Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Butterfly_Brain

Really nippy this morning so it was porridge with banana and maple syrup again. (£1.15)

Lunch time we had beans on toast using HM bread 47p and two tins of aldi beans 62p and 2oz/50g grated cheese ( 40p aldi mature cheddar 350g £1.75= £1.09

And dinner was spag bol that I costed earlier

£20.05 + £1.15 + £1.09
= £22.29 with just one day to go.




Added to the total comes to

millionaire_in_training

Butterfly brain that is an amazing achievement. Do you guys not have any snacks? How do you get away with that? My DS and DD would have a blue fit if we had no snacks lol

AlwaysHappy

I too am in utter amazement Butterfly Brain - you are an inspiration and its made me think I really could do much better. I've got my Mum coming for 3 weeks next weekend so will be spoiling her - I become a bit of a feeder, but will try harder come the new year.

moneyistooshorttomention

I will admit that I was born in an era where snacks in between meals weren't the norm. It was 3 meals a day and those meals were expected to "fill your stomach" and that was basically that.

So, I am wondering whether people on a low (or extremely low indeed) food budget are having a bit of cross-subsidisation from direct food costs (ie money spent on meals) by people using personal pocket money to buy snacks in between meals to "top up" the contents of their stomach.

That is, in truth, one of my reservations personally, as in I would certainly be using "pocket money" to top up one course for breakfast and one course (with no filler food included) for lunch and I would think I have an average-sized appetite for a woman.

This isn't meant in any sense as criticism. It's just a statement that I personally would be starving hungry with just cereal for breakfast for instance, followed by just an omelette for lunch and would have to find some money from another budget to have enough food not to feel constantly hungry.

To give an example of today's meals to date:

Breakfast = porridge (made with milk) and topped with some fruit and ground flaxseeds and then 2 thick slices of wholemeal toast.

Lunch = some "stew" from the freezer topped with grated cheese and accompanied by 2 thick slices of wholemeal toast. Had some more cheese separately and an apple and some plain yogurt.

Dinner = haven't quite decided yet...but it will probably be a stirfry of some noodles and a selection of vegetables. I don't think I will need any more food after that but, if I am still hungry, then I will have something...possibly a banana and a drink of milk?

Supper = on a light type dinner like that, I may well feel the need of a hot milky drink come bedtime of my version of "hot chocolate" (ie milk/carob powder/honey).

So, I certainly can (and do) personally pick up ideas from this...but definitely, personally, have to add in extra food somewhere not to feel hungry. The same applies to agirlcalledjack's recipes, in that I quite often try them out, but always have to add in extra food at that meal (or over the course of the day) to compensate for still being hungry after them.

millionaire_in_training

That was what I was thinking as well but then maybe that's why I'm a fat git :rotfl:

NewShadow

For me, it depends.

I go through phases, but mostly I only snack between meals if I'm bored - It happens most often when I'm on holiday from work or eating from the freezer rather than cooking.

I don't need more than 3 meals a day, but I'll eat junk from work if it's on the side (mince pies for example...)

Butterfly_Brain

We are not really snackers, if the kids want chocolate or whatever they can buy it themselves. I do good portions to fill everyone up and as such snacking is rare and as I am diabetic I try not to have too many sweet things in the house, but I do make things for the family such as parsnip crisps,fruit leathers, sponge cakes, toast, jam tarts, cream crackers and cheese, breadsticks and soft cheese.
We have lots of fruit in the garden, we have 3 apple trees, a pear tree, a cherry tree, strawberries, loganberries, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb and our friend next door has plum trees, I freeze and dehydrate at harvest time so there is plenty throughout winter apart from the clementines, bananas and lemons that I buy through winter.

Butterfly_Brain

Saturday breakfast was ordinary pancakes with cream cheese and blueberry filling (The blueberries came from the garden) pancakes 30p, 2 pots cream cheese 98p, blueberries =free total cost £1.28

Lunch was celery soup, a head of celery 49p, a large potato 5p, ½ an onion 5p, vegetable stock ( I use vegetable water that I save and put in the freezer) and a clove garlic, crushed.
With a couple of aldi part baked baguettes 39p

Total £1.08

Dinner was Omelettes (10 eggs) 70p, savoury rice 25p with 4 sliced sausages 50p mixed in to the rice.
£1.45

Total cost £3.81

So last week cost a total of £26.10

I could have done cheaper meals if I bought a lot of ready meals, but I prefer my family to have proper cooked from scratch meals which means I am limiting their exposure to hydrogenated fats, dubious chemicals and GM foods

camelot1001

Butterfly Brain - This is truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing all your recipes.

I do cook from scratch most of the time (just the odd frozen pizza) but I could do so much better!

msgnomey

I'm just off to make some carrot soup using the left overs from the salad drawer- will see how it comes out!