we average around $120 a week for 2A and 2C, i meal plan and make snacks for the girls
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we average around $120 a week for 2A and 2C, i meal plan and make snacks for the girls
Without nappies, we spend $200 a week max. We've gone up to $250 on the very odd occasion, but we are lucky to make the $200 mark usually.
We have meat 5 or 6 nights a week at least. Once a week we usually have something a bit less fuss. Pies, hotdogs etc.
I make everything we eat for dinner. I usually buy a bulk pack of lamingtons & mini cupcakes for school & will bag them up & freeze them. If we are low on money I make my own.
Spag bol (pasta, mince, 1 tin tomato soup, 1 tin diced garlic & basil tomatoes & tomato paste)
Chicken fettucini (pasta, chicken, cream, shallots, bacon, capsicum, chicken stock)
Pies (pastry, mince, veggies & gravy)
I buy frozen veggies & fresh fruit. I havr my list of what I need & thats what I buy. I try to buy whatever is on sale/clearance, or home brand (most things).
Cottenelle toilet paper is on sale at Woolies atm, 16 pack for $8. One of these lasts us 2 - 3 weeks!
We also go through alot of spuds. We have potato of some sort almost every night. You can do soooo much with a potato!
We usually buy a $20 pack of ciggarettes in that $200 as well.
2A 4C....$300 per fortnight...in that fortnight i will have to top up on F&V and milk and bread, so prob $330-350 per fortnight.............
I only have 1 in nappies now and have found that to be a huge difference.
None of us are big meat eaters. I dont eat any meat. I try and serve up at least 2 meat dishes a week. DH has been on a diet for the last 2 months and only eats fish and salad and the occasional meat dish.
I find the girls snacks for school our biggest killer....i can cook, and i do cook. But often cant keep up with the demand...:).
Ive been there...spending all my money on food....having nothing left over to get you thru the fortnight/week. Meal planning and NOT popping into the shops for 1 or 2 things are my tips....
GL...
We spend between $220-250 a week for 2 adults and 1.5 kids. This is highly influenced by our "must be ethical" and preferably organic rule, because you get what you pay for. If it's not ethical, Australian made, organic etc. we either don't buy it or up the budget to allow for it. We figure it would be very hypocritical for DH to be a social accountability auditor and to buy stuff from China iykwim. Plus who knows what's really in it, and with an ASD kid diet is a big deal - i.e. we have to have A2 milk which is $5 for 2lts otherwise she gets loopy. That budget covers most groceries except for nappies/wipes as we also use cloth, and allows for a few treats, like a block of dark chocolate. We normally have one egg meal, two chicken meals, two red meat meals, a fish meal, and a non-egg based vegetarian meal. I make muffins/cupcakes for DH and DD's lunch boxes, and we go through a lot of fruit and veg, and I have to supplement my veg garden produce even when we have bumper crops (except for zucchinis). I find whole chickens to be one of the biggest savers. I normally put mine in the pressure cooker with 2 litres of water, that then gives me cooked chicken I can pick off and stock, I'll then put the carcass back in after I've picked off the chicken with another half litre of water and re-boil to condense the stock - I can normally get 3 meals out of one whole chicken.
Ours is about this but with 4 kids.:
we shopped today for the week and it was $160, it was $180 but our coles has 10% off because it has been redone, it was an exxy shop this week.
thanks for 7 meals, snacks etc.. i also bought salmon fillets and king island steak, 3 tins of deoderant as well.
I just about fell over last week went I went and did a shop and it was $170 (2A, 1 toddler)
It was my first week of non vege patch (we are currently putting in winter veges)
$50 on F&V!! I couldnt believe it
I breed chooks and we eat the boys so at least 2 chicken meals a week here and 1 egg meal, 1 vego and super butcher bulk buying means that a huge shop for us would be $150 and that would be toilet paper, shampoo etc.
The chooks more than pay for themselves, as I sell excess hens (actually the chooks net around $200p/m and only cost about $60)
Grow your own, so worth the everything LOL
Thanks for all the replies, we would love to grow our own and have chooks etc but being in a rental we can't.
I did up a very basic shop for us online last night and it was still $250 without personal items, toilet paper, etc.
Going to have to re think it a little.
We are probably about 6 months to a year away from selling any extra girls we breed. Nice to know we will be able to make some money in the future.:
TMS - you can still have a veggie patch. Even if you do it in pots.
we spend about the same, but use cloth nappies.:
i do meal plans and stick to them.
also buy meat on special/clearance (we eat meat every day as im anaemic)
check frozen vs fresh veg prices
We are only 2a 1c and we probably average $100 a week, and that covers nappies (1 packet a month as mainly use mcn's), and most personal items as well. We do have a veggie garden and honestly that makes a massive difference (and we are getting chooks soon, cant wait!!) - a bit harder with a rental but there are lots of things you can grow in pots etc.
Being on such a tight budget we do shop the sales and buy marked down meat etc. For example we have found coles on a tues / wed here mark down a lot of thier meat, often up to 60%. So if we find a special like that we stock up, last time 4 star mince was $2.50 for 500g.. I think we brought all of the packets left and put them straight into the freezer (!) I think we have only just finished using it all. I have found having the per item price now on the shelf tickets a big help too, we are a lot more aware and compare different brands etc.
Meal planning is also a big help!
I would also check out $120 dollar challenge (14 meals and snacks - $120 fortnight), she has lots of fantastic recipes on her website.
Another idea, is also to do a complete stocktake of your fridge, pantry and freezer.. write it all down and plan meals based on what you already have (use websites like taste and best receipes to get ideas). You will be amazed by what you already have and can make from it. We do this once a month, it forces us to make sure we are using everything we buy!
Definately meal plan, and I spend $170- $200 per fortnight for 2A & 1C...
if you breed purebreds, you should have no problems getting $30-$40 a chook at 16 weeks of age,you just need the facilities to grow them up.:
i go to aldi, then woolies, and my average shop i bugdet for around $200. sometimes i go over, on weeks where i need lots of bulk things (like laundry, razors, toothbrushes, etc, they always put the price up)
I wish we were using cloth nappies, we used to but it's DH who is home with DS and he refused to, so we don't have any that fit now.
We buy meat at a wholesale butcher and I'm hoping to be able to get some extra overtime so that I can put in a veggie garden. We don't have a lot of room but I figure something is better than nothing.
Mostly we go over which means bills don't get paid and then when I get overtime (avg about 1k in 2 months, but as a lump sum) it has to backpay all the late bills so theres not a lot left.
Will definitely check outthe challenge Thingy, but I vaguely remember it uses a slow cooker, and DH flatly refuses to use it or eat anything cooked in it.
What a fantastic website! I've just done a stocktake of the fridge and freezer (the cupboards will have to wait til tomorrow coz it's too late now) and I don't know how I'm going to use it all up before it goes out of date.:
Thanks for starting this thread TMS and thanks for the info above Mummato1!
So how much meat/veg does each adult/child eat?
How many grams of meat and how many cups of veg?