6000 meals under 50p in 2010; feeding your family on a low budget

grannytwice

will follow this thread with interest, look forward to trying to keep our food shopping costs low, practising to live on state pension i find stretching things the easier way to cut costs as shops here quite expensive

Confuzzled

mark88man wrote: »

I know 50p will be a luxury for many but its quite a saving for me based on last year so fingers crossed

do you mean 50p per person or 50p per meal? i would think 50p per meal for 6 people would be very tricky to do 90% of the time!

angela30

this is such a cool idea. are you costing down to 50p per person or per per meal. ive been trying to cost down to 50p per person 5 of us for breakfast lunch and dinner.
which has been ok during the week but ive found it tricky to do at the weekend.
good luck with this you may need it lol.:beer:

Pink.

Hi mark88man,

These threads have useful advice for making cheap meals 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

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

50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

Pink

mark55man

Hi - in response to your fantastic level of interest and support - you will keep me honest I know!!

(Sorry for delay in responding - been out this morning - 18 holes at 50p a hole)

My rules for the target are its 50p per individual per meal. So if one meal is £10 and the other 5 are 10p then I get 5/6 to my total. The monthly GC keeps me honest on total budgets

Yes from now on I will do costings with each meal

Thanks for warning about vegetables, we do try, and there is a lot of fruit and fruit juice in the house. I am not counting such snacks/drinks for now - these tend to be one apple and one pack crisps per day

The salmon I am counting as free - as it was our contribution to a new years party where we got lots to eat and drink and entertained. At the end we got most of the salmon back event though everyone had had a bit (4.6 kilos @ £4 a kil Waitrose half price)

Thanks for the links to other threads just off to read them now

mark55man

Breakfast was 100% - 6/6
Me: Bowl Lidl Muesli (1.21/kilo) + Milk = 10p + 10p = 20p
OH: Nothing (poorly)
DD1: Nothing (In Bed)
DS1: Cheerios (Half price large size) 10p + 10P = 20p
DD2: Oatcakes 2x5p + marge
DS2: Choco Moons (Lidl 99p a pack) 15p + 10p = 25p

Total 24/24 possible meals = 100% 364 days to go

debtmess

fab idea will keep an eye on this thread for ideas x not sure what we eat cost wise in a day

good luck with it

mark55man

Lunch was

Me: Smoked mackeral sandwich (60p fillet + 10p bread) + leftover veggie curry (5p) = 75p :eek:
OH: Nothing (poorly)
DD1: Cheese Omelette (2x20p eggs Somerfield) + 10p cheese = 50p
DS1, DD2, DS2: Veggie Value Noodles = 70p for 3

Total 29/30 possible meals = 96% 364 days to go

Recipe - 3x11p value noodles,
Soy Sauce (Glug)
Teaspoon Bisto Veggie Gravy,
Tin Tesco value Sweetcorn 35p
(Carnivores can use the supplied flavouring instead of gravy, but Soy sauce is nice as well)

I put the noodles, soy sauce and veggie gravy and corn in the saucpan then add boiling water and heat until its boiling, and then leave for 5 minutes.

I think I am not going routinely to count seasonings etc - not strictly correct, but I am not a DFW through soy sauce or gravy overdose!! If I use a lot then I will put the amount in, but not for pinches

3v3

mark88man wrote: »

Hi - in response to your fantastic level of interest and support - you will keep me honest I know!!

(Sorry for delay in responding - been out this morning - 18 holes at 50p a hole)

My rules for the target are its 50p per individual per meal. So if one meal is £10 and the other 5 are 10p then I get 5/6 to my total. The monthly GC keeps me honest on total budgets

Yes from now on I will do costings with each meal

Thanks for warning about vegetables, we do try, and there is a lot of fruit and fruit juice in the house. I am not counting such snacks/drinks for now - these tend to be one apple and one pack crisps per day

The salmon I am counting as free - as it was our contribution to a new years party where we got lots to eat and drink and entertained. At the end we got most of the salmon back event though everyone had had a bit (4.6 kilos @ £4 a kil Waitrose half price)

Thanks for the links to other threads just off to read them now

Good luck with your challenge.

50p x 6 people = £3.00 per meal = £9 per day = £63 per week on food and is very do-able! :beer:

Free food (such as your returned salmon) is a great way ahead. You might want to look as some books which you could always order from your library (see, free ) one on foraging might be useful (don't knock stinging nettle soup until you've tried it ) and another is "How to feed your family on £4 a day" (aka the Benefit Cookbook by Bernadine Lawrence). Now that cookbook was written a number of years ago so the price is outdated, but, for incorporating veggies into wholesome, cheap, filling meals, it is an excellent starter and should allay any concerns about your meals not containing "enough"

Don't forget soups as meals maybe with some homemade bread (or a reduced loaf from the end of day at the supermarket). Soups are very underrated at a filling, nutrious meal.

Shopping at supermarkets at teatime is probably the best way to get food cheaply just so long as you know what will freeze (cheeses, butter/marg, milk - but not wholemilk - some creams) buy reduced sliced loaves and fill them with reduced hams/cheeses and freeze them - wrap in cling film first, then bag them; you take them out of the freezer in the morning and they should be defrosted by lunchtime, just don't add any salad veggies to them before freezing and don't use mayonnaise). Reduced French stick = pizza bases. Reduced whole loaves = bread pudding, bread and butter pudding, hollowed out and stuffed with a savoury mince mixture and rebaked can be delicious too.

If you make meals with mince, you can bulk out the mince with soya mince (use half and half) plus lots of grated veggies + an ounce or two of porridge oats. Porridge oats will absorb the meaty flavour and has a similar texture to mince so it won't be noticeable and will reduce the cost of your meal portions.

That's just a few ideas to start you on your merry way Good luck and have fun rising to the challenge

PS: Hope your OH gets well soon (some light soup might be an idea - not eating anything won't build up strength for healing)

mark55man

3v3 wrote: »

..snip..Shopping at supermarkets at teatime is probably the best way to get food cheaply just so long as you know what will freeze (cheeses, butter/marg, milk - but not wholemilk - some creams) buy reduced sliced loaves and fill them with reduced hams/cheeses and freeze them - wrap in cling film first, then bag them; you take them out of the freezer in the morning and they should be defrosted by lunchtime, just don't add any salad veggies to them before freezing and don't use mayonnaise). Reduced French stick = pizza bases. Reduced whole loaves = bread pudding, bread and butter pudding, hollowed out and stuffed with a savoury mince mixture and rebaked can be delicious too.

..snip

PS: Hope your OH gets well soon (some light soup might be an idea - not eating anything won't build up strength for healing)

Thanks very much - love the bread pudding mincemeat idea - if that's not already a GC recipe it should be!!

I know OH has a bad cough and has pulled her chest muscles so is on strong pain relief which is making her nauseous in the day. She will eat her tea!!