I Need to start budgeting - help please!

[Hellebore1]

Can anyone please advice me re' operating a budget for food etc. Do I need to do a meal planner? Should I do a big monthly shop for large items and just 'top-up' weekly. Is it better to shop online to avoid impulse buys?
It's just that due to a change in circumstances I need to a lot more organised financially and thought this would be a good place to start. Any advice, personal experiences would be most most appreciated.

Yes, meal planner a must - sit down on a sunday and plan taking into account how busy you are on that day - depends on whether you work full time too.

I work mine out by dividing beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, vege then spuds, noodles, rice, pasta, coucous etc and mix and match to suit. Slow cooking is the cheaper ie mince, shoulders, stewing, chicken thighs, value packs fish. Use website recipe like BBC Good food etc. Weekly is more practical as peshisable items.
Buy bread in bulk (make yr own too!) The less you go shopping the less you spend. You can also freeze milk.

Impulse buys are only good if you can freeze them. I'm no longer taken in by the BOGOFs If I dont need it then I dont buy. ALways for with list.

Eat one, freeze one always works - batch cooking is brill.

I dont buy fancy magazines, no longer different cleaning products - one for all.
Certain isles I dont shop down I no longer buy crisps for instance. Dont buy books anymore - use library or net for stuff.

I never have or will buy gifts for the children/family unless its special occassion. Friends childrens birthdays I buy clothing and mix with art products from Wilkinsons.

Most of my childrens clothes are secondhand and this saves a fortune.

We are not a family who has much family time either and cant beleive the cost of eating out/bowling etc so thats just saved for special occassions - we dont eat takeaways (I find them rubbish rather spend on better ingredients. Once again its all about planning - I am making a steak and ale pie for sat night.

The odd stuff in Aldi is good but you have to read some of the posts on here first as some is awful - washing powder is ace.

Try and enjoy time away from the shops, get out more - spend weekends walking and taking a picnic. Tips to the seaside are brill in the winter sun too.

Endless...

Check out the fantastic frugal living tips on credit crunch forum. We've just started making the most of every penny and are already amazed at how much we have wasted in the past. Living a simple life can be richly rewarding!!

Found an amazing site about feeding a family of four for £100 a month, complete with planner and some original recipes - sorry can'tr remember exact wording but it's worth a look.

It's called "Cheap Family Recipes" - lots of ideas.

Also, farmers markets for meat - bulk buy,pay cash and get it for a good price. Its better quality meat that has taste and doesnt shrink.

The feeding of a family of 4 -£100 pretty much amazes me as we get through 4 sliced loafs a week and tons of milk, salads so I cant see that working for everyone especially if you do big packed lunches.

We have no food waste in this family which proves that I am careful.

Greeting cards can be picked up cheap in Wilkinsons & M&S - £1 is plenty for a card considering the postage.

I disagee with cat64 - I think you'd have to have yr brain on supercharge to plan a varied menu in yr head at the supermarket. The idea of menu planning is that you know exactly what other ingredients you need - herbs, spices, oils, fats, etc. I dont let the supermarket dictate to me what I should be eating cos they are ripping off the supplier. Plus certain days of the week you know you only have a short time to cook so planning it out helps the week flow smoothly.
I works perfectly for me. We are foodies and hubby enjoys good varied food.

Depends how you feel about it but we have had to cut down our spending and I use approved food which is an online retailer selling out of date food. I mainly buy packed lunch ingredients so we are currently wading through a lake of 100% fruit smoothies which were out of date by end of January-we got them at 8 for £1. We also buy a lot of the small mixed seeds and nuts packets to go in lunch boxes and cheap toilet roll. You have to be selective though as they do sell a lot of unhealthy food and when you see something you will eat buy a lot of it and quickly.

I find I spend less by doing my supermarket shop online, as I can stick rigidly to my list and not be tempted by impulse buys. I do a menu plan for the week, and then might amend it if there are any special offers I spot online. I find that if I go into the supermarket I might miss out certain aisles, e.g. won't go down washing powder aisle if I know I don't need any, whereas online I'll check out the deals, a couple of weeks ago Sainsburys had my washing powder 50% off, so I bought 10 boxes, that will see us through a few weeks!

I get the Martins Moneysaving tips email which alerts you to special offers, most not relelvant, but occasionally there is something that you weren't aware of, like a sale starting and you can e.g. buy birthday presents in advance. Apart from general supermarket shopping, we found that we were spending a lot on presents (i.e. for friends and family, not us) so we (boringly I know) drew up a spreadsheet, and tried to stick to a really tough budget. Its really tempting to want to go over, but it has become more of a challenge to get a good deal... often means buying well in advance, and taking advantage of the 3for2 type offers.

We make our own bread - you've got the upfront cost of the breadmaker, but then after a certain amount of time I think it does pay for itself. I make a loaf a day, and know that there are no preservatives etc in there.

What is ' approved food'?

I try to only buy reduced meat for the freezer, and then do a menu planned shop around what I have on hand. When I do these shops I pick up any reduced meat on offer to replenish the freezer.

I print off a master shopping list, divided into different categories, and tick stuff off as it runs out during the week, or put a ? if the stock is going to be low over the next month (so I can case out the best offers). Then I fill it all in after doing my weekly or fortnightly meal planner on the back. Then while I am shopping I religiously cross off what I buy as it goes into the trolley AND MOST IMPORTANTLY write down anything I buy that wasn't on the list. It stops me buying pointless extras but also helps me keep track and build any special offers into future weeks menus.

I make sure that at least one night a week is basically meat & 3 veg, and other meal ideas are flexible enough for me to take advantage of special offers or reduced meat/fish. I only ever buy protein or breakfast cereal on offer!

I also () use mysupermarket.com to check out best prices before deciding which shop to visit if I've stuff other than food to buy (or time to spend faffing). I'm quite sure that will go by the by when ds#2 arrives...

We have started keeping a list of what is in the freezer and having a freezer week once a month (only shop for milk and fresh veg/fruit as needed - and it means the BOGOFs definitely get used).

And we have a budget week before payday. I find both make menu planning a bit more interesting and challenging. Amazing how cheaply I can do that week if I know I can have salmon the week after!

bacon - One of the reasons this economy works is that there is a recipe for quick home-made bread (and a few for biscuits, pates, snacks etc)

I also find I spend less and stay on budget by doing my food shopping on-line. Also it saves lots of time, when I've been at work all week I don't want to spend my Saturday morning in the supermarket, in fact I avoid them whenever possible, you go in for a pint of milk and spend £20.

I plan meals as I shop but because I'm on-line I can come back to it later and make any changes, I can also pop into the kitchen to see if we really need pasta, beans etc this week.

I do look what's on offer, but I won't buy the 2 for £5 or BOGOF deals if it's not going to get used.

I also use a spreadsheet which show all my incomings and outgoings for the month, I allocate money for food shopping, general expenses (which includes buying fresh fruit and bread during the week), school dinners, petrol and any extra expenses like a hair cut. It helps me to feel in control and on top of things, and sets limits.

The thing I find really helpful with food shopping is to think about the week ahead, DHs shifts, DD's activites, is anyone going to be out for dinner? Do I have any evening work meetings? etc etc and then I can plan meals accordingly, for example, on Tuesdays DD has swimming so I need something that can be prepared before we go, and eaten when we get back (unless DH is at home), Monday she has Brownies so I need something quick or something I've prepared in advance.