Help! £40 to feed family for the month

supama

I forgot to add that the Dublin Coddle is also nice served with dumplings if you can make them

missychrissy - that sounds nice. Will have to give that a go :rolleyes:

BigMummaF

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Admittedly I haven't read the whole of this thread, just dipped in and out, but £20 for four people for a month works out at 5.5p per meal/person/day, assuming it has to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. To put it another way, 67p per day for all meals for the whole family.

You don't get many rashers of bacon, or mince, cheese etc. for that! Unless you start off with a large stash of ingredients and a freezer full of stuff, it really isn't possible. If you do start off with loads of basics etc., the challenge isn't really what it seems.

I've just had a look & this thread will be a year old in about a fortnight. If nothing else, it highlights how much prices have risen in those twelve months, given your comments on today's costs.
I think it's important to look on the recipes as a source of good ideas, to be tweaked & adapted to your own personal requirements, rather than focus on the monetary aspect.

patchwork_cat

Well BOGOF babe the OP did do it. She had in her cupboard the start of a good 9+ meals and it was 24 days.

I agree with Light is fading it was an OMG I only have £20 to pay day

- it is not, as has been said by Big MummaF a commandment - more a source of ideas for using up storecupboard etc. for those months when money is tight and following the philosophy and reducing bills for months when it isn't so bad.

Quite a coup when you read the economy gastronomy thread and all those who think it is not remarkable to spend £210 PER WEEK on food.

Bogof_Babe

I apologise if my post came across as a criticism. It was more an observation that many of the recipes are not exactly rock bottom low cost.

Just taking this one for example. Will price it per serving...

about 1kg of spuds (more if needed) peeled & cut into bite-size chunks 15p
1-2 rashers of bacon per person chopped 25p
2-3 sausages per person cut up 15p
2 celery sticks chopped 5p
3 med carrots chopped 5p
some fresh (or dried) thyme & rosemary 5p
Stock to cover (or I guess you could just use water)
Sometimes we add onions and/or mushrooms if available for variety

That's 70p per serving, without the optional ingredients, which would take it closer to £1.

Anyway keep the recipes coming, the cheaper the better!

lightisfading

How about this one?

Veggie Spaghetti Bolognese (prices are guesstimates for things like onions and herbs!)

Saute 1 Onion (10p) & 2 cloves garlic (6p) in a couple of teaspoons of oil (3p)
then add 150g Asda Veggiemince (50p) (with 75ml of water added along with tomatoes) and 2 tins chopped tomatoes (66p - cheaper if using basics)
Stir together with salt, pepper, dried basil and oregano (or I buy bags of fresh herbs when whoopsied and freeze), splash of balsamic vinegar, splash of (veggie) worcester sauce (10p)

Serve with 300g Spaghetti (24p)

= £1.69 or 56p pp (feeds 3 adults). You could probably cut it down to 50p a person with value tomatoes, plus I'm guessing on the onions, probably only 5p each.

Tasty and low fat too

shelovestobuystuff

Confuzzled wrote: »

also if you want to increase the flavour of cheese in a dish without using more cheese or using milder cheese add in a bit of mustard powder or actual mustard (i bought a 2kg jug for 1 quid on approved foods so i used this)

A bit of parmesan too,especially in a cheese sauce makes it extra cheesy without using much cheese.:D

debbym

Haven't read the whole thread yet but wanted to say don't forget to use up all the leftovers you have as well. When we have curry in our house I freeze any leftovers we have (rice and all) and when I have enough I blitz it with a little water to make mulligatawny soup (with HM bread). 1 adult sized portion feeds 2 adults and 3 children no prob from something we would otherwise throw away. OH being the change resistant soul he is hasn't twigged this yet and thinks I make it special from scratch...

jacki981

Confuzzled wrote: »

also if you want to increase the flavour of cheese in a dish without using more cheese or using milder cheese add in a bit of mustard powder or actual mustard (i bought a 2kg jug for 1 quid on approved foods so i used this)

ill second that or a small blob of pepper sauce.

this thread is great! hope you dont mind but ive copied a few ideas and recipes! im trying to save big time to pay off debts faster so was thinking of cutting food bill to £50 this month i now feel quite posative i can do it!

thankyou

jacki981

debbym wrote: »

Haven't read the whole thread yet but wanted to say don't forget to use up all the leftovers you have as well. When we have curry in our house I freeze any leftovers we have (rice and all) and when I have enough I blitz it with a little water to make mulligatawny soup (with HM bread). 1 adult sized portion feeds 2 adults and 3 children no prob from something we would otherwise throw away. OH being the change resistant soul he is hasn't twigged this yet and thinks I make it special from scratch...

rofl my oh thinks 80% of his food is meat when infact 80% is veggie lol;)

lauzjp

I do love this thread, but I've yet to convince hubby to eat left overs - especially stuff out of the freezer. I find it incredibly frustrating to make something lovingly in the slow cooker, only to find that that's it - he doesn't want to touch it after 1 meal.