Help....

Greeneyes11

Gold Member
I have just started SW over from Cambridge Diet. But so far this week I have spent over twice as much on food as I would normally, so working out far more expensive than CD was costing me. There are 2 adults and 3 children in my house, and a SW recipe for 4 in the magazine cooks enough for us all, usually with some left over, so have been following these recipes. Cannot go on this way as I am spending money I dont have. My budget per week is £70 (not including any animal food I buy) but have spent £150 this week. Is my budget unrealistic (I used to spend less than this on the family when I wasn't eating). So how much is your weekly budget and can you share what you eat so I can try and cut this bill in half before we are all on sausage rolls and chips next week. Thank you.
 
There are a lot of threads on here about doing SW on a budget so try doing a search. SW can be as inexpensive as you need it to be but it does come down to good old-fashioned household management - planning meals, shopping only for what you need, using leftovers, not wasting any foods and taking advantage of offers. And yes there are people on here who feed a family of 5 adults on £70/week.

This will get you started

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-wo...kly-shopping-costs-down.html?highlight=budget

http://www.minimins.com/sw-winter-w...meals-very-tight-budget.html?highlight=budget

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world/183742-slimming-world-budget.html?highlight=budget

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world/182695-slimming-world-budget-possible.html?highlight=budget

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world/153556-20-week-budget-3-weeks.html?highlight=budget
 
Thank you that is very helpful....... never thought of doing everyone egg and SW chips etc, I felt that eating healthy was eating lots of veg and fruit with your meals...... easier once you get it into perspective..... Could have soup one night and let the rest of the family have rolls with it, egg and chips another, then a SW recipe which is a bit more expensive, something with pasta and mince, yep think I might make next week more budget friendly.....
 
The other thing to do is not fall into buying the highly recommended SW things like Muller lights, alpen lights etc - these can really increase your shopping bill.
Same goes for veg and fruit, you don't have to buy the exotic stuff, it does make things more varied but it also increases your shopping bill.
Green days are good for keeping the bill down too :)
Those threads are very useful so hopefully you'll get some ideas.
 
I'm a student with no job and follow SW so it can be done on the cheap, but then again I dont have family to cook for.
 
I definatly agree that green days are cheaper so I don't really do red.
There are 6 of us ( sometimes 7 if daughters boyfriend stays ) so I struggle to feed us on the cheap too.
My weekly shopping is about £80 but then I have to buy some xtras in the week.
I only buy what I need and don't buy anything special I just try and adapt recipes to sw and feed us all the same, but it can be a struggle if you have picky eaters like I do !!!!!
 
Know what you mean about it can be so expensive but with a bit of planning you can manage it. There are loads of good tips on other threads too. My main one as above is dont get caught out with the expensive stuff sw recommend. If you have access to the website it used to have lists of hexs not in the book which included supermarkets own brands for stuff like cereals crackers and cheeses rather than the brands in the book. Also check the syns online of your favourites you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
Unfortunately I live in the country so only close supermarket is Tesco, the others are all miles away which would then cost me tons in petrol as I drive a big car as I tow a caravan, we tend to use DHs smaller car most of the time but when he is at work I have to use mine....

Will definately try a bit more forward planning, maybe even ordering online so I dont get tempted by other stuff.....
 
I'm on a budget although single so know SW can be done on the cheap.

There is a SW book called "Feed your family on a fiver" (not sure when the figures were calculated although they show EE syns) and each meal feeds the family of four for £5 or less. I got the book as most of the meals are freezer friendly so handy for one. I know this wouldn't include breakfast etc but it might be worth having a look at.

Cheap and cheerful is the way to go for me! That means I get to spurge more money on dog food and keep Pickle happy!!!!!!!! :)

Judith & Pickle
 
another tip is to find out what time your supermarket starts reducing stuff and try to plan a shopping trip for that time. I've had some fab meat bargains by going to asda around 8 pm at night - trays of sirloin steak reduced from £8-9 down to £3. I'm quite lucky cos my SW buddy shops at Tesco and I shop at Asda so we bulk buy for each other.

I'd also suggest buying bags of value frozen veg - I've started using more lately cos the price of fresh veg has shot up over recent months. A bag of frozen caulie cost about the same as a fresh one and I get 3 or 4 meals out of a bag but only 1 or 2 from a fresh one.
 
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