£5 for five days

Boodle

As I have been putting a list together, I have been debating whether or not to allow only half the allowance for the children to make this more of a challenge. In the end, I decided to give the full allowance but then stretch the food across the seven day week (it is easier for us to shop like that.) The total comes about £3 under the allowance, but then I figured that would come in handy for top-ups if needed.

Our shopping list for Asda:
Yellow split peas 58p
Self raising flour 52
Smart price bread 47p
Salt 29p
vegetable oil (Flora Pue sunflower oil, 1 litre) 1.50
Potatoes 2kg 89p
Onions 1.17
Carrots 2kg 1.10
Dried mixed fruit 64p
Kiwi packs x 2 (10 fruits in each) 1.20 per pack
Oats 75p
Soya milk x 5 59p each
vinegar 13p
Spring greens 97p
Baked beans 29p
Tomato puree 25p
Pasta 30p
Tea bags 27p
Silverspoon granulated sugar 750g 75p
Mustard 34p
Peanut butter 62p
Total: £17.18 (Allowance £20 for 5 days)

The meal plan is as follows:

Breakfasts
Porridge with dried mixed fruit

Lunches
Pease pudding and onion salad sandwiches, or potato and onion soup, or peanut butter sandwiches. Kiwi or carrot sticks.

Tea/Snacks
Carrot, dried fruit, fruit buns, cereal bars

Dinners
(Saturday) Mustard veg curry with flatbread and onion bhaji
(Sunday) Peanut Loaf wth veg, potatoes and onion gravy
Gnocchi with tomato sauce and greens
Pasta with tomato sauce and greens
Hotch Potch Pie (shortcrust with mashed potato, carrot, onion and maybe shredded greens) and baked beans
Cottage Pottage Pie (split peas and veg in a casserole dish and topped with mash) with greens
(Friday) Split Pea Fritters, chips, carrots and cabbage

Suppers: Warm milk for the girls

Good luck everyone! :cool:

LE3

right - I *think* I'm there with my plan for the week! As I said before, I have some major issues with allergies, so cannot use many of the ingredients others are using:

tesco value cream cheese £0.50
milk £0.49 (1l UHT)
1.5Kg SR flour £0.52
tesco value instant Mash £0.20
tesco value cornflakes £0.31
Eggs £0.85
tesco value 8 sausages £0.56
lard £0.39
tinned carrots (x2) £0.40 (ideally fresh carrots if I can get enough for the same price - but assuming I can't I've quoted for tinned!)
one onion £0.15
500g sugar £0.61
Total: £4.98


Hopefully with the remaining 2p I can buy a few teaspoons of salt from my cupboard! In addition, I have been told that some supermarket bakery counters give away yeast - if so, I will make leavened bread rather than unleavened sort!!

From the above ingredients I intend to make:
breakfasts: cornflakes & milk & sugar
dinners:
2 sausages, mash & carrots & onion gravy;
toad in the hole (2 sausages, flour, 1 egg, splash milk for batter) served with mash & carrots, onion gravy
sausage quiche (1 sausage sliced, bit of onion, pastry made with lard & flour, 2eggs, milk, bit of cream cheese stirred in) served with carrots
cheesy potato bake (mash, cream cheese, onion in a pastry shell) with carrots;
2 sausage rolls or a sausage pie kinda thing using a bit of onion + 2 sausages & a bit of pastry+ carrots & mash

lunches:
leftover quiche
leftover potato pie
sausage roll (1 sausage wrapped in pastry made from flour & lard)
tortilla (from flour & water) with cream cheese on it!
& seeing as I'm doing this Tues-Sat, Saturday can be poached or boiled eggs! (Normally I don't have cooking facilities at work for lunches!)

plus:
as much "bread" as I want made from flour/water - cream cheese to sere if not all used! cheesey bready biscuity things made from flour/water/cream cheese
small cake from flour, 1 egg, sugar, lard as the fat. eggless cake once all my eggs are used up!
pastry based nibbles using flour, lard, water - roll in sugar for sweetness?

I don't mind eating instant mash, in fact I do quite often, and I am aware that this diet is high in carbs, and low in veg/fruit but due to the allergies, that's how I have to go this week. I would ideally "split" my bag of flour & bag of sugar so I only pay for 1/2 of it this week & then buy a tin of 29p peaches, or maybe some apples too so I have more fruit!

The biggest problem I have found with this challenge is the size of packet you can buy when feeding 1 person. I could eat well if I could fully prorata my dry ingredients! If I really did have a £5 budget for an infinite number of weeks, I would buy one "dry" item a week to build up a store cupboard. It maybe sugar this week, flour the next - I'd eat 2 meals a day of cereals (contain vitamins etc!) for a week to fund this!

I only usually drink water so that's fine for this week too!!

Update after final shopping trip:
I got 8 carrots for 38p, and managed to get 2 small loose onions in budget too
I also picked up the soft cheese with garlic & herbs as I thought it would give better flavour to some dishes!

LE3

How is everyone getting on?

Last night I had toad in the hole - 2 sausages, batter made with 1 egg. I served this with 1 carrot (sliced into ribbons & fried in a tiny bit of lard) and 1/2 fried onion made into gravy with water, a bit of flour to thicken. I didn't feel I needed potato after all as there was quite a lot of batter!
Overall it was good, very filling but actually a tiny bit sweet - the carrots cooked like this were sweet & as I'd caramelised the onion slightly to get a bit of colour, that was also a bit sweet - but overall a satisfying meal, and I could have easily managed with just 1 sausage in the toad in the hole & saved a bit of the batter to make a pancake for pudding!

I made a batch of flour/lard pastry last night, which is ok, but very short/crumbly! I made a quiche with 1 sausage, a bit of fried onion, 2 eggs, a bit of the soft cheese & a splash of milk. 1/3 is for lunch today with a carrot, the rest for dinner tonight or maybe tomorrow!
I also made 2 sausage rolls from 2 more of the sausages, and the rest of the pastry I baked to eat as "nibbles" though these are a bit dry!

so far so good - not hungry at all!

Winchelsea

This has been my second day - only started yesterday as I was away until Monday.

So far, so good. Yesterday I had porridge for breakfast with a spoonful of jam (29p a jar!) For lunch I baked a large pizza, with self-raising flour and margarine as I could not afford yeast. Topped it with a meagre amount of tomato, chopped onion, and 5 slices of processed cheese. Not bad actually. Ate half of it for lunch. Served it with a salad made with chopped cabbage, grated carrot, sliced tomato and a smidgeon of chopped onion.

Also baked a large jam tart (jam 29p). Not great, but edible. Meanwhile I opened a packet of dried peas and soaked them. Later on I set some aside for sprouting, and cooked the rest.

Dinner was a vegetable stew - carrot, onion and peas, plus cabbage added near the end. This was surprisingly nice, and quite substantial, so did not cook the pasta that I'd planned. Had jam tart for dessert. Also drank some of the vegetable water as a hot drink.

Today was very similar, but today I had a slice of cheese torn up into the veg. Have allowed 3 slices of cheese per day.

I'm rinsing my peas regularly, and they are beginning to sprout, so should be ready to be nibbled on tomorrow. At least they'll give me plenty of vitamins!

LE3

glad to see you are getting on ok too!
the quiche I had for lunch was actually not bad - the filling would have benefited from some cheese but it was definitely edible!

for dinner tonight I had sausages, mash, carrots & a bit of fried onion - it was ok, but I really don't like these value sausages, they go all mushy when heated!! I won't buy them again, even on a £5 budget - I'd rather spend the money on another tub of cream cheese or some more veg than eat these again ... the bit in the quiche was fine, but it would have been good without it - we'll see what the sausage roll is like ...!

Winchelsea

The recipe guide from Live Below the line is, I think, based on last year's prices. As prices are now, it was difficult to have as much variety as I would have liked. And I was determined to have as much fresh veg as possible. Flavour is an issue - I bought processed cheese slices (15 for 88p) to add a bit of taste (and protein), but didn't realise how tasteLESS these would be, especially as I only have 3 slices a day.

But, still doing OK! I really enjoyed my pot of veg soup at lunchtime today (with a cheese slice whizzed in!), and will have cheesey pasta tonight with salad. A slice of jam tart fills me up as a dessert, and am drinking cups of hot water in lieu of tea!

Still not good at asking people for sponsorship though. My family said to put it on my Faceb**k page, so I did, but no results as yet!

Good luck everyone else! Only one more day to go - but two for me as I started late!

Doom_and_Gloom

I'm not doing too bad but I think I have an advantage being vegan as no expencive meat, eggs or dairy. I am on day 4 of 7 as I have chosen to do it for a full week. I am drinking tea with soya milk or water through the days.

Day 1 (ingredients used including for tea costs = aprox 56p)
Breakfast: Pancakes made with selfraise flour (100g)), water and dried mix fruit (25g)
Lunch: 2 slices of toast with ketchup
Dinner: Bean curry with rice (100g)

Day 2 (ingredients used including for tea costs = aprox 52p)
Breakfast: Pancakes made with selfraise flour (100g)), water and dried mix fruit (25g)
Lunch: 4 slices toast with ketchup
Dinner: Rice (100g) with vegetables (onion, mixed veg)

Day 3 (ingredients used including for tea costs = aprox 61p)
Breakfast: Pancakes made with selfraise flour (100g)), water and dried mix fruit (25g)
Lunch: 4 slices toast with ketchup
Dinner: Bean curry with rice (100g)

Day 4
Breakfast: Pancakes made with selfraise flour (100g)), water and dried mix fruit (25g)

Not really feeling hungry. I know my breakfast is big enough for 2 though however I find it means I don't think about food for hours after this way (found this out doing it last year) and can 'get away' with just a small lunch before dinner a couple of hours after lunch.
I was curious and I have stayed the same weight since starting.

I have yet to open a tin of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans and both packets of noodles!

I have more onions than I will use for the week so will have a few extra by the end of the week (probably 3 or 4).
The rice won't all be used, I guess I will have around 300g left at the end of the week.
Mixed dried fruit left at the end of the week will be around 300g or so left.
Self raise flour I will have around 800g left.
Mixed veg I will have around 400g left at the end of the week.
Oil I will have around 70ml left.

HappyMJ

Mine isn't working out too well as I am having too much free food provided by work and it's hardly costing anything. The cat's food is costing more than my food. Think I'll try it again next week and if this keeps up I'll do it every week.

JBD

I am going to start next week. Here is my shopping list [this is just for me, my kids will eat seperately]
wholemeal loaf 69p
potatoes x 4 70p
cottage cheese 60p
basic peanut butter 62p
noodles 12p
kidney beans 19p
tomatoes [passata] 29p
1 onion 15p [approx]
bananasx5 50p [approx]
tinned peaches 29p
basic rice pudding 25p
This comes to £4.40. I will spend the remaining 60p [approx] on fresh veg, probably white cabbage and carrots as they appear to be the cheapest and can be eaten raw, therefore maximum nutrition.
Should add, these are Tesco and Sainsbury prices, as I shop at both.

angelatgraceland

I'm new to this but I think I would cook from scratch most of the time. Cheap bread is revolting so I'd rather spend my 60p on a bag of flour which would make a loaf, a cake, and a few other things like drop scones,pastry etc. Porrige is a must as are a few eggs. Dried milk may be best/cheapest or a 2 litre bottle to last the week(could freeze some to keep fresh). I don't thinks its real to include stickered items as you cannot guarantee getting them. What nobody seems to have included is dried soya which is cheap. Much easier to do for a family than for one person but its got me thinking! Some days I only spend that on myself anyway-other days I spend a lot more but I am certain I could do it and keep it up if I had to. I often buy the 47p coffee and the tesco one is fine! Baked beans are a must also-Im going to do a recipe for the 5 days and cost it as buying for a family of four and splitting it down to a per person amount. Interesting-gonna follow the other links now!