£50 a week to feed family of 6, does anyone do it cheaper??

judi24

Wow MUMOF4 - just had bowse through your thread (will try to read it all later!) I think getting your food bill down to £50 is amazing! I am lucky at the moment if I can get mine to under £100 - I have 4 kids aged 16 ,15, 6 and 4. My DD1's boyfriend is also often found foraging in my kitchen.
If I can get mine down to £75 I will be amazed!!!

Well done! will keep checking the thread for tips!

nosierosie

i think you do a great job mum of 4 you budget brilliantly wish i could but i just cant i write meals down for everynite but still always go over budget my shopping this week was £131 what am i doing wrong my sister always goes mad at me she thinks its disgusting how we spend so much but we are a family of 5 and my husband is very fussy we cant buy mince meat it has to be mince steak and he will only eat a fillet steak its always dear stuff what he goes for if it was just me and the kids i bet i could feed us all for £30 a week

MUMOF4_2

HI Haribo,
Yes, thats all i make it with, to keep the cost down, then we serve it with loads of vegetables. You can add more to the basic recipe, if your budget allows, with lots more tuna, onion, mushrooms, red pepper. The sauce is really runny that you make, but once you the lasagne sheets are cooking in the oven, the sauce is absorbed nicely. You have just reminded me that i have half a lasagne in the freezer, will have to get it out for the children for lunch!
Sorry, I have been rather slack not updating the thread, summer hols gets me out of routine.
I was watching barefoot contessa yesterday and picked up a nice recipe idea, i didnt write any of her quantities down, so just remembered her basic ingredients. Have it for tea tonight, think i will either top it with mash potatoes, or make some wedges.

Green lentils
2 onions
2 cups vegetable stock
2 carrots
2 leeks
tablespoon of tomato puree
dsp cider vinegar
oil
salt and pepper

place half a bag of lentils in some water and soak for 10 minutes.
finely dice all the vegetables.
Fry leeks and onion for 10 minutes.
add all the other ingredients, except for cider vinegar, simmer for 20 minutes-30 mins, until lentils are cooked. Adding more stock if needed. Stir in vinegar.

She served with salmon on the top. My budget and diet wont go tothat! Looked rather good!!!

I had a little taste yesterday and it was rather tasty!

Prudent

MUMOF4 wrote: »

Apple Cake
100g SR flour
100g porridge oats
4 eating apples, peeled and chopped
1tsp of baking powder
4 dsp sugar
1/2 pt milk
2 eggs
2 tsp mixed spice

Soak porridge oats in milk for 5 minutes, then chuck everything else in and give a really good mix.

Bake in oven 180'c until set and golden.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Some great recipes, thanks

I am just about to go out blackberry picking. Could I add some to this recipe?

MUMOF4_2

Hi, glad you enjoyed the recipes, I have been rather slack this week as my husband has been on holiday this week. Not spending the normal amount of time in the kitchen!!! Plus i have done the dreaded thing of going grocery shopping without a list!so god knows what meals we end up with today. Went over budget as well, but it was quite a few store cupboard items, so they will probably carry over to the following week. Spent £51 in morrison and £7 in Aldi.
PRUDENT, i thinK blackberries will go great in the apple cake. I wish ours would hurry up and ripen!!! another week i reckon. Let me know what it tasted like!

MUMOF4_2

hello again.
I have come up with another couple of successful recipes, that i thought i would share, as i have had several pm's asking me to keep posting!

Squash and Lentil Lasagne.

1 chopped onion
1 tsp cumin
5 carrots
1 squash
200g red lentils
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tsp basil
value lasagne sheets
grated cheese
Fry onion, carrots and squash in a little oil for 5 minutes, then add all the other
ingredients and cook until veg and lentils are soft.
Layer up the mix with lasagne sheets, and top with grated cheese.

We served this with roast potatoes.

Blackberry and Apple Muffins makes 6

We tried blackberry picking yesterday, but our bushes in the village, are still taking along time to ripen, the majority being red! My little 3 year old was impressed with this couple of handfuls of black ones he found!

This is our HM recipes that we made up, between us!!!

5oz SR FLOUR
3 oz Sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tsp mixed spice
1 eating apple finely diced
couple of handfuls of blackberries
splash of milk

Mix butter and sugar together, then mix in egg and other ingredients, add splash of milk at end to get good consistancy. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, 190'c or until knife comes out clean.
We have just tested them, and they are quite impressive!

Im having a bash with the slow cooker today, im always pretty disappointed with what comes out of it, and end up re cooking in the conventional oven.
Today we have
1 cauliflower
1 courgette
5 potatoes
1 onion
5 carrots
400g tin of mushroom soup
1 cup of vegetable stock

I thought we could either eat it straight from the slowcooker, depending on how well the vege's cook(they are always a little hard!) served with rice or noodles, or if they are a little hard, i was going to top with pastry and make a pie to cook in the oven.

We also made some fat free banana muffins this week, another of out little specialities using a pot of value flavoured yogurt!

We used one banana mashed, one blackcherry yogurt, 1 egg, 5 oz sr flour, 3 oz sugar and a splash of milk until desired consistancy. Then put in muffin tin and baked until golden.

salster

nosierosie wrote: »

i think you do a great job mum of 4 you budget brilliantly wish i could but i just cant i write meals down for everynite but still always go over budget my shopping this week was £131 what am i doing wrong my sister always goes mad at me she thinks its disgusting how we spend so much but we are a family of 5 and my husband is very fussy we cant buy mince meat it has to be mince steak and he will only eat a fillet steak its always dear stuff what he goes for if it was just me and the kids i bet i could feed us all for £30 a week

Can you re-package anything so that he can't see the names on things? I can bet that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

jimjams_mommy

hi mum of four,
with regards to the pastry can it be frozen? thanks for all your posts!

bertiebots

jimjams_mommy wrote: »

hi mum of four,
with regards to the pastry can it be frozen? thanks for all your posts!

Yes you can freeze pastry!(both raw and cooked) I know it wasnt me you asked lol!!:D

bertiebots

nosierosie wrote: »

i think you do a great job mum of 4 you budget brilliantly wish i could but i just cant i write meals down for everynite but still always go over budget my shopping this week was £131 what am i doing wrong my sister always goes mad at me she thinks its disgusting how we spend so much but we are a family of 5 and my husband is very fussy we cant buy mince meat it has to be mince steak and he will only eat a fillet steak its always dear stuff what he goes for if it was just me and the kids i bet i could feed us all for £30 a week

We are a family of 5 also but only spend £50 per week or less on food....you will get loads of recipes and tips on os to help you cut your budget. Yes hubbys do seem to be a bit reluctant to adopt new ways but when my dh realised how much we were saving per month (we used to spend £100 p/w) he was happy and now complains if he doesnt have homemade everything!
Even if you buy minced steak you can stretch it out . I usually get 10 portions from 500g! And some on here will get even more no doubt lol!!