feed a family of 4 on £1.47 per meal in 2011

rumdiddlyum

hi i wondered if it was possible to feed my family on £1.47 per main meal so that it would cost just £10 a week for main meals but healthy too does anyone else do this i have looked at the cheap meal threads and they are great but prices have risen since then any ideas:D

quintwins

i think this is completely do able if you can bulk buy but it might get repeatitive, howevere that would only include the main meals you would still need brakfast and lunch, snacks and fruit

rumdiddlyum

thats fine i have got my other food down to a minimum but i spend £20 a weekon main meals is that about right or is that too much cause i works out about £40 a week

ceridwen

rumdiddlyum wrote: »

thats fine i have got my other food down to a minimum but i spend £20 a weekon main meals is that about right or is that too much cause i works out about £40 a week

Well - re "is that too much?" - what do YOU think?

I would say the answer is "Blimey - thats cheap - only £10 per person per week ...."

So - if the question is just "Is what I spend already on food too much?" then the answer is "No - its INCREDIBLY cheap already".

Are you saying in fact that its not a "value judgement" thing - but you need to try and spend even less than that temporarily and asking for any hints as to how to do so...?

rumdiddlyum

i wondered if it was alot cause i have looked at cheapfamily meals which i think is fantastic but i need to buy a few extras for kids lunch boxes and they always have puddings so i would spend extra on that i just wondered if anyone had any meals that they made that were approx £1.50 cause the only ones i have is tuna pasta bake or bangers and mash and carrots;)

mummysaver

I think it's pretty cheap already, well done you! The only other cheap meals I can think of would be mince based ones, where you strech mince: divide in two, make cottage pie, other half add peppers, onions and tinned toms, garlic and herbs to make bolognese, take a third of this mix and add kidney beans and chilli and cumin and tsp of cocoa to make chilli and serve in wraps with rice and salad and some grated cheese.

Obviously it all depends on the portion sizes and how much you like mince!

Veggie meals can sometimes work out cheaper too: quiche, jacket spuds, bean casserole, etc.

dibblersan

I make a chilli that works out 30p a portion, and a cottage pie, a tuna pasta (with 9p a bag pasta and tomato passeta at 29p per 500g) and a sausage or bacon potato bake that are all about the same at about £1 for 4 or 5 portions.

This works because I freeze the rest of it or the ingredients will keep for other things (tesco value pasta is 18p/kg, a 25kg sack of potatoes just cost me £5 from the local potato man and will keep for a month easily meaning potatoes cost 30p/kg and a sack of 20kg of onions was £6 and will last about the same)

Thing is these meals taste lovely and we really like them, it's good I can get the cost low, but I wouldn't make us eat food we hated for the sake of it costing a penny.

rumdiddlyum

im not talking about eating thing we dont like i just wondered if anyone had any recipes/ideas for cheaper meals im not wanting to cut it to nothing just for the sakes of not spending anything there are other posts on here that talk about meals for 50p but it was just a question i just wondered if i was that tight id live on 10p noodles but we dont

quintwins

thats acually very good, i spend around teh same, i do do alot of mince based meals, and i make chicken with thights which is more than £1.50 per meal, but if i make casarole i then turn the rest into stew the next day, quiche is another low cost meal if you use value eggs as is omlette and chips, for me i find that it's fruit and veg more than meat that pushs my total up as we are a family of 5 with 3 little ones we use alot of fruit

for pack lunchs could you do carrot sticks and rasins (buy a big bag and put it in a wee box rather than boxed ones) and i'm sure you do already but not buying bottled drinks and sending a bottle of water/squash

personally i don't think i could get mine any lower without either cutting out fruit or meat

quintwins

rumdiddlyum wrote: »

im not talking about eating thing we dont like i just wondered if anyone had any recipes/ideas for cheaper meals im not wanting to cut it to nothing just for the sakes of not spending anything there are other posts on here that talk about meals for 50p but it was just a question i just wondered if i was that tight id live on 10p noodles but we dont

10p noddles with soy sauce and frozen peas and sweetcorn is very nice

i still think the only thing that makes cheap meals in buying in bulk for example chilli

mince (1/3 of an 800g pack at £2) 66p
tinned tomatoes (4 pack use 1/2 of one at 25p) 13p
onion (2 from a value bag at £1 say 15 in it) 13p
carrots (2-3 from a value bag at £1 again) 20p
handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn 10p
rice (1/4 of a value bag 50p) 13p
tin of kidney beans 18p
salt/pepper/mixed herbs/chilli 10p

total is £1.63

i usually make spag bol and chilli at the same time just take the spag bol out before you add the kindey beans so spag bol is

mince (1/3 of an 800g pack at £2) 66p
tinned tomatoes (4 pack use 1/2 of one at 25p) 13p
onion (2 from a value bag at £1 say 15 in it) 13p
carrots (2-3 from a value bag at £1 again) 20p
handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn 10p
salt/pepper/mixed herbs/chilli 10p
value pasta 9p

total is £1.41

flea72

quintwins wrote: »

10p noddles with soy sauce and frozen peas and sweetcorn is very nice

i still think the only thing that makes cheap meals in buying in bulk for example chilli

mince (1/3 of an 800g pack at £2) 66p
tinned tomatoes (4 pack use 1/2 of one at 25p) 13p
onion (2 from a value bag at £1 say 15 in it) 13p
carrots (2-3 from a value bag at £1 again) 20p
handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn 10p
rice (1/4 of a value bag 50p) 13p
tin of kidney beans 18p
salt/pepper/mixed herbs/chilli 10p

total is £1.63

i usually make spag bol and chilli at the same time just take the spag bol out before you add the kindey beans so spag bol is

mince (1/3 of an 800g pack at £2) 66p
tinned tomatoes (4 pack use 1/2 of one at 25p) 13p
onion (2 from a value bag at £1 say 15 in it) 13p
carrots (2-3 from a value bag at £1 again) 20p
handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn 10p
salt/pepper/mixed herbs/chilli 10p
value pasta 9p

total is £1.41

1/2 a tin of tomatoes for 4 people? i thought most people bulked out spag bol and the like with a couple of tins of toms

do you add any liquid to this, as it seems a bit dry to me

F