Would you mind helping a friend of mine with her food budget please ?

[chocolateteapot]

I am helping my friend work out a monthly budget after her DH has left her. Would you mind telling me what you spend each month on food for 1 adult and two children (hers are age 7 and 10 ) so I can put down a realistic figure ? Many thanks.

probably £200? at most!

Thanks Coldtits, that what I was thinking, just wanted to check I was being realistic. I'm a bit worried actually that she won't eat properly, she has lost loads of weight the last few months which she couldn't really afford to lose.

I spend roughly £200 - £230 for 1 adult and 3 kids.

I allow 50 quid a week for food for me and 2 kids but often manage to only spend about 30 (it's a bit sad how impressed I am with myself when I save that little bit!)

I spent £120 in the last 4 weeks on food shopping and that includes cleaning and washing stuff. That is for myself, one teenager and one child of 9.

I am lucky as they will eat anything put in front of them and I have overdone the stew a bit (eyk)

I do shop in asda once a month and the rest of the time at Sainsbury - there economy stuff is really good value.

I make my own meals, we eat things like pasta bake with a little chx and cambells soup as a sauce (cheap at 50p) add a little creme fraich. Or pasta and pesto with cherry tomato or frozen mixed vegtables, beef stew with root vegtables and this will cover at least two possibly three eve meals.

you could do it for £100, if you go on the moneysaving expert site and read the old style board people have posted how little they can do their shopping for the week and also meal planners and budget recipes.

ivykaty44 post is a good example

We spend aprox £350 a month in total (including night-nappies, cleaning stuff etc) so not just food.

How do you guys manage to spend so little. I spend about £150 per week on 3 adults and two small children, one of whome eats less than a bird.

Sorry, I should have said I'm not a lone parent, have 2 kids though.

Check out Miaou and Mr Miaou's threads for some great recipes/monvey saving ideas

We spend £130/150 a fortnight for two adults, and a 7yo and a three yr old.
We do buy a lot of crap with that though, and pull-ups for nighttimes, all the cleaning products, hairstuff etc.
Oh and we have a cat too, so about £10 a fortnight of that is hers.

For 2 adults and 1 child about £40pw

We spend about £50-£60 per week for two adults and three children (have four kids but one is b/f and in washable nappies so his impact is minimal )

Tips:

• meal plan ahead - it's so much easier if you don't have to "think" about what to cook. Write a shopping list and don't deviate
• cut out all the snacks eg chocolate biscuits, juice/coke etc - give them water to drink and fruit to eat in between meals (or if you are really skint, a slice of bread and butter makes a filling snack)
• Eat as little meat as possible - buy mince and make mince and tatties, spag bol, chilli, lasagne, shepherds pie ... lots of variations. Make double and freeze half for times when you haven't got time/can't be bothered to cook. (MrMiaou has just said, "Your freezer is your friend" ).Sausages are also a good stand by
• Before picking up a BOGOF in the supermarket, ask yourself "is this something I would normally buy? Can I use it before it goes off? Do I really need it anyway?"
• Reuse leftovers as much as possible - if you've done extra carrots, then use them in a shepherd's pie, likewise potato etc
• If you find budgeting difficult, do what we do - we withdraw a set amount of money for the week and it goes in the "food box". We also keep accounts of what we are spending - really helps focus your mind.

I'm sure there's more to add - will think ...

More thoughts ...

• As far as possible, buy supermarket own brands (the cheapest stuff). The only things MrMiaou won't buy in this range is vegetable stock (you really can taste the difference) and baked beans. Yeuch. But shampoo, washing up liquid, cleaning products etc etc - all fine (and are often the same as the posher stuff anyway)
• If you can shop at Lidl, do! Great quality stuff at a far cheaper price than elsewhere. If you have a local market, then use that - again, cheap prices, great food that is far less likely to go off.
• Soups are great nutritious cheap meals - great for lunch for your friend whilst her kids are at school - easy to heat and eat and will help build her up again.

Thank you all so much. She does cook from scratch and the dog has a separate budget for his food. I'm going to summarise the ideas for her. I guess it's a funny month to be trying out a new budget because of Christmas but she'll be able to make a start. Her DH had handled all the household finances so it's all a bit new to her.

Here is MrMiaou and I's (pedants, is that correct?) thread with meal plans, tips and recipes on it (as you can see, our food budget has gone up from last year, but we still eat along the same principles!).

i am a single mum and i spend £60-90 a week( just me and 2 kids)!
that sounds a lot compared to the rest of you! plus £30 on petrol at same time.

Chocolate teapot - I do a budget on a spreadsheet and this really help me to stay in the black. I have a seperate bank account for all the bills to come out from on dd and so each month, I work out a 12 month budget and then divide by 12 each pay day the money is transphered straight into the "bills account" (same branch)

The money left in my account is for food, petrol and clothes along with any treats.

This way I may be short near the end of the month but I know all the bills will be payed.

Another tip for saving money is to (if possible) order online. I say this because I'm one of these weak willed people who gets tempted by displays to buy rubbish. If I do the shop online then I just buy what I need.

I spend about £35 pw for me and DS. But then I am the master of cheap food! It's also possible to do fast/easy home cooked meals. Cous cous is a life saver.

Also I buy a lot of frozen veg..just as good for you as fresh and keeps for ages.

Good luck to your friend choclateteapot

HTH.

Just getting some tips from this thread ;-)

WW what does that mean buy stuff one shelf down? Is it things like bread? I alsways go further down as thats usually where the longer dated loaves are - likewize always check for the longer dated packets of ham etc

Maybe I've been buying one shelf down all along lol and not realized!