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

Thank u

We find out the gender early oct

V excited

I’ve read this and have no advice , but the fact you’ve said he’s tight … please look after yourself and your child , protect yourselves especially when you’re not working on mat leave . Nothing worse than a man that’s tight with money , yuk x

I have inheritance from a relative thats saved so its always there

( but i have 800 gbp interest on that before the year ends - and will have that for baby too)

Partner gets some money from work in spring that hes giving me for me / baby.

He grew up living with one parent ( when his parents divorced )- and he saw them struggle.
Hes always been careful / budgety
But he will buy me flowers and treats

When he gets little rewards at work ( Amazon vouchers ) - he gets things 4 baby or me

He is kind

Oohhh exciting 🤗

@worldwidetravel2017 what age are you?

Why does he want a child if he can't face spending money ? You are pregnant and need the best nutrition, now is not the time to scrimp. How on earth is he going to cope when this baby starts eating solids, Frozen cheap sausages and fish fingers ? Poor child. If he can't spend money on making sure this baby is well nourished now then i seriously can't see him spending money once it is here.

The baby wont be having frozen sausages.
He likes them - he has them - his choice. He doesnt have them more than twice in 7 days.

The baby and their food will come first

Why do you ask - why is my age of relevence ?

be you come across as very young, naive and influenced highly by your DP’s thoughts and wants…that’s why.

Im not young ..

Having multiple health conditions and cfs - makes me in some ways kinda vulnerable
But im not young

Hes paying money for my private pension whilst im not working due to a few health reasons - including pregnancy

What else would you suggest i do re any anything?

I spend a lot more than this but have had periods a good while ago now where we had next to no money for several weeks ( liquidating a company and bank account was frozen and we didn’t have credit cards with spare capacity). Here’s what I did with 3 of us at the time ( 2 adults and a 9 year old)

a ginormous good quality 3kg chicken - used it for a roast dinner , made stir fry, and then made risotto .

A 12 pack of good quality sausages - used it for a dinner with vegetables , then stripped off skins of remaining 4 sausages, mixed in some herbs and made meatballs which I did with a homemade tomato sauce on rice. Added in some peas

made a giant Spanish tortilla ( eggs and potatoes) - did it with a tomato and onion side salad -

I basically spent around £18 on chicken, eggs, sausages -

£8 on bread, cheap ham, bit of cheese and some stir fry veg ( often on yellow sticker)

£6 on tinned beans, tomatoes , milk

some banana, satsumas, grapes and fresh tomatoes and a large pot of Greek yoghurt ( which only I eat) and just used dollops of it on banana, grapes etc

we had a fair bit of eggs, beans or cheese on toast, some fruit and a good dinner at night

no snacks, cakes or biscuits or berries - drank tea and water

the secret for me was buying main dinner ingredients that I could use for multiple meals and I used to just eat a good breakfast ( beans on toast) plus bit of fruit and yoghurt at lunch and a good dinner

@worldwidetravel2017 I’ve just read your post about inheritance - why are you doing this to yourself when pregnant? If you need to spend £15 a week more just spend it

Ok, I'm going to fess up that my food budget is nowhere near as tight as yours, but some things struck me from reading your posts:

• Maybe you could replace expensive fruit (berries) with cheap fruit (apples, pears, bananas, oranges).
• Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese are cheap, delicious and filling.
• Cheap sources of protein are milk, eggs, cheese and pulses. Maybe ditch the yoghurts and have a glass of milk instead?

But tbh unless you really need to, I wouldn't be cutting what's already a very lean budget even further.

send Him out for a weeks shop on £40 OP , and he can cook all week with what he brings back -I hate really tight men - it never ends well and sounds like there is no need - should we be able to eat well on £20 a week each as adults ,well yes maybe but can most people do it with no treats , good quality food - not really

Its tied up in an isa

Will use the interest from it when i get it soon though

I eat multiple satsumas daily :) my body has inflammation so the vit c = very good

I have eggs & cheese often too

Also love jacket potatoes

Went off bananas in first trimester. Will add them in again a bit - they do make me bloat though - i have pcos

Thank you

What do I suggest you do? Live by your own standards for one…not his! This is a slippery slippery slope!

Asda often have bread and fridge products reduced (yellow sticker), especially on a Sunday afternoon

But OP you’ve said the £50 a week budget isn’t necessary, it’s just what he thinks you should spend.

You’re pregnant. You’ve had a difficult journey getting to this point and your child is much loved and longed for.

Why not spend £10/15 a week more on food to be more comfortable, happy and healthy? Your child deserves for their mum to be those things, it benefits your child.

If you’re not absolutely brassic (presumably you aren’t as he has been able to pay into a private pension for you etc) then it’s actually very selfish of him to be suggesting you essentially eat less well during pregnancy to satisfy an arbitrary budget figure that isn’t absolutely necessary.

It’s quite bizarre to read you going along with it. Your baby is your priority now and while you’re pregnant that means that eating healthily and being comfortable is crucial.

Your partner needs to get his head around the fact that your child is the priority now.

He feels that .... Meaning there is no reason for this whatsoever. Tight is definitely the word to use of the three there.

Theres also a figure called 'baby fund'
So when he gets paid each time , theres x each month for whatever 4 baby

He saves into a budget 4 car stuff each month
( emergency / new tyres / mot / car tax _ service etc )

So weve had a few car things occur that also play a role in him watching where money goes

He rarely spends on himself - he spent under 20 gbp on one thing recently

If you shop at Lidl do you use the app? Free 7.5kg bag of potatoes for your free vegetable item @ £50 spend. Plus get your OH to pop in after work or later on wknds for 50% stuff. Buy things like dried apricots in bulk, maybe even online.

I also find the nectar app good- you get your own nectar special prices for the stuff you buy often - usually 30% off plus points on top. Have the app on both of your phones to get more deals & options, switch your shopping between the two. Likewise it might make sense to have lidl app on both to get 2 x £50 spend freebies.

An example of living by my own standards - i have private dentist
( dental history / trauma / complex case )

Whereas he has NHS dentist

( ive suggested to him in the past that he pays 25 gbp a,month 4 him to have den plan or similar - he thinks about it but then doesnt - his choice )

But yeah - generally genuinely he doesnt spend much on himself

Definitely swap the berries for seasonal fruit. Buy big pots of yogurt and add whatever (cooked apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon is lovely). If you have a freezer, frozen veg is great - pre chopped, you can use what you need and it's often cheaper than fresh. Anything premade (pies!) you are paying someone to make it. So nearly always cheaper to make it yourself (even if you buy premade pastry). Kippers and frozen random fish (eg basa fillets or "white fish") are cheap and healthy sources of fish - probably more filling and cheaper than fish fingers. Small bits of smoked bacon can give a lot of meaty flavour to otherwise vegetarian casseroles. Tinned beans and pulses are a good entry level way to bulk out dishes with meat - aim to get twice as many portions out of your cooking and freeze the extras for later. When you get more confident you can go to dried pulses which are even cheaper.

We budget £60 pw (food, drink, tolietries & cleaning) for 4 adults and eat very well BUT grow a lot of f&v and have access to free eggs and some meat/fish. I think it will be harder for you to do this, particularly long term.