£50 a week for 5 people

[WeAreTheWeirdosMister]

I am currently trying to spend only £50 a week on food shopping - this includes toilet roll, washing powder, washing up liquid, toothpaste etc.

I am using an app called Shopium to get treats here and there for the kids - saving them up in the cupboard for half term at the moment.

Is there any tips or advice you have to stretch a food budget?

You need time and energy!

Supermarkets are the devil if you’re shopping on a tight budget. Very poor value for money and endless brightly packaged temptation. You need an excellent food market and a wholesale place for bulk buying of pulses, grains, tea, coffee and household goods.

And plenty of recipes to bring variety to cooking and eating.

Yes! coffee cheap would be a miracle I am down to some flavoured jars that have been at the back of a cupboard for a while. I will look around for bulk shops... the nearest I do know of is v.hipster and more expensive as it's all organic.

If I can get things cheaper in a discount shop like home bargains or farm foods I will.
Cheap nights eg spaghetti pesto or a baked potato sometimes.
Meal planning.

Yep, recipe planning is your friend! Oh and if possible but detergents etc in bulk. Sure it’s expensive at first but cheaper long term. I’ve managed to drastically reduce the weekly shop by doing this. Also, chose a cheaper supermarket if possible. Used to use Tesco’s till an Aldi opened and now I shop there.

Astonish two in one Laundry detergent and softener is fab and costs between £2 and £2.50.

Also it seems perfectly clear that cheap meat, pumped full of god knows what, is bad for people and for the environment.

I don’t eat meat (so yes, biased) but if I did I’d avoid it unless I had contacts with local, preferably organic producers. So it would be the first thing to cut out on a strict budget. Leaving more money for wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit. And growing in my own garden or on an allotment. Admittedly home grown produce isn’t necessarily much cheaper than shop bought - but it can encourage children to eat more apples, say, and less chocolate.

Meal planning for everything , what supermarkets are there near you?
Could you have veggie meals some days, a good jacket potato and cheese can be filling or there's a lot you can do with pasta and some chopped tomatoes. Also figure out what time your nearby supermarkets do their yellow sticker reductions, we've gotten lucky and found things like 1kg of beef mince for 10p before.

Soap nuts are a good way to save money on laundry and good for the environment. I’ve been using them for 5 years and think they’re great, though I know some people don’t get on with them. Make your own surface cleaner using white vinegar, squirt of washing up liquid and water. Food wise, dried lentils and beans are good for bulking out meals.

Home Bargains or similar for laundry stuff, toilet rolls, kitchen roll etc. Buy in bulk.

Meat only as an occasional treat.

These are two ways I have massively cut down on my weekly shop.