We can all agree that the money in our bank accounts is not lasting the way that it used to. But in a world of crazy prices and hungry mouths, what can you do to cut some costs? As a family of six, our food bill can be pretty high. So how did I get it down to £10 a week? Is it possible to feed a family of six for a tenner a week?
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My shopping bill
Let’s start off with what I would normally spend on food. For the purposes of this post, I ran my fingers over the Tesco website quickly and added some items that I would class as half a shop and the total came to £36.57. This list had a lot of cheap fruit and veg, some frozen stuff, no fresh meat and no cleaning items. As a personal preference, I like to go to my local butchers and grab one of their meat packs for £10 or £20. But what is clear from my list is I am not buying the expensive stuff. There are no Finest items, no brand names, and everything is Tesco’s own brand or a budget brand. This would have been enough food for 3 days, lunches and dinners. Although this is a small list which I threw together as an example, there have been times that my shopping has exceeded £100 for a week. You could argue that those weeks I was stocking up on stuff and filling the cupboards but this began happening week after week.
Why the change?
At no point did I think I could feed a family of six for a tenner a week. Let’s be clear, spending £100 a week on food shopping if you have limited funds is insane. Plus, the cost of living has skyrocketed. If you can cut back on things, you should. However, and this is a very important point, we live in a First World Country. We have wealth and some of the highest standards of living in the world. So why are we all struggling to put food on the table and gas in the meter? We should not be struggling like this. And, if I have noticed the pinch with a husband that works full-time and I have my own business, how the hell are people on benefits managing? The short answer is, they aren’t. I’ve been pretty vocal about my political views in the past but ranting about how stupid politicians are will not help to put food on your plate. You can’t fight for change on an empty stomach.
Where to start
The best place to start is with a meal plan. You may have seen my meal plan whiteboard on Instagram. If not, don’t worry because you are not missing much. It isn’t pretty and is generally covered in my chicken scratch writing. However, it has a purpose and it helps to keep me on track for the week. I have a habit of forgetting things and having the meals laid out on the board helps to keep me on track. It also helps to prevent me from ordering in (something I definitely can’t afford to do). I like to mix things up and try a different meal from a recipe book. I don’t just apply the food planning to dinners, I try and plan everything from breakfast, lunch and snacks. Is it boring? Yep. But it is what it is. You don’t need a fancy whiteboard, even a piece of paper with your plan laid out will do.
As I mentioned earlier, I buy a lot of budget items rather than a brand name. Of course, there are things that I wish I could get a certain brand of sauce or the fancier bread instead of buying the budget loaf. Even with making these types of changes, my shopping costs are still pretty high. Let’s face it, I can’t let my kids starve because food costs too much. Before anyone takes to the comments with some self-righteous bull about cooking from scratch being cheaper, just don’t. For one, there are a lot of people who work full-time and don’t have time to cook from scratch. Two, cooking from scratch can require a variety of different items and equipment. For the last ten years, I have been building up my own kitchen equipment so that I can cook from scratch with ease. Some people don’t have that luxury of building things up over the years. So, let’s keep those unhelpful opinions to ourselves, ok?
Foodsharing
For the most part, I get a lot of my food for free. Yeah, you read that right, free. For the last month or so, I’ve been using an app called Olio and have been taking part in the food collections. This is what happens-
- You log into the app and see what is available
- If there is food listed, you click on the request button
- The person who listed it will confirm if you can have it
- You pick the food up
That’s it. All of the food is free. Some of the food will be from people having a cupboard clearout. However, most of the food will come from supermarkets. Every night, the likes of Tescos and Asda will have leftover food that they can’t sell. They would have thrown this in the bin and it would have gone to a landfill. Instead, a food waste volunteer will roll around to the supermarket and collect the leftover food. All of the food is Best Before or Use By on the date it is collected. It is up to you what you choose and how you store it once you get it. And there is always a lot of stuff to choose from. I completed a pick up from a supermarket last week and was left with 10 loaves of bread that nobody wanted (safe to say they went straight in my freezer!) I’ve ended up with everything from salad to vegetarian-friendly options. However, it does depend on what the supermarket is getting rid of at the end of the day.
Doing my own thing
So, we have a whiteboard and a wide selection of free food that is available. When it comes to planning out my meals, sometimes I am at the mercy of what comes in the app. But that ten pound or less, that comes from buying the “main” item of the meal. Remember that £10 butcher pack? The meat from it can be used across multiple nights for dinners. Or, I can do a real budget shop and pick up some cheap items (such as a 60p pizza to go with salad) and still have enough for milk and cereal. A lot of what is required is thinking on your feet and adapting to what you can come across. You guys might also remember last year when I put my greenhouse together and grew a lot of my own food, and there were the fruit bushes that I planted in my garden years ago. All of these little things add up and can make a big change to your shopping bill. If you think that you need special equipment, don’t. The fruit bushes that I grew were from cuttings that I got off a friend. And even before I invested in a greenhouse, I was growing peppers and tomatoes on my kitchen windowsill for years. Right now I have the seeds from some apples that are growing on my windowsill that will be planted outside when they are big enough.
A lot of what I do has taken years to achieve but there are ways that you can add these ideas into your life and get instant results. Check out your local food sharing network such as Olio and see how you can get involved. You could even get some gardening help at your local allotment to grow your own vegetables. And don’t forget, if you are struggling to make ends meet, you are not the only one and there are places that can help you. Good luck and enjoy the savings!