£50 weekly food bill??? not in my house.

[6inchnipples]

Having read a few threads on the 'how much do you spend on food per week' topic and having read the 'i spend 40' 'i spend 50' chat i thought i'd really make an effort to try and get mine down a bit (currently spend about 80-90 average per week, 3 kids under 5 plus me and dp)

Just nipped to local co op whose prices are reasonable, do lots of good fruit offers.

I bought 2 packs of chicken breasts 2 for 7 quid offer, two 2l milks, a dozen yogs on special, clementines, strawbs,necterines, blueberries, melon, baked pots reduced to 48p and a loaf

Total 23 quid.

Pots , 1 pack chicken, blueberries, half the strawbs and half the melon gone already, eaten for dinner and pudding.... No way i could do it for 50 quid, not with freash fruit veg etc

HOw do you do it????

Where am i going wrong???

Buy whole chickens, not joints - one chicken should do a roast, a pie, a soup (with loads of veg/barley) and a risotto or curry.

Don't shop until you can't possibly do a meal with what's in your house. I can postpone a shop for several days just by living out of the freezer/larder.

Avoid supermarkets - you'll always buy stuff you don't need.

Meal plan and don't deviate.

not if it is left to dry out, one on sink one in shower. So much cheaper that liquid stuff and lasts for ages.

"one chicken should do a roast, a pie, a soup (with loads of veg/barley) and a risotto or curry."

Flaming nora - how big is this chicken!!! I used to be able to get a roast, a pie and a sandwich out of one decent sized chicken (plus carcass to make a stock).

Now I'm lucky if we get a roast and a sandwich.

Rice
Pasta
Potatoes
Muesli
Coffee
Cheese and eggs
cornflakes
Yoghurts
Bit of fruit, vege and salad
Peanut butter
Coconut milk
Fresh herbs
Quorn for sarnies
Squash
Peppermint teabags

I really have no idea why it's come to so much! Except for the olive oil. Not even any loo roll, washing powder etc. this week.

I do however, only buy free range eggs and decent cheese, which obviously cost more.

but our bathroom is in use all the time - there would be no time between the 4 of us using the toilet during the day for the soap to dry out???

janeite - that all cost £80 - seems like a lot of money for a short list.....

No there were other things too but nothing expensive.

see what you mean, busy bathroom = soggy soap!

Hm, is this list a list of items that you absolutely cannot do without?
Also i buy a bag of pasta and it would last me more than a week, same with rice.
Would you buy a bag a week?
Fresh herbs....would you consider tubs of dry that would last longer?
Pepermint tea....could you make this a once a month purchase, a treat?
Coconut milk..is this expensive?

janeite - can you buy your eggs from a farm? I buy free range eggs for £1 a dozen from one of the local farms.

You're going to say you live in a city, now, aren't you?

Why are frozen peas so expensive?

Oops - just remembered I bought Innocent orange juice - that would take it up a bit, I guess.

bummer - just been to look for the recepit from the shopping I did last Saturday - but I think DH has thrown it away - spent about £60 - but it included a few "on off" buys such as deodorant (I always buy a "nice" one for myself - that and my shampoo are my 2 little luxuries.........as they last ages ).

Fridge/freezer/cupboards were empty (practically) before I left and all I've bought since then was a pack of tobacco , 8 pints of milk, actually no 16 pints of milk (we get through gallons of the stuff LOL_, 2 loaves of bread and pack of twirls that were half price in the local shop. And I won't need to buy any more "staples" for food until net week - though will get some more fruit and veg tomorrow along with a box of washing powder that will see me into August and beyond.

By the time you have bought all ingredients and used your electricity, is it really cheaper to make your own bread? I found it more expensive when all accounted for. The loaf is smaller and is only fresh for one day.

Yep - I live in a city! There is a deli down the road which does Free range eggs but they are 1.80 for six. Sainsbo's does 15 for 2 pounds something.

Coconut milk is obscenely expensive, so I bought a block of coconut cream instead.

Rice and pasta will last two weeks at least.

Peppermint tea is a treat and was on special offer at 53p!

Fresh herbs - I do use dried but basil and coriander need to be fresh. The basil normally lasts a couple of weeks.

I'm not penny-pinching, so no need to be mega-careful but it shocks me how much prices seem to be creeping up.

@ a dozen of free range eggs for £1.

I pay about £3.50 (I think it is??) in Morrisons for 18 free range egss - and they'll do me for 2/3 meals - depending on what I do with them.

£50 is about what we spend for a weekly shop, including lunches, but not alcohol (trying to absteme!)

It is possible, but it's not neccesarily fun! If I had more money, I'd spend more.

• we don't eat much meat
• when we do it's normally good quality mince/ casserole steak/ good sausages or a whole chicken (normally Freedom Food). I think these are the most economical decent meats?
• bulk out dishes with veg and pulses
• simple pasta dishes eg. spaghetti with garlic and olive oil and a sprinkling of cheese
• normally only have apples, bananas, oranges. nicer fruit if on offer.
• it is normally cheaper to get fruit and veg from the market, BUT I've found it doesn't last as long. So only buy what you can use in a couple of days.
• 'Value' bread when times are tough. Yuk, but much cheaper.
• soup is a meal, not a starter! bulk it out with rice, potatoes or barley and serve with a chunk of bread
• eat leftovers for lunch or the next night. If I leave it any longer than that I forget/ don't fancy it/ allow to go off.
• people who are more organised might disagree, but if I meal plan for more than 5 nights a week, I end up with too much food. There is always at least one night of leftovers. I quite like having something like eggs on toast another night, or just making a basic pasta sauce from cupboard ingredients.
• always have pasta, rice, onions, garlic, carrots, tinned toms in the house.

i got all of my best ideas from the martin lewis website.
there are people on there who can feed their families for £22 per week!!!

there are some great top tips on there.

i save all of my tesco club card points up for Christmas, save the £1 stamps as well if i have a spare quid in my poscket while im there. (saved £150 for xmas last year.

I do only buy blueberries etc when on special.

I often go to 2 supermarkets just so i can get cheap fruit (usually lidl or aldi or coop when they have specials) and then to tesco to get bulk of shopping.

I find things like yog cheaper at tesco as i buy cheapest tesco range (like their 6 little fromage frias no crap in them and only 48 pence) I never buy what i'd LIKE all the time altho tempted to do it one week to see how much more it'd be.

I buy the cheapest of the range with minimum requirements iykwim, like squash, i'll buy the cheapest one but has to have no crap like sweetners etc in it. Usually can get a bottle for around a pound.

I don't buy chicken breasts unless they are on special, Coop often do 2 packs for 7 quid and that will do twice, There is no way i could make 2 breasts do us two meals without dp making a comment like 'does this have chicken in it??' And i do bulk it out already with extra cheap veg.

I buy thighs usually and i buy mince. Only buy other meat if they have some 'nice' stuff on offer.

I never buy cakes biscuits etc except the odd pack of rich tea or digestive.

I make meals from scratch with basic ingred and bulk out with pulses and veg too. Typical week would be

Breakfast always cereal (do have a choice of about 4 cereals but only cheap ones and on special ones) and toast (buy loaves 3 for 3quid)

Lunch usually sandwich or toast and beans or baked pot.

Dinners

Homemade meatballs and spag

Veg mousaka (loads of beans and chickpeas)

Chicken stir fry with veg and noodles (usually a red pepper and mange tout)

Mince and tatties (big thing of mine to do spag bol too)

Pizza (homemade) and salad

Chiken thighs roasted with veg and cous cous

Soup and crusty bread (usually followed by baked rice pudding)

For pudding if any, we usually have fruit and yog or i make rice pudding or crumble using rhubarb from garden, have custard made using powder rather than expensive cans etc

I buy eggs locally and altho we are very rural cheapest ones are around 2.30 for a dozen at £1.

I really don't buy anything too fancy, except actually 'lady grey' tea bags but even they have been on special offer lately and i alternate them with cheap earl grey from lidl.

I do also have nights where we'll just have left overs or toast and beans or egg on toast but its usually when its just me and the kids and dp away working.

i also have 2 large dogs to feed which costs around 10 quid per week too.

I find life is so busy i don't always have time to firstly think out what we need so as not to over buy and also time to do things like de bone the chicken thighs etc

No take away near so very rare treat no more than once a month.

I'll be watching my spending and will meal plan etc. I will find a way.....

I had to scrap baked beans on toast, and scrambled eggs on toast as a dinner after the amounts I was using of the eggs, beans and bread worked out more than a "big" meal

i buy lidls cheap beans or tesco own brand.
Two cans would go round the 5 of us (maybe with a bit of cheese on top and a squirt of reggae reggae sauce!)

i agree about the eggs tho, esp if dp having them. kids not so much 1 each ample at under 5.

What meals are your cheapest faq

My cheapest meals:

Pasta with homemade tomato sauce (except I don't like it much!)

lentil chilli and rice

vegetable soup

veggie sausage casserole and baked potatoes

omelette, homemade wedges and salad (or frozen peas)

macaroni cheese and vege

2 cans round 5 of you!! Wow I'm impressed - I was up to 2 1/2 cans for 4 of us - plus 3 or 4 slices of wholemeal toast each (just 1 slie for DS3, but he eats LOADS of beans lol) , now DH and I back together I knew it was just going to be ludicrous.

1 each of eggs under 5! Wow my DS's are 8,5, and 2 and for scrambled eggs on toast for me and them (excluding DH) I would use probably 10/11 eggs - and that's with me just having a little smidgings on my toast ie spread it thin lol.).

Not sure what my cheapest are.

I tend to buy ingredients that I can use for several meals - so 3 courgettes chopped up finely were used for 2 meals, big bag of potatoes and I'd do lots of potato based meals.

most of my cheapest meals both DS2 (he's my biggest eater so far I think - although both of the older 2 generally eat more than me LOL) and DH will have something else later to "top-up".

scrambled eggs use more, i boil them and mash them with a bit of butter. plus i buy xl eggs.

we also top up after a cheap meal but it defeats the purpose doesn't it!!

tried that one too (boiling and mashing) and still used more than it was worth lol.

Thankfully DS2 is usually happy with a slice of bread (or 2) while DH will probably have a cheese and "something" sandwich - we buy the huge blocks of value cheddar - not great stuff but once you'd added some pickle/salad/mixed it into a white sauce you don't really notice

I'm dreading my food bill in a few years time - 15 thick pork sausages I used the other night for the 5 of us on only 1/2 of one got wasted! (was served with fried egg, beans and loads of homemade potatoe wedges).

Think I may start sending DS2 up to sweep chimmneys now to start saving for my food bills in the future

(still only spend £55-65 a week for food though )