How to feed a family of 5 on a budget

Savvy_Sue

Sarahsaver wrote:

a weekly fry up is an unnecessary indulgence. The less often you have it the more special it becomes. You could alternate with pancakes which are dirt cheap, and porridge, or fruit and yoghurt. Bit better for the waistline too;)

Oh yes, pancakes are a good idea. Also if you see croissants / pain au chocolat / brioche on offer or reduced the day before that would be a nice treat as well.

It would also be good to get the 12 and 13 year old helping out with cooking, maybe by letting them help choose what's cooked, talking to them about favourite foods etc, and the youngest is not too young to help lay up and clear table and do some drying up!

Queenie

Lillibet wrote:

What about doing a roast on the Saturday & having the leftovers with salad/bubble & squeek/sarnies/pasta bake/jacket spuds etc on Sunday? ...

On that note, I sometimes cook a joint on a Saturday while the oven is on, for jackets spuds and such, to *eat* on the Sunday etc., I find that it slices better (thinner) if left to cut the following day.

Portion size also make a big difference! Portion sizes (and expectations of!) seem to have increased so much over the years.

Edinburghlass_2

I always cook extra potatoes on a Saturday so we can have fried potatoes with our tradional Sunday breakfast

sassy_saver_2

Home made soups, home made pizzas, chicken or beef casserole, corn beef hash, are a few ideas. I would save money on the fry up and serve up pancakes or beans or eggs on toast.. much cheaper!

Favourite here is "make your own" which you could do for maybe the Saturday lunch,, (we have it for Sunday tea)..its basically a loaf of bread (crusty is great) and I stick everything possible on the table.. from a couple of sliced boiled eggs,to salad, cheese and cold meat left overs.. to jars of jam, honey, empty a couple of packets of crisps( cheaper than a packet each) in a bowl, bananas, sliced fruit, butter, pickles, spread, literally whatever youve got in the cupboard.. etc etc.. and then everyone eats what they prefer.. great way of clearing out the fridge and store cupboard.

Penny-Pincher!!

Why dont you have the fry up as the main meal and add a couple of bits

Or-I'd be inclined to do a roast chicken on the saturday and save some of the chicken for a pie or curry on the sunday.
PP
xx

gingerdad

We have for cheap teas;

Home Made Pizza
Corn Beef Hash
Tuna/Sweetcorn and Pasta
Cauliflower Cheese
Cheesy Mash
Vegtable Curry
Cheese on Toast
Baked Patatoes with various toppings
Spag Bol
Home made Burger and Chips

and often have a sunday roast, last weekend i fed 6 of us (4 adults/2kids) with a lovely shoulder of lamb, patatoes and veg for 7 pounds all from the farm up the road (the lamb was there offer of the week a whole shoulder for 5.50)... it made my lunch and us a lamb curry for tea...

but we are lucky to have a farm with its own butchers two hundurd yards up the road

GD

THIRZAH

If you could persuade everyone to have a lie in on Sunday you could turn the cooked breakfast into brunch and really pad it out with baked beans, hash browns etc.

You could serve something like curry on saturday night with naan bread or popadoms as well as rice and things like cucumber in yogurt or pasta withh garlic bread and salad

Counting_Pennies_2

I am dreadful with cooking, that is until I started doing Weightwatchers and then found out how easy dishes are to cook, it is just having the confidence to get started.

Try these very easy meals.

Beef Stew. Get butcher to cut up stewing steak (fairly cheap!) into pieces for you, they are always happy to do this. By carrots, parsnips, onion, and any other veg you fancy. Brown the onion and the beef, then add the veg, pour water in until it reaches the top of the meat and veg and simmer on top of hob or in oven for 1.5 - 2 hours. Serve with Jacket Potatoes or new potatoes

Lasagne, make an all in one white sauce, guaranteed no lumps http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/all-in-one-white-sauce,1009,RC.html I swear by this sauce (much cheaper than buying ready made lasagne sauce) brown mince and onion and add tin of chopped tomatoes and some dried herbs. Layer meat, fresh sheets of lasagne, white sauce, meat, lasagne, white sauce and top with some grated cheese. Pop in oven for 25 mins and serve with garlic bread, peas or salad.

The Campbells soups are fantastic, pop into your supermarket and look at the recipes at the backof the tin. They do a fantastic one with the Mediteranian Tomato Soup. Cook Chicken, add chopped bacon chopped onion and mushrooms, pour over the soup and some water and serve with cooked rice (I love organic brown rice, it has so much flavour) my son who is 20 months old loves it!

I also wanted to post a fantastic muffin recipe for you to make as an afternoon treat. It is soooooo easy to make and everyone who tastes it loves it. It takes 10 minutes and you could do it with the kids.
Mash 4 medium sized bananas. Mix or blend together 4 oz soft marg, 4 oz light brown caster sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 6 oz SR flour, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Add the bananas and mix well. Pour into muffin cases bake at 160 for 25/30 mins

moonbeam682

why not do as much preparation on the Friday to give you more time out of the kitchen at the weekend?
We have a family of 5 (4 adults, 1 child) & I always bake a quiche/hm sausage rolls on Friday for Saturday tea then I only have to bake some potatoes & prepare salad. I also make a fruit pie/crumble & make it big enough to last Friday evening with custard & Saturday with ice cream for pudding.
The leftover bacon from making the quiche I cook cut into pieces then put in fridge overnight to make BLTs for Saturday lunch or cook hard boiled eggs to put in fridge for egg salad sandwiches.
I find this works a treat as it frees up Saturdays to spend with the family.

magicmaria

Wow thank you all so much for your replies you have given me some great ideas - I have planned the next months menus based on the help you have given me - and I am going to sack the Sunday morning fry ups