How much should a family of five spend on food a week?

Hello Dear Reader,

I haven't included your name but as promised, here's the help I offered earlier today.

You posed this question " What do you think is a realistic budget to set for a family of two adults and three children". I don't know much more about you but I do know you have a little one in nappies. From what you say, you are currently spending about £480 a month with a big shop once a week at Aldi and then top up shops from Asda, as and in your own words, you seem to run out of things a few days later.

Ok, on that basis, I will do the best I can to advise you but I will forewarn, you may not like everything I say and you certainly don't have to do any of it. I'm simply answering your question.

To start, I want you to stock take everything you would buy on any shopping trip.

Here's the sub- headings I want you to work with:

Toiletries - what do you have? I want you to use up every scrap of shampoo, every slither of soap and the cheap loo rolls in the cupboard that everyone complains about!

Now make a list of only things you need for one week. Tick them off

loo rolls,
soap - get unscented, you can use that for babies, children and adults
deodorant - get unscented men's and then you can both use it
shampoo and conditioner - just use the generic supermarket children's variety - adults can use this too
toothpaste - supermarket cheapest whitening will do.

You don't need anything fancy, what is above will do!

Baby products - I want you to find all of the wipes in the car, down the side of the sofa, in your bag and so on, all the creams, lotions and nappies. Make sure you've got them all in one place. 

Aldi nappies - stock up! Get a pile that will see you through a fortnight
unscented wipes - at home, wipe with tissue and then wipe again with wet tissue run under the tap.

If you use bum cream, get it from the cheapest place or use the supermarket generic.

Next, I know leaving a child in nappies until they are forty six is the fashion, but those of us who had two dozen terry nappies and had to wash them, got our kids out of nappies as soon as we could. Save money by early potty training, yes.....just think about the benefit of having a toddler out of nappies. You will need your day care provider on the schedule too so have a firm word with them. I had mine dry by day by 18 months and dry by night (although I had to lift them in their sleep and put them on the pot) by two years. It was the way it was done then.

Cleaning products.

Again, I want you to find every cleaning product you have in the house and stock take, you are now going to use every scrap of every bit of this. Once that is done, you only need the following

• washing up liquid or dishwasher tablets - I always scour everywhere for the cheapest of these and stock pile them when on offer. Also, I scrape my plate before I put them into the dish washer.
• bleach - 1 bottle will wash the loo, floor, work surfaces - just make sure the kids are with your partner when you are using it.
• Bicarbonate of soda - this will clean everything, I use it to clean the oven, sink and bath
• Vinegar - I use this to clean windows in a bottle with a squirt of washing up liquid and water. This also clean wall tiles.

You don't need anything else.

Saved some money yet???

You see, you will free up a lot of income when you only buy what you need and stop buying what everyone else does.

Food.

You have a big stock take to do here.

You will need to list:

• Everything in the freezer
• 
  
• In the fridge
• 
  
• In the cupboard.

I now want you to invent meals with just what you have. When you go out on random supermarket trips, I will bet you could have eaten what there was but didn't want to.

Now, here's what you really must do before you go shopping again.

Plan a week's meals. All the meals, breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner. To begin with, keep it very simple, you go out to work and you've got three children.

You may well have to start using the words 'no' and 'that's all there is' with family members. You are not being mean, you are just working with the budget you have. 

Breakfast - plain cereals, milk and toast - the occasional treat of Aldi chocolate spread on toast for breakfast is lovely.

Snack - most schools will insist on fruit and water for snacks - make sure you top up drinks bottles with tap water. Buy enough apples or which ever fruit you give them to last all week. 

Lunch - I want to get the Bento box mums, who have perfectly packed pretty lunch boxes to sod off and leave the rest of us alone! When my kids were getting out the door, and I was getting to work, a sandwich, piece of quiche, some leftovers in a tub just had to do. What ever your kids have for lunch, make sure you have enough for the week. Keep it simple to begin with but don't buy ready stuff like yogurts in tubes and iddy bits of wrapped cheese. You can give them a pot of yogurt for dessert with their evening meal. You and your partner also need to take your own water bottle, filled of course with tap water, your own coffee and milk and of course your own lunch. 

You must be saving money by now!

Evening meals.

Plan a very simple week to begin with. Make sure it is food that will cook quickly or in a slow cooker so you can have everyone fed within an hour of getting in from work. If they are child minded after school, leave a low calorie snack such a carrot sticks so they are hungry at meal times and eat their supper. You waste money over and over if you try and please everyone, a good meal of 'shut up and eat it' is fine. 

In summary, stock take everything you have.

Scale back on toiletries, baby products and cleaning products.

Plan all meals, including breakfast, snacks, packed lunches for all the family and all evening meals.

Here's a suggestion for the week ahead.

• Baked potatoes, beans and grated cheese. Tinned rice pudding and tinned pears
• 
  
• Fish fingers, oven chips and frozen mixed veg - fruit yogurt
• 
  
• Chicken (cut into cubes or bought in chunks or stips - a pack of quorn would do just fine) fried then served with tomato sauce (supermarket value is fine) with mashed potatoes and brocolli. 
• 
  
• Cottage pie, steamed veggies.  - sponge pudding and custard
• 
  
• Pasta, cheese sauce and cauliflower and brocolli - fruti yogurt
• 
  
• Veggie chilli with rice - tinned rice pudding and jam
• 
  
• Roast chicken, roast spuds, Yorkshire puddings, gravy.- sponge pudding and custard.

Any of that can be eaten by children, will mash up for little ones being spoon fed and can go into a pot to be re-heated for lunch the next day.

This will be a big task to begin with and I suggest setting aside a whole day this weekend to stock take and plan. The biggest way to waste money is to buy what you already have. The second is to shop without a menu plan for three meals a day plus snacks. 

Here's my challenge. I want you to spend no more than £100 a week - and that's for everything so you will need to get organised. When you've done that for a month, then reduce that to £90 a week, after another month, get that down to £80. I think that is a reasonable amount for a family to comfortably feed everyone on, including the nappies (Aldi's cheap nappies are popular).

It's going to be a challenge to get your monthly household spending down to £320 which will save you £160 a month and £1920 a year. I'm sure some planning, generic nappies and toiletries and simple food will be worth it for your family.

Yes, I think a family of five can eat three meals a day on £80 a week. A lot of families of that size only dream of having that much money.

There are millions of mum the world over, who don't have the luxury of thinking about how to save, but just take the most meagre amount of food and just try and keep their children alive everyday. We all need to remember how blessed we are that we can make any choices at all.

I will repeat what I said earlier.

You don't have to do any of these things. Keep doing what ever you like but as promised, you asked for help and I did the best I can to advise you.

All my love,

Froogs xxxxx