£75 per week, need to feed 2 adults 5 children

[mummyleah]

Hello I'm new to mumsnet but I really need help..
I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant with my 6th child and I have gained 3 stone :o

I've worked out our household money after bills we have £75 left per week for food shopping which isn't enough.

I need to buy wipes, nappies and formula which leaves us with £55 to feed 2 adults and 5 children (2 are in full time school) 😯.. I normally go to Iceland and buy prossesed food but I really need to loose some weight.

Does anybody have any ideas what weekly meal plan I can make that will feed us all for £55 per week?

Thankyou x

I also shop at Aldi. I cook from scratch and the quality is very good. I shaved £25 a week of my food bill swapping from Tesco to Aldi. It's a half hour drive for me but saving £100 a month is worth it.

Can you look at where the rest of your income goes? That's a really tight food budget for so many children. Look at your direct debits - mobile phones, internet , subscriptions.
You could think about breast feeding the new baby to save on formula.
Can your DH get a second job? If his business isn't making any money maybe he needs to look at other employment.

Oh I do love a challenge

I don't have kids but do live on a very very tight budget for food. I'm also trying to lose weight (lost nearly 2st since Christmas!!) so we eat very healthily if we can. These are a few of the things which really help me:

Aldi's super 6: 25p for a range of different veggies on offer every week, so for example 25p for 2.5kgs of potatoes this week! Also 25p for a kg of carrots. The veggies change every week but potatoes are on the list pretty reliably and so are carrots. Carrot sticks make great snacks for kids and adults and are cheaper than crisps!

Buy joints of meat and butcher them up into portions. So for example a £5 pork joint will make between 10 and 15 thin pork chops and the ends will make a pork casserole.

Swap chicken for turkey and don't tell the kids, they cant taste the difference and it's butt loads cheaper! Again, you can pick up frozen turkey crowns on offer for £7 and they'll do about 12 portions.

Frozen fish portions: Iceland or Morrisons do these and I think you get 6 in a pack. 1 will do 2 kids easily and they are £1.70 a pack.

Frozen sausages: 20 in a pack for £1.92 in morrisons. 2 each for adults and 1 each for kids so they will do you 2 meals. Bulk out some mashed potato with mashed carrot or swede to make it go further for cheaper and it's healthier too!

Buy a slow cooker immediately. £14 in Morrisons and mine saves me a small fortune. You can buy dirt cheap cuts of meat, bung them in the slow cooker to stew all day with loads of bulky veggies and you've got a home cooked meal when you get in for next to nothing that will serve 12. We make 12 portions of stew at a time and freeze it into portions.

Learn how to make very quick short crust pastry, half fat (low fat marg) to flour, Left over stew becomes pie for next to nothing.

Dont waste anything! Turn all veggies into mystery soup - in our house we dont buy any veggies that cant go into a soup and that soup then becomes a starter for a meal which makes you eat less meat and expensive stuff for your main :)

Eggs eggs and more eggs. Omelettes packed out with a ton of veg provides protein without the price tag of meat!

For snacks, apples are really cheap and sweet!

Rice is another good way to bulk out meals, standard white rice will make "risotto" - essentially tinned tomatoes, loads of veg and mushrooms all stewed down until it's thick :) It's the same flavors as a pasta meal but much cheaper!

I have a ton more, I feed 2 adults for £14 a week at the moment and we dont go hungry!

i wish aldi would do home shopping! theyre always on the outskirts of town where ever i have lived. i dotn have the patience to shop with little kids i remember it very well never again. sick of tescos they keep discontinuing brands i use including many of their own products, and over charge.

mortagefreesoon i like your ideas, i cook similar sorts of food and special brekkies are wknd only too.

, never frozen food though just sceptical how it will taste, fear of the unknown. But i usually cook an extra dish put in fridge so next day i don't have to cook, i don't have time or stamina to cook everyday either.

we've always had water too i thght that was normal? kids get a glass of cold milk before bed without fail though. Fizzy drink is a treat if we ever eat out but that's not regular.

ive never counted up how much is spent on a weekly food shop i should really.

I'm not sure about slow cooker ive seen a pressure cooker called hotpot on amazon that switches off auto and doesn't take so long to cook. I'm tempted wonder if anyone here has got one.....

aww congrats on pregnancy OP i just noticed having read your post thoroughly!!! you must be so tired now. This little whale is ready to dry up on a beach ive had enough.

Bean chilli! We use two tins of butterbeans, two of kidney beans and add a baked beans as well as other chilli stuff. This normal makes enough for the seven of us plus three or four portions to freeze and have with baked potatoes another night.

We also buy ham shanks from the market and slow cook the have with roast baby potatoes. Enough leftovers for butties and you can make a bacon and lentil soup from the stock.

We spend about ninety quid on the seven of us, but that includes a lot of crap for snacks and lunchboxes because I don't have the capacity to bake often enough for five hungry children!

Porridge, home made granola type bars for snacks with the oats, sack of spuds for chips, jackets etc.

Get some cheapo flannels and use them in place of wipes, better for the environment too. Try basics nappies for around the house, we always had the 1.50 value ones from Tesco around for if I had lapsed with drying the nappies and they were perfectly good.

Try breastfeeding when the newbie comes along, save a few bob.

I found tesco value and sainsburys basics nappies were very good. Vegetarian meals can often be cheap - jacket potatoes with beans and cheese, mixed bean chilli, omelette and chips, pasta bake.

Yes...Lots of stir fries and soups too.

Lentil curry is my favourite and very filling. I buy biiiiig bags of lentils and all my spices from the local Asian shops, much much cheaper. It freezes brilliantly. Its a slow cooker recipe I use, but loads out there.

I also love lentil soup too and eat it nearly every day (I'm a lazy cook so make big batches).

I make a sausage casserole and ensure I add lots of beans (haricot are baked beans so my kids love them). With loads of carrots, celery and tinned tomatoes the sauce is tasty. Dry beans are so cheap you get loads.

I use Aldi too as it is great for veg - the super 6 as a PP said is excellent value. Butternut squash lasts for ages in the fridge so if they have that on offer I buy 3. It is fab roasted with a bit of chilli, cinnamon. I sometimes add feta but always serve with pasta. I'd eat it with rice too though it's yummy. My kids eat it now too, but with less feta and chilli.

Pizza in our house is brown pita bread with tomato, sweetcorn and cheese on.

Pollock is a great fish and sainsbury's basic white fish is pollock. Dirt cheap and great roasted with spices (but you could microwave) and served in a bun with some spicy mayo and potato wedges (home made are simple).

Jacket potatoes, bargain with beans. We eat at least once a week.

I buy apples mainly as fruit. If I buy grapes I freeze them and the kids get a little pot. It's like grape sorbet and they think it's a real treat. I see that as better than a biscuit and they think they're getting the equivalent of icecream. Plus, the grapes don't go off.

Dumplings and scones. I cook a stew and add a cobbler top, the kids bloody love it and flour is cheap.

I do realise you have lots of kids and so some of this might seem like insanity, but once you've made certain things a few times it gets really quick.

oh and one last rule I have with 'treats and crap'. If I make it we can have it. This does involve the odd microwave sponge pudding (simple as hell and take 3.5 minutes), making fairy cakes late at night when I want a treat, but it saves money, has got to be better for you and I think it stops me eating much more than I would if we had crap in the cupboard.

Good luck OP

Do you get Healthy Start vouchers? that will cover your formula if you are able to claim?

Check out austerity housekeeping website
(She is a mner!)
Great emergency meal plans too

Are you eligible for healthy start vouchers too? That would be a great help.

www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

I would keep wipes only for nappy changes, use face cloths otherwise, you could save a few quid a week this way.

Is your two year old any where near toileting? Otherwise you will shortly have four in nappies!

i have cut shopping bill in half literally by shopping at aldi.

I also make everything pretty much from scratch.

we eat well...but not expensively, and like others i use every scrap of everything !

so for example, today we have had roast chicken, roasted veg...carrots, squash, cauliflour and roast potatos, gravy.

tomorrow i will use the left over roast veggies with a jar of 49p tomato pasta sause to make veggie lasagne. Just need to make cheese sauce for topping.

then left over chicken will be added to left over cheese sauce and a couple of rashes of bacon and a load of pasta, made breadcrumbs from the crust of last weeks loaf of bread for topping a pasta bake...

the leftover roast poatos will be chopped up and added to eggs with some ham to make tortilla

and that takes us thursday before i have to effectively cook another piece of meat ...or start another meal roll over as it is called in my house.

I feed 2 adults, and on average 2 older teens per week and including wine we spend approx 50 punds a week.

Obviously i do not have nappies etc to buy !

I don't know if you have a garden op but herbs are so easy to grow and can transform a dish.

If you have the time and space think about growing some veg at home. It sounds like a hassle but it really does make a difference. Things like spinach, beetroot, potatoes, etc need next to no care at all.

reusable wipes and nappies will save you a fortune. Certainly worth the extra laundry costs and time.

Make your own wipes. Easy.

Another recommendation for "Feed Your Family on About £20 a week" if you are on Facebook.
As said upthread, you might not quite get it down to £20 for such a big family (!) but there are some fantastic recipe ideas on there, and they cost them out. Many a meal costs them just pence, but are tasty, easy to make and nutritious. They are usually written to be pretty flexible too (eg "I usually use X but didn't have any so did Y" type of thing).
they show you all sorts of ideas for things that some people might throw out (veg that's gone limp, etc.).

Other than that - think eggs, potato, pasta, tomatoes and onions, and pulses. Eek out mince with lentils, and/or beans.

We get a lot of reduced food from Tesco/Sainsbury....I look for things that are more than 70% discount. Where we live the good reductions start at 6.30pm (not ideal with little ones but I leave mine at home with dh) and I am friendly with the staff (although they never save me anything!) I get a lot of meat, fish and fruit/veg. (And 5 donuts for 10p)
I go for stuff that can be frozen and/or cooked and then frozen. I cook a lot from scratch and in bulk (which is the key) which does require a bit of organising but I am at home with the kids. I find Slimming world has good recipes which you can get online for free or join a Facebook group.

I also get sauces, dips, packets, cans etc from Home Bargains, B&M and Quality Save. Not everything is cheap but quite often there is cheap short date or end of line stuff.

When my two were really little I cooked all their food in bulk and froze it in little tubs or icecube trays rather than jar food.

cookingonabootstrap.com/2015/11/11/feed-a-family-of-4-for-less-than-9week-the-shopping-list/

Jack Monroe gives shopping lists, menus and recipes - feeding a family of 4 for £35.42 a week, I have used quite a few of her recipes and they are great

I would also recommend giving Jack Monroe's (A Girl Called Jack) recipes a try. She was at one time a single parent feeding herself and her son on a very small budget - but lots of the recipes make 4 or more portions and they are easy to follow.
I was able to borrow a copy of her recipe book from my local library which would be a cheap (hopefully free) way of seeing if the recipes suit your family.

As others have I would also recommend Jack Monroe's book & website. I think some of the supermarkets (Sainsburys?) do weekly meal plans using their basic ranges so they may be worth a look. Slow cooker & freezer are your best friend & definitely try growing your own (potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, herbs & chillis are all easy) & the kids love getting involved!! Good luck!!

Ditch the wipes and buy some flannels.
Different colour for bums and take a wet flannel in plastic bag out with you, far cheaper and no hassle.
Could you make a one time investment in nappies, once bought you'd save a fortune each week.

Asa bove