Growth spurts any tricks to keeping 3 kids full?

[IWanders]

Expecting number 4 in the Autumn and thought I did really well spending £50 in Tesco for a weeks shop. My DC are 5, 4 and 2 in ages.

But a medium chicken no longer feeds 5 of us with left overs, we go through a medium box of cereal in 3 days, 4 pints of milk goes in a day, soreen is a snack for the kids these days with fruit on the side.

So my £50 went no were I had spend another £40 3 days later on more fruit, veg, meat, cereal and snack bread.

I always know milk and sandwich bread will need to be bought on top of the supermarket shop.

So I was just wondering are cash and carries any good for big families or places like costco? I guess my family have grown in food needs suddenly and I'm still adjusting. Oh I have no freezer, no room until we finish renovating the kitchen. So any tips for feeding growing kids, and do my brood eat a normal amount they really seem to pack it away these days and are still really skinny minnies. Thanks for any advice. :)

I have four dc and food just disappears in our house.

but a few things I have learnt:

I plan regular meals and snacks all portioned out (roughly).

Often boredom or thirst can masquerade as hunger and it is okay to say no to food if there is a meal arriving soon.

We have used cash n carries and asian supermarkets to buy big packs of rich, pasta, potatoes etc. Also farm shops where you can buy a sack of potatoes and onions are useful.

We spend around £100 to £120 a week on food (one large shop and a couple of top ups)

hth.

Go to Aldi for most of your food, somewhere like Morrisons for extras and you'll be ok. I spend about £70 on 4 children 2 adults a week with 2 cats. Aldi halves my food bill - I spend about £50 there a week for main meals, £20 at Morrisons for cat food, coffee and bits.

slicing fruit may be a faff but it ooks more and in my experience with little ones they are happy to eat less as it looks more!
porridge is a life saver
sandwiches are a no no in zoo house as a snack as we can eat a whole loaf in one sitting!
if it needs chewing well they eat less of it as register being full better
dont buy low fat foods-they ae generally high sugar and hunger strikes again very quickly

Give drinks out before food. Thirst can often come across as hunger

I buy lots in bulk and it definitely helps

Yes to porridge! cereal in our house is a birthday treat (!) , snacks are crudites and cheese and I still spend far too much! Just bought a quarter of a pig for £40 though which was jolly good value and gorgeous quality

Hoping for some good tips here, thanks for those so far too! We also do porridge or toast or egg for breakfast, cereal is a treat, not just for the price but because if they eat it inbetween meals too or have 2 big bowls it hardly lasts a day! Asda do great deals on cereal for a quid though

Hoping for some good tips here, thanks for those so far too! We also do porridge or toast or egg for breakfast, cereal is a treat, not just for the price but because if they eat it inbetween meals too or have 2 big bowls it hardly lasts a day! Asda do great deals on cereal for a quid though

Peanut butter ande banana sandwiches on wholegrain bread

I have to point out that the reason a 'medium' chicken doesn't feed you is because Tesco have renamed their small chickens as 'medium' chickens.

Go to Aldi. You get a lot more for your money.

I have a bread maker now, my Mum very kindly tested it out for me and gave me a fool proof recipe. I can get nearly 3 large loaves from 1 standard size bag of flour. The flour is anything from 89p upwards a bag.

I suspect that the machine would be on none stop for larger families than mine (only 3 DC's here).

Next to test is pizza dough.

The tips on this thread look very good!