anyone taking up the live below the line challenge?

star2007

Justamum, I don't think they're saying you must put a monetary cost on your garden produce and subtract it from the budget. What they are saying is that if you do use homegrown produce you must be able to account for production costs, eg bags of compost, plant pots, seeds etc from the garden centre.
That's how I read it anyway.

rachbc

wow Boodle - much respect for doing it for 7 days, and for halfing the budget for the kids - I am keeping it at £1 for each of mine - ds 13 has an adult appetite but perhaps I am cheating having £1 for dd 4..

Boodle

rachbc wrote: »

wow Boodle - much respect for doing it for 7 days, and for halfing the budget for the kids - I am keeping it at £1 for each of mine - ds 13 has an adult appetite but perhaps I am cheating having £1 for dd 4..

Lol well mine are a bit younger - 4 and 1 Tho they do have ravenous appetites :O The plan is to make some savoury and sweet biscuits and I should have plenty of carrots so they have plenty to nibble in between. At the minute they seem to be eating non-stop and it's not because they aren't eating much at meal times either - co-ordinated growth spurts I think

Reverbe

dibblersan wrote: »

I'd be interested in seeing your 10p recipies - if that includes drinks is it 10p a day? or do you get a drink with a meal?
.

Dibbler its value noodles.. a pack a day right now..I dont include drinks but dont have one with meals anyway. drinks are about 4 teas a day made with sainsburys value tea bags which i reuse or hot water sometimes with a drop of lemon juice in.

Boodle

I forgot, I will be cheating on the Friday as we will be having a little party lunch while we watch the Royal wedding. I am making a wedding cake (which I need to post about in a mo) and we will have some little sandwiches - tho if I manage to have some bits leftover I will try to do some pastries or something instead.

Well i had a go on the Asda site (Mysupermarket does not seem to be working for me.) Asda is actually more expensive when i try to jig my shopping list so it would have to be Tesco. If I swap the spaghetti I was having for penne, my total drops under the £21.

The week plan is this:
Breakfasts
- HM bread and jam with milk/tea to drink.
- Porridge made with milk and a scattering of chopped prunes + squash to drink
- Cornflakes with a scattering of chopped prunes in milk + squash to drink

Lunches
- HM hummus sandwiches or with flatbreads. Fruit. Yoghurt (poss eeked out with oat milk.)
- Peanut butter sandwiches. Fruit and Yoghurt as above.
- HM spiced lentil filled pastries (like samosas). Fruit and yoghurt as above.
(Hubby will take a banana to work for his fruit, girls will have a satsuma each. At the weekend we will just have the sandwiches and maybe carrot sticks on the side.)

Dinners
- Individual flatbread pizzas topped with tomato, onion, + roasted diced carrot and parsnip, with shredded cooked cabbage on the side. Maybe wedges/chips too.
- Nut and lentil loaf with roasted potatoes, carrots and cabbage
- Kidney bean chilli with wedges
- Pasta with chick peas and tomato sauce
- Dahl with flatbread or Bombay potatoes + cabbage
- Pasta with cooked shredded greens + roasted onion, carrot and parsnip, with a peanut sauce
- Baked beans on toast with shredded cooked cabbage on the side

DESSERTS: Jam tarts, orange "curd" tarts and a orange and carrot tart
SNACKS: carrot stick, HM oatcakes, savoury spiced biscuits, sweet biscuits, flapjacks

SHOPPING LIST:
Tesco Bananas (Loose) Approx 180 x 5 £0.60
Tesco satsumas £1.40
Tesco baby onions 500g £0.80
Tesco King Edward potatoes 1.5kg £1.00
Tesco Market Value Cabbage £0.69
Tesco Market Value Carrots 2kg £0.76
Tesco Parsnip Loose Approx 150g £0.20
Whitworths Bite Size Prunes 35g £0.39
Oatly Healthy Oat Milk x 5 £5.00
Tesco value Soft Spread 1kg £1.20
Alpro Soya Vanilla Yoghurt £1.39
Tesco Value Curry Powder £0.46
Pride Jumbo Chick Peas £0.39
Tesco Value Baked Beans £0.28
Tesco Value Kidney Beans £0.18
Tesco Tomato Puree £0.25
Tesco value Peanut Butter £0.67
Tesco Value mixed Fruit Jam £0.29
Tesco Value Vegetable Stock Cubes £0.10
Tesco Value Corn Flakes 500g £0.31
Tesco Scottish Porridge Oats 500g £0.62
Allinson Dried Active Yeast £0.64
Tesco Value Plain Flour 1.5kg x 2 £1.04
Silverspoon Caster Sugar 500g £0.79
Tesco value pasta 500g £0.09
Tesco red Split Lentils 500g £0.80
Tesco value tea Bags 250g £0.27
Tesco Value Double Strength Orange Squash 750ml £0.22
TOTAL: £20.91

Xevius

rachbc wrote: »

wow Boodle - much respect for doing it for 7 days, and for halfing the budget for the kids - I am keeping it at £1 for each of mine - ds 13 has an adult appetite but perhaps I am cheating having £1 for dd 4..

I'm keeping the full £1 for my DD (2), as she may not eat a big portion of food, but she does love her milk, yoghurts & fruit.

jackieglasgow

Ceridwen, and anyone else who is interested in spreads, I make my own butter by buying whoopsied double cream. That should be OK for the challenge, and of course on the cheap family meals website there are recipes for different seed and nut butters. My best friend who is Ugandan, makes seed and nut butters and says that in the area where she came from this is normal, and used mainly for cooking.

To the person criticising the Sally Army. Yes they do spread the word of their religion, but if people find comfort in that, then so be it. They are helping people who need it, and that's a commendable thing to do, no matter what anyone's political, or religious allegiences are. I am a huge fan of the Salvation Army, and am not religious myself at all, but I regularly donate and buy from their shop and every Christmas make a personal donation to their organisation. I was once on the receiving end of some much needed help from their soup kitchen service, and never felt belittled, preached at or condescended to. I was grateful that someone cared enough to show me a kindness.

Justamum

melandjoylunch wrote: »

There's a photo of my receipt so you can see what things really cost.
Good luck to everyone!

Are those porridge oats the value ones? At our local Tesco they are 75p! Your bananas look cheaper than ours too - I only look at the price per lb and at the moment they are 36p/lb, which I'm sure is more expensive than yours. No wonder I'm always struggling to make ends meet!!

raphanius

rachbc wrote: »

I have decided its ok to use whoopsies and offers...sure some people won't agree

i think it is fine to use whoopsies and offers because in a real life situation like this buying the cheapest whoopsies would be an essential part of the budget. i was wondering about MOCs cos some of us have had an innocent smoothies voucher for £2.99 for example and thats a generous amount of money for what would be regarded as a luxury to someone on a very low income. Would poor people get MOCs at all?

rachbc

I have started to create a challenge week box as I see things - got my 3 tins of toms yesterday for 75p rather than 93p - wouldn't normally bother but that 18p might make a difference that week!

So far have £1 whoopsied chicken, 99p offer butcher choices sausages (obv in the freezer not the box!), 49p sugar 75p toms and 50p flour.

Did a delicious tea last night using 4 sasuages, cabbage and and apple sp that might go on the challenge menu