What is a realistic budget I can set for a family of 3?

[WhenLifeGivesYouLemonsx]

There's me, my husband and my DS who is 2. We are currently in the middle of a financial crisis so there's a lot of cut backs. We've cut back everything we possibly can! Only problem is food. I always go Aldi or Lidl and very rarely I will go to Tesco. I've worked out that each month we are spending around £400 just on food shopping alone. Working by the budget calculator, we will manage to save if I limit it to £200 a month. Is that a possibility? Has anyone tried it? That has to include nappies and babywipes as well (need a bag of nappies per week, baby wipes last around 2 weeks, roughly). And what are your go to budget meals? :o) thanks in advance.

£400 is more than we spend (2 adults 2 teens). So I would say it is possible to reduce it - but I think it would be a struggle to get it down to £200. Best we managed was £240 and prices have gone up since then. I used a fairly structured method.

First you need to check what you have buying. Keep all your receipts and look at everything you are spending.... I found Excel spreadsheets good for this.

Then look for things that you can do without or reduce down... Eg crisps. Nice to have but not necessary. Check for things that you can spend less on and sub ...eg cereal get the rice crispies instead of the posh granolas. Bleach is cheaper than kitchen spray.

Plan meals around what is on the super savers.

If you can make it don't buy the ready made versions

Stock up your spice cupboard from the Chinese supermarket and International stores. A little goes a long way and means you can ring the changes from a really basic set of ingredients.

Finally head over to the frugaleer threads in credit crunch.... There is loads of good advice on how to reduce expenditure while not reducing quality of life too much.

Also pop over to the Grocery Challenge on the OldStyle Moneysaving board on MSE and take part in that as it’s a great way to help get the grocery bills down.
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5926686

Also as said the Frugaleer thread on here is brilliant.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/3448325-Festive-frugaleers-saving-through-to-the-new-year

I’d swap cotton wool and baby lotion for wet wipes, it’s cheaper. Use wet wipes when out and about but cotton wool at home

What sort of meals are you eating?
Do you have meat with every meal?

3 of us one a 14 year old boy (I figure the extra he eats covers your nappy expense)!😀
We manage on £200 a month but I have to meal plan within an inch of my life. I shop mainly at aldi and Asda. I find it works best for us if I do a monthly shop of round about £80 for tins, packets and frozen food, meat and cat food. That leaves £30 a week for milk, bread, fruit, salad, veg, cold meats, cheese & yogurts. Doable, but tight!
I cook from scratch, do packups every day for all our lunches. I bake cakes etc in bulk and user my freezer to make sure that nothing is wasted.

Thank you for all your replies!

I do eat meat regularly, probably 5 times a week? I like to eat vegetarian food sometimes too.

@Yorkshiremum17 we also eat packed lunches regularly. My husband takes salad that I make, using roasted whole chicken and I shred it and put it in the fridge to use throughout the week in sandwiches, pastas, salads etc. I tend to bring sandwiches or leftovers, so we definitely save on that front. A jacket potato is £2.50 at my works canteen £2 for Jacket potato, 50p per filling which is literally nothing.

Firstly I would get yourself this or something similar if you don’t have one already (though honestly, I love this planner, it’s amazing for hitting down all purchases and totting up your totals!) it will give you a good idea of where all your money is going and where you are spending the most.

www.amazon.co.uk/Boxclever-Press-organiser-accounts-personal/dp/B06Y5R41YK/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ref=plSrch&keywords=budget+planner+book&dpPl=1&dpID=41lZeRI7sKL&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1545515183&sr=8-2

You could also consider getting some washable baby wipes - I have one type for bottoms and another for faces and sticky fingers! They are great and I’m sure they will always have uses after you need them for little one too (dusting, wiping sides etc) and you can pick them up pretty cheap

Also, if you don’t already try batch cooking - making extra with this like spag Bol and freezing the left overs for use another day will save you a good chunk over time.

Lemons you're right your lunches are cheap however, that's £12.50 per week, £50 per month for your lunches alone, that's a quarter of your monthly budget, it would not cost anywhere near that much to take your own pack up. You could by a whole bag of potatoes for less than £2 and take your own fillings - it would cost you far less than £2.50!😀

The problem when you are on a tight budget is thinking of things like this, I'm not gonna lie it's a complete ball ache having to be careful all the time, but you can do it.

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my spending for food etc, I find it focuses my mind on keeping things down but also on what I've got in the house so I don't over buy stuff, it helps with meal planning too.

@WhenLifeGivesYouLemonsx £2.50 for a jacket potato and filling is expensive! S bag of 10 jacket potatoes from tesco is £2, even if you don't do your own fillings that's 70p a day instead of £2.50. £3.50 instead if £12.50 a week and £14 a month instead of £50

I think she’s saying it’s expensive so she already brings her own lunch!

If you can afford to buy a gammon, beef or pork joint cook and thinly slice for lunches. It's much cheaper then buying the prepared sandwiches meats.

Every couple of weeks when I'm cooking the Sunday roast I put in jacket potatoes to cook to do twice baked potatoes.

When they are cooked I carefully scrape out the potato and add either fried chopped onions, bacon and cheese or tuna, sweetcorn and onion put it back into the potatoes shells.

They can be frozen and re heated in microwave for lunch. My DH takes them for lunch with some salad.

200 is a push but you could do it. Roasted chicken for salads is expensive but a really healthy option. I would try and make soup and add red split lentils (use the veg on deals in aldi / lidl)
Bringing your own jacket spid and beans or grate your own cheese. Pasta and pesto for dinner once or twice a week. Omelettes are cheap good for you and filling.

Have at least one day a week that is eggs on toast or beans on toast.
Poundland does pasta for 29p per bag.
Cous cous can replace pasta or potatoes and good for lunches plus is cheap.
Slow cooker your chicken so you can use the juices for soups and stock. All leftover veg can go in it again to do a veg soup.
Zoflora can be used in a spray for cleaning and in a bucket for mopping. You only need a splash and one bottle will last far longer than expensive flash or other branded cleaners. Also white vinegar will clean loos/windows/washing machines/deoderises BO from armpits of clothes if sprayed pre-wash/descale the kettle/buff up copper (honestly seems to do everything!) . You can buy big bottles on Amazon.
Check your tv/wifi package - BT are reknowned for bumping up the cost without mentioning it. Should be around £48 if you don't have all of the sports channels.

Those would be my top tips. Good luck!

I've just switched to Muscle Foods for meat, previously bought it in the supermarket and it's much nicer and cheaper, can definitely recommend.

Ditto what Lonely said. Sometimes our nicest suppers are the ones that my 8 year old son cooks - simple old scrambled eggs on toast.
Also, we often cook dals and risottos and they are also cheap and very flavourful.

I do £60 a week, two adults 1 toddler at aldi.
Buy frozen chicken and meat.
Meal plan 6 cheap fresh from scratch meals a week and 1 treat which is normally pizza.
Lunches, sandwiches soups and beans. Breakfasts simple toast, cereal fruit porridge etc
Snacks is the hardest bit. But i found actually buying snacks a few days at a time helped otherwise i buy a weeks worth and my husband eats it all whilst im asleep on day 1!