£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

I don't fully understand your post but assuming your trying to help ill add this. All retailers including m and S carry a budget range. These ranges are competitively priced. Depends what you're near and whether deals you find are worth calling in for. They often match the cheaper super markets. Stop buying alcohol if it bothers you. If you're being some how sarcastic, settle your self and mind your own business. Just because some one is poor doesn't mean they deserve a humiliating lecture from you. When you're on a budget you have to spend time looking for the deals and capitalize on that. You follow the deals. Buy when you find them and store away for the rest of the month. Some one shopping at m and S doesn't mean they are being spendthrift at all. You comment with out awareness of context. Worse still you think you're entitled to do that, extending dignity to someone is a great gift and a tonic for your own soul, yours is not to judge...

I am a good cook and offered multiple times to reorganise things, improve budgeting, give ideas. My husband just does not listen. Not that I am bothered because if I want a change or a new recipee to try, that is fine but if I do that regularly, the bill will be 500 on top. If I was single and childless, I can eat for 25 pounds a week. Basically will be feta, tomatoes, bread, yogurt and a lot of fruit compotes from tins. Once a week I might cook at home ( in that scenario ) or indulge in a restaurant. A man changes the whole dynamic - do you have money problem or a man problem

Yes Absolutely ridiculous for people to be saying he needs to halve his food intake. I read your post as in he’s a large person, not just fat and greedy.

I have a son who's huge and eats for 2..my sympathies

Buy the formula and the dog food and divide the rest by the amount of days and that's your daily budget.

Take your budget. Take off the money you need for fuel, formula and dog food.

Put the rest of the money amount into chat GPT, tell it what you need in household essentials and then ask it to meal plan for you looking at prices from Aldi or Lidl. Keep refining the questions such as “my husbands needs to eat xx calories” “my son does not like tomatoes” etc.

Then ask it to give you a weekly meal plan and a weekly shop list.

Also, to bulk for your husband, think of the old fashioned stuff like a yorkshire pudding or dumplings up front stodge to reduce appetite and add bulk.

Hi, basically we are in the same situation almost. Family of four plus cat and dog, husband took a pay cut and we have less money for food.
So we spend around £100 a week on food, I am now batch cooking and making things like lentil stew, roasted carrot soup, potato curry and puddings consist of tinned fruit, natural yogurt and jam etc.
it’s working slowing reducing the bills. I’m looking at growing my own veg now. Think outside the box.

I got dinner in waitrose today. 8 big chicken thighs £3.45, 3 big potatoes, peas that were already in the freezer, sage and onion stuffing , and gravy. Cost under a fiver and easily fed 4 of us.

Love dumplings, we had some in a casserole yesterday, so didn't eat it all by a long way. There was loads of veg and some spud in there too. So dinner for 2, and he's since made 4 one person pies from the leftovers (lovely pie maker, like a toastie maker but for pies) which will go in the freezer. Oh, and he had leftovers for lunch Monday. So 7 portions from a 3 pound yellow sticker pack of beef chunks and veg we had in anyway. A good spice/herb cupboard helps but I assume you have that.
.

I haven’t read the whole thread but -
Delia Smith: rissoles, fish cakes, special cottage pie, baked stuffed courgettes, curry as PP said on page1, ham egg and cheese risotto, bubble and squeak, ham croquettes - all in her Complete Cookery Course (library? Online? Charity shop? A friend or family member?)
Try to access Shirley Goode’s cookery book. Boy, could she make food stretch and knew how to shop. I used it a lot when I was in your situation.
Too Good to Go.
Edited for typos.

Look at permaculture and sow salad leaves, no need to buy that. If you don't have a garden you can grow salads and some onions in a pot

We are a family of 3 - 2 adults and 1 teenager and we spend roughly £100 per week on supermarket. £200 seems a lot. Are you buying fresh? That's always much cheaper. And lots of fruit and veg. Do you buy alcohol? Fizzy drinks? That's usually where it racks up. Go through your shopping bill and look at anything over £3 and ask if you really need it. Formula excluded. I appreciate that's expensive.

Men are like that. His cheap chicken which he eats every single day of the week cost 5 pounds the pack, my daughter's daily protein is salmon which cost even more perhaps, so we end up paying 60 pounds a week just for the meet. And then the rest comes in because we want fruit, veg, ice cream, two types of cheeses and a decent bread. All from Liddl - 200 per week for 3 people

I don’t know OP, there was a time when I was not working and DS and I struggled to get to the end of the month (no benefits, the bastards stopped my tax credits as soon as I was out of a job, didn’t pay contribution based JSA and I was only getting £24 a week in lone parent allowance, I know now they shouldn’t have done that so go figure, I guess I got the vindictive piece of shit at the job centre)

Anyhow, what I wanted to say is that you put your kids first, at that time when we could barely afford animal proteins, I became vegetarian to ensure DS didn’t go without (he is severely allergic to legumes and nuts so no chance I could cut on that), my food became very basic in order to provide for my child, so what I am trying to say is… would your husband consider making the small sacrifice to stop eating that much just to ensure you don’t end up in debt? He may be huge and eat for two but if his unhealthy eating habits are ruining his health and the family finances, he needs to do his bit as well? No matter how much you try to reduce the budget, things won’t get better until he controls himself. You cannot multiply the bread and fish, you are just human after all.

This is a tough one but it needs to be said. Brace yourself : you need to get it rid of the dog.
Pets are incredible expensive to maintain and you need to prioritise your children.

Hi
if you have a Costco I think they do 3x700g for 20.75 on cow and gate stage one. It’s slightly smaller than usual tin size. But depending on what you have in that could tide you over to the end of the month.

there are also apps where some shops do to good to go (I forget their names and I’m sure someone else has already mentioned it.)

Im sorry you’re in this situation.
i know its not the right weather but you could bulk make some soups. Big box of porridge for brekkie, add fruits in etc.

Personally… my biggest saving was getting rid of the inconsiderate husband, but each to their own…

2 of the people in the family are a baby and 5 year old. So the £200 is excessive for food.

lots of frozen veggies but £1/2 punnets form the market weekly. Buy £10 worth of veg for 3/4 days plus pulses and protein should keep you under £40 per week for food.

don’t drive unless desperate, walk or cycle

Family of 5 here, 3 kids with big appetites and we spend £100 a week. I know nappies cost money but I’m struggling to see how you spend £200. I shop online with Tesco and always shop by the offers, being flexible saves so money.

Have a meat free, alcohol free month.

Beans on toast, scrambled eggs and chips, pasta with sauce, jacket potato… Loads of meals you can make on the cheap to spend as little as possible this month.

Wow i am overwhelmed with all of the replies and only went through couple of pages so far. Bedtime with two kids, brief cleaning in the evening, then studying, and i will be knackered in a few hours so not sure if i read everything tonight.

some good suggestions and will take them on board. Impossible to tag everyone.

Husband cannot take additional work and he applies every day but due to his full time position he is extremely restricted to what he can do and it proves to be impossible to find anything within the criteria.

i sell on vinted already, but good suggestion. Also i do as many KIT days at work as i can so at least some extra money.

he also cannot eat tomatoes or any red sauce. very minimum so i am restricted but when he is at work all day and have sandwiches etc we usually eat lasagnas etc, freeze leftovers.

i will go through what we eat and try to reply.

regarding the formula - the one we use brought some comfort to our baby after couple of months of struggle so cant change it/wont risk it at the moment, he is very content on it

to the person who suggested uk or usa…based in uk (although not british) but my american husband rubbed on me i guess so good call lol!

Maybe try Gousto box for 3-4 weeks? They have great offer for new costumers, witn 50% off first box, 40% second box and then 20% the next two months.

You could choose the portion option for 4 adults (which is for 2-3 adults and leftovers or 2 adults and 2/3 children) or even the 5 adults option but that option doesn’t come with the recipe cards but they are on the app anyway.

But I believe the 4 adults option is good enough! We’re two adults and 1 child and we have leftovers and a toddler who eats very small portions anyway so still leftovers after both kids have eaten! With the discounts for new customers the first 3 boxes should come with the price of less than £55 per week!

You can choose up to 5 recipes and the 6th day make some pasta bolognese and the 7th or sausages and mash, total of £20 max.
I like to add in order some of the extras they sell but they aren’t too cheap but with the discount it’s worth it, like a few soups, tortellini and side veg.

I also have a code to share with even bigger discount, please PM for 65% off first box and 25% for the next two months. You can skip/cancel whenever you want.

Ear bread with your food eating all the sauces on the plate or like the Italians say do the “la scarpetta” !

Lunch ideas: Eggs for lunch in various forms with bread! Toasties witn hoummous and olives as a side, it’s very fulfilling. Pizza from Aldi/lidl witn some cucumber and tomatoes.

Look at secondary proteins which are much cheaper. Eggs and yoghurt for instance and cooking a chicken fresh. If you can get a lift to costco you can buy meats in bigger cheaper packs and use a freezer. If you join the trussel trust you have access to regular supplies of much cheaper food . Good luck.

Depending on your area have you looked at too good to go bags. A few places around us do them and can be great value. Particularly if you have a freezer or are willing to batch cook late in the evening. Lidl and Aldi do great veg boxes.

Join OLIO, it's free but you are bound to have someone locally. The volunteers are always inundated with bread and pastries. In one collection you will be able to collect 2 weeks worth. Yes it may be boring having toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch but it will be free. You may even get lucky and be able to collect other things.