Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

HappyMJ

joanne79 wrote: »

I have never fed my children a ready meal ....they have things like chicken nuggets occasionly (don't know if that counts) that cost includes everything, everything for cleaning etc the bathroom...we do buy some treats like crips etc... I did notice yesterday actually, I buy fresh chicken legs at nearly £3 per pack,strip them down and make homemade curry, but I noticed a bag of frozen chicken portions £3.50, of which I reckon I could make 3 chicken dishes .....so a little saving there,my family complain that I cook to much chicken...:-/, I do try and bring it down..always look out for offers etc...it depends what we need that week really...this week we needed washing powder etc (won't by own brand in that as daughter has sensitive skin) so it was more £80, week before it was £62. I do tend to use frozen veg..But we spend quite a lot on fresh fruit, wasn't very detailed as I have trouble remember what I did yesterday lol

Chicken nuggets are technically a ready meal. You can make your own for about the same price. When I made my own and offered them to my partner she was amazed at the taste of them. Just get a good quality chicken breast tenderize the meat until it's fairly flat. Then cut it into tiny matchbox size pieces then cover in batter or breadcrumbs including in the batter/breadcrumb mix your own favourite seasonings and shallow fry in a healthy oil. It really doesn't take long to make and much better than the possibly mechanically recovered chicken used in some chicken nuggets in the supermarket.

joanne79

Ooooh wow they sound great....Do you make bread crumbs or buy them ? I don't know why I never thought of that....

joanne79

Ok used my brain then and googled ...I am making home made chicken nuggets for tea :-)

HappyMJ

joanne79 wrote: »

Ooooh wow they sound great....Do you make bread crumbs or buy them ? I don't know why I never thought of that....

Make them myself from the crusts that nobody ever eats. Freeze them once the rest of loaf is finished they need to be a little stale when needed then either use your hands to crumb them or blitz them in a food mixer. I think the seasonings make the difference. I use whatever I have mixed herbs mainly. You can put minced chilli's and/or chilli powder in the crumb to make a hot and spicy nugget. Breadcrumbing is kind of fun...at least I think it is...3 bowls one with flour, milk or egg and the breadcrumbs. Dip chicken into each then onto a plate.

joanne79

Anymore tasty children's recipes hiding about here...I'm pretty surprised I have everything in the house needed to make my own :-/ could I make a big batch of them and freeze do you think ?

joanne79

Ahhh ok ...I always throw away the crusts....i will save them now. I am going to try batter today...I will let you know how they come out and what my children think :-)

quintwins

Homemade nuggets are popular here and homemade onion rings, seriously why would anyone buy them when they cost pennies to make and are sooooo much nicer, i have an old pasta jar i keep oil in for when we batter things so my chippan doesn't smell like onions.

I don't think £80 is too bad it could be lowered if you needed to but if you don't and are happy with it it's fine. The only way to eat a balanced diet is to shop around, i'm currently eating out of my freezer which is full of meat and frozen veg but yesterday i needed fruit and milk, asda had milk reduced to 57p for 2litres in date til the 17th but display date was yesterday, i got bananas in sainburys 11 for £1.30, i got 2 nets of oranges in lidl as that was this weeks deal 11 oranges for 79p, i only got 5 leeks for 99p in lidl, a 2kg bag of carrots for 90p and a bag of 3 huge peppers for 79p, i then got apples in asda 7 for £1. Apples were £2 in sainburys leeks were 2 for £1 in asda and peppers are 99p in tesco so like i said if you can it's worth shopping around.

joanne79

I generally shop at Tesco...as I get discount. We did try other shops see if we could do it cheaper elsewhere,trouble is you get used to what you know.and it did help a little,because we went elsewhere for a couple of weeks,when we went back to Tesco it started giving us vouchers £6 off a £40 shop :-) with 10% off too

joanne79

My children won't eat onions....I wonder if they would if I did it as a onion ring hmmmm, my children are fussy eaters...my son struggles to eat anything unless it is made out of potatoe, I could dish him up a plate of potatoes made anyway and he will eat it, I hoping he will eat the homemade nuggets as his diet is definitely not balanced, he does love fruit though and salad veg. Neither of them will touch spaghetti bolognese, both prefer spaghetti and cheese when we have it...my daughter is a little easier, she will eat most veg and meat

joanne79

I feel pretty stupid that I have never thought to make homemade chicken nuggets ....:-( I was never taught to Cook so everything I know is what. Have taught myself or come up with....I love this forum