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

thriftlady_2

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Two portions of carrots - you can only count one, no matter how many you eat.
.

Complete rubbish. Two portions of carrots is two portions of vegetables is two of your five a day. Obviously the more variety the better but carrots, raisins, strawberries, orange juice is a good start.

You can only count fruit juice as one portion of fruit no matter how many glasses you drink -maybe that is where you are getting confused?

This is from the NHS guidelineswhich is really useful and explains that fresh, frozen, tinned and dried fruit and veg all count as do pulses like baked beans so long as they aren't being used as the protein part of a meal.

A glass (150ml) of unsweetened 100% fruit or vegetable juice. Juice counts as a maximum of one portion a day, however much you drink. That's mainly because juice contains less fibre than whole fruits and vegetables

I think Nikki's menu sounds well planned and makes use of what she has.

mark55man

A bit harsh Mr PolishBig.

We had the paella as 1. my OH hasn't eaten properly in 3 days, 2. its her absolute favorite from days when we weren't quite so cost conscious 3. Its not kids first adults second in this house, and never will be

We always make sure our kids are well fed and if some of it is what you regard as garbage well - its a very small selection of meals to make such sweeping and rude comments. If what's been seen to date don't impress you then Sorry - its new year with stuff to use up and my OH who is normally in charge is completely laid up.

If you want to post on my thread you are welcome, but I find your manner hectoring and dictatorial - perhaps you were more influenced by your communist upbringing than you think - I would ask you to be polite if you can't be constructive.

Before you post an angry retort out of wounded pride or general hostility that internet forum's bring - this has been a friendly thread and you are out of tune. If you carry on I am sure that you will soon be on ignore by myself and others

PolishBigSpender

nikki20022008 wrote: »

i didnt say jelly is fruit the strawberries in the fruit are and there are about 6 handfuls in there

How on earth did you manage to get 6 handfuls of strawberries for 9 pence at this time of the year?

jesus the backlash why am I bothering

If you post such things, you ave to expect that people will analyse what you're doing. In your case, you're feeding a child a very unhealthy diet laden with sugar - and people need to be aware that while saving money is good, impacting upon your child's health isn't so good.

debtmess

pukka18 wrote: »

You should make lentil soup for the family. I think you could feed them all for a quid and you'll get some more vegetables in there too.

Soak green lentils, about 2 cups for a few hours

Fry 2 onions and garlic in oil on low heat
Add 1 Tbsp paprika for a couple of mins
Add 3 diced potatoes + a carrot or two
Add 1.5 litres of water + lentils
Add 2 vegetable stock cubes
Cover and simmer for 40 minutes

This is my recipe, but you can adapt it to your appetite/family size.

this sounds nice x have everything in bar the paprika and the garlic i use is granuels may give this a go tomorrow my boys love soup, they have dinners at school so prefer something lighter at night, ive found if i cook a full meal they eat very little whear as they will eat beans on toast and soups

Doom_and_Gloom

Kimitatsu wrote: »

Potatoes do not count as a vegetable for the purposes of your five a day.

I admire all of you on this thread but my query would be that there should be fresh fruit and veg included in there - as a guide for the purposes of a financial statement for any financial institution they allow £25 per adult and £15 per child per week for food (not including toiletries and cleaning products) which is deemed to be sufficient to have a healthy balanced lifestyle.

I will be following the thread from the sidelines but I am afraid I wont be joining in your challange :beer:

It's quite easy to live on less than £25/week on food for an adult and to be honest would be more than enough to supply my fiance and me with food. I eat a very healthy diet, my partner on the other hand doesn't a lot of the time but is improving with help. We do get a 10% discount at the store he works at but even without we would spend less than £25/week together.

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Her comments, by the way

Orange juice is also only good in moderation - it's loaded with sugars and shouldn't be seen as an every day thing. But okay, that counts as one.

Two portions of carrots - you can only count one, no matter how many you eat.

Jelly? JELLY? You are joking, right?

Strawberries and raisins are fine and well, but what about portion size? If you've only eaten two or three strawberries, it doesn't count.

Raisins are also absolutely full of sugar - again, fine and well as an occasional treat, but not recommended in the long run.

Look at the (now changed) menu as a whole. There's at least two nasties in there, if not more.

I've just noticed that a child is being fed this stuff, too! Oh my... This is a dreadful diet for a child - butter on toast, cheese spread on bread, potatoes, yoghurt, jelly and even raisins - I could be here all day explaining why this is just a bad idea!

I have no objection with adults eating whatever they want - they're adults. But children should be eating balanced, healthy diets - not diets laden with sugar (the jelly, yoghurt, raisins, orange juice all contain high amounts of sugar). Feeding "cheese spread and bread" to a child for lunch is just...no. no. no.

Orange juice and rasins contain natural sugars which are alot different than added etc.
Potatoes are rather nutritious and contain a very good amount of iron (I was suprised to find this out but with skin 1.8mg for 100g is very good) although it does depend if you include skin or not as to how nutritious.
It's not as bad as it looks if you look at it properly.

I'm not going to say it's perfect but it's alot better than children growing up on chocolate bars, chips, crisps and other junk every day with little to no fruit and vegetables etc. I knew alot of people like this growing up!

nikki20022008 I think you are doing very well. As you say you are using up what you can at the moment from the festive period. I'm sure you are doing your best for you and your child .

k.o.d

nuttybabe wrote: »

You dont know what sort of food we eat so you cant really comment on how healthy it is. We dont eat alot of fat, preservatives or sugar. I cook from scratch and I am careful about waste. All last year I was seeing a healthy eating trainer and writing a food diary and she never had any cause for concern over what I was eating.

Which is great, but did she have concerns over what your KIDS were eating?

Also the debt we are in is our fault and therefore we are paying it back, I refuse to jump on the band wagon of getting our debt written off as that just does not seem right to me when we can pay it. I am looking for work and I am starting to sell craft items I am making so hopefully things will improve financially and this will be a short term thing.
But why cut off your nose to spite your face when you CAN have more to spend legally and without recourse, I am sure you can pay it, but do your kids need to potentially suffer as a consequence?

If you post on a forum, it will not all be sweetness and light and applause.
What you are doing I think is great, and very noble, but for MrsK and I, the needs of ensuring proper nutrition and growth for the kids outweighs any perceived noble intention

PolishBigSpender

thriftlady wrote: »

Complete rubbish. Two portions of carrots is two portions of vegetables is two of your five a day.

Complete rubbish.

You should be eating 5 different things a day to achieve a balanced diet.

thriftlady_2

Kimitatsu wrote: »

a diet laden with fat, carbohydrates, preservatives and sugars will not benefit you in the long run.

Have I missed the post where Nuttybabe says her diet is like that?

Penelope_Penguin

Kimitatsu wrote: »

I admire all of you on this thread but my query would be that there should be fresh fruit and veg included in there - as a guide for the purposes of a financial statement for any financial institution they allow £25 per adult and £15 per child per week for food (not including toiletries and cleaning products) which is deemed to be sufficient to have a healthy balanced lifestyle.

Just waht I was going to say. I applaud a challenge to live on 50pppp day "just beacuse you can" (as long as children and others who don;t really have a say are fed a healthy, nutritious, varied diet ) but there is no reason for anyone in this country to HAVE to live on that.

Deep joy - when Money Advisers get together :rotfl:

Penny. x

nuttybabe

k.o.d - my kids eat the same as me. i dont make seperate meals. i just would give them extra carbs so they would have more rice, brown pasta or pots than me (and yes they do get alot of veg!!). i would not put my kids health in danger!

I dont expect sweetness and light and applause but also I dont expect people to tell me i am endangering my kids when they dont know what we eat!

Thanks for your concern over my child k.o.d but i can assure you they are not suffering as a consequence of me paying back my debts.

I will resectfully bow out of this thread now.

Once again, good luck Nikki.