Reasonable food budget for 5

[mrsoutnumbered]

I'm sorry if this question has been done to death, but I am on a mission to sort out our finances. I'm sick of being skint with a 3 week wait till payday. I'm cutting down on snacks, booze, and top up shops where I end up spending £20 on crap.

what would you consider a reasonable weekly food budget for 2 adults and 3 children (8, 6 and 2)? I'm aiming for £100, does that sound feasible? Or perhaps too high? For 3 meals a day plus some healthy cheap snacks like fruit and houmous etc?

I mostly cook from scratch, we're all meat eaters, no allergies.

Hi Mrs outnumbered

I do think £100 per week is quite a lot for a family of 5. I think per month 270-300 may be a good target to aim for.

For context I spend £140 for myself and 10 yr old dc per month. Some months I spend less than that. That includes top up shopping and all meals are cooked from scratch.

I recently went through an extremely lean period (becoming single parent, benefits stopped etc) and have become quite savvy with shopping. So will include some tips which you may find useful

1. Keeping a spending diary.

Just a small notebook. Every Monday i start a fresh page and draw 2 columns. Food and non food. I keep all receipts. Everything is recorded including payments leaving from my account. Even a sandwich is recorded. This is the one thing that has made me feel in control of money and I know where every penny goes. If I have spent under budget one week I know I can be a bit more generous the next week and buy dc a treat. For example he loves salmon so I will buy that if I haven't spent my entire budget the previous week.

It's a good idea to do this so you can see where you're spending too much.

1. I've cut out junk food completely. No crisps chocolates etc. Except very occasionally. I'll buy a multi pack and when it's gone it's gone. Btw chocolate biscuits are so much cheaper than chocolate bars but satisfy that sweet craving. I think we need to say no buying treats sometimes for kids and tell them 'it's not heathy, we won't be buying that'.

1. A lot of value products are great and taste no different to more expensive ones. Cereals. Beans. Jams. Honey. Etc. Try few new value products every week and see what you like.

1. Staples like rice and spices are better value when bought in indian grocery stores.

1. Dried foods such as lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas in the cupboard means you can have easy cheap healthy meals every day.

1. I really enjoy watching 'eat well for less' on bbc and 'eat, shop, save' on itv which have really good ideas for money saving meals. Both programmes are currently available to watch.

1. Frozen vegetables are great value. I do a quick stir fry sometimes. Fry chopped onions in small amount of oil and add veg. Bit of salt. Serve with rice. Sometimes i add leftover rice in the stir fry and keep stirring. Add separately fried egg omelette cut up and call it special fried rice!

1. We hardly ever have takeaways. But of course if your budget allows maybe have 1 once a week or every fornight.

1. I buy cheaper fruits and vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, apples etc instead of strawberries, grapes etc. We have a big fruit platter everyday which is a lovely time to sit and eat together.

10. I've cut out drinks like squash on health grounds. Sometimes I'll buy juice.

11. We try to have more protein to keep us full so less likely to snack. So boiled eggs for breakfast, full fat yogurt, beans etc.

12. Blogs like cooking on a bootstrap are excellent for cheap meal ideas. The one pound meals cookbook by miguel barclay is really good. There are a few in the series but the very first one is the best in my opinion.

13. Eating less meat, chicken and fish will save the most money. Add vegetarian sources of protein. As well as meal planning for every meal as well as snacks. These 2 tips will save the most money.

14. Personally i find one pot curries served with rice the cheapest of all meals.

15. Look at non food spend. We use soap instead of shower gels and handwash. This has saved me a small fortune over the years and I only started doing it to use less plastic! I've ditched pricier cleaners and use washing up liquid for all cleaning in the kitchen. In the bathroom i use white vinegar and tesco value shampoo for cleaning.

Apologies. I've gone on a bit. Just wanted to pass on ideas that have helped me look at my spending and take control of money. That feeling of running out of money halfway through the month is awful.

Good luck.

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The above thread has loads of cheap meal ideas. I'll see if I can link a few more similar threads.

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www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3213019-surprisingly-good-cheap-products

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A takeaway is the biggest waste of money in the world. Same for eating out, lovely as those things are.

I was watching a channel 5 thing tonight where a family of 5 spent £50 per week on food. I think that's very hard going and inevitably it's meat that costs the most there. I wouldn't want to live on that though of course the magic chicken on MN is always produced as proof you can.

Apologies for bombarding you op!! Just wanted to link these great threads while I'm still here.

@hollowtalk, do you remember the name of the programme you watched?

Wow lots of great tips - thanks

Loads of tips and info - thank you so much! I'll have a proper read through it all today x

I never get takeaways so have ticked that box!

I try to avoid big brands and buy supermarket own on most things.

We don't really eat pulse based meals, I quite like them now and again but the kids don't. Tbh I am happy to spend a bit more on things we all like (eg meat rather than pulses), I just want to set a limit I think. But it's always good to re-evaluate how you shop, so all the tips here will be very useful.

Something I find useful is my slow cooker. I make huge batches of food and freeze it. You can use cheap cuts of meat and loads of vegetables. Healthier and cheaper. Meals I do are:

Curry (chicken topped up with lentils and potatoes)
Spag Bol sauce
Pork meat balls
Lasagne
Sausage casserole
Beef hot pot

Hope that helps

Thanks, I don't have a slow cooker but when I make the kinds of meals you've listed I do usually make double and then freeze half for another day.

Op, having read your updates you do seem to be doing everything you can to keep food costs down. I think what's pushing your spending up is that you're a family of meat eaters. As your family love meat
and you say you're happy to pay for that, what you're currently spending seems to be very reasonable.

It might be better to look at cutting down costs elsewhere, such as energy bills, insurance, travel costs and entertainment. Or even increasing your family income.

Thanks @Doingreat, yes we have just moved so the bills have had an overhaul in the process. The only 'luxury' things we pay for are Spotify and Netflix, I have the most basic package with Virgin Media for tv, broadband and phone line, and our mobiles are only £10 a month each. We have no car but do have to spend £400 a month on train season tickets.

We're just terrible with impulse buys!

Theres a website called feed your family for £20 a week, theres some really good ideas on there.

If you register they'll send you a meal plan.

I think £100 is an ok amount...I spend this on 3 adults includes 3 meals...any wine is extra.
Meal planning will help with what meat to buy ..make a list for when you shop & stick to it. I don't think you have to stop your meat eating on that budget.

There's lots of good ideas, I've even taken some too as its nice having new ways to save money!

I would add try going to supermarkets when they reduce food. I buy meat, bakery goods to freeze. E.g. big packs of chicken breasts for just over a pound. Split into portions and freeze. I bought a big bag of burger buns for 5p can take them out as I need them. Same with fruit/veg most is fine just a date on the front. Or I use manky bananas then make banana bread as a snack. We've been picking blackberries, loads in the freezer and I'm going to make a crumble.

Frozen fruit/veg is much cheaper and just as good as fresh. Plus less waste as you just get out what you need.

My local greengrocer does 25kg of potatoes for £10.99 which is cheaper than supermarkets and they taste better. The local butcher's does freezer packs which work out quite reasonable if you use lots of meat. Or the 3 for £10 offers the supermarkets have.

And the Jack Monroe cookbook is great, she's got lots on her website too. I love the falafel and chilli.

Buying whole melons or pineapples are cheaper than pre prepared.

In our house there's 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats. I'm gluten/dairy/egg free and dds are always eating! We spend around £250 per month on everything toiletries/cleaning/laundry products as well as food/cat food and litter. I mostly shop in Lidl with top ups from co op. I do a monthly Iceland order and pop to Tesco for some items I can't get elsewhere. And go to savers for toiletries about 6 weekly.

We are a family of 5 and we spend about £100 a week so I would say that's easily doable. I meal plan but we still have nice fruit and veg and treats so if I was better at baking and the kids didn't need so many snack type foods and fresh meats for
Carb free snacks (two are diabetic so need 3x snacks between meals) we could probably cut this down to around £80 a week.