Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

muddywhitechicken

I was chatting to the F&V man in MrM this afternoon and he mentioned that the 69p bags of veg (parsnips, carrots, onions etc) were going on offer at 3 bags for £1.50 from Monday through to Christmas. He mentioned stalk-on sprouts as well.

Prudent

Thanks for the vegetables prices. BB do you cook the veg or just prepare them before freezing? This would be really helpful to do in advance even if prices don't go up. I need to start thinking about food for Christmas day. i had meant to spend today working out recipes and ingredients, but have a bug and didn't feel up to it. I was going to use the £10 off £50 voucher for Aldi to help with the cost.

Prudent

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

The coupons appear in the Daily Mirror or Sun usually, but occassionaly in other newspapers.
They come out on a Thursday, but it is only every month or so, but at Christmas there are more about.

Last year Aldi had a whole sheet of coupons in a leaflet, I don't know if they are doing that this year.

It is only money saving when it is something that you need though.

I put all of the equivalent coupon money and lotto winnings for the year into a pot and have £373 in there so far, and I didn't start it until March :eek: I will have the final count on New Year's eve.

It is something that I will definitely be doing again next year starting on New year's day.

This is another of your great ideas. Perhaps the challenge deserves its own thread for other people to join?

patchwork_cat

MrWillyWonka wrote: »

Just wondering, where do I get these £5 or £10 vouchers from papers? What days and which ones, every week? That seems like £100's of savings a year! A new Lidl has opened about 30 seconds drive from my work and I couldn't believe how cheap they were and the quality of fruit and vegs are great. Not sure about the meat though.

If you look on this board http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38 there will be a newspaper daily summary like this one https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5114137 This thread will probably give you a heads up if you read regularly https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/67101208#Comment_67101208 .


The Aldi vouchers are usually in The Mirror last Thursday of the month.

Butterfly_Brain

Prudent I do not blanch veg, I just peel, wash and slice, then put into freezer bags and bung in the freezer have been doing it for donkey's years and have never had any problems.

My problem at the moment is that my freezers are full to bursting because we have had such a good harvest this year (70lbs of runner beans :eek: for a start) and I can't squeeze much more in

I get into a panic if my stores in the freezer or cupboards run down, this comes from facing too many redundancies over the years
And now the grubbyment want to make you wait for a month before you can claim benefits, it is all the more important to have a back up of food and bill money.

Thanks for the heads up on Morrisons veg prices muddywhitechicken

dicrainie

Newshadow, have you ever thought about writing a blog, that was soooo funny have'nt been so entertained for a while lol x

Butterfly_Brain

Got my Morrison's freebie veg today, different to what I was planning to get..........

A 25lbs (12.5kg) sack of potatoes £2.00 (8p per lb)
Really good value because the lowest the market charges for potatoes is 20p per lb
2 brussels stalks 69p each £1.38
2 parsnips 69p eack £1.38
1 bulb garlic 25p

It only cost 1p with the coupon:D and the £5 saved has gone into my coupon pot

Now working on next week's meal plan

Savvy_cash

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Had a nice breakfast this morning, waffles with foraged blackberries from the freezer (defrosted in the fridge overnight) and Greek style yoghurt with honey

I make my own waffles but you can get a pack of 12 from Aldi for 62p, the greek yoghurt with honey was 50p from Asda.

Total cost of breakfast for 6 people £1.12 = 18.5p per person and that is with two waffles each.

That sounds gorgeous! I tend to buy packs of waffles when they are on offer, but how do you make your own? Do you have a waffle maker or something?

Love this thread!

Butterfly_Brain

Yes savvy cash I have a waffle maker, that I bought in tchibo's years ago and it is still going strong.

Waffles
Serves: 4
250g (9 oz) plain flour 6p
2 tsps baking powder 5p
1 tablespoon caster sugar 5p
¼ teaspoon salt
450ml (16 fl oz) milk 14p
2 eggs 14p
2Tbsp oil 12p

Total cost 56p

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Add milk, eggs and oil then mix well.

Pour desired amount of batter onto hot oiled waffle iron. Cook until golden brown.

When I have a few extra pence I use 2oz(50g) melted butter instead of oil which brings the cost to 73p

millionaire_in_training

Been reading through this since yesterday. Brilliant thread x