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.

@ Miajk , that's amazing. I am spending nearly x3 your amount on two of us ( including food for x1 pet and cleaning stuff ). Could you share a weekly meal plan as I am sure it would help lots of people that need to reduce their food budget
(OP, I think you are doing well to keep it to £80)

2 adults for £30 for a week?!! 🤪🤪🤪🤪

I think you’re doing really well at £80. We’re one adult, two children and mine is usually around that cost.

@Miajk could you share your meal plan / shopping list ? . I assume you meant food only for a couple for £30 and OP does include all grocery / toiletries etc .

Ours is £80 Asd a and £20 Home Bargains Iceland etc.

I know it isn't easy for students to get jobs, but can your DC get a job? DD lives away so obviously sorts her own food out there, but when home she buys foods I don't normally shop for that she wants, toiletries, and a few extras like nice biscuits she sees or reduced cakes - it all helps.

My weekly budget is £50 for two, I easily buy wine on that and have some left over each week. If DD home and gets a few bits in, we can still manage on £50pw, so at £17 per head, that's equivalent to your £80. As mentioned some forms of protein are cheaper, ie pulses and lentils and these are great for dairy free - not sure how much red meat is, but I suspect these would be cheaper. do look out for weekly fruit and veg offers, ie Tescos have 6 apples for 85p (unfortunately that is a large recent increase but still cheaper than some other options). Rice, pasta and potatoes are good fillers. Toast and porridge are good value for money, and we all like Tesco malt wheats here which are really cheap.

Sure! So we structure our meals as: 1x veggie, 1x meat and 1x fish dish each week.

We make 4 portions of each dish we cook and just eat the same meal over 2 days - less cooking & can buy bits in bulk.

I try to "balance" our meals - ex. if we have salmon our other meal might be very cheap like a baked potato.

We buy 99% of our groceries at Aldi and cook from scratch, don't really buy juices or snacks most of the time (just preference).

If I wanted to do our shop within £30 I would go for:

• baked potato & tuna mayo, side of veg
• daal with rice & side of veg
• chicken thigh traybake with veg and sweet potato

Other staples include curries, anything made with beans or lentils, soups, stir frys, or just making up dishes around the discounted bits in Aldi.

This week we bought lots of veg in bulk like carrots (very cheap) and peppers that were on sale and made 8 portions of soup.

This doesn't include cleaning products but we buy these in bulk in Costco (toilet paper, bleach). For cleaning spray I use homemade stuff like white vinegar or sometimes I just dilute hot water with washing up liquid. We only have 2 rooms and 2 bathrooms to clean to don't go through crazy amounts of stuff like that.

We also don't buy paper towels, just reuse microfibre cloths.

Sorry this is very long!! But in essence, meal plan, balance, buy frozen or buy in bulk and freeze.

This week we spent £36 but that included extra soft drinks, a fancy cheese, and probably just too much food overall as the fridge is quite full (lots of eggs, veg, fruit).

Adult student can get a weekend evening job. She should have been seeking work a year or two ago

Gosh you’re already doing well. Family of 5 here. Dc are all mid - late teens so basically 5 adults. I struggle to get under £150 a week. Dh and I like a few bottles of wine at the weekend though. And that includes most cleaning products and toiletries but not school dinners or pet food.

We're averaging £80 a week for a family of 4, £70 on the main shop and £10ish on bread/milk/fruit part way through the week.

Can do it for £50 with careful planning and frugal meals, jacket spuds, soup & baguettes etc

We spend 80 a week for 2 adults and dog ( thats toiletries, cleaning stuff,alcohol and food) .... partner is veggie......I eat fish bit not meat......I wouldn't compromise on fresh fruit and veg and fresh fish...bit im in a position where I can still readily afford this

It's really hard at the moment, OP. I had a really sad moment yesterday because this tiny shop cost £36. Nothing fancy, nearly everything own brand except for the things they didn't have own brand versions of. I'm sure a shop like that would have cost less than £20 last year.

Family of 6 here plus 🐕
Can't spend less than £150 week including pet food/ cleaning and bathroom items.
Milk is a killer as use 4pints a day so easily spend 15 quid milk alone.

I have tried find reduced items
Free items olio
Magic bags too good to to go

Is there a community larder near you or food club with cheap food .

Things that helped me in 2022 and will help 2023.

Meal plan
Bulk buy good offers when you see them or things that I acticipate going up like sugar.
So I brought a yearw worth value pasta/ rice/ tinned tomatoes and passatta last year plus cooking oil before they all went up.
Lilds just Increase boil in bag rice by 30p.

Where the fuck do you shop? 1992?

Just about but it relies on me having stuff in the cupboard too. And now dry January.

Frozen white fish from Sainsbury’s is quite cheap. £2.60 a bag I think. Nice in a tomato sauce with chorizo, chillie, random veg. onion, a hard boiled egg and rice.

Frozen stuff often cheaper than fresh.
Chilli bulked out with lentils and oats and any random veg.
Baked potatoes one eve.
Omelette and salad
Potato wedges with salad and fish cake
Pasta with pesto and leftover chicken from freezer (the bits that you can't put in any other recipe) and leftover sprouts.

We still have turkey in the freezer so will have that on Sunday.

4 teens and 2 adults gone to £150 most weeks. That can be 120-150 depending on toiletries, alcohol, specialty items.

All these ideas are fantastic but I have a husband who eats late at night,very fussy ,son who will eat healthily. after gymn but genuinely cannot be arsed to cook at 8pm and I have a basic meal at 5pm 🤦‍♀️I get the basics in and leave them to sort out their own food! I also work three evenings so am not home until 830pm .🤷‍♀️

So how are you eating vegan with less fruit and veg? Are you buying processed foods?

reply to @CalloohCallayFrabjousDay We are all vegetarian so it is easier for us to cook according to our tastes…not sociable though!

I think you’re doing OK OP. We often spend £400pcm and it’s just me and DH. I really don’t know what the hell we spend it on tbh.

Do an analysis on the cost per calorie in the food you buy/like

You will find calories of foods like pasta, muesli, cooking oil, lentils, carrots, frozen peas and apples might be much much cheaper than calories of some other common foods (noodles, cottage cheese, courgettes...). Balance your protein/vitamin/mineral intake according the analysis! Protein is relatively expensive in some forms (red meat) but cheap in others (lentils).

Olive oil can be used to add calories for little expense.

Another idea is to look at what people eat in "poorer parts" of the world...lentils and rice with a small portion of vegetables for example...can be done with different spices & flavourings.

We spend less than that on a family of 4. In fact some weeks we don't go shopping at all. We tend to have 2 larger shops per month, then a mini shop to top up.
All meals are from scratch.

I'd be more interested to see your shopping list and breakdown. How can you do three meals for 7 days for £15?

I think you’re doing Really well that’s 2 quid a day each. The only way to reduce further is take the red meat out totally , more cheap carbs like potatoes rice and pasta and less veg. Bulk buy oats for porridge for breakfast.

can any of you work more? Even a weekend job or evening one?

11 children here and two adults,
Our shopping is around £200 per week and we have lots of essentials/ value items as groceries are so expensive atm.
I'm not complaining as I have a large family by choice but the 40/50%price hikes on some items is just crazy, I meal plan and track all my spending as we are saving for a house but I can't get it under the £200 mark.