How can we get our food bill down

[worldwidetravel2017]

We have a 50 gbp a week food budget
Female - 38 & pregnant
Male - 35

We shopped at asda 1 week
And lidl the next..

Yet this week hasnt ended yet - & food budget has been spent so eating from what we have

And would ideally like to get it down to 40 gbp a week

We are having pasta 4 tea.
My partner with sausages 4 protein..
I will most likely have fish fingers. .

Thurs i can have soup for lunch, and sardines on toast 4 tea and snack on carrot / strawberries / blue berries / satsumas

I do like / need my 5 a day etc. .

Fri we will use some eggs we have already, we have cheese , cereal etc

Just even shopping in lidl - it soon adds up

We bought lidl own brand choc moose - not dairy milk

Do any of you spend more like 40 gbp a week
And if so - how please

Thank you

You already have a very tight budget. I'd be looking at cancelling subscriptions and renegotiating utilities contracts. I saved £40 a month this month by switching pet insurance. Still covered well but much much cheaper. I had just let the old one run up without looking for alternatives.

Veg is cheaper and healthier than fruit.
Make sure you buy veg loose and in season. Cabbages are under £1 and lat multiple meals, carrots about 10p each, mushrooms cost little when bought loose.
Add more veg to your meals.

Buy plain yoghurt rather than flavoured and mix In your own things like frozen berries, honey etc.

Have one meal per week that’s something on toast. Beans, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes etc.

Make up a big pot of something at the beginning of the week and make that stretch for a few nights. A bolognese but use less mince and bulk up with veggies or lentils or a chilli packed out with tinned mixed beans or veg. There sorts of meals can be served with pasta, rice, jacket potatoes, in wraps.

Don’t buy thinks like individually portioned rice etc. They may save time but they’re more expensive.

Frozen fruit and veg is usually cheaper.

instead of buying pasta sauce get tinned tomatoes and blitz up with herbs.

Cut down on meal and cut alcohol out.

I’m £50 a week sometimes less for 3 adults a child and a cat. I shop at Lidl and strictly meal plan and shop from scratch. I don’t buy berries . Have you got a garden op ? I bought a very dead looking raspberry plant from b&q reduced to 10p around 4 years ago. I thought it would never grow! We have gluts of raspberry’s June tome and then it produces a more at this time of year. Saved so much money as a favourite especially for my little boy.
i do get utterly fed up of shopping like this but I really can’t afford to feed the family any other way

Might have missed the boat this year but you can collect blackberries for free. I freeze them in layers then I have 5 or 6 in my porridge every day. Look out for free apples or local apple days where you can grab some free fruit.

Don't forget old fashioned things like bubble and squeak, pearl barley and dumplings to stretch out any meat. I more or less view meat as a flavouring really and add as much as possible to it. You can get bacon misshapes to add a little flavour to a tomatoey pasta sauce or a soup. Lentil soup with just a little bacon would be good for you, very healthy.

Me too, I'm pig sick of it.

@worldwidetravel2017

Is the budget so low because its what you can afford or a choice for some other reason

It strikes me that you are pregnant and from what you have described I wonder if you are getting enough nutritious food

Have you applied for the healthy start card

Its tough. Sounds like you are doing well already with ideas like sardines on toast and rice and peas. Eggs and sardines are my go to budget ingredients. Spanish omelettes are great. There are some good budget recipes here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/speedy-family-budget-meal-plan
Good luck and make sure you eat enough ... and healthily if you are pregnant.

It’s depressing and exhausting isn’t it , just relentless really , feeling a bit meh today really

Cut out the strawberries and blueberries and eat an apple or banana which are much cheaper. You can buy cheap brown bread from Lidl and wafer thin ham and cheese and make a toasted sandwich for dinner one evening a week. Cherry tomatoes are quite cheap so maybe have some of them with it. I make homemade vegetable soup using 1 potato, 2 carrots, 1/2 swede, 1 onion and a squirt of tomato puree and a vegetable oxo. Very cheap to make and several portions of your 5 a day so good for baby. Tomato and red lentil soup is also delicious and very cheap. DH and I often have homemade soup for lunch with a bread roll, bread or piece of French stick. You could have a banana afterwards. Porridge is cheap and filling for breakfast and if you want a snack have a slice of toast I stead of strawberries. Slice up a few carrot and cucumber sticks and have with hummus. Buy some minced beef for a Bolognese but pad it out with lentils and tins of chopped tomatoes and chopped up peppers. I make a vat of it and freeze portions. Then microwave when I want them to go with wholemeal spaghetti or penne pasta. You could just blend up a tin of chopped tomatoes to go over pasta and add a bit of grated chees as a cheap meal towards the end of the month. I once did a live for a month on £1 a day challenge for charity and people sponsored me. I found it hard but by the end of the month I was doing ok. I did it with a group of 6 colleagues. Homeade pancakes are also a cheap and filling meal.

Depending how much you need help, your midwife can do you a foodbank referral.

Sounds like you're warming ready made food up instead of cooking, that adds to the cost.

As pp said can you cook a big lasagne/shepherds pie/chilli and freeze some? Defrost through the week and add frozen veg. Make a vegetable soup for lunches and eat with bread to fill up.

@worldwidetravel2017 why do you want to reduce it to 40 when you find 50 hard enough! ? Is this just a want or do you need to for financial reasons?

Look at Olio and 2good2go apps, community larders and ask your midwife about healthy start vouchers and if you qualify.

I would try and batch cook a Veggie and lentil or bean soup that you can both have as a small starter before dinner, add any left over protein to it as a garnish if you have it, that will be full of nutrients and fill you up a bit so your main doesn't have to be a big meal, like Eggs, beans and toast or a pasta bake with tuna.

Potatoes are great, really versatile and you don't need many to make a good side dish, BBC Good Food has lots of recipes to make use of.

Make meal plans so you know exactly what you need, buy veg on weights not as a packet unless you know you've allocated all of it, youre often paying for the packaging then the amount of food you can get.

Buy yellow sticker meat if you see a good deal, stick it in the freezer and use it in you next weeks meal plan.

Buy in season fruits like apples pears, rhubarb and frozen out of season like mixed Berries, only use a portion (80g) at a time for yourself.
Check the price per 100g or kilo so you can buy the cheaper price of something you regularly use even things like washing powder.

Shop a level down, we used to have colgon tablets that are about £15 a box now but Asda and Sainsbury's have their own limescale tablets at under £3-4.

I think you need to consider the nutritional value of your food versus the cost….e,g, buy a big tub of Greek yogurt instead of peach yogurts which are loaded with sugar, fish fingers aren’t very filling you’d be better with beans or pulses or some proper fish (smoked mackerel is very reasonably priced or tinned tuna in the budget supermarkets), chocolate mousse has bugger all nutritional value, swap for a banana and square of dark chocolate.

I would entirely agree with this advice. The main thing is your babies health.

I cook everything from scratch and I would not be able to get my bills down to £50 a week but I don’t have a freezer. Frozen veg and fruit is definitely cheaper.

I feel for you , that equates to £3.57 each a day ! Wow . Hopefully that doesn't include cleaning products and just food .
I agree cooking for yourselves , and try batch cooking & freezing , and also looking out for yellow label stuff so maybe shopping later in the evening.
Have you any foodbanks near you , or the app Olio .

Large pack of chicken breasts £12. Make wraps with mexican rice,peppers, onion,cheese. Chicken curry with jar of sauce peas and onion added. Chinese stir fry with Chinese 5 spice, peppers ,grated carrot,onion and egg noodles. Chicken pasta using jar or tinned tomato with onion,peas and peppers. Roast chicken with Yorkshire puddings, roast carrot,parsnips and potatoes. Basa fillets with cheese sauce and veg. Basa fillets in bread crumbs peas and potatoes. Lunches scrambled eggs, omelette, cheese and tomato toasties.Fruit, bananas, easy peelers and apples. Plain yogurt. Porridge for breakfast or eggs.
Any veg left over make soup. Fish was frozen, also peas, onion, peppers.Fruit fresh, fresh carrots,parsnips potatoes, wraps and wholemeal loaf from shelf. Pasta, noodles,can be added to a soup. Ricex2 one Mexican one plain and make it fried with onion and egg.
Sad that I am, costed at £41 Aldi as Lidl don't give prices online. Obviously you need salt,pepper and garlic granules.
I am not a good cook but can make all of these very easily, use air fryer or hob to save fuel. No treats 😢 but very healthy. 😊

Jars of sauce are not healthy unfortunately.

if You can, buy big bags of rice and store in an airtight container. Fry cooked rice with some chopped carrots, cabbage, Chinese five spice, peas, soy sauce and some
egg for protein (I cook the egg as an omelet and chuck it in at the end)

beans on toast is good for protein

bean / chickpea stew with some diced chorizo, just use a third of the chorizo and the rest in other meals for flavour.

buy tubs of Greek yogurt or flavoured kefir yogurt instead of individual packs, kefir is great for your gut health.

Have you tried making kefir? My ds has been experimenting (luckily he's doing it in his own house) 🤣

Also, roast up a load of diced potatoes in air fryer / oven with oil, salt, garlic granules and herbs and then have with a fried egg or two on top.

with a budget of £40 a week you will struggle to get flavourings if this is a “all the money we have” situation; but if you’re able to invest in some cheap mixed herbs and garlic granules they’ll go a long way to make basic veg more interesting

I made chickpea curry recently (chana masala) - so cheap and filling - just ginger, garlic, lots of onions, spices, tinned tomatoes and chickpeas. I had it on toast for my lunch for a whole week!

Cheap because I have a stock of herbs and spices already. If you have spices think what you can make with them! Thinking ahead for you next year: I grew my own chillis and coriander so that’s free now and doesn’t take up much space or effort.

I also really like making soup - you can make an excellent lentil and tomato soup, or try a minestrone! These are filling because there is a lot of hot liquid to drink along with the pasta/lentils to fill you up.