Eating on a budget whilst trying to lose weight - is it possible?

[candybar]

I've been a member of Slimming World since September and have managed to lose just under 3 stone, still have around 10lbs to get to target and I am struggling, both with losing weight and the cost of it.

Although I have completely cut out all processed foods and junk I'm spending so much money on Fresh fruit, veg and meat. I switched from A Tesco online shop to Aldi and whilst I'm saving I find that i need to do a mid week Sainsbury's top up for fruit veg and salad.

We are a family of 5, 2 adults, a very fussy 12 year old and two primary school age children who will eat almost anything. Other than my husband we will all eat pasta, and jacket potatoes are a winner. I do know how to eat cheaply and we've been in a far worse position money wise, it's the losing weight aspect that I'm finding difficult as I really don't want to put all the weight I've worked so hard to lose back on.

I do get a free meal at lunchtime at work, and weekends I usually make soup or omelette's.

Any ideas? has anyone managed this?

I feel like I'm so close yet so far and I really don't want our lack of cash to stop me.

Muscle foods is a good site for meat. There are always good offer codes for it on the feed your family for £20 a week Facebook page as well as their own. You can also delay delivery of an order for up to two months of you see a good deal but don't have room in the freezer.

If you've managed so far - and bloody well done to you! - what has suddenly changed that you're worried about money? What is it that you feel you 'have to' buy for your diet?

Basically we are skint - the bills are getting paid but there is nothing left at the end of the month, we are going overdrawn and having to use the emergency credit card, eating 'fresh' everyday is much more expensive than an 80p pizza (which I would love - junk food addict previously) I'm spending a fortune on fresh fruit,veg,salad and lean meat as that's the basics of the slimming world plan. I do eat an awful lot of fruit as snacks rather than reaching for the biscuit tin, cracker barrel or bread and cakes.

I just had a quick look on musclefood - thanks for that, they have a new customer offer for £75 which looks like it would feed us all for a long time, they also had a £10 special offer, I've bookmarked the page ready for payday, which can't come quick enough.

I eat a lot of frozen veg...things like cauliflower, green beans, broccolli and spinach are so much cheaper. Also go to the reduction stand of veg and freeze the fresh veg off that. I got trout for 99p per fish reduced at morrisons and 1 fish fed 2 people. It's cheaper to snack on value carrots cut into sticks than to eat berries and stuff, although I keep getting reduced nectarines and melon seems cheap at the moment.

Veg is much cheaper than fruit. Too much fruit does contain a lot of sugar so maybe try to cut it out a bit more to help your pocket and waistline.

We eat tons of fruit and veg but keep the cost right down by only eating seasonal f and v.
I mainly est apples just the ones in a bag at lidl, not fancy varieties. And items like cabbage which are really good for you but cheap.
I agree with fruit instead of biscuits etc...If I cut down on fruit I'd just eat more biscuits!

Hi I've been in a budget for a few years now. Do you have a rough budget in mind for groceries?

Please shop online it avoids impulse buys & you can go from your meal plan. (I've been on SW for a few months now & meal planning helps)

Buy in bulk, pasta/rice
Look for vouchers

I shop monthly according to my meal plans & I never spend more than £200 including delivery/nappies & lots of extras. I only do top shops when it's necessary as I buy bread/milk/cheese & freeze it.

We eat well & healthy, It's doable :)

You say your DH won't eat pasta or jacket potatoes - is he one of those men that expects all his meals to contain a big lump of meat?

If so, theirin lies your problem, along with unnecessarily high fruit consumption. I think a lot of people overdo fruit on SW because it is 'free'. Half my office is on SW and some of them must be spending a tenner a week on fruit just for snacking on in the office - they never stop eating the stuff, along with Muller fucking Lights.

Aldi does a big pack of lean mince for £2.99 that's good value. Also their super 6 fruit and veg. Apples/oranges/bananas are cheaper than blueberries etc.

At the risk of starting an argument about chickens, you can also get a free range chicken at Aldi - roast and use breasts with loads of veg for one meal and then the leg meat can be used for another meal - I make a chicken biriyani and then serve with dhal - delicious and filling and good for SW.

Pulses are very cheap and within the SW plan - how about batch cooking a huge chilli with loads of pulses and freezing some?

Carrot and lentil soup is very cheap.

Omelettes or eggs or beans on toast another good choice.

candybar I'm also following a similar diet - with veg, frozen is often cheaper and better value than fresh. I'm not in uk but I buy frozen sliced peppers, onions, mushrooms etc from tesco own range no waste then.
Also buy the super 6 as well doubling up when I find something that appeals more to me and batch cooking

Have you thought of doing 5:2? It's most definitely not for everyone, but it costs pennies. I usually make something like meatballs and spaghetti for the family and do mine with courgetti. Courgettes are 29c in aldi (ireland) atm, so very cheap.
The rest of the week you can eat whatever you have for the family, just make sure you count the calories. The 5:2 board here is brilliant, those posters know everything and have an excellent recipes thread.

I had been doing slimming world, I didn't find it any more expensive tho, I bought to my meal plan and only had one snack a day. Meal planning was key tho.

Is there a market near you? I get there for £10 what I would spend £20+ at Sainbos.

For salad have you tried growing your own leaves? Get a tray (plastic ones off mushrooms or other punnet fruit are good. Fill with compost/soil, scatter some seeds, put on warm window sill. Hey presto free, fresh cut and come again salad. Also use cheaper seeds: spinach (for baby leaves), endive, rocket, pea shoots etc.

Also if you see any cheap raspberry canes, plant for next year if you have a garden or room for some large pots/buckets. Mine keep me in fresh berries for the summer/autumn. And look out for apple trees. There are a few near us and very few people bother picking them. I stew them and fill my freezer

Candy bar

I feel the same was going to join SW did it 3 years ago so still have the book. But it's €20 & the €10 every week! I have same amount as you to lose. It is very expensive to eat healthy were I live but I second using frozen veg & fruit. Also buying large pots of yougrt rather then individual pots can work out a little cheaper. Aldi super 6 might help?

Don't give up when your this close plus it's more important to be healthy! Well done on the weightloss!

m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579850648763329 this Facebook page always has good recipes and muscle food offers that are different to the ones on the muscle foods site (usually better ).

Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables

Soups, stews, cheap cuts of meat slow cooked

Beans, pulses, potatoes

Buy reduced stuff and pop it in the freezer for later

but bulk root vegetables are your friend

I'm skint at the moment (student in summer holidays) and a low carber, I've been eating a lot of hotdogs, cream cheese, eggs and Aldi steaks. Also frequently raid the reduced section for stuff I can put in the freezer.

I also only eat once a day.

skint and eating steaks?
trying to lose weight and eating lots of hotdogs?

eating once a day must make you very grumpy in the hours beforehand.

OP, if you have an Aldi what are you doing in Sainsbury's for your top up? Nothing on that list can't be found in Aldi.

The steaks are £2.69 for 2 and yes lots of hot dogs.

I don't get grumpy as I naturally just don't feel hungry any more. Still haven't eaten yet today and am quite cheery tbh.

Thanks for all the replies.

I shop in Aldi on a Saturday morning after my daughter has been to her gymnastics class, it's 12 miles from home so a 24 mile round trip, however Sainsburys is at the bottom of my road, I work full time so really don't find time for top up shops anywhere else.

My husband doesn't eat pasta, but he isn't a huge fan of meat either so that's not the cause of larger than I'd like shopping bills. He is very supportive of my weight loss and has happily joined me in ditching all the processed food and sweet treats.

I've had a weight problem for almost all of my adult life, I've lost a large amount of weight twice and put every pound plus 10% more back on, I completely understand that for some people it's easy to step away from the chocolate and to be rational in your thinking regarding food, sadly i am not one of those people. I need to eat, and if I'm feeling like I want to raid the biscuit tin eating a few pieces of fruit helps get me through it and out the other side without too much damage.

I think that the reason I posted here initially was to (hopefully) find others that were in the same boat and had managed to lose the weight. I really don't want my children following in my footsteps and being miserable and overweight adults.

This week I'll be getting a Tesco order delivered as they sent me a £7.50 coupon. I've decided to try a few more everyday value items - dishwasher tabs and basics such as pasta and rice. I should be able to keep on top of expenditure over the school holidays, so that's something to look forward to.

Thanks again.

Find out what time Sainsbury reduces its 'sell by date' stuff. If it's just at the bottom of the road you could pop down several evenings. We have had some great deals this month (Tesco - our nearest). 2 large rump steaks 42p, bag of 6 salmon fillets £1, packs of sausages 10p etc. and lots of bread, salad, fruit and veg for 3p - 10p. I freeze what I can and meal plan with the rest.

I snack on cucumber and celery sticks with a drop of spicy hummus. I have lost 3 stone but have a few more to lose. I'm struggling a bit at the moment but have a lot going on. Hopefully back on track soon!

Candy, don't give up - you have done brilliantly well at choosing a healthier life for yourself and for your family. It's not easy. I have been trying to lose weight for the past three years with nothing like your success. I only started losing around a pound a week three months ago - and that happened because I had a change of outlook on spending our grocery budget on my diet. Before I always prioritised what DH and the 2 DCs would eat and what was cheapest - buying the food that would help me to lose weight when we were on a tight budget seemed entirely selfish. I woke up one day to the fact that 'our' grocery budget includes 'my' grocery budget and that wanting more fruit and veg in my diet was hardly unreasonable and selfish behaviour. It's funny how other family members wanting unhealthy snacks is fine but us wanting healthy ones is not...
So - right now, your own weight loss is one of your spending priorities. You are an adult and you are allowed to prioritise your budget as you see fit. You have invested money in your weight loss so far - if you stop now when the end is in sight you will have wasted all that money. So keeping on spending to lose weight is saving you all that money you have already spent. It would be wasteful not to keep going!
Good luck.

I agree totally with OP, I joined WW in Feb and spend a fortune on fresh foods, always keep fruit bowl stocked and lots of veg. I have a slow cooker and do cheaper suts like braising steak with loads of veg - it tastes delicious if you cook it for long enough. I also eats lots of chicken cod and salmon but search the reduced section for bargains and freeze them

How about the No S Diet? It's very simple and doesn't involve buying "special" diet food. I've only just started it but it seems to make a lot of sense to me (I'm very anti-diets usually - did WW for a while before getting sick of it and piling the weight back on).

Second what talkinpeace has said.
Carrots, onion, swede parsnips are cheap enough. Baked potatoes. Eggs is another good one.
List what you all eat & see how to make it sw friendly.
As for fruit, buy a melon, pineapple &1 pack of nectarines - dice half of each and mix in a tub. Should last about 2 - 3 days. Then cut up the rest. About £3-50. I've done this as I'm not into oranges etc. Hth.