£100

[IveGotToGoToMeDads]

Want to cut back on the food shop and spend only £100 a week between now and december.
2 adults & 1 child, is this possible.
What should i buy already started buying unbranded beans etc...

Seems plenty to me, but I have overflowing cupboards and two freezers. Lots of pulses. I eat a lot of peanut butter on toast.

How much are you spending at the moment? What kind of things are you eating?

£100/week is what we spend for two adults and two children (including a bottomless pit of a teen!)

@Notdeckingthehalls I spend about £150-170 a week. I eat a variety really. I don't buy meat at all.

I think that's easily doable even without moving to unbranded foods. Especially if you buy huge bags of pasta/rice, buy large trays of chicken breasts/mince and freeze some, etc.

@StolenChanel thats good to know, so it will be possible for me. What kind of things do you buy? if you dont mind me asking.

@SauviGone thank you pasta, rice will be good

That's a huge amount that you're already spending.

I spend £70 every 10 days (out of necessity) for me, adult dc and two mid teens.
I meal plan every meal. (Have two 10 day plans to vary foods).
Shopping every 10 days helps me stretch it.
Cook from scratch. Batch cook.
Bulk buy (especially when on offer). Eg rice, pasta or cheese (chop and freeze).
I buy a big bag of frozen chicken breast for £5 and if a recipe says 4 breast I'll use two and bulk out.
Pudding is usually just fruit this week I bought a melon on offer and chopped it up it will probably do 3-4 days. I also buy some yoghurts and then I'll buy some snack foods (crackers, biscuits, rice cakes) usually buy what's on offer.
I always keep a stock of foods, so buy before we run out.
Buybown brand or basics range. So I buy Tesco beans for on toast but buy cheap stockwell beans for cooking in meals.
Buy herbs and spices in bulk it might cost £5-7 but it lasts me ages.
We eat lots of pasta dishes, curry, chilli, savoury/Spicy rice's, potatoes and frozen veg etc.
Twice every 10 days we have cheap meals like beans/egg on toast or jacket potato, cheese and beans.
I also shop on line as im disabled however the advantage of this is I can monitor the price I'm paying, not impulse buy.

I'd be thinking about when to shop as much as what to get. End of day and early evening there'll be lots of yellow sticker foods that can be frozen. Scour your local supermarkets and see if you can find out the best time to go. Also there will be some people locally who 'rescue' food from big supermarkets - try to find them and get on their list - might be worth a Facebook search or some local churches to you may also offer this and with a church you don't tend to need a referral or anything, they are just happy to help.
Practically, get a slow cooker and make big casseroles for one night then turn it into a pie or burrito the next night using wraps or puff pastry.
Big 3kg bags of pasta are great value. Use the yellow sticker veg to make sauces by roasting and then freezing it.

You can definitely do it for £100.

I'm going to be having soup 2 days of the week, I like soup tomato and homemade pea soup

We keep stocked up on cupboard carbs (pasta, rice, flour etc.) so only need to buy these every 3-4 weeks. Typical shopping list otherwise includes fruit and veg, chicken (a few packs as it’s the only meat we really eat), cereals/oats, cheese, butter, milk, hummus, crackers/breadsticks, yoghurts, a couple of frozen “junk food” bits and a packet of biscuits.

(I should point out we only tend to eat dinner at home on weekdays. The kids go to breakfast club, DH and I usually skip breakfast and all of our lunches are at work/school canteens.)

What are you buying at the moment? Do you find yourself throwing out food? £100pw seems a lot the average UK family spends roughly £72 per week.

can you change to online shopping to help you stick to a budget?

@Tulip8 i'm glad everyone says that £100 a week is douable. I'm so use to spending £150.

I’ve just read that you don’t buy meat at all. Where do you shop? I shop in Aldi/Lidl.

@Wolfpa i've never done online food shop. That is a good idea thank you.

Is your usual £150 just on food or does it include cleaning products, loo roll, toiletries etc.?

@StolenChanel I shop in tesco usually because thats nearest to me.

What's your usual weekly shop and meal plan like?

The first thing to do is to look at what's in your freezer and cupboards and fridge. Try and set a challenge of not going to the shop until you've used up everything there - make meals from freezer food and innovate

Then plan weekly meals that are cheap and can be prepped, and if necessary frozen

@Applesandbananaz its not toilet roll have that delivered from amazon. I only buy bleach for cleaning product because it lasts a while. and I've got loads of toiletries stock from my birthday.

I’ve cut my shop in half by not buying anything pre made ,
no UPF etc
also love lentils brown rice etc
cheap brought in bulk

@itwasnevermine fridge/freeser and cupboards are all stocked for a week. Great advice about meal plan.

I spend about 40/week as a lone adult, so it seems perfectly doable if we consider the child to be eating (in money, some products may differ) half of what an adult might. I do eat meat and fish in that.

I spend £100ish per week.. 3 children (6, 11, 12), 2 adults (one veggie, one chicken every night), 2 cats and a dog.

Vegetable lasagne is my favourite, I get 6 servings from it. It's good with garlic bread, salad or wedges. My husband is a big meat eater and he prefers it to meat lasagne!

Where do you shop? This is what the lasagne costs from Asda.