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.

I meal plan - but I don't have pasta on Monday, curry on Tuesday - I just have a list of 5 meals (2 I make double, so that's 7 night's worth). One meal is always a cheat's meal like baked potatoes or egg and chips, in case I have a really busy day, or the DDs are screaming at me and I'm exhausted. That's when the temptation to hit the Indian take away becomes overwhelming, so it's important to have something easy.

I'm impressed at how low some of you seem to be able to go. I do 70 pounds a week, for everything (nappies, toiletries, cleaning stuff) and I quite often go under, but I would struggle to do less. Perhaps I need to source more stuff at ethnic shops etc., but until the DDs are both sleeping well at night I'm not sure if I have the energy.

cat I'm similar with my meal planning wait until I'm in the Supermarket - you never know if that lovely big piece of beef has been slashed to half price because it "goes off today" (when actually even if you don't want to eat it that night shoving straight into the freezer when you get home will keep it just fine).

I always have a "rough" plan. Usually sausages, roast (whatever best value is when I'm htere), mince, soup, "easy" (ie something breaded/burgers etc ) that I can throw in the oven with some home made wedges and serve with frozen veg, etc etc but what I actually buy depends on the offers.

Fab we keep an old pot in the corner of kitchen and all dinner scraps go in it and that helps bulk out the dogs dinner

We also have some slack in the budget so that there's money to buy the stuff that's on offer. We then store it or freeze it (you can freeze butter, cheese (block or grate it), fresh pasta, loads of things). Once you've done it for a couple of weeks, you have a week where you don't have to buy nappies or fish (or whatever) and there's more slack in the budget for the stuff that's on sale.

I think I spend between £325-£400 a month on food - that's me, DH, DS who is 22 months and the cat! One of the main problems is that DS is an avowed carnivore and it's extremely hard to get him to eat a main meal that doesn't feature meat or fish as principle constituent. Before he came along, DH and I ate meat twice, possibly three times a week (not counting bacon!). Nowadays, I always have to have a large meaty meal, even if just spag bol, on the go to give him bits for lunch, etc. Should use local butcher more and rely less on Waitrose, but in my defence, I always try to get whatever meat is reduced at the butcher's counter in there, and then plan from whatever I buy.

I think I need to make menu plans and shopping lists and stick to them more often, and also not 'pop in' when I've run out of milk etc, or just go to village Somerfield rather than Waitrose, as it's less alluring! Doesn't help that Waitrose is only local big supermarket - Sainsbury and Tesco are both 25 mins away, waitrose is five...

we spend about half that for 4 of us, plus a cat and we eat good food, fresh fairtrade coffee every day and loads of fruit and veg, not always organic though, but always organic or free range meat, no ready meals

Tch, 'principal' not principle...

where do you shop? it might not be what you buy but where you buy it! i spend roughly £200 a month for DH,DD and me and a cat we cant afford to shop in Asda/Tesco/Sainsbo's so we tend to stick to Aldi or Netto's needs must though and our food bill has been cut by at least half since switching supermarket BTW Netto sells all named brands but at a cheaper price so it is less like skimping on quality i do buy my fruit and veg fresh from the fruit shop round the corner from ours though

I can imagine easily spending that budget on 3 children, a husband and animals, but I too have a problem with shaving money off my food bills. My food buying habits are actually quite shameful.

There is me, DP (who's extraordinarily hungry all the time) and our 6 month old DS. I spend about £130 a week on average, on food and all household items, including food for one cat and one dog. I don't buy a lot of junk food but I do buy lots of good quality meat, lots of vegetables and some luxury pudding items like ice cream/"GU" treats or maybe things to make a cake. I buy organic milk, yoghurt and eggs, fresh coffee, nice steak, a joint on a Sunday, things like that.

I just really, really enjoy good food and it's hard to compromise my taste/ethics.

To all you lot who say you need to shop during the week to get fresh veg otherwise they go manky, can I suggest Lakeland green bags?

I've been using them for about 3 years now and they are ace. All veg etc stays as fresh as the day I got it for about 10 days. We waste so much less now & they're so handy when we get a glut of veg from the garden.

thisxgirl - the easiest way for you to cut down your shopping bill would probably to cook more from scratch. So rather than Gu puddings, you make your own, with ingredients that you approve of (Sainsburys own brand sugar is Fairtrade, for example).

The other thing that I do is to be really cynical and anal about checking prices. Sometimes there are promotions at the front of the store for prepackaged vegetables (two for 1.50 for example) and when I get them loose and weigh them, the ones that you have to bag yourself (which isn't a lot of work, let's face it) are cheaper than the prepackaged, even when the prepackaged are on offer. Sometimes the value range isn't the cheapest, too, especially if there is a deal on - value stuff sometimes comes in smaller amounts but not noticeably smaller packets - so if you just look at the price on the shelf it's easy to pick up the value thinking that it's 20p less, except really it's more per 100g.

thisxgirl - forgot to say, this depends on how well your DS sleeps, of course. If he goes through the night and has a regular 2 hour nap in the day, then it's not difficult to spend time in the kitchen. Neither of mine were like that as 6 month olds and we ate a lot more ready made food as a result! I've shaved at least 20 quid a week off our bill just by spending some time cooking.

My main plan this week is to sort what is in the cupboards and make meals from that. I have already peeled potatoes this morning and we will have cheese and potato pie tonight with beans.

I am also going to be very strict about only going to the shop inbetween the main shop if we really need it. We don't have enough milk for tomorrow so I will go and get some after dropping the kids and nothing else.

The £800 for 5 weeks wasn't normal but I am fed up of feeling like all my money goes on food and not having anything left at the end of the month.

Fab, I know how you feel. Before I started food budgeting, we would spend about £125 a week easy, maybe more on food. And my cupboards were always full to bursting.

I started by running all the cupboards and the freezer down, shopping a little and using up everything, then shopping minimally from there. It's a good starting point to sort cupboards and use things up.

The other near date site is Approved Foods

I also use Money Saving Old Style plus a lot of the other forums on MSE.

Also check out Big Barn for where your local markets are etc. They also have info on seasonal food and some good recipes.

We are 2 adults and 3 hungry DC and I spend about £100 per week on food and cleaning stuff etc. utilizing all or most of the ideas noted in this thread. DC take packed lunches to school. DH usually has the left overs from the meal from the night before. He was buying crap for breakfast though as he wasn't hungry first thing so I bought hin a bowl with a lid that had a spoon clipped inside and a bottom bit that went in the freezer and then you put the milk in and screw it to the top bowl, saved a fortune. Think they came from Morrisons.

Doing simple things like buying a big chicken and having roast one day, chicken pie the next and soup or stock from the bones is really good.

Bought some raising steak (£1.50 reduced) not quite enough for a meal for 5 but it can be made into a pie with mushrooms and onions and gravy which will feed 5, served with mash and veg.

We have the added problem of a DC that is gluten intollerant and another one who also may be gluten and/or dairy intollerant.

am saving heaps just by staying away from supermarkets as much as possible generally (used to be a £200 a week Waitrose shopper in more profligate times ) - was prompted by another thread recently to get 25kg sack of potatoes for £5 from farm shop, endless meals in there! it was about £2.50 for 1.5kg of same potatoes in Tesco

we get a fruit/veg box for about £15 or £20 a week and every couple of weeks or so I top up with meat from farm shop

buy domestic animal feed in bulk from feed shop, again 25kg sacks

spilttheteaagain I found some of those bags (15 pack JML ones)in Poundland, bargain. they are very good, and re-usable

Oh! meant to say that I used to spend nearly £800 a month as well and have got it down to £100 a week.

I struggled with meal planning as the children or DH never fancied what was on the list that day. Frustrating!

So I started stocking the cupboards, fridge and freezer with the ingredients to make most meals.

Pasta, rice, baked beans, lasagne sheets, pasta sauce, flour, chopped tomatoes, eggs, cheese, milk, potatoes, frozen veg...

If you buy peppers or onion and you're not sure if you will use them straight away... chop them up, put them in a bag or small container and freeze them. No need to blanch them. You could do the same with carrots etc, but blanch them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then freeze. You could do a portion size... one red pepper. You could do a big bag of casserole veg and then in the morning chuck the contents in a slowcooker...

The school meals are costing you £120 per month. You could probably halve this with a packed lunch.

"Good" "decent" "nice" - all meaningless.

How low are you prepared to go, quality-wise? Do you only eat organic sustainable freerange? How about sustainable freerange? How about plain freerange? Barn- reared? Factory farmed in an RSPCA spproved farm?

The cheapest way to get ethical protein is from eggs and fish. Please don't buy cod and haddock. I know that as cod has reached the astronomical price of £15 per kilo, it may seem like a treat, but it's only that expensive because there is none left. Alaskan pollock is closely related to the codfish, is half the price and has much more omega 3 in it. You can buy big bags of it, frozen. It's ace in fish pies with some prawns and a nice cheese sauce. Coley is even cheaper and still pleasant white fish, but can be a little dry so needs a sauce.

In the subject of meat, try halving each person's portion and see if they notice. Buy some nice sausages and make toad-in-the-hole. Buy stewing lamb instead of lamb chops, and pork rib chops instead of loin chops. And don't worry about the fat content, because you shouldn't be eating enough OF is to make you fat.

RE the eggs - I'm sure you know how to buy eggs. Bear in mind that many cheaper supermarkets to a 'value' free range box of eggs. They are still free range eggs, they are just funny shapes and sizes.

If you're not insisting on organic sustainable fruit and vegetables, the next ethical step is actually the value ranges IMHO, as you're eating the mis-shapes that would otherwise be thrown away.

[laughs at the idea of dh not fancying what was on the planner for that day] round here dh gets in and wolfs down whatever is in front of him and is damn grateful to do so.

Agree with coldtits about the meat portions -I get 2 days meals out of a normal portion of mince - and thats for 4 of us. Other people would see it as one days meat for 2 people but it does stretch if you put enough veggies in etc.

I try not to eat too much fish because I dont think any of it is really sustainable unless it is line caught and I cant afford that. When they improve the farming so that it doesnt take x fish to just make 1 then I will try again...

The Kitchen Revolution is a brilliant book and the website is really good too. shows you exactly how a foody can save money.

My top tips, in no particular order .....

• Less meat and cheaper cuts (of good quality meat) cooked slowly

• a proper weekly meal plan includes LEFTOVERS. Repeat after me ... LEFTOVERS ARE DELICIOUS!.. shepherds pie or pasties made from leftover roast lamb, risotto balls, shredded roast chicken with tagliatelle and pinenuts, the remains of a casserole bulked out with beans and some extra spices for a proper chilli, BIG healthy soups, ...

• use your freezer. Frozen veg generally fresher than unfrozen and a fraction of the price - also you only use what you need so less waste. Make your own ready meals, lollies, ices etc and save a fortune.

• Don't cook seperate meals - try and all eat together

• Shop online it saves you money by reducing impulse buys, makes it easier to compare price per kg and suss out the real bargains. Also its easier to stock up on lots of value kidney beans etc.

• recognise that often goods are cheaper simply because of cheaper packaging - need a can opener, a spout cutting etc.

• always dilute your fruit juice - longlife cloudy apple is lovely and a fraction of the supposed fresh stuff. Dont buy fruit to watch it go off. Rediscover the joy of canned peaches, pineapple etc. Far cheaper and far less disappointing that out of season fresh stuff shipped in from wherever.

• You don't need to be an expert to grow your own herbs, rocket etc. saves £££.

• did I mention leftovers? I might say it again because hardly anyone else has... LEFTOVERS!!

domesticextremist, My DH is another who has to eat what is put in front of him and if he want's anything else then he can lump it unless he wants to come home at 4pm instead of 7pm and cook it himself

I put grated carrot in with my mince to make it stretch further, DC don't notice.

I'm just saving money to buy myself a Panasonic bread maker as mine doesn't do gluten free. I'm just trying to work out which slow cooker would suit us at the moment, there is so many on the market.

Talking of husbands...

The other thing that I noticed is that you need to have DH on your side. We had always had an "open the fridge, take whatever snack you fancy" policy when we were two people:two incomes. Now we're being more careful it is annoying in the extreme to open the fridge to make that lovely cauliflower cheese and find out that DH wolfed down the last block of Cheddar for his midnight munchies the night before. DH accepts that I do the work of stock control and cooking and therefore he is happy to check whether something is a vital ingredient before eating it now.

I've heard people having problems with teenagers doing the same thing and snacking on vital ingredients. Apparently they are much harder to stop (no experience myself - yet!). In this case, freezing cheese, bacon etc. is supposed to work well.

The school meals are costing you £120 per month. You could probably halve this with a packed lunch. DH is convinced packed lunches cost more than £2 a child a day and tbh the convenience is worth £6 a day so will hold on to those while we can.

"Good" "decent" "nice" - all meaningless.??

How low are you prepared to go, quality-wise? Do you only eat organic sustainable freerange? How about sustainable freerange? How about plain freerange? Barn- reared? Factory farmed in an RSPCA spproved farm? Free-range eggs instead of organic for a while now.

The cheapest way to get ethical protein is from eggs and fish. Please don't buy cod and haddock. I know that as cod has reached the astronomical price of £15 per kilo, it may seem like a treat, but it's only that expensive because there is none left. Alaskan pollock is closely related to the codfish, is half the price and has much more omega 3 in it. You can buy big bags of it, frozen. It's ace in fish pies with some prawns and a nice cheese sauce. Coley is even cheaper and still pleasant white fish, but can be a little dry so needs a sauce. Haven't seen either on sale but will look next time.

RE the eggs - I'm sure you know how to buy eggs. Bear in mind that many cheaper supermarkets to a 'value' free range box of eggs. They are still free range eggs, they are just funny shapes and sizes. I'm going back to the farm shop, a tray for about £2odd.

If you're not insisting on organic sustainable fruit and vegetables, the next ethical step is actually the value ranges IMHO, as you're eating the mis-shapes that would otherwise be thrown away. I buy organic sometimes.

Agree with coldtits about the meat portions -I get 2 days meals out of a normal portion of mince - and thats for 4 of us. Other people would see it as one days meat for 2 people but it does stretch if you put enough veggies in etc. Will do this.

I try not to eat too much fish because I dont think any of it is really sustainable unless it is line caught and I cant afford that. When they improve the farming so that it doesnt take x fish to just make 1 then I will try again...I had thought fish would be cheaper but mainly better for us than meat.

The Kitchen Revolution is a brilliant book and the website is really good too. shows you exactly how a foody can save money.
I will take a look.

My top tips, in no particular order .....

Less meat and cheaper cuts (of good quality meat) cooked slowly. Plan* to do this. a proper weekly meal plan includes LEFTOVERS. Repeat after me ... LEFTOVERS ARE DELICIOUS!.. shepherds pie or pasties made from leftover roast lamb, risotto balls, shredded roast chicken with tagliatelle and pinenuts, the remains of a casserole bulked out with beans and some extra spices for a proper chilli, BIG healthy soups, ...
There are hardly ever leftovers in this house but I make a pie from Sunday lunch when there is. use your freezer. Frozen veg generally fresher than unfrozen and a fraction of the price - also you only use what you need so less waste. Make your own ready meals, lollies, ices etc and save a fortune. I* do this already. Don't cook seperate meals - try and all eat together. DH* not home so we can only do this at weekends. Shop online it saves you money by reducing impulse buys, makes it easier to compare price per kg and suss out the real bargains. Also its easier to stock up on lots of value kidney beans etc. Planning* on doing this too.* always dilute your fruit juice - longlife cloudy apple is lovely and a fraction of the supposed fresh stuff. Dont buy fruit to watch it go off. Rediscover the joy of canned peaches, pineapple etc. Far cheaper and far less disappointing that out of season fresh stuff shipped in from wherever.
Kids don't Have juice and unsure about tinned fruit but no idea why.* You don't need to be an expert to grow your own herbs, rocket etc. saves £££.
I hope to do this. Thanks* all.