Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Soworried

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

We bought another 2 packs of 500g mince from Aldi £2.98 and I split the kg of mince into three. I also bought two medium chickens for £2.99
So I have made another lasagne, a Mince cobbler plus a mince hotpot for dinner tonight. One chicken has been jointed and frozen the other will be for Sunday roast plus a Chicken and Veg crumble for Monday

This week's SS are all 45p:

500g brussel sprouts
Swede
Cooked Beetroot
Parsnips
Onions
Leeks

1kg Carrots 41p

I bought eight packs of parsnips, so a huge pot of parsnip and apple soup (Free apples) has been made and is now in six ice cream tubs (Large Walls ones saved over the summer) Now happily in the freezer. Plus some have been peeled and sliced ready to be roasted and a couple of bags of them have been put away for Christmas plus two packs of Brussel sprouts.
Six bags of Brussels sprouts prepared and frozen (two for Christmas), two swedes cooked and mashed and one diced , 2 packs leeks made into Leek and potato soup and a Leek and potato pie

I will post my meal plan and shopping list in a seperate reply

Great post, I hadn't thought about getting the veg for Christmas ! :cool:

I'll grab some later in the week.

[Deleted User]

I had some cooked beetroot a few months ago when it was last on offer Aldi's (29p then) and I bought three packets and divided them up into single units and froze them (I am the only one in the family who loves beetroot) I am almost down to the last three units, so I will be buying some more to freeze before the offer finishes to get me through the winter.

Onions I buy and dice and freeze in bags so they are handy for throwing a small handful into casseroles. Leeks sliced and frozen are a great addition as well.

I suppose I limit myself to meat a couple of times a week as I enjoy veggie lasagne or chillies and at Christmas I like cheese and leek 'sausage rolls' I probably eat more fish than meat as I only live about half an hour from Whitstable where the fish is so fresh its almost still wriggling

Growing my own isn't an option, as unfortunately my gardening days are over due to arthritis, but I do have a gardener who comes once a fortnight to keep it looking respectable and he brought me a rhubarb crown one of his customers was binning, and this year it grew very well and I have several bags of it in my freezer for winter crumbles.

My DGS help me by foraging for blackberries and I have friends who give me bags of 'fallers' from their trees
Y/S fruit and veg gets turned into soup or frozen asap so that helps to keep the bills down quite a bit.

I eat at DDs at least once a week and last night came home with enough left overs for tonight's dinner.Tuesday nights I have a meal in with the pub quiz that I go to so this week will only have 4 evening dinners to cook. I never include anything other than food in my 'food purse budget' and so far this month have spent just under £18.00 and don't need to shop for at least another 7-8 days

Fruball

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Here you go hun x

D&DD's Apple Braid

One of our faves is an Apple Braid,looks quite posh, til the kids see it :rolleyes: so perfect for guests.I'll put in the large recipe as it is great for freezing too.
Dough.
1 sachet yeast
15 oz strong bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
4 tbspn sugar (less if wanted)
4 1/2 tbspn butter
2 eggs
6 fl oz milk

I find this comes out a bit on the sticky side sometimes so you may need a bit of extra flour to hand *I make this up in my MR haven't tried it in the Panny yet!*
Set for white bread dough..

Filling.
2 eating apples
1 1/2 tsp plain flour
2 tbspn sugar
3/4 tspn cinammon
34 tspn lemon juice
3 tbspns sultanas

Peel,core and chop apples into small pieces toss with the remaining ingredients.

Roll out dough to 1/3 inch thick rectangle shape.Mark lightly from top to bottom into thirds without cutting!! On the outer thirds make diagonal cuts about 1 inch wide.

Place the filling down the centre of the dough then plait the dough over the top.

Cover loosely and rise for 30 mins then bake for approx 30 mins til golden brown.Gas mark 4/180 c/350 f

You're a love, thank you

FrugalinShropshire

This is a really interesting thread. We are a family of 4 adults. We have previously had a budget of £50 a week for food and managed well as we cook mostly from scratch and are savvy shoppers. Lately though as my Dad has recovered from a stroke and been more debilitated by his Parkinsons and DH has recovered from an amputation, our spend has increased to about £100 a week. We have just had Dad in respite for a week and are now aware that a care home may be needed in the future. Our income as a family will take a severe tumble to fund this and so in preparation for this possible future we are going full steam ahead as frugal as possible to give us time to adjust to an income drop. Our new budget from this week has been £60 a week and I have come in under at £50 for this week. We will do our utmost to lower it to the minimum to ne able to save as much as possible to fund the next 2 years before DH draws his pension.

flubberyzing

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Haven't forgotten you threemuttleys...will post week 1 tomorrow. What does worry me is, even though I applaud you sticking to your principles of free range, it is an unaffordable luxury when you are living on the edge.

Agreed. When I can, I buy free range/organic, but at the moment I just can't afford to. I know I absolutely will/did when I could afford it, so for now I buy with no guilt.

Ladyluck1

I had a go.
Not very inspired and slightly over budget but lots are carry over ingredients also I would assume most people would at least have SOME things like salt and oil but ive included them anyway

Oats 70p
Eggs 15 £1.25
Toasting muffins 39p
Soft wholemeal 45p
Leeks 45p
Parsnips 35p
Brussels 45p
Potatoes £99p 2kg
Carrots 1kg 41p
Frozen peas 95p 1kg
Garlic 30p
Frozen sausages 16 £2
Chicken medium £2.29
Lentils £1.80 kg (will carry over and price taken from Tesco as not sure on Aldi)
Flour 1.5kg £1.15 (also tesco cheaper aldi)
Salt 29p
Cheese £1.49
Butter Spread 69p
Curry sauce 25p
Passata x 2 40p
Tuna tin 40p
1kg Rice 45p (carry over)
Banana 68p 1kg
Milk £1.14 3 litre
100 Teabags 89p (carry over)
Biscuits rice teas 19p
Baked beans 39p
Veg Oil 90p (carry over!)
Jam 30p (probably carry over)
Sugar 1kg 50p (carry over)
Baking powder 39p (Carry over)

£22.43



Breakfasts;
Oats x3 days with jam or sugar and half a banana
Fake egg mcmuffins 1 day
Cheese on toast/ jam on toast x 2days
Frittata with potatoes and peas x 1 day


Lunches
(Assuming one child has free school meals)
Hm soup x 4 with stock from
2 days Chicken bone stock, potatoes and leeks, carrot.
2 days from lentils, stock, carrots and a little leftover curry sauce.

Chicken sandwiches

Beans (half tin) on toast and a poached egg

Dinners
Roast chicken, roast veg and Yorkshire puddings

Chicken curry with rest of chicken, some potato and carrot and lentils and curry sauce. Served with rice.

Risotto (with stock made from bones and small Amount of meat and peas)

Bubble and squeak (roast leftovers) with beans

Sausage casserole, parsnip mash and dumplings

Pasta with tuna, peas, passata and cheese.

Hm tortilla pizza topped with half passata reduced with a little leek and garlic. Cheese and 2 sausages.



Snacks
Fruit
Drink of milk
Biscuit

I also find a lot of fresh items at 30% off with a day or so on so you could be lucky with the chicken too!
Just realised I forgot gravy granules ��

donnajt

I love this thread - I can't ever imagine being able to feed my family for £20 but I have noticed a significant drop since I started following this thread and putting your tips into practice and some really good recipes - thank you all so much .... kerching! that was £40 savings I have made over last few weeks hitting my savings jar

FrugalinShropshire

I am using up odds and ends today and will meal plan based on what I have in the cupboards/freezer. We have a packet of burger buns in the freezer and some spicy bean burgers, that is supper sorted. I had exactly 400g of brown bread flour, so that is in the breadmaker doing a sandwich loaf for tomorrow. I have a bottle of lemon juice so as the girls have been laying well I will make some lemon curd. Dad is back from respite now and that is his favourite.

Caterina

Quickly in and out as just back from hols and seriously sleep-deprived, but wanted to thank moneyistooshorttomention for the suggestion about the vegan book, I got it and am loving it already! One problem is the generous use of gluten for their "meats", I will have to figure something else, nutmeal, bean paste etc, to substitute as I can't eat gluten anymore. THANK YOU! :-)

Butterfly_Brain

The new Super six All at 55p from Thurs 20th to Weds 2nd November

Kale-200g, Satsumas 600g, Butternut Squash, Funsize Apples min 5 pack, Asparagus, Chestnut Mushrooms-250g

I love satsumas, so they are on my list, Butternut squash, roasted and made into soup or added to a veggie crumble or curry, chestnut mushrooms, I will by a lot of them to freeze for later and use them to make soup, risotto and have with egg and bacon on Saturday.

The old SS is on offer until tomorrow night so I must go and pick up more parsnips etc

Working on these two overlapping SS's my menu is going to revolve around them.