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

mark55man

Thanks

Anne_Marie - appreciate your support.
Nodwah - Kittiej : lol
morag - babychick : interesting - learning as I go

I will need to take some time to read the thread again to make sure I don't miss any recipes (Lentil soup becoming a favorite)

I guess I always knew the thread would be eye-catching, just wasn't expecting to get to 20 pages on day 15 - althoughthe merging of the threads did give me some extra ammo.

I just hope you will all still be around in a month - its quite hard at the moment, and I am not sure if it will get easier or more difficult as time progresses

Anne_Marie_2

mark88man wrote: »

I guess I always knew the thread would be eye-catching, just wasn't expecting to get to 20 pages on day 15 - althoughthe merging of the threads did give me some extra ammo.

I just hope you will all still be around in a month - its quite hard at the moment, and I am not sure if it will get easier or more difficult as time progresses

It's quite a thread, that's for sure.

I actually think that it might get easier with time, as you will have more ideas in your head about what to shop for, where to shop locally, and all the recipe ideas.
Do bear in mind that recipes are only ideas, and you can adapt them to suit your taste. I have lots of cookery books, and only once followed a recipe right through, which was a total disaster. Ever since then, I have used the idea and worked it round what I have, substituting this and that. I suppose in the end, it's probably nothing like the original, but as long as it tastes good.

weezl74

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

So, I've re-read the meals from the past week - and let's see. I've decided to post it all in one post, so it can be analysed properly.
...
I'm sorry, but these meals aren't nutritious or healthy - they're just cheap. If you think sacrificing health for cost is wise, then so be it - but I think it's grossly irresponsible to feed children such food.

OK, I have also analysed this week following on from your post.

The person in the family who ate the most cheese that week was DS1 and I only make it that he ate 165g of cheese. This is an average of 23.57g a day, which is the recommended amount to make sure a child is getting enough calcium and vitamin A.

Only just under 100 kcals of DS1's diet daily can be expressed as coming from cheese which is well within the guidelines for amount of daily calories which can come from a food source containing saturated fat.

the cheese also only gave DS1 averagely 7% of his recommended daily salt amount, so clearly not an excess there.

In short, my response is that after analysis I think this is a very responsible diet made by a caring considerate parent. It contains enough cheese to give him his calcium and vit A, and is well within the healthy ranges for saturated fat and salt.

Well done Mark!:T:T:T:T

Weezl xx

dcds47

Hi

Been following this thread from the begining, and would like to say well done.

With Baked Beans being so cheap at the moment - 89p for a pack of 4 though you would like to try the following which you can adapt. (from Netmums.com)

Baked Bean Curry

This is a good, quick and very healthy meal. It can be made as hot and fiery as you like if you're eating without children, or maybe leave out the chillis if it's a family meal.

• 1 pack of cherry tomatoes, sliced.
• 2 tins of baked beans
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp dried coriander
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Sliced fresh chillis.

Put onions, garlic, chillis, herbs and spices in a pan with a drop of oil, and cook til soft.
Add tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.
Add baked beans and cook for a few more minutes til all cooked, hot throughout and well mixed.
Season to taste.
Serve with mashed potato or rice, and naan bread if you like.

Makes enough for 3-4 adult portions, suitable for freezing.

shaz_mum_of__2

weezl74 wrote: »

OK, I have also analysed this week following on from your post.

The person in the family who ate the most cheese that week was DS1 and I only make it that he ate 165g of cheese. This is an average of 23.57g a day, which is the recommended amount to make sure a child is getting enough calcium and vitamin A.

Only just under 100 kcals of DS1's diet daily can be expressed as coming from cheese which is well within the guidelines for amount of daily calories which can come from a food source containing saturated fat.

the cheese also only gave DS1 averagely 7% of his recommended daily salt amount, so clearly not an excess there.

In short, my response is that after analysis I think this is a very responsible diet made by a caring considerate parent. It contains enough cheese to give him his calcium and vit A, and is well within the healthy ranges for saturated fat and salt.

Well done Mark!:T:T:T:T

Weezl xx

here ,here

Eager_Elephant

Hi

I would never dare post what my family eat just in case it is not within the guidelines.

The thing that always pops in to my mind when I hear people going on about nutrition etc is... 'No one ever said on their death bed I wish I hadn't eaten all that cheese/chocolate/etc/etc'

(Well except someone with an allergy obviously!!)

I think you are doing really well managing to cook for all of you for under 50p per meal. And all those seperate meals, must be a nightmare sometimes!!

EE

SunnyGirl

dcds47 wrote: »

Hi

Been following this thread from the begining, and would like to say well done.

With Baked Beans being so cheap at the moment - 89p for a pack of 4 though you would like to try the following which you can adapt. (from Netmums.com)

Baked Bean Curry

This is a good, quick and very healthy meal. It can be made as hot and fiery as you like if you're eating without children, or maybe leave out the chillis if it's a family meal.

• 1 pack of cherry tomatoes, sliced.
• 2 tins of baked beans
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp dried coriander
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Sliced fresh chillis.

Put onions, garlic, chillis, herbs and spices in a pan with a drop of oil, and cook til soft.
Add tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.
Add baked beans and cook for a few more minutes til all cooked, hot throughout and well mixed.
Season to taste.
Serve with mashed potato or rice, and naan bread if you like.

Makes enough for 3-4 adult portions, suitable for freezing.

Thanks for posting this :T I have 2 boys who are addicted to baked beans so this will make a lovely lunch with some crusty bread

princessl84

your having far to much cheese and also if you cant afford £2.50 for your daughter to have lunch with her friends then you really need to look at what your spending your money on. also if you are not letting your children have certin things then you are causing them porblems in later life ie. Your daughter cant have £2.50 for a girly lunch then whats stopping her when she is older spending much more on lunch/nights out because when she was younger dad wont let her. I know this cause it happend to me.

maryb

A quick question if I may since lots of people on here are interested in nutrition - can you count onion towards your 5 a day? I'd never thought of doing so because I see it as just seasoning but on the other hand you would count leek which is the same family. And if you use two onions in a dish for four people which is fairly typical for me (I like onions!) would you count that as half a portion each?

Allegra

princessl84 wrote: »

your having far to much cheese and also if you cant afford £2.50 for your daughter to have lunch with her friends then you really need to look at what your spending your money on. also if you are not letting your children have certin things then you are causing them porblems in later life ie. Your daughter cant have £2.50 for a girly lunch then whats stopping her when she is older spending much more on lunch/nights out because when she was younger dad wont let her. I know this cause it happend to me.

It's good to have someone to blame, isn't it ? :rolleyes: But it is an interesting point you make - my take on it is that, if she is able to afford it, why should anything stop her spending so much more on anything she chooses ? And if she isn't able to afford it, her dad having taught her not to spend money on extras when she struggles to cover the basics would be a very good, solid thing to stop her from spending however little of much it was.

General point now - just happened to hang it on this post as it's the latest in a long line that mentions it - why do so many people think that there is too much cheese in Mark's family diet ? I have not seen any excessive amounts mentioned, and as far as I am aware, and as has been mentioned already, cheese is supposed to be an excellent source of protein, calcium and vitamins A and D. The only potential downside to cheese I am aware of is the fat content and therefore high calorie count - but the fat is necessary because without it the body can not absorb the aforementioned vitamins, and high calories (as they are not "empty" calories with no nutritional value) are only an issue if the family leads a largely sedentary lifestyle. I have not seen any mention of this.

So, anyone care to enlighten me ? Wherefore the cheese vilification, then ?