Feeding a family of 4 for £2 Challenge

[Deleted User]

If you can knock up some shortcrust pastry I used to make 'odds and s*ds' pie for my children back in the 1970s when not only money was short but quite often the 'blackouts' from the electricity meant you had to have something that could be eaten hot or cold .Basically it was a pastry base with whatever you could find in the cupboard to fill it .Sometimes I would cook a couple of sausages then slice them thinly and layer the bottom then an onion sliced thin on top then a layer of baked beans on top of that and a thin layer of mashed potato on the top with grated cheese sprinkled over the whole lot Its great as hot or cold it is a savoury tasty dish that uses up anything left in the fridge .I still sometimes make it if we are going on a picnic with my DD and tribe Her boys will devour anything that looks to be edible. If you have a packet of crisps then smash them up and mix with the grated cheese to make a 'crunchy topping.Even left over carrots or veg will get chucked in .We had this usually as the third week of the month hove over the horizon and the cupboards were starting to look a bit bare.In those days the mortgage rate had gone up to 15% and it was quite a lean time for a lot of people

heretolearn_2

I think it would be quite hard and you'd have to do it by bulk buying/batch cooking rather than treating each meal individually!

I've just bought 2 pork shoulder roasting joints from Morrisons, they are on special offer and cost abouit £3.50 each. I've chopped them up into generous sized meal portions and froze. for £7 I got

8 adult sized portions of cubed pork
6 chunky-cut pork steaks
1 pork roast flat 'lump' (rather like an unrolled pork belly in thickness) just big enough for 2 adults and 2 kids if we have slightly mean portions
Another bag of miscellaneous bits and odds and ends, not enough on its own for a meal but can add to a stew etc for 2 people.
a bag of separate fat/skin for crackling

so 20 good sized portions of meat plus crackling at 35p per person. If you are feeding kids (which we only do once a fortnight) then of course those adult portions can be cut in two, so I think it would end up fairly cheap overall. You'd be looking at £1.05 per meal on meat for the four of you.

I've also started buying whole chickens and portioning them up. Again, 2 for £7 from Asda, I get 20 portions total, same cost as above.

ALIBOBSY

definately agree with using the budget to buy whole joints/chickens and portion up. Mince is usually good as you can really pad it out with veg/lentils/beans/oats etc to make it stretch along way. Being 6 of us I never sho for one meal but lan for weeks ahead-but we have freezers and I can't imagine managing without them, could you source a cheap or free freezer (friends relatives freecycle) makes life alot easier lol.

Something to consider is having the same dish but amended so to speak each night. So one night mince beef and onions with potato of some kind then into leftovers add a bit of chilli powder and beans/lentils to make a chilli serve with rice or baked spuds, then third night mix leftovers with tin of toms or 2 and some herbs if you have and serve over pasta.

Good luck.

ali x

mrswive

As has already been mentioned, pasta can be a base for all sorts of cheap tasty meals. Two of my standbys for extreme cheapness are:

* bruise a chilli (or use a bit of chiili powder or chiili flakes), crush a clove of garlic, add some fresh rosemary or sage (optional) and add olive oil, probably about 3/4 tbsps. Leave to fester for a while then add to cooked pasta** and top with cheese. This is much tastier than it sounds and v cheap!
* If you want a bit of protein, cook some lentils - I use green, but I'm sure red would be fine. In another pan soften some chopped onion and garlic, chopped peppers (I keep a bag of Mr T's frozen chopped peppers in so I always have a handful to add to things), and a carton of passatta. Add the lentils when they're cooked and simmer for a bit. Add to pasta and top with grated cheese.

A frittata can be fairly cheap - fry a chopped onion, some cooked potato and add pretty much any leftovers you have to hand; eg. veg, ham, bacon. Add 6 beaten eggs and cook until set on the bottom. Transfer the pan to under a medium grill to set the top then put on a bit of grated chesse and pop back under the grill for a few minutes.

I'm also going to try the chick pea curry, it sounds fab!

** when adding the oil to the pasta, strain out the chilli, garlic & herbs.

jodyg

its an australian site, but i have found this helpful - http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/budget

alex21

This is yummy comfort food (had it last night)
Toad in the Hole
2 packs of batter mix 7p each at mo at Mr A
2 eggs
Tin of Baked Beans (we swear by Branston as much more flavour than Heinz and stock up when 4 for a £ so could be 25p
Pack of sausages of your choice / budget
Make some mashed potatoes to soak up bean juice and really fill out the plate!!