg on toast is a meal. Add beans to make it even more substantial.

Do you want meal ideas? Do you need to account for packed lunches too?

I feel for you, everything I set foot in a supermarket I am shocked at how easy it is to spend a fortune on seemingly normal stuff.

Take the DC for a stroll down a road where the houses have big gardens and keen gardeners. On our road, there are baskets of plums, early apples, beans, courgettes, cucumbers etc. being given away.

Buy a big bag of pasta, a big bag of rice and a big bag of red lentils (a 5kg bag). Buy the cheapest tinned tomatoes you can find. With that, you have the base for pasta sauce, veggie chilli, veggie bolognese, and a variety of filling soups. Forget about meat for the rest of the month!

We are currently on a very very tight budget due to an unexpected house move so the food shop was the first thing to tighten.

I’m currently bulk cooking one huge pot of something every week and then carrying it over for the next 4 meals but changing it up so it stretches and we don’t get bored. Last week we had a lentil chilli, then enchiladas, then burritos, then chilli nachos. The chilli was the main component. Chilli had loads of veg in too so healthy ish.

This week we’re having lentil bolognese with pasta, bolognese jacket potato’s, bolognese sloppy joes, bolognese hot pot. Did a big dhal and that lasted us for days.

Also having lots of beans on toast, jacket potatoes, peanut butter on toast etc. Have raided all of the cupboards and freezer to see what I can make (needs eating due to moving anyway) so having some random teas. It’s a bit boring but will do for the next few months.

Currently managing at about £30-£35 a week with a cat.

Edited to add we are never hungry! DH eats loads and is a gym goer who counts his protein. We always have peanut butter on toast and beans on toast on offer. I buy some 99p protein wraps from Aldi and usually air fry them with some cheese and whatever I’ve bulk cooked inside as a little quesadilla style snack. I’ve had to get creative but he’s literally never been hungry. We also have loads of protein powder in so have been making protein baked oats.

His five year old and baby don't need adult sized meals.
As someone who had a BF who had size 15 feet at 6'4" and hands like spades I can assure you they aren't eating more because of the patriarchy.

I think maybe portion control can be an issue. If you are doing spaghetti bolognese, there BB erfs to be plenty of seconds of cheaper pasta and garlic bread if he's hungry. Bolognese halved and put in the freezer asap and then help yourselves from what's left . Cheese is expensive so less of that.

Would it help your future finances if you went back to work earlier than planned?

You can manage this - can you do a rough meal plan for what you would normally buy and people can make suggestions. Do you eat a lot of meat/ fish?

We spend what you do a week for 5 people (2 adults and 3 teens) and a cat - we do meal plan but not especially carefully, don't shop in a cheap supermarket and (much to DH's despair) the only pulses I eat are chickpeas, so we are limited at bulking out with beans/ lentils. This includes all the household bits and pieces as well.

And I agree - look at portion control. No one needs to starve, but equally, no one needs to be grating half a block of cheddar onto their spag bol either.

Exactly. Food is incredibly cheap. In this country. I bought a large roast chicken today for £7 in Waitrose. And probably cheaper elsewhere. One day a roast and filling veg either rice, the next day shredded into pasta. Two proper meals for ‘cheap’.

It sounds really tough. I know you won’t want to hear this but your husband is eating your budget away if he’s eating for 2 people. You could easily save money if he just ate one portion.

Daal and rice. Easy to make, cheap and healthy

£350 is loads.

Back to basics for you.

Breakfast is cereal, toast or porridge.

Lunches are sandwiches (ham & cheese in particular you can buy in bulk) and make a big pot of vegetable soup which costs hardly anything to make - barley, soup veg, veg stock, water - bam!

Dinners are simply things which are cheap to make - anything with something carb heavy, e.g. pasta dishes, casseroles, pies, etc. If you have leftovers, keep them frozen or on fridge for another day.

Snacks are cheaper bits of fruit (apples, bananas, satsumas) and some veg like carrot sticks, celery etc. For something "bad", the own brand of any supermarkets usually have biscuits/crisps etc reasonably cheap and you'll just need to ration it out.

Buy the cheapest brand of any product you see.

Make sure you cut down a little on portion sizes and ration snacks to last a full week/month.

In terms of fuel, you calculate how much you need for essential travel. Anything outside of that, walk to the closest shop.

I’m confused. If you are regularly having meals like pasta and veg and baked potatoes how on earth is your spend so high. For a week I’d look at:
Breakfast- porridge or weetabix with bananas/apples or toast
lunch - sandwich, yogurt and biscuit bar or beans/hoops on toast
dinner-
jacket and filling
vegetable pasta bake (with leftover for lunch)
omlette with frozen chips
roast chicken with rest of potatoes, carrots and peas
left over chicken in a curry
pizza - easy to get cheap ones to share
sausage mash and peas

I would look to buy apples, bananas and pears as fruit to keep it cheap. Large pots of natural yogurt and lots of bread. I would get basic biscuits for snacks.

This should be doable on £100 easily

I agree with the comments not to use the food bank. You have plenty of money.

Put formula and fuel money to one side. The left over is food money.

I use Gousto. Ask someone for their code and you can get 70% off, it works out about £20 for 5 meals for 4 people. Just cancel after. You can do the same with hellofresh/mindful chef. That should do you, husband that eats for 2, and child possibly a bit left over for 1 lunch.

Add lentils to things. A side of rice. And frozen spinach.

Eggs, see if they are cheaper to buy from someone on the side of the road, same with veg.

Make bread, use for pizza, as rolls as a side.

Rice pudding is cheap and nice to make, or buy. And filling

Look for places that sell past best before date foods.

If there's a market near you, go to the fruit and veg stalls later in the day. Go there before you go to a supermarket. Only buy the extras you need at the supermarket, basing your meals on what you bought at the market. It's a much better way than just shopping at a supermarket, you'll save a fortune. There's no need to be spending £200 a week, and you'll eat much more healthily.

Get toiletries etc at a Home Bargains or a B & M, meat from a butcher. Supermarkets rely on people being lazy any buying everything in one place.

my neighbour with 4 teenagers used to put a loaf of white bread in the middle of the table to go with whatever meal they were having.

Also do you have anything you can sell?

You’ve had lots of good advice, I think it might be helpful to look at the household bits you are buying, can you change to cheaper ranges for a while? They often work just as well. Clean surfaces and bathrooms with washing up liquid and white vinegar, you don’t need fancy products. But powder for washing machine and dishwasher and use half a dose, vinegar instead of softener.

your husband will need to fill up on cheapest bread toasted with peanut butter and a normal portion of dinner. I’ve lived with very big men and they don’t need thousand of calories.

also look at drinks, is there any swapping to cheap squash and cheap fizzy water instead of soft drinks? Buy cheap coffee and have one nice coffee a day and the rest cheaper (or water!).

locally we have community fridges that are open to all, might be worth looking at. Also the odd too good to go bag from supermarkets can be good and at least entertaining!

final point, but everything frozen or tinned, check the price difference but generally chicken, mince and vegetables are much cheaper frozen and no real difference in quality once cooked.

That’s a dreadfully unbalanced diet for a dog…

OP can you list what your week’s grocery shopping usually consists of, and what you have in your cupboards, fridge and freezer? Someone will quickly see where you can stretch your budget. Not just the obvious thinks like not buying alcohol or soft drinks, crisps or biscuits, but so many people have at some point been in desperate straits for a month, a year or more. We need to know more in order to help you.

That's plenty to surive on for 4 weeks. Plenty of good advice on this thread @AnxietyLevelMax

I spend £200 a week splurging at ocado for a family of 5. If I need to budget I can easily do £80 a week at aldi and probably do once a month just to save a bit.
I'm struggling to work out how you're living off cheese toasties and spuds but spending so much. You mention snacks? Do you huy a lot of ready made stuff? What about drinks? Everyone can just go to water if needed.

Formula is often going cheap on local mum facebook groups when people have swapped or just baby grown out of it. Have a look. Nappies too.