Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Butterfly_Brain

Welcome Perdu :wave: We would love to have some of those recipes x

Welcome to agreenmess :wave: as well, it is lovely to see newbies on here

I have been a little lax in menus lately, but my health has taken a bit of a bashing at the moment and It seems that I am having a medical appointment for one thing or another every couple of weeks I have one next Wednesday to see the spinal consultant, then another on 21st but I will try to sit down and see what I can come up with.

monty-doggy

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Welcome Perdu :wave: We would love to have some of those recipes x

Welcome to agreenmess :wave: as well, it is lovely to see newbies on here

I have been a little lax in menus lately, but my health has taken a bit of a bashing at the moment and It seems that I am having a medical appointment for one thing or another every couple of weeks I have one next Wednesday to see the spinal consultant, then another on 21st but I will try to sit down and see what I can come up with.

Sorry you are not well. Take care of yourself and hope you get some resolve soon xxx

Fruball

patchwork_cat wrote: »

The concern I have with these diets long term is that they do seem to be short on 5 fruit and veg, dairy and protein. A lot of work has gone into them, but IMO they are coming up short on nutritionally balanced.


I feel that in order to do this near budget either one has to think more vegetarian, use short coded, special offers and markets or allotments or grow your own.

I agree. They aren't the healthiest but they are being designed for emergency use rather than any long term solution.

I would hope it would be rare that a family of 4 had only £20 to live on for any considerable time. (although I don't doubt that it happens )

Soworried

Could anybody help me meal plan the following please, for a family of four?

I have a reasonably stocked store cupboard as well as the following:Frozen
2 raw chicken drumsticks
Enough frozen cauliflower for two people
12 meatballs, large type
2 small fish portions
4 portions of hm soup
3 balls of mozzarella
some sliced sweet chilli lime chicken slices
a large portion on yellow split pea puree
a large toffee apple bread
some rhubarb puree
a half a bag of spinach

Fresh
12 eggs
milk
A large block of mature cheddar
2 tubs of clover
2 pork loin joints, the Lidl half price weekend type
mayonnaise, and other sauces
half a red, yellow and green pepper
handful of mushrooms
loads of onion, garlic
a full cabbage
a few sorry looking carrots

Any ideas would be great to stretch this out and use it up
I can buy odds and ends if I need to

ash28

patchwork_cat wrote: »

The concern I have with these diets long term is that they do seem to be short on 5 fruit and veg, dairy and protein. A lot of work has gone into them, but IMO they are coming up short on nutritionally balanced.


I feel that in order to do this near budget either one has to think more vegetarian, use short coded, special offers and markets or allotments or grow your own.

The menu plans are only meant to be short term.....however here is a plan that incorporates 5 a day.....although the 5 isn't every day but spread over the course of a week which is perfectly acceptable. For 4 people the 5 a day work at 140 servings a week...the plan has 142.....fruit juice, dried fruit, split peas and kidney beans all count...

Some main meals include a side salad or soup or a pudding. It also assumes you have a couple of things at home - chilli and mixed herbs and a bit of flour for thickening gravy.

The shopping comes to £25 - so over budget but it includes teabags, sugar, squash and a couple of packets of instant custard.....I'm sure someone could bring it in closer to budget.....

I do think it's possible to eat a reasonable diet today even on a limited budget.

Aldi 20 sausages frozen £1.00
Aldi 2 x 4 pints milk £2.00
Aldi 907gm frozen peas £0.89
Aldi 1kg everday mince £2.69
Aldi 15 eggs £1.35
Aldi 1kg porridge £0.75
Aldi 500gm sunflower spread £0.59
Aldi 1kg long grain rice £0.40
Aldi tin tuna flakes £0.49
Aldi 1kg granulated sugar £0.96
Aldi 3 x tin tomatoes £0.93
Aldi tin kidney beans £0.21
Aldi little gem lettuce (2 pack) £0.39
Aldi cooked beetroot 500gms £0.44
Aldi 1 cucumber £0.49
Aldi 1kg bananas (at least 8) £0.68
Aldi brocolli 335gms £0.39
Aldi 1ltr Orange juice £0.65
Aldi 1ltr Apple juice £0.65
Aldi 500gm spaghetti £0.23

Tesco 1.5kg carrots £0.89
Tesco 1kg onions £0.63
Tesco 2.5kg value potatoes £1.18
Tesco value garlic clove £0.30
Tesco white cabbage 454gms £0.36
Tesco 2 x instant custard mix £0.30
Tesco value mayonnaise £0.40
Tesco 200gm loose cheddar £0.90
Tesco 500gm split peas £0.49
Tesco 500gm value sultanas £0.84
Tesco 325gms value sweetcorn £0.35
Tesco 80 value teabags £0.27
Tesco 750mls value orange squash £0.42
Tesco value wholemeal bread x 3 £1.35
Tesco value batter mix £0.15
Tesco value beef stock cubes £0.20
total £25.20

Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
Tuna, onion & sweetcorn (mixed with a little mayo) sandwich
Chilli & rice (330gms mince) + grated carrot to bulk it out a bit + side salad of lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot and grated beetroot.

Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
Egg mayo sandwiches - 2 eggs mashed with little mayo + a little grated white cabbage and carrot.
Sausage & mash + white cabbage, carrots, peas and onion gravy
2 x bananas sliced and custard

Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
Cheese and onion sandwich
carrot soup
spaghetti bolognese (330gms mince) - chopped carrot to bulk it out a bit

Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
egg mayo sandwiches - 2 eggs mashed with a little mayo + diced cucumber and diced beetroot salad
toad in the hole (batter mix), mash, peas and carrots
2 x bananas sliced with a few sultanas.

Poached egg on toast with tinned tomatoes
left over carrot soup + toast made into croutons
savoury rice made with 4 sliced sausages, onion, chopped carrots, peas and any other left over veg.

Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
banana sandwiches (use 2 bananas mashed with a little sugar) + cucumber and carrot sticks
split pea soup
cottage pie (330gms mince) served with peas, sweetcorn & brocolli[FONT=&quot]
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Porridge made with water - served with sultanas and milk + small glass orange or apple juice
left over split pea soup + toast made into croutons
fritatta, 6 eggs, potato, onion & cheese, serve with coleslaw made with white cabbage, carrots, onion and a bit of mayo, diced cucumber and diced beetroot.
bananas and custard

Recipes
Carrot Soup
onion, chopped
bit of marg
clove of garlic - crushed
500gms carrot - chopped
good litre of chicken stock if you have it or water
pepper
Fry chopped onion and crushed garlic in the marg until soft
add stock/water and carrots
cook until carrots are soft and then blitz in the blender....
to make it stretch a bit further add a chopped potato and extra liquid.


Yellow split pea soup
1 onion - chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
little bit marg
500gms yellow split peas
1.5 litres of chicken stock or water
melt fat in pan add chopped carrot, garlic and onion and fry until soft
add split peas and stir
add stock or water and bring to the boil and simmer for an hour....add more stock or water if the soup becomes too thick. Season.

Butterfly_Brain

I have a reasonably stocked store cupboard as well as the following:Frozen
2 raw chicken drumsticks
Enough frozen cauliflower for two people
12 meatballs, large type
2 small fish portions
4 portions of hm soup
3 balls of mozzarella
some sliced sweet chilli lime chicken slices
a large portion on yellow split pea puree
a large toffee apple bread
some rhubarb puree
a half a bag of spinach

Fresh
12 eggs
milk
A large block of mature cheddar
2 tubs of clover
2 pork loin joints, the Lidl half price weekend type
mayonnaise, and other sauces
half a red, yellow and green pepper
handful of mushrooms
loads of onion, garlic
a full cabbage
a few sorry looking carrots

Any ideas would be great to stretch this out and use it up
I can buy odds and ends if I need to

Meatballs in gravy with cabbage, carrots and potatoes
or
Meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta add diced carrots and mushrooms to the sauce

Chop the chilli lime chicken slices and add to pasta with chopped mushrooms and a creamy sauce

Cook the drumsticks, strip off the meat and make a chicken noodle soup with sweetcorn and broken spaghetti

Cheese and onion pie is lovely with chips and beans
Grated cheese, a diced onion, ground black pepper combine everything with one egg and a slosh of milk and put into pastry, serve hot or cold

Mozzarella can be put onto a HM pizza or used in a pie with spinach as a faux spanakopita pie instead of using ricotta

or Nigel Slater's hot choizo and mozzarella sandwich .....One of my faves

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hot_chorizo_and_20568
Lots more mozzarella recipes here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/search?keywords=mozzarella

Pork loin joints use as Sunday roast's and if you have any leftovers slice up and add to a stir fry with soy sauce, star anise, a clove of garlic and honey, serve with egg noodles.

Eggs can be used in a quiche with veggies of choice or made into fritattas or omelettes, scrambled or boiled and mixed with mayo and put into a pastry case.

Is the fish just fillets or breaded? If fillets make a kedgeree.

Soworried

Thankyou so much BB :j:j
The fish is just plain fish so I can make kedgeree with it.
I can make the soup tomorrow and maybe follow with a sandwich or a dessert.
I have never even heard of Spanaktopita?

I just get times where I can't think what to make and I'm bored of making the things I can think of.
Thankyou for taking the time to reply, it really means a lot :A

I'm more myself today so I will do a meal plan tomorrow using quite a few of those ideas as we like all most all of them

Soworried

Are there any decent reduced turkeys or gammons around that would help feed a family for less?

retromother

At the moment we aim for £50 pw (£30 is a good week) to feed 2 adults and 2kids. Now next September if the government stick to their plan this should go down as both boys will receive free school meals.

My rule of thumb is if it's bad for you regardless then I will get the cheapest version. Eg I would never spend more than 17p on cola because it's a waste. I'll pay more for decent meat. Fruit and veg I try getting in season. Pasta I stick with value, but I like brown rice so not there.

OrkneyStar

Trying to reduce our food spend.
We live on an island, small town has small Coop (corner shop basically), local butcher and local grocer- both expensive. Larger town (13 mile drive each way) has 2 Coops (bigger than our town but not really larger than a Tesco Metro), Tesco (medium sized, smaller than an Extra, larger than a Metro, no Cafe or Petrol Station, small non-grocery section), Lidl, Dealz and a few local grocers. Other town has a small Coop (but not much else) other than petrol station and butcher, so don't go there much. Limited choice basically. Diesel up here is expensive so try not to drive for the sake of it. There are 3 of us, me, DH, DS (6)- he is having the odd school meal if he likes the option that day, otherwise packed lunch. I can cook and we do have a store cupboard, but need to be more innovative again!