Is this right??

[EmmaReed84]

I know I have sort of asked this before but I just really want to double check this!

I am just going through my accounts and putting through my expenses for July. I have never put food through before so wasn't sure how to do it, but after some advice I was told that £5 per day, per child for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks sounded about right!

I have worked out for my 2 full timers that I am putting through £110 each (I have put on my spreadsheet under item/description "Food - NAME 22 days @ £5.00") then the amount in the next column.

It just seems like so much, with all my children I will be claiming £232.50 for July. Does this sound about right?

If it is then I am so angry at myself for not doing this before and can I recalculate my tax for last year as I never put food or petrol through... silly me!

[oxfordshirecm]

That does sound a lot but then maybe I'm not putting enough through- I feed 4 children breakfast and lunch and a total of 7 children in the evenings (I work with an assistant) and I buy childminding good separately and put the receipt through which is around £90 a month.

How many children do you have?

Would be interested to see what others views are on this

[moggy]

If you are setting a generic £ per meals/per day you really need to calculate it properly:

eg: snack = 1 banana = 20p
a typical lunch = 2 slices bread= xxp, 2 slices cheese = xxp , 1 tomato= xxp, 1 yogurt = xxp etc etc
a typical dinner = cottage pie using £xx beef mince etc etc
add it all up.

It is a hassle to work out but then you have the evidence for tax man if they should ask. And you know you are doing it right.

Or, you do all your mindees shopping on a separate supermarket bill and put through that bill as expenses, but that would not work out if your family are eating same food as mindees.

[EmmaReed84]

That does sound a lot but then maybe I'm not putting enough through- I feed 4 children breakfast and lunch and a total of 7 children in the evenings (I work with an assistant) and I buy childminding good separately and put the receipt through which is around £90 a month.

How many children do you have?

Would be interested to see what others views are on this

I have 2 full time children 52 hours a week, they have breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks (worked out £0.50 breakfast, £1.50 lunch, £2.50 dinner and £0.50 snacks) In July I had them both for 22 days. I also have one young girl 2 days a week but for dinner only which I put down at £2.50.

[AgentTink]

I feed 2 children, snack, lunch, snack and tea for four days a week, and my expences food bill comes out at £12 - £15 per week. I know this as I buy the 4 days food on a sunday seperate to anything for the house. I then divide the bill by 5 as this is who the food feeds ie myself, partner, my own child and then 2 mindees. I then times this by 2 for the mindees and that is how much i put down.

I am sure if you can justify it to the tax man then that is what matters the most.

[EmmaReed84]

A typical day

Breakfast - cereal, Musleli with chopped banana
Snack - box of raisins
Lunch - Ham and cucumber sandwich, grapes, chopped pepper, yoghurt
Snack - cheese and crackers
Dinner - Pork chop, homemade wedges with carrots, green beans and sweetcorn

[Bumble Beez]

See I still think that's probably about right...£5 a day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks is good...plus it means that money can be put to one side for food shopping just for the mindees.

For me, hubby and our boys...food shopping comes to approx £120-140 a week. Scary when you total it all up!! Plus I still find bits and pieces that I need to buy through the week :'(

I've been doing separate food shopping for the mindees for the past few years and I never spend less than £60 per week, and not all stay for dinner...

Please don't sell yourself short and not put through enough...if it makes you feel better, do what I do and if there is money that I allocate for food left over I treat all the LO's to a local trip out or a stop at the ice cream van on the way home from school etc!

Sarah x

[EmmaReed84]

The thing is I just do a weekly food shop and we all eat the same! I cook for the children for 4.30pm and DH will have ours usually at about 7pm

I cook Mon-Fri for 6 (2x mindees, 2x children DH and myself)-TTO Thur&Fri we have extra mindee.

I probably spend about £100 a week on shopping. We write a list of everything we will need for the following week (we pre-plan all our meals) we then look in the cupboards and just cross off what we already have, then get what is left on the list.

I supposed I could just divide £100 by 6 then multiply by 2, but there is no way I only spend £33 on food a week for 2 mindees!!! That works out all that food I give is a little over £3?

[Bumble Beez]

You sound sooo much more organised than me with food shopping...I either get way to much or not enough!
Mindees are different tho cos I shop separately and always seem to have just enough...
Maybe just go for somewhere in the middle at £4.00?
Like I said before tho, don't put yourself out of pocket with food...

Sarah x

[Samijanec]

I've been wondering this same thing, I think I put about the same through as you, I know I cut myself short last year. I put down breakfast £1, snacks £1.00 (per day) lunch £1.50 and evening meals at £2.00. I have two mindees during the day and two after schoolers (all have meals). I do all my shopping together and keep the receipts.

[AgentTink]

The thing is I just do a weekly food shop and we all eat the same! I cook for the children for 4.30pm and DH will have ours usually at about 7pm

I cook Mon-Fri for 6 (2x mindees, 2x children DH and myself)-TTO Thur&Fri we have extra mindee.

I probably spend about £100 a week on shopping. We write a list of everything we will need for the following week (we pre-plan all our meals) we then look in the cupboards and just cross off what we already have, then get what is left on the list.

I supposed I could just divide £100 by 6 then multiply by 2, but there is no way I only spend £33 on food a week for 2 mindees!!! That works out all that food I give is a little over £3?

Yes but think of it another way, there is no way you spend £50 a week on 2 under 5's mindee's food (as you charge £5 per day), and the other £50 of the weeks shop feeds You, your husband and your 2 kids!!

Does your week shop also inlcude food for Saturday and Sunday if so the mindees dont eat this.

[EmmaReed84]

Yes but think of it another way, there is no way you spend £50 a week on 2 under 5's mindee's food (as you charge £5 per day), and the other £50 of the weeks shop feeds You, your husband and your 2 kids!!

Does your week shop also inlcude food for Saturday and Sunday if so the mindees dont eat this.

I forgot to add that hubby spends £150 a month on meat from the butchers. Our weekly shop is literally things like all the different fruits, veg, salad and cereal. The children definitely get more of this than DH and I as we are a lot fussier than the kids LOL.

So £150 divided by 30 days is £5 a day. Divided by 6 people is £0.86. Multiply that by 2 mindees £1.66.Multiply that by 5 days a week is £8.33, on just the meat alone.

Ugh, this is all getting so confusing... Now I know why I just didn't bother putting food through LOL!

I can't do two separate shops as we all eat the same things so I would have to do two, pretty much identical shops...

I might just have to keep the receipts and try to figure it out that way...

Either that or calculate exactly how much each meal costs me to make... Oh I don't know LOL

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I don't work mine out per meal. I use all my receipts like your example and calculate it on actual purchases

[hectors house]

I put through £2 a meal for lunch and tea and £1 a day for snacks - so only have a couple of children who come all day so would charge £5 for them - I don't do breakfasts. I haven't got time to work out cost of each meal - but just the amount of fruit we get through is frightening - snack today they have got banana, apple & blueberries, with pudding later they will have strawberries & kiwi and for tea probably, satsuma, pear & grapes.

[mummyMia]

I'm planning on claiming for food for the first time this year and I have been trying to work out the costs too. It is giving me a real headache!!
I have taken a few example meals and worked out the exact cost and am finding that I actually spend a lot less on mindees food than I thought. For example, an average snack came out as only 24p. I got this figure by averaging out some common items, for example a single apple, banana, orange, serving of grapes, pack of mini cheddars, fruit bar, box of raisins, babybel, and yogurt.

I also worked out the cost for some dinners (I normally cook enough for 2 adults and about 5 kiddy portions) and found that cottage pie costs me £7.18, mac and cheese was only about £3.40 and fajitas with all the trimmings came out as £10.77. Assuming that an adult eats 2-3 times the amount that a child under 5 does, then it means that I am actually spending less than a pound on each child. With drinks and some salad or veggies on the side thrown in, I think £1.50 probably covers it.

I haven't worked out any lunches yet, so still need to do those. :p

[ja-lula-belli]

We all eat the same thing so I calculate what the days food cost eg
Sausage, mash, gravy and broccoli and peas.

Sausage s x amount
5 potatoes x amount
Gravy x amount
Broccoli x amount
Peas x amount.
Total divided by 6 people eating it = what I run through my books.

I total up a snack at £1 each for juice/milk and fruit portion I think it's about right.

If pudding I just total it in with dinner calculations.

You can roughly estimate through the bulk cost of each item eg bag of peas total cost £1 use quarter of a bag so 25p a portion of peas.

Ja-Lula-Belli Childminding

[JCrakers]

I put down 50p for snack which is fruit,drink and bisc
£1.50 for a light tea ie sandwichs, yog, fruit, bisc
£2.00 for a cooked meal
£1.00 for babies

I have 5 under 5's and 10 schoolies. Schoolies only have a light tea and I only cook 1 meal for the under 5's as most go home for tea.
My tax for food is roughly around £200 a month

I tried to work it out on my receipt and write down what they eat but it became far too difficult, esp when I had bought something for work to find my kids had eaten it so now I just do the fixed price.

[k-tots]

I put down 50p for snack which is fruit,drink and bisc
£1.50 for a light tea ie sandwichs, yog, fruit, bisc
£2.00 for a cooked meal
£1.00 for babies

I have 5 under 5's and 10 schoolies. Schoolies only have a light tea and I only cook 1 meal for the under 5's as most go home for tea.
My tax for food is roughly around £200 a month

I tried to work it out on my receipt and write down what they eat but it became far too difficult, esp when I had bought something for work to find my kids had eaten it so now I just do the fixed price.

I do the same costings.....so much easier