How can I have the cheapest June possible ?

[Feelingupset109]

DH & DC won't cut corners on food. I will though. I can cut some corners for DC food wise without them realising, to some extent.
I still have mortgage/bills/school meals/school clubs etc to pay for.
Only buying necessities i.e. food and drink
Any unused food/dinners will be wrapped/boxed for the next day, where possible
No takeaways

Anything else I have missed ?

Have a month off from TV subscriptions.

You and your DH talk to your phone network providers and threaten to leave unless they offer you a cheaper tariff.

Do Dry June.

Look for unused Nectar points etc

Asda had an offer for a free £5 spend for downloading their app

Use up all the food lurking in your cupboards, freezers etc.

Can you switch your bank account for the incentive, up to £200 of free money

Review your whole budget to make sure you're getting any benefits you're entitled to and are getting everything for the best price.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

If if pay for energy by direct debit and you have any credit in your account, ask for it back, if you're in credit now, you've overpaid. Also check that your DD is reasonable

But this isn't your problem to solve alone and you're not less important than the rest of the family so it's not your responsibility to do without and balance the books alone so everyone else can continue to have everything they want.

You and your DH need to both put the work in to make the best of your money to make sure it goes as far as possible and you all should be affected equally if cutbacks are needed.

Sign up for free news letters for hotel choclate, Krispy cream donut etc, look on TikTok for free stuff on your birthday. Put your birthday at random dates through June and get your free stuff

use too good to go app which has some supermarkets and coffee shops for very cheap bags of food that can be used for lunches and treats at the weekend. £3.59 gets you £14 Starbucks bag

ask your family why they think it’s acceptable for you to cut corners but not them? Are you not all in this together?

The other thing I did for one month was meal plan for one week, absolutely everything, all 21 meals, then made sure I listed everything I needed for those meals.

the week for four people cost £110

then I repeated the following 3 weeks, but by week 4 the cost was £89, as I had a lot of the ingredients for the meals in the cupboards as I was making the same meals

tbe months food shopping for 4 people was £359.94

i picked
cheesy leek and potatoes puff pue
arranista pasta
sweet potato and chickpea curry
creamy chi and rice
quick chicken korma
mac and cheese
cottage pie

overnight oats peanut butter and berries
banana on toast
french toast
pret croissant for the weekend frozen from sainsbury

bagels and cream cheese
cheese and onion sarnies
ham and tomato sarnies
tina Mayo melts
chic drumsticks salad

some breakfasts and lunches were repeated
336 meals for £359.94 is pretty good going and trying to not have the same food every day

so I’d suggest don’t meal plan just for a week, plan so you can put it on repeat for a month and reduce costs

I didn’t buy any cleaning items or toiletries for the month, we had to use up what we had.

If it's walkable, don't use the car. Also, if supermarket is closeby and you've got time to go about 3x a week, do it on foot without the car. At the weekend, take a picnic to the park or go for a walk somewhere local (again take a picnic or even just a sandwich).

I find setting a weekly budget for food also helps. If I'm getting close to that amount, I review what I can change in my trolley for something cheaper, ie package of biscuits cheaper than a cake, buy shops own items, apples on offer are far cheaper than a punnet of strawberries etc.

Reductions hard to find right now.
For us family of 6 bulk buying value items and commonly used items we might run out of and then have pop to shop.

We bulk buy
Coffee
Sugar
Squash
Cereal
Have long life and backup fresh milk frozen in freezer
Beans
Rice
Pasta
Tomato products including ketchup.
Always have flour for baking.

Thinking bulk buying onions from local international shop.

Shop around farmfoods for money off vouchers.
We not loyal to any supermarket we do them all.

Meal plan and keep well stocked storecupboard/ freezer.