Is it possible to feed a family of 4 on £5 a day?

D_O_S101

Hi everyone.

I know the title pretty much says it all, but I was just wondering if it is possible to make a decent dinner for a family of 4 on only £5 a day.

At the moment our weekly shopping bill is topping £100 and its time I did something to bring it down. Starting with the eveing meals and then if possible I'll work on dropping the cost of lunchs to.

We've got a slow cooker so might be looking at using that more than we currently are (once in a blue moon). Basically I just need a range of food ideas so OH and kids dont moan all the time that they're having the same food everyday.

Any help will be very much appreciated and I'll be sure to keep you all informed as to how the weekly shop is hopefully dropping.:T

huston_kw

I buy a chicken (approx 5quid) and have this with veg on a Sunday, strip the rest of the chicken off the bone, this makes an extra meal - fajitas, chicken curry etc or does for sandwiches. With the chicken carcus I boil with some herbs for a good hour (or use the slow cooker) strain the stock, pick the chicken off the bone (usually enough for the soup) chop an onion & garlic, simmer in butter for a few mins, add some chopped thyme and 1 tbsp flour then gradually add my stock, put in the chicken heat and add cream (or milk).

This probably cost me 10quid for 3 meals (less if doing sandwiches with it instead) you can get a fourth meal, making chicken & sweetcorn pizza (uses very little chicken).

Pasta dishes tend to be cheap - tomatoes, herbs, onions, garlic, pasta and that's your basic - you can add other stuff, left over veg etc, tins of tuna are really nice in this.

Is your shopping for just food because, there's 4 of usand we probably spend an average of 60 for everything.

I would recommend joining the grocery challenge, they have a vast knowledge and are really helpful, on page one there is links to hundreds of recipes.

huston_kw

Just thought, you could set days for stuff eg

Sunday - red meat day
Monday - Veggies day
Tuesday - cheap & cheerful
Wednesday - Fish
Thursday - Casserole
Friday - Chicken
Saturday - Left over

There's others that you could use like curry night or pasta.

I use this system although that's not my days.

I'm a bit sad, I have a recipe folder that is organised into the sections, with the recipes behind.

Then I food plan for the month, trying to use up stuff I have in my freezer.

I do my food plan by doing the days so our pasta/rice night, I could put - spag bol first week, risotto week2, chilli con carne week 3, tom pasta week4. Then no meal is repeat in any one month.

Hope this make sense.

Pink.

Hi D_O_S101,

With a bit of work I believe it is possible. There are lots of useful tips and advice on this thread:

£20 to feed a family of 4 for a month?

And many cheap meal ideas on these threads that may help:


Cheapest recipes???

Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

Feed 6 for £1.62

Cheapest meal

Your Cheapest Evening Meal.

cheap, easy family meals

Show Jamie How To Cook On A Budget Champagne Contest

Meal idea's under £1

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

timmmers

I'm assuming some of these are kids? Anything they won't eat? That would limit some of the cheaper veg meals possibly? They would probably appreciate some kind of sweet deserts too?

I do :rolleyes:...so I always have Birds custard powder and when i see a damaged or reduced cake of any kind, it's going home with me and becoming desert for 4 days or more soaked in custard. Ginger Parkin sticky thing yesterday...90p 'cos it had been a little squashed. Very tasty and filling with hot custard.

Cauliflower cheese and mash ...another bulky tasty meal for peanuts, if you like cauli.
The same can be done but with boiled onions and cheese instead...cheaper and a sweeter taste...loverly with mash or just crusty bread.

Baked spuds cooked in the micro and finished (crisped) in the over ...with anything are cheap and easy. Filling too.

The real chinese curry paste is nice for a cheap treat ...some left over chicken or meat and onion stir fried a little and the curry added for five minutes makes something just like the takeways make (it will 'cos they use it) ...ebay or a local chinese supermarket sell it cheapest and it goes a looong way when water is added to make it up.

I'm hungry now

t

JillS_2

There are lots of threads on cheaper meals - many suggested by PW (good collection, PW).

For variety - a freezer comes in very useful so you can freeze doubled-up quantities for 2 or 3 weeks later rather than serving them 1 or 2 days later.

Huston-kw's idea of a rota is also good for variety. I do something similar but work on an 8-day rota to avoid the "it's Monday, it must be mince" syndrome. My rota is 1. fish 2. beef or lamb 3.cheese and/or eggs 4.pork or ham or bacon 5.fish again 6.vegetarian (nuts, grains, seeds, dried beans) 7.chicken 8.offal or game or sausages
Then you only need a couple of recipes for each type and you won't be eating the same thing for a month.

In How To Survive In The Kitchen, Katharine Whitehorn does a similar rota based on meal types rather than ingredients. Sunday: swank (roast or beef olives) Monday: Joe's Caff (sausage & mash, fish & chips, beefburgers) Tues: Leftover day (rice dishes, rissoles, whatever needs using up in fridge) Wed: Something Cold - with soup if winter. Ham with tomatoes, corned beef & coleslaw. Thu: Gunge (pot of beans & bacon, macaroni cheese) Fri: Somthing different. (get yourself taken out or takeaway - not so good for economy. or try something new and alarming) Sat: Family Standby - spaghetti, lasagne, corned beef hash.

salome

huston_kw that is a really good idea :-) I think I might steal that from you.

Mrs_Thrify

D-O-S get your SC out. I was converted this winter and wish I had bought one earlier. For the cold months a lot of casserole type dinners keep you warm and as it is one pot cooking saves on the washing up.
I do not use it every day but about 3 times a week.

patchwork_cat

Yes it is doable, how old are your kids? Loads of resources on here. Home baking, cooking from scratch cheap meats in the slow cooker, stretching with pulses. Disguising value, like timmers does, a value chocolate swiss roll with custard - yummy and only 13p plus custard and milk!!! Does the £5 include lunch?

It might be a bit of a shock for 3 meals a day if you have been on £100 a week, so maybe, if you can afford it, babysteps. Perhaps try £75 this week and then £60 etc.

D_O_S101

The kids are 6 and 8. Thanks for all the replies I've been getting, some really usefull ideas in there. I think the slowcooker will be coming out

The £5 a day doesnt include the lunch aswell. Dont want to starve them to much

Mrs_Thrify

D-O-S my SC dinner tonight cost around £5. we are having sweet and sour pork with plenty of veg. Rice to boil later.