Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

patchwork_cat

ash28 wrote: »

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]
[/FONT]
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.

A lot of work has gone into this plan, however, this plan is low on dairy. If you doubled the amount of milk bought you would be nearer the mark for a family of four, make the porridge with milk and for £2 more you are nearer the dairy mark and or £4 you are setting the children up with excellent bone health. As this thread is quite old perhaps £27 is a fairer benchmark now.

gingermomma

This thread and others like it (currently half way through the £7 one) have given me some great ideas,today i picked up 3 1k carrot bags from MrT at 5p a bag so definitely gonna try the carrot soup,and i also brought some red lentils to bulk out meals,one area i do struggle with cost is that i'm a coeliac so cheap sausages i cant have ,
i have however cut down on portion sizes where meat is concerned for my chicken stew tomorrow,i;ve only put 2 chicken drumsticks in where has before i would think nothing of boiling a whole chicken and stripping it.
most off our money gets flittered away on food,i have lost my job,so we have got to cut down ,but the freezers full (all reduced items)and a large store cuboard
i think you all do a brilliant job with the menu plans and look forward to each new thread i find x

optimistic-mummy

does anyone have a link too the £7 thread please

bladerunner73

I think this is the £7 thread they were referring to

Here

optimistic-mummy

tyvm for link

apple_muncher

gingermomma, I'm coeliac too and have recently had to give away my lentils as they were now labeled as 'may contain gluten' due to manufacturing processes. Pesky them! Just wanted to mention it, so you don't damage yourself.

Uniscots97

gingermomma wrote: »

This thread and others like it (currently half way through the £7 one) have given me some great ideas,today i picked up 3 1k carrot bags from MrT at 5p a bag so definitely gonna try the carrot soup,and i also brought some red lentils to bulk out meals,one area i do struggle with cost is that i'm a coeliac so cheap sausages i cant have ,
i have however cut down on portion sizes where meat is concerned for my chicken stew tomorrow,i;ve only put 2 chicken drumsticks in where has before i would think nothing of boiling a whole chicken and stripping it.
most off our money gets flittered away on food,i have lost my job,so we have got to cut down ,but the freezers full (all reduced items)and a large store cuboard
i think you all do a brilliant job with the menu plans and look forward to each new thread i find x

A friend is coeliac and gets coeliac friendly pizza bases, rolls and bread free through their gp. Just a thought in case this would help.

ash28

The plan is a bit light on calcium......I won't say milk as there are equally good sources of calcium that aren't milk. There is a fair amount of calcium in the plan already.

The plan currently contains 15,700mg calcium....and the recommended amount for 2 adults and 2 children is 17,500mg....that can easily be achieved by adding 2 x tins of sardines instead of the tuna and 2 x 500gms natural yoghurt....those changes would add 2,800mg of calcium and take the total to 18600mg of calcium - more than enough. The additional cost would be £1.21.

And like the 5 a day you can spread your calcium intake over a week or even a month, you don't have to eat the required amount each and every day.

However, as has been mentioned before these plans are meant to be short term emergency menus that would be used for a few days or a couple of weeks or even a month or so, they aren't really meant to provide a proper nutritionally balanced diet for the long term.

The other thing to remember is that vitamin D is also essential for bone strength.....we should get most of that from sunshine. As is exercise...weight bearing exercise.

patchwork_cat wrote: »

A lot of work has gone into this plan, however, this plan is low on dairy. If you doubled the amount of milk bought you would be nearer the mark for a family of four, make the porridge with milk and for £2 more you are nearer the dairy mark and or £4 you are setting the children up with excellent bone health. As this thread is quite old perhaps £27 is a fairer benchmark now.

ash28 wrote: »

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 change to 2 x tins sardines in oil £0.70 from Tesco
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
Aldi 500gm Brooklea natural yoghurt x 2 £0.90


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
New total £26.41

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]
[/FONT]
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.

Soworried

Pippin12 wrote: »

Just found it, from Thursday 16th

Swede
Baby potatoes 1kg
Onions 1kg
Chanteney carrots 500g
Tomatoes six
Butternut squash each

All priced at 49p

I like the look of the super 6. I'll get a few swede and a few BNS :T

I forgot to say that Tes co has 6x1 ltr of semi skimmed uht milk for just £2.50. I'm going to grab a few for making yoghurt and sauces

patchwork_cat

Didn't know that Sainsbury's basics skimmed milk powder is 400g for £1.01. I think that will make 7 pints. So for just over £1 you have well met the dairy for a child for a week. I wonder what that would be like when used to make porridge for example.