Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Adorian

Liz3yy wrote: »

I always buy the value spaghetti and it's perfectly edible

Excellent! There may be a difference between perfectly edible and amazing, but until I can afford a car that does 0-60 in under 9 seconds, we WILL be availing ourselves of our old car that gets us from A-B and food that keeps us from being hungry.

mcculloch29

I saw Heron Foods mentioned earlier, have to give them a thumbs up for many items. They had Covent Garden soups with 10 days of use by the other week, 3 for £1.20 - I was able to buy one that could be frozen too.
You could definitely feed a family of four for £20 a week using Heron and include meat and fish in your meals.
Their white fish fillets covered with exotic batters /coatings are usually 500g for £1.50 locally. We had four large lemon sole fillets tonight dusted with herbs, they were gorgeous. These fillets are the ones in a black flat tray with a clear polyfilm wrap.

The frozen lambs' liver (£1 for 454g) is often bitty when defrosted but great with the cooking bacon (same price) in a feed-four-easily casserole. I have tried it flash fried as the pieces are usually thin, and it's delicious, if a little fiddly to prepare.

They currently have Quorn chicken - style chunks for £2.00 for 450g - a great ingredient for stir-fries, curries or other strong sauces.

There are a few things I would never buy again - I was curious to see what the kebab meat was like for pittas. _pale_ It remains one of the few Heron foods that didn't make it to the table. Their ready meals seem to sell like proverbial hotcakes, so they must be good, if outside the 'feed 4' stipulation of the challenge.

Popperwell

I need to create some space but went into Iceland at the weekend. first time in years and found some items I could use so will visit them again...

Its hitting the bargains/offers and choosing carefully. Also choice varies depending on the size of the store. I live in the same town as mcculloch29 and Heron's are pretty good on price and variety/quality of their goods.

Adorian

Soworried wrote: »

Goodluck and please update with how you get on

We like it.

Just tried the Mr M cheapo pasta twists and it's a definite 1.5 thumbs up! Cooked it al dente and added sauteed onion, garlic, valueMr M cooking bacon and some frozen veg, and its taste is fine; it's just a bit...denser, I think I'd describe it...than other pasta twists I've had in the past. Not chewy/dense like wholewheat twists can be though. I'd definitely get it again. OH hasn't tried it yet but I'm happy to get it just for myself. So that was a win! Must have a go at the dried spaghetti next.

gailey_2

mcculloch29 wrote: »

I saw Heron Foods mentioned earlier, have to give them a thumbs up for many items. They had Covent Garden soups with 10 days of use by the other week, 3 for £1.20 - I was able to buy one that could be frozen too.
You could definitely feed a family of four for £20 a week using Heron and include meat and fish in your meals.
Their white fish fillets covered with exotic batters /coatings are usually 500g for £1.50 locally. We had four large lemon sole fillets tonight dusted with herbs, they were gorgeous. These fillets are the ones in a black flat tray with a clear polyfilm wrap.

The frozen lambs' liver (£1 for 454g) is often bitty when defrosted but great with the cooking bacon (same price) in a feed-four-easily casserole. I have tried it flash fried as the pieces are usually thin, and it's delicious, if a little fiddly to prepare.



They currently have Quorn chicken - style chunks for £2.00 for 450g - a great ingredient for stir-fries, curries or other strong sauces.

There are a few things I would never buy again - I was curious to see what the kebab meat was like for pittas. _pale_ It remains one of the few Heron foods that didn't make it to the table. Their ready meals seem to sell like proverbial hotcakes, so they must be good, if outside the 'feed 4' stipulation of the challenge.

Sounds good but herons norther none down south.

Find farmfoods better than iceland. more weight, better deals, cheap milk just time and petrol get there but we get money off coupons in local rag 10%off so stlll worth the trip we have large chest freezer.

Soworried

Soworried wrote: »

Shopping list- All from Mrt unless stated.
500g of Cornflakes 31p Same
Creamfields milk 2l x 2 £2.00 Same
500g dried mixed fruit 64p 95p
Wholemeal loaf 47p Now 45p
Lemon curd 22p Same
Chicken stock cubes 10p Now 20p
5x fresh chicken portions £1.50 Now £1.58
Mixed veg frozen 1kg 75p Same
Chicken noodles 11p Now 15p
1kg spread £1.35 Same
Salt 29p Same
Potatoes 5kg £1.78 £3.49
Coleslaw 500g 39p Now only in 250g at 25p, so 50p
12pk bread rolls 35p Now 40p
15pk eggs £1.25 Now £1.35
Mayonaisse 48p Now 40p
Sweetcorn tinned 33p Now 35p
Custard 6p Now 15p
Tinned peaches 29p Now 32p
Tin tuna 49p Now 86p
Tinned pineapple x2 64p Now 66p
1kg of frozen sausages 20pk £1 Now £1.60
Pasta 30p 500g Now 29p
Tin of kidney beansx2 36p Now 42p
6x tins of mushy peas 24p Now 90p
Cooking bacon 74p Now 81p
Tinned grapefruit 34p Same
Rice 1kg 40p Same
Rice pudding 12p Now 15p
Plain flour 52p Now 45p
Gravy granuales 20p Same
Tin of carrots 18p Now 19p
Cheese sauce 3 for £1 Now 90p
Frozen broccoli 80p Now £1

That is £20 to the penny. Some items will be left for the following week as well. It is not quite 5 a day but it is not far off.

Breakfasts
4 days of the week, cornflakes 30g each with 120ml of milk and 30g of mixed fruit
2 days 2 slices of Toast with lemon curd

Lunches
1 day, Chicken noodle and vegetable soup served with a slice of bread and spread.
Make it with 1 chicken portion boiled in chicken stock made with 2 stock cubes and 1 1/2 pints of boiling water. Add in 240g of mixed veg. Once the chicken is cooked remove it and shred in to tiny bits. Part blend the soup to make the veg smaller and to help thicken it. Add the packet of noodles and the chicken back in. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

2nd day, Jacket potato with coleslaw. 1 large potato, around 175g. Microwave for 7-8 minutes and top with 140g of coleslaw.

3rd day, Egg mayonaisse rolls. Using 1 roll each and 1 egg each with a tsp mayo and a pinch of salt and 1/8th can of sweetcorn. A tin of peaches with custard.

4th day, Tuna mayonaisse rolls using 1 tin of tuna, 4 rolls and the rest of the sweetcorn. Pinch of salt and mayo to mix. A tin of pineapple for afterwards.

5th day, Kidney bean pasta. Using 75g each of pasta mixed with mayonnaise a tin of kidney beans. Follow with a tin of pineapple.

6th day, Bacon and pea soup. Use 4 tins of mushy peas, add 1pt of stock and salt to taste. Blend then add 250g of bacon chopped in to pieces. Simmer until cooked. Serve with a roll each.

7th day, The other half of the pea and bacon soup. Then share the grapefruit tin.

Dinners
Day 1, Chicken with vegetable rice. Roast the remaining 4 chicken portions, boil 300g of rice in stock and add 240g of mixed veg.

Day 2, Sausage hash. Using 8 Sausages fried then cut in to chunks. 700g of potatoes cut in to disks. 240g of mixed veg. 1 pint of stock. Layer up in a dish and pop in the oven to slow roast. Serve with 300g of broccoli and a tin of peas.

Day 3 , Sausage, chips and peas. Using 8 sausages and the last tin of mushy peas. To cook the chips put them in a freezer bag once chopped with a spoonful of melted spread, then cook as oven chips. If the potato skin is nice, leave it on.

Day 4, Vegetable burgers with rice. Using the remaining mixed veg, blend it with salt and the two slices of wholemeal bread that is left. Gently fry in a little spread, serve with a fried egg and 300g of rice.

Day 5, Bacon omlette using the rest of the bacon pack and 6 eggs, add a splash of milk and a pinch of salt. Serve with the remaining coleslaw on a jacket potato.

Day 6, The last 200g of pasta mix with cheese sauce and 300g of broccoli. Add 1 hard boiled egg on the top to serve.

Day 7, Toad in the hole. Using the remaining 4 sausages. Make your own batter with the last 1 egg, splash of milk and some salt and flour. Melt a little spread to add the batter to. Make mashed potato using 700g of potatoes, pinch of salt and splash of milk and a knob of spread. Tin of carrots, 300g of broccoli and gravy.
Follow with rice pudding and stir in some lemon curd.

I'll try again to see if I can get it any healthier but it is not to bad I don't think.

I am seeing my shopping bill increase and have used this shopping list to see how much it really is increasing.

The above shopping would now be £4.26 more, a whopping 21.3% higher No wonder more people are struggling.

Butterfly_Brain

Price rises are really getting scary aren't they, as for the government saying that they are only rising by 2.5% that is a load of bulls%$t, plus now we have to contend with the greedy energy companies bleeding us dry for no other reason than pure greed:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Soworried

:mad: 2.5% in a year I could cope with better. Over 20% is just ridiculous. Your right BB, we are getting hit from all sides right now and the government won't stop them

patchwork_cat

Soworried wrote: »

I am seeing my shopping bill increase and have used this shopping list to see how much it really is increasing.

The above shopping would now be £4.26 more, a whopping 21.3% higher No wonder more people are struggling.

I have observed Tesco prices increasing. Have you tried Asda for some of the things that have gone up?

Butterfly_Brain

Asda are just as bad and seem to have less and less stock in