Share your favourite budget family meals!

[Mummy May]

Planning meals helps loads. We usually do £50 ish a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes that can include nappies. Xx

 

[Becky61]

Planning meals helps loads. We usually do £50 ish a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes that can include nappies. Xx

HOW? I meal plan now, & my budget is £50 per week for food (ex nappies/wipes/toiletries) for 2 adults & 1 child (plus another at weekends) but I always go over. It ends up more like £60 on average x

 

[pansorie]

We spend apx. $100 a week, but we budget for about $125, and that is for myself, hubby, and 15 year old eating machine. I have to plan a week in advance, I notice if I do not cook in advance then we spend more on eating out.

I make a lot of casseroles, enchiladas, soups (it's that time of year). Year round we cook a whole roasted chicken once a week. My husband's eating habits can be boiled down to 5 things: chicken, lettuce, spinach, Welsh or Irish cheddar cheese, and coke.

With the roasted chicken I usually eat it with a salad, while he likes to make chicken tacos. Or he'll just roll up a piece of chicken with spinach and lettuce and he's good, lol.

Son is a garbage disposal, he usually makes his own food of eggs, chicken, crab cakes, and whatever soups or casserole I make.

Somehow we always able to keep it within budget.

I am making Sopa de Ajo today. Dirt cheap ingredients. It's going to be yum!

 

[Mummy May]

Planning meals helps loads. We usually do £50 ish a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes that can include nappies. Xx

HOW? I meal plan now, & my budget is £50 per week for food (ex nappies/wipes/toiletries) for 2 adults & 1 child (plus another at weekends) but I always go over. It ends up more like £60 on average x

im not really sure, it depends on what were eating and whats left from the week before. We dont eat a massive amount of meat either xx

 

[babydustcass]

Here is a menu ive whipped up to spend £45 or less on food shopping for a family of 4. I havent totally scrimped on the meals so there is room to make more savings, in order to free up pennys for more treats. But ive mainly based it on eating 3 square meals a day with mainly snacks for the children, which is what happens in this house normally anyway.

https://i693.photobucket.com/albums/vv293/babydust/webby/mealplan.jpg

Good to know – 22 slices of bread in a medium sliced 800g loaf.
Stock cupboard requirements- Mayonnaise, beef stock, chicken Gravy, Beef gravy, oil, ketchup, plain flour, lemon juice, sugar

You will carry over into next week-
300g long grain rice
6 wildwife fromage frais
possibly some garlic
frozen peas (at least 500g a bag)

TESCO 40 items: £44.99



Packets & CerealsGuide price in £

1x Tesco Rice Snaps (600g) £1.99
1x Tesco Everyday Value Batter Mix (128g) 15p
1x Tesco Easy Cook Long Grain Rice (500g) 99p
1x Tesco Trattoria Verdi Penne Pasta (500g) 50p

Dairy & Eggs

1x Yoplait Wildlife Fromage Frais (18x45g) £2.00
1x Tesco Semi Skimmed Milk 6 Pints (3.41L) £1.48
1x Tesco Everyday Value Mixed Eggs (15) £1.25
1x Tesco Butter Me Up Light Spread (500g) 89p
1x Tesco Healthy Living Natural Cottage Cheese (300g) £1.05 was £1.40
1x Tesco Medium White Cheddar (200g) £1.50

Tins, Jars & Cooking

4x Tesco Everyday Value Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (420g) 96p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g) 30p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Sweetcorn (325g) 35p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Chopped Tomatoes (400g) 68p
1x Schwartz Sausage Casserole Recipe Mix (35g) 50p
1x Schwartz Chilli Con Carne Recipe Mix (41g) 50p
1x Tesco Pasta Bake - Creamy Tomato & Herb (500g) 98p
2x Tesco Everyday Value Tuna Chunks in Brine (160g) £1.48

Snacks & Sweets

1x Tesco Everyday Value Custard Creams (400g) 35p

Bakery

3x Hovis Medium Sliced Wholemeal Bread (800g) £2.34
1x Tesco Panini Rolls (4) £1.20
1x Tesco Wholemeal Pitta (6) 50p

Fruit & Vegetables


1x Tesco Californian Seedless Raisins (500g) £1.54

1x Tesco Braeburn Apples (6 per pack - 670g) £1.50
1x Tesco Brown Onions Loose (Approx 210g) 16.4p
1x Tesco Cucumber Portion 35p
3x Tesco Closed Cup Mushrooms Loose (Approx 70g) 56.3p
1x Tesco Everyday Value Carrots (1.5Kg) 53p
1x Tesco Irish Baby New Potatoes (1Kg) £1.00
1x Tesco Everyday Value Bananas (8) £1.15
1x Tesco Ripen at Home Plums (400g) 79p
1x Tesco Clementine (600g) 79p
1x Tesco Garlic 30p

Meat, Fish & Poultry

1x Tesco Thick Pork Sausages (8 per pack - 454g) £1.39
2x Tesco Smoked Haddock Fishcakes (2 per pack - 270g) £3.00
1x Tesco Beef Mince - 20% Fat (750g) £3.00
1x Tesco Cooked Sandwich Ham (10 per pack - 115g) £1.00
1x Tesco Whole Chicken (Approx 1.35Kg) £4.00

Ready Meals

1x Tesco Reduced Fat Piri Piri Houmous Dip (182g) £1.00

Frozen

1x Tesco Everyday Value Garden Peas (1Kg) 98p



Aldi- Youd carry over extra onions, 700g rice and lots of frozen sweetcorn, no cucumber available, no spare yoghurts, exchanged piri piri for red pepper houmous, youd have to settled for mashed potatoes over new potatoes to accompany your fish cakes but youd have lots of potatoes left over for the following week for baking ect. Extra ham included. No premixes available but could opt for chilli powder for chilli chicken and paprika for sausage casserole. AND spare money for extra fruit and maybe a few treats



Aldi shopping list

37 items: £42.84


Packets & CerealsGuide price in £

2x Harvest Morn Crisp Rice (375g) £1.70
1x Everyday Essentials Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 40p
1x Everyday Essentials Penne (500g) 29p

Tins, Jars & Cooking

1x Sweet Harvest Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g) 23p
2x Sweet Harvest Chopped Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g) 62p
1x Cucina Creamy Tomato Pasta Bake Sauce (495g) 79p
4x Everyday Essentials Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (420g) 96p
1x Stonemill Chilli Powder (51g) 49p
1x Stonemill Ground Paprika (50g) 49p
2x Ocean Rise Tuna Chunks in Brine (185g) £1.24

Dairy & Eggs

2x Cowbelle British Semi Skimmed Milk - 4 Pints (2.27L) £1.78
1x Merevale Medium British Eggs (15) £1.25
1x Beautifully Butterfully (500g) 79p
1x Everyday Essentials Assorted Fromage Frais (12x60g) 84p
1x The Cheese Emporium British Extra Mature Cheddar (350g) £1.75
1x The Cheese Emporium Low Fat Cottage Cheese with Pineapple (300g) 64p

Fruit & Vegetables

1x The Pantry Californian Raisins (500g) £1.25
1x Willow Farms Farm Fresh Closed Cup Mushrooms (380g) 99p
1x Wood Farms Carrots (1.5Kg) 69p
1x Nature's Fruit Red Plums (500g) 89p
1x Zest Clementines (600g) 69p
2x Fresh is Best Bananas (3) 78p
2x Farm Fresh British White Potatoes (2.5Kg) £3.18
1x Nature's Fruit Funsize Apples (9) £1.19
1x Wood Farm Onions (1Kg) 65p

Meat, Fish & Poultry

1x Ashfield Farm Irish Recipe Pork Sausages (8 per pack - 454g) 99p
2x The Fishmonger Smoked Haddock Fishcakes (2 per pack - 270g) £2.98
1x Everyday Essentials Minced Beef - 23% Fat (750g) £2.59
1x Appleby's Wafer Thin Smoked Ham (400g) £1.49
1x Ashfield Farm Whole Medium Chicken without Giblets (1.65Kg) £3.99

Bakery

2x Cucina Fresh Panini Rolls (2) 98p
1x Sunnyhills Wholemeal Pitta Bread (6) 45p
3x Village Bakery Soft Sliced Wholemeal Bread (800g) £2.07

Frozen

1x Everyday Essentials Frozen Sweetcorn (900g) 89p
1x Everyday Essentials Garden Peas (907g) 89p

Snacks & Sweets

1x Belmont Custard Creams (300g) 26p

Ready Meals

1x The Deli Red Pepper Houmous (170g) 69p


This is just one example of how you can make it work, however these aren’t necessarily the cheapest meals around and I am absolutely positive you can slash that bill a lot with more batch cooking, using up what ingredients you already have (which we are doing this week and managed out weekly shop on £30 including house hold items) , bulk buying, I do try to keep variety though every week so things don’t get boring. We have also purchased all of our veg frozen, at around 99p per kg including onions, mushrooms, carrots, peas and sweetcorn- which will probably last us several weeks and stay fresh. Obviously this doesn’t include things like tea/ juice/ squash and coffee. I think those are things that can be brought as pantry staples though and after delving into this budgeting business, I think the best way to go to make my money go further will be to do one bulk shop at the beginning of the month to last and just top up the fresh fruit/ breads, milk ect through out the month. We will be trying that next month. Its going to take a whole lot of planning and probably the use of our second freezer!

 

[babydustcass]

Planning meals helps loads. We usually do £50 ish a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes that can include nappies. Xx

HOW? I meal plan now, & my budget is £50 per week for food (ex nappies/wipes/toiletries) for 2 adults & 1 child (plus another at weekends) but I always go over. It ends up more like £60 on average x

have you used my super market before? If you are meal planning you shouldnt be going over the set budget and a great way to avoid this is to shop online and use my supermarket. it will compare all the major super markets currents prices. If you flit between supermarkets with your set shopping list to look for the best prices and deals. If your shopping is working out too expensive then you need to go back through and change the menu slightly. Maybe include more meals with a particular ingredient so that you can bulk buy to save money? If the menu you are planning comes to more than your budget each week (including all 3 meals, fruit and snacks) then at that point on the website the meals need to be altered in order to bring the costs down. you dont have to check out online, but you can print off your shopping list and go in store to do the shop which is a great idea as you can have a sneaky look at the yellow label section. Have you tried the down shift challenge? Where you try the next brand down to what you would normally eat?

 

[lola_90]

Pesto pasta is a cheap and yummy dish

Baked potato with beans or tuna

Omelette

 

[Becky61]

Planning meals helps loads. We usually do £50 ish a week for 2 adults and 2 kids and sometimes that can include nappies. Xx

HOW? I meal plan now, & my budget is £50 per week for food (ex nappies/wipes/toiletries) for 2 adults & 1 child (plus another at weekends) but I always go over. It ends up more like £60 on average x

have you used my super market before? If you are meal planning you shouldnt be going over the set budget and a great way to avoid this is to shop online and use my supermarket. it will compare all the major super markets currents prices. If you flit between supermarkets with your set shopping list to look for the best prices and deals. If your shopping is working out too expensive then you need to go back through and change the menu slightly. Maybe include more meals with a particular ingredient so that you can bulk buy to save money? If the menu you are planning comes to more than your budget each week (including all 3 meals, fruit and snacks) then at that point on the website the meals need to be altered in order to bring the costs down. you dont have to check out online, but you can print off your shopping list and go in store to do the shop which is a great idea as you can have a sneaky look at the yellow label section. Have you tried the down shift challenge? Where you try the next brand down to what you would normally eat?

Will give both your fabulous suggestions a try Down shift challenge sounds fairly easy , but the money supermarket sounds a little time consuming & tricky. Tomorrow is "meal plan & food shop" day, so will have a go in the morning! Thank you x

 

[babydustcass]

Using my supermarket is almost as quick as doing an online shop. You may want to have a little play one night to get a feel for it. The easiest thing to do is meal plan around ingredients you already have at home and need using up, write your shopping list on paper as you go so you don't miss anything. Then copy it into the my supermarket shopping list and search. It will let you select your usual store and then you go through and choose which item you would like out of its selection. At the side of the screen it will be tallying your comparible shop at other supermarkets too. When you select an item it sometimes gives you the option to exchange it and save even more money (but be careful because it also shows you the savings you can make by purchasing a larger size which you don't nessersarily need). It all sounds a bit long winded and complicated but if you can spare an hour or so a week, even in the evening it's worth doing to make sure your getting the best deal and only what you need. You can make sure your only spending your budget on food then and not going over.

 

[Mummy May]

Oh yeah im always using stuff up lol xx

 

[RaspberryK]

One thing I do it a huge batch of bolognese which we can then have with spaghetti, in lasagne etc, I make it with a handful of lentils which stretches it out further.
We cook a whole chicken but we rarely get more than 2 meals out of it for 2 adults and 1 3 year old.
When I roast a joint of meat I do a big one so we have sandwich filings for a few days afteror wrap slices in greaseproof for the freezer.
I buy a lot of our veggies frozen as they are cheap and there is no prep or waste.
Xx