Larger than average families, is anyone getting there food bill below £80?

[PinkyU]

We’re a family of 5 (3 adults, 2 children. 2 are dairy free, adult child is full time student with no income, small student loan goes on running a car as we’re semi rural), I used to be able to get a weekly shop for around £55-70 (depending on if cleaning supplies needed). I’m now massively struggling to get it below £80-85 with no cleaning or hygiene products (3 women/girl using san pro, small amount of reusable pads but not enough for all) at all.

This isn’t sustainable for our situation, is anyone managing to get their shop more reasonably and would pass on some tips?

We meal plan, shop between Aldi and Asda as a necessity for dietary needs. Everyone takes a multivitamin as we’ve already had to compromise on nutrition (less fruit and veg), we eat red meat once a week, can’t afford fish at the minute, we eat vegan the rest.

Adding as much info so as not to drip feed.

Nobody?

I wish I was. Spending about £80 a week for one adult, two kids (inc nappies and toiletries). So think you are doing well. Have been trying some cheap meals like a bagel with cream cheese for lunch or pasta with pesto. I freeze bread so none of that is wasted.

We're a family of 5, this week managed to get my weekly shop to just under £70

We’re a family of 6. Ours was £71 (Aldi) for this week and is £75 for next week (Tesco) but only because we have a lot of food already in the house.

We can’t usually do it for so little, it’s often closer to £130.

Family of 3, 2 adults and a toddler, used to be £60 now £90, mostly on fruit for toddler. Please can you give me cheap meal ideas as would love to get it down.

Can you share any tips at all?

Everything has gone so expensive
Things that once cost £1 costing £2 etc
Sorry I am not a big family so can't help but it's just gone silly!

There's only 2 adults here and we spend over £100 a week so you've been doing well, we don't buy luxuries just basic foodstuff.

Some forms of protein are cheaper.

Whole chickens as opposed to prepacked breasts, etc.
Pork shoulder joints.

It doesn't take much time to portion them up yourself or you can cook them whole and remove the meat for other dishes.

When buying fresh veg at the supermarket, I always buy loose. For example, a pack of three red onions at Sainsbury's are 99p. I bought four loose red onions, of similar size, for 40p.

I always pay attention to the price per kg labels on the shelves.

Apart from that, I don't really have much advice.

I've noticed the price of a cheap loaf at Aldi has risen from 49p to 75p. All the supermarkets are jacking up prices at the moment.

During the financial crisis, I noticed that a lot of things that had been super cheap disappeared from shelves (e.g. Boots basic toothpaste was something like 7p a tube, their basic toothbrushes 10p for two). I think they were happy for a small minority of people to buy them cheap. Once lots of people started doing it, they jacked up the prices to maintain their overall profits.

That's a very low budget, that is likely unsustainable.

Is it possible to free up more money for food? Earn more or apply for benefits or other help with energy costs? Reduce your other bills?

If you're trying to stick to a low budget due to debt, then that's likely an indication that you need formal help. You shouldn't be skimping on groceries or to pay for unsecured debt.

I've found that since Asda was taken over and they introduced the ASDA rewards that they're expensive now. I often have the ASDA website and the Tesco website open and compare prices before I go for some branded stuff. For example there was a 60p difference on stock pots between the two. It's worth a look OP, you might be able to save something if you've dietary needs (I completely understand, DH has an allergy which results in anaphylactic response if triggered so we do stick to certain things we know are "safe")

I would say you’re doing really well to get it to that level. We’re 2 adults, 1 primary , 1 toddler and we spend between 100-125 a week depending on if we need to restock cleaning / oils / condiments etc.

I think you are doing very well. We are a family of 4 two adults 1 teen 1 child plus 2 cats and our weekly shop is around £135. This is the most it has ever been and if I have to buy washing powder, shampoo and the like it can easily reach £160

If you are semi rural, do any of your farms sell large bags of potatoes?
We buy 8kg (dirt on, last longer) for £2.80.
We do a lot of cottage pies stretched out with frozen veg and lentils, soups etc.

I find bigger cuts of meat work out better (look out for Lidl XXL deals) so we buy a chicken and maybe a ham joint and they do two or three meals (two adults and two kids). Maybe a Sunday roast with chicken (may only be with tatties and frozen veg) and then I'll make a big pie with left overs bulked up with veggies. I just do pie topping rather than full case but kids will eat more veg if it's disguised. Husband gets the tiddly remains of shredded chicken from the bottom in rice for his work lunch.

Frozen fruit and veg are handy if you have freezer space. Aldi frozen raspberries or breakfast toppers are good in porridge or overnight oats. I don't buy cereals other than Aldi own wheetabix or oats.

But with an extra adult you are doing well and there's not a huge margin to cut. We used to be £50-60 a week but it's gone up at least a tenner.

I've started doing jacket potatoes one evening a week - everyone chooses their own fillings so cheese/beans or tuna.

Another evening a spaghetti/tomato/mozzarella bake thing.

Spanish omelette is also another easy one.

Basically trying to cut down meat which has really helped. Will make a big curry/chilli or whatever the weekend and freeze leftover portions for other easy meals during the week.

Pork tenderloin is cheap so bought that this week and found a nice recipe on bbc good food for that 👍🏼

I think your doing pretty damn well to get it as low as that. We're 4, 2 adults and 2 tweens. I cook from scratch, mostly veggie and can't get it much below £100pw.

Could the older child get a weekend job? Any other ways of upping the income?

We're a family of 6 and around £150 a week with 3 with dietary issues. This week was £100 but only because I did a huge muscle food order before christmas which should keep us going for a while! I do use a lot of the essential ranges and then bulk out with veg if I can. All snacks have gone. Kids not feeling it yet as still got christmas chocolates/sweets might be different once they've worked their way through that!

Family of 5. Budget of £350/month. It's been sustainable until now. Just did a big monthly shop (normally £200) which was £285. Our top up shops are usually £25-50/week. Going to have to rethink things.

Our budget of £350 includes all toiletries and cleaning products and dried food for summer holiday (spread between Jan-July) and Christmas (spread between August-December), plus food for birthdays, as well as to restock our pantry.

My top tips. I keep a whiteboard on the fridge of all food that needs using so I can easily meal plan around that or change an existing meal plan to utilise food that needs using first. I also freeze items that won't get used in time eg I know I use cream cheese slowly (and it will go mouldy before I use again) so as soon as I open it, I decant the rest of the container into an ice cube tray and freeze, the same as pesto. I inventory in my phone all of the freezer food and have an inventory of all excess dried goods that are in our pantry (seperate to our cupboards that I use for making meals).

Our monthly shop is used to buy all cleaning products, toiletries, dried food, frozen food, meat and dairy for the month (as well as fruit and veg for that week). Top up shops are fruit and veg and bakery items, plus anything we've run out of that can't wait until the next monthly shop. I stock up when things are on offer, so if I spot a bargain I buy 3 or 4 and don't buy it until it's on offer again. By doing this I lower what I pay for that item across the year. I keep my eyes peeled for yellow sticker items and freeze (we have 2 freezers). I buy as much as I can in bulk and check the weight of items eg 2 bottles of small fairy are currently cheaper than the largest bottle which was previously the best value. I use our local community food waste pantry and get approx £20-30 from them a month (probably for around £5) - most places have one these days so have a Google or look on Facebook.

I batch cook and bulk out with veg/beans but less so these days as it gets repetitive. I have a rule that we only go to the shops once a week. If we don't have what we need then I substitute eg if we're having chilli and wedges and I realise we don't have potatoes then I do rice instead. Being creative with food has been what has saved us the most money.

Tonight's dinner was pulled beef with jacket potatoes and cheese with coleslaw and sweetcorn. We had a tiny bit of beef left from roast on NYD (don't normally get beef but I got it on offer as a NY treat) so I slow cooked it with garlic and beef stock and then added some bbq sauce) - everything else was just basic stuff we usually have in. I had actually meal planned bolognase but wanted to use the beef up, so now we have the bolognase for tomorrow. DH was ecstatic with dinner and it seemed like a treat but it felt very frugal. I'd usually do this with leftover chicken. Perhaps everyone does this, I don't know, but it's what works well for us.

I take cost saving on food very seriously and am a bit addicted to trying to save money! I see it as a challenge.

What things do you currently eat? Are you making everything from scratch? I've started buying dried beans and soaking/ cooking/ freezing them in can sized portions as even with the energy costs it still worked out about 25p a tin rather than Aldi's 59p. If you say what you normally have we may be able to offer some alternatives

I sympathise-I did a 3 day shop yesterday for six of us, which cost £34, with much fun and games at the till asking for subtotals along the way! Even value/cheap stuff is shooting up in price, I just go in with an open mind and spend ages looking for the cheapest of the cheap, then meal planning around this.

I think you are doing great @PinkyU we are approx £250 a week but trying to get it down there's 6 of us but I cook 2-3 different meals most nights due to dietary requirements and we can't really afford it. DH and I are trying to eat cheaper things though as long as the children are well fed that's what matters. This above price includes everything though eg household items, milk delivery, school dinner etc

Can you increase income at all - the student getting an evening or Saturday job?

That is a really low budget per person per week . If you cannot increase the money I would focus on producing veggie meals and batch cook .

A few things:

• frozen veg is cheaper and more nutritious, same for fruit
• stews/soups/other frozen veg based items are good and stretch a long way
• chickpeas/lentils/beans - buying ex. Dry lentils in bulk can be cheaper
• you can buy yellow sticker foods (the ones that go out of date on the day) and freeze

Would seafood not be cheaper than red meat? Frozen prawns or frozen fish? Canned tuna with baked potatoes?

Also, this might not be in your budget now but menstrual cups are great. Upfront cost but then for years no cost at all.

You can make homemade cleaning products using vinegar etc. Which might be cheaper.

I disagree tbh. If being mindful I can do a shop for 2 under £30 - so £15 pp, less than OP. And there's only two of us so often harder to benefit from buying items in bulk, especially things like fruit, veg, anything fresh.

It would be good to see a typical shopping list and breakdown of meals maybe.