How on Earth do you cut down your food bill without buying low quality stuff and when you have 3 hungry kids, a husband and several animals?

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

DH just looked through my spending and it is about £800+ a month on food.

Actually, I do want to buy less meat for all sorts of reasons as we have it a lot so that will be a good start. I also want us all to eat more fish.

We eat well in that I buy decent food (own brand cereal though where it doesn't matter and the same for baking stuff) and I cook from scratch every day.

Can't remember the last time we went to the chippy or had a ready meal.

The kids eat loads.

I spend about 350 a month on two adults and two children. They are both greedy and eat as much as an adult between them, and are both in nappies.

I don't buy poor quality stuff - we get organic bread and milk, and organic jam (because it's made with real sugar and not glucose-fructose syrup), I also buy fair trade coffee tea and drinking chocolate.

But I do buy a lot of own-brand and value-brand stuff. Value brand fruit and vegetables are often just smaller or slightly strange in shape. Value brand butter and flour is normal butter and flour in horrible packaging! I do have to be careful and read labels - the value pasta sauce had cornflour in it and tasted horrible, for example. But mostly they are fine - especially if you don't buy the packaged ready made stuff but get the raw ingredients.

Which brings me to the other thing - I cook a lot from scratch. I enjoy it, so it's not too much of a chore - except when small children are under my feet whining.

We also don't smoke, and drink very little alcohol, which really helps the budget.

I'd rather spend more and have more treats, but we're pulling in the reins a bit at the moment to blow on our holiday.

£800+

I can only guess that it's the animals that are bumping the cost up?

I have just started to buy lower quality stuff again (for the short term) as I need to save some money to move.

But previously I was spending around £350-400 a month, bought free range/organic/fair trade stuff, and that included nappies, cleaning stuff etc - and mid-week top-ups for bread, milk, fruit etc - for 2 adults and 3 (also very hungry - 2 of them eat more than me) children.

Ah, you already cook from scratch - sorry I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs - it's difficult to know what to suggest when I don't know what you already buy.

We eat very little meat, and rarely eat non-value brand fish. "White fish" frozen is just coley and is fine for fish pie or stew.

do you menu plan and write shopping list?
I found that really helped cut down costs and reduce waste.

Agree with riven. Pulses are good. They can be used anywhere you'd use minced beef for a start. Veg casseroles are nice and cheap and you can add protein with lentils and beans.

But we still spend the best part of 4-500 a month on food. And we're not buying wine or beer atm.

Any help at all MrsTM is appreciated.

I also have to buy pyjama pants for 2 kids which bugs me no end as I used washables all the way through but can't find a washable that suits them.

Eat vegetarian, seasonal and less fancy. Shop for fruit and veg at the market (better quality, much cheaper) and menu plan.

Bulk buying
costs the first month but works out cheaper in the long run
lots of veg
growing own
going through online shop and culling stuff
using mysupermarket.com
buying meat etc from different sources, butchers, market etc (not easy for full time wohm though I suspect)

Ours has gone up a lot recently
budget is currently £400 for 6 of us including nappies (hence trying to use washables as much as possible)

For 6 of us (3 adults, 3 children, a dog and a cat) i spend under £400 a month, easily. What on earth do you buy for £800???

sometimes it can be a simple case of buying a cheaper cut of meat (not a value one - just a cut that's cheaper because it's not the "best" cut).

Things like you can buy a pack of 400g stewing beef in Morrisons for £2.99 - it's all nicely cubed for you - I need 2 of those to make a stew that will satisfy my lot.

Or I can buy 700-800g of braising (or other cheap) steak for £3-4 and cut it up myself, removing excess fat etc.

Also for cleaning stuff I've yet to find an "own brand" that doesn't do just as good a job as the 2x the price branded ones.

just a word of warning about butchers and markets though - depending on where you live (we live in a shite small town with not much of either - obviously other places have fabulous markets and great butchers).

I've found that the fruit on our market goes off very quickly, and some things more expensive that Morrisons .

And our "local" butcher in town sells cheap stuff, and danish bacon

So check out the quality/sourcing of stuff before you buys lots from either of them.

agree re cleaning I buy vinegar by the 5 litre and it does loads of jobs costs about £3.50

oh and not wasting food is a biggy in this country
buy what you need and check the food not the label as to when it needs to be eaten by

Yes, I do menu plan and take a list. I have planned for dinner though and then forget we need cereal or lunches for me. Kids eat at school and hubby goes out. I also don't put basics on the list so run out or low.

No market at all to buy fruit and veg from and I find it hard to know what is in season as it doesn't seem to be labelled in the supermarket.

I would love to grow my own - last year we produced rhubarb and 2 carrots and have bought stuff to grow herbs but I am not a natural gardener and don't know where to start atm.

ilove - it is all relative though, I would be happy to spend £100 a week and used too, no idea what has happened though it was £800 for 5 weeks. Not that that makes it much better. Where do you shop?

this might help re whats in season
it did for me

Thanks bronze. I have emailed it to hubby to print off.

Fab - are the dcs allowed to drink as much juice etc and eat snacks as they like?

domesticextremist - I don't buy juice and they are allowed what they want within reason but don't eat snacks every day. Normally they have a good meal, pudding and then maybe something extra.

It was £800 for 5 weeks, I also go to Waitrose and also pick up odd bits at Asda and the co-op.

DH buys the alcohol and picks up some bits of shopping which isn't included in my account.

Apart from milk, cheese, fruit and ham we could probably go about 2 weeks without another shop if I was inventive.

shine on - I do have another adult, another child and more animals than you though.

Wow you lot spend so much on food. I spend £180 a month on food for 2 adults and 2 children and several animals.
I don't buy processed food, and cook most things from scratch. I shop in the evening when a lot of food is reduced in price.
I couldn't imagine spending £800, we eat well, always seems to be nice food around,I buy fresh herbs and loads of spices, some meat, not a huge amount, and my fridge is always quite full.
I don't buy many cleaning products, tend to use washing soda, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar for most jobs.