Feed a family of 4 on £100 for a month.

Chickenopolis

Hello Phil3822


http://thirty-quid.blogspot.com/ which feeds a family of 5

I know that you said £100 per month but you might choose to "pick and mix" with other frugal recipe sites . I recommend the one mentioned by another OS www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

I am sure that we would all love to know how you get on !!

Good luck

Al1x

we use the slow cooker quite a lot. you can use cheaper cuts of meat and also put plenty of veg in and make it last for 2 meals.

Phil3822

Many thanks for all these replies. Very kind of you all. The cost will include 3 meals for 4 of us for the 7 days. I like the idea of a fortnightly shop so will go with that. I have reduced all expenditure I can, everything else we are contracted into.

We have a slow cooker so will be using this. One question, if we have frozen veg and frozen meat can we put both items in the slow cooker or do we have to defrost. Idea was to put both in together with some value soup or a tomato stock for a meal.

PipneyJane

Phil3822 wrote: »

We have fry lite and a large bottle of sunflower oil. Also have loads of jarred seasonings. Garlic, tumeric, tyme, mixed herb, cardimon pods, rosemary and lots and lots more.

We are interested in batch cooking etc and we all love mince meals but how do you get mince for a good price. We currently get ours from supermarket etc and it seems to cost a lot and would take a huge chunk of our £25 PW.

To others, yes £25 will be tight and difficult no doubt however we have little choice right now.

What about pulses, canned goods, pasta, flour, rice, etc? Oh, and cheese? It would make it easier if you could do a bit of a stock-take and let us know the contents of your fridge, freezer and pantry. Do you have a freezer or just an under the counter fridge with a tiny freezer compartment?

Re mince-based meals, I regularly get four adult-sized portions out of half a pound of minced beef. Here's how:

• I normally bulk mine up with the pulp of an aubergine (zap aubergine in microwave for 10 minutes, scrape out the pulp and then chop), but they're probably out of your price range for a while. Add after the meat is browned and simmer for as long as possible. You can use courgette this way, too. Add a beef stock cube, too, to ensure a meaty flavour.
• As well as the above, I add 2-3 large carrots, grated, and/or a quarter cup of red split lentils.
• Use larger onions or double the quantity of onions used. This is a trick from the War years.
• If you can find it cheaply and nobody is allergic, add dried soy "mince". Work on a proportion of 1/4 soy to 3/4 minced beef. Add a beef stock cube, too, to ensure a meaty flavour.
• Again, probably out of your current price range, but I always add sliced mushrooms to my mince-based meals. Keep an eye out for them on the "condemned food counter" - I've bought 1kg bags of mushrooms for as little as 25p each. Get them home and out of their plastic bag ASAP. Slice them up, fry in 1 tablespoon of oil until all the water has evaporated, then freeze in 1 cup portions (I use a ladle to measure so 1-ladle portions).

Chickenopolis

Phil3822 wrote: »

Many thanks for all these replies. Very kind of you all. The cost will include 3 meals for 4 of us for the 7 days. I like the idea of a fortnightly shop so will go with that. I have reduced all expenditure I can, everything else we are contracted into.

We have a slow cooker so will be using this. One question, if we have frozen veg and frozen meat can we put both items in the slow cooker or do we have to defrost. Idea was to put both in together with some value soup or a tomato stock for a meal.

Phil3822- I would defrost the items as you may crack the bowl if you put frozen stuff in straight away. I am just going by the enclosed instruction leaflet in (one of) mine .

Phil3822

My slow cooker internal is made from a metal aliminium/stainless steal sort of thing. Not crockery so doubt anything would crack. Many thanks for your response and others.

countingthepennies

Hi Phil,
Re your slow cooker. I love ours, it is the best thing in my kitchen. I always defrost the meat first and brown it off while the slow cooker warms up. Frozen veg though just gets chucked straight in! Have always done it that way and we havent been poisoned yet

cherylelizabeth1

For mince, the tesco value mince is great, costs £1.92 for a huge pack which makes 2 days of chilli for my family of 4. Obviously its very fatty but if you dry fry it before adding sauce and then tip the pan to the side you can ladle out the fat and its fine.
Value pasta is 18p too, so stock up on that, good for pasta bake, bolognaise, mac cheese etc.

Phil3822

Is that the fresh or frozen mince cherylelizabeth1? Thanks.

cherylelizabeth1

The fresh, its £1.92 for 800g and its the only mince i buy now since i realised it only takes 2 minutes to get all the fat out, after that its the same as all the rest. Usually pour the fat over the dogs biscuits if im feeling generous!