Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

cuddlymarm

Hi again Nursemaggie

If you are getting nowhere with your power companies perhaps it's time to get the ombudsman involved. Not a quick process but they usually can help.

Cuddles

moments_of_sanity

Today's dinner is going to be slow cooked chicken crown from Morries. I bought it a few months ago when they were offering £5 off a £10 spend so the price is normally £2.99 but at half price £1.50.

I will be adding 2 large onions from Ald!'s supper 6, £0.16p
5 large carrots, £0.15p
Chicken stock cube, Tesc0's basics, £0.02p
1/2 Butternut squash, bought on Super 6 so £0.25p
Handful of barley to bulk it out, 100g, £0.11p
Potatoes of some description, £0.10p

Dinner tonight will feed 2 of us and the remaining 2 servings will go in th freezer. Total cost £2.29 / 4 servings, £0.57p each. This will be cooked in my slow cooker to save electricity too

Butterfly_Brain

Nurse maggie I am sorry that you are in such a predicament, my lot never go hungry my meals are bulked out with plenty of veggies and as I have said if they want empty calories like crisps biscuits etc they buy it themselves, I come from a generation where snacks were a treat not the norm, meals were meant to fill you up and that was it, but we did have four meals a day, we had supper which usually consisted of hot buttered toast or crackers and jam and a cup of tea then it was bath and bed.

I have never pandered to fussy eaters because we have always been on a tight budget, as such my family eats what is put in front of them.
I make my own bread in the breadmaker now because my hands are no longer up to kneading the dough, but it means we always have fresh bread ( I sometimes get it from Morrisons when it is on offer at 65p for a tiger loaf)
I do occassionaly make biscuits, cakes or jam tarts, it just depends how much energy I have ( I have osteoarthritis in the neck wher the discs are collapsing and it presses on the spinal cord which means that I have limited use of my hands, I also have it in both knees and both hands to top that I have macular degeneration and cateracts) I have good days and bad days and that is why I batch cook, so on the bad days there is always a meal from the freezer.

DD is a vegetarian, which I respect, but it doesn't interfere with my menu plan I just cook the same thing that we are having without meat but with extra veg in it.

If you look at the stew photo that I posted, that is by no means a small portion. That was the size of DH and the boys plates BTW, I have a smaller plate because I don't eat as much.

I have found growing my own fruit and veg saves us a lot of money.
If your son is just sitting around the house, get him out in the garden growing food, and it will help with depression as well. Look out for seeds that have been reduced I got loads for 10p a pack last year, but I have now started growing heritage seeds, which means that I save my own seeds every year so if you want some of the 10p seeds PM me and I will gladly send some to you.
For example we had 70lbs of runner beans this year from just eight seeds. Currently I have 10 kale plants, 10 cabbages, lettuce, swede, parsnips, turnips and beets in the garden.
My harvest is safely in the freezer, made into chutney's and jam or has been dehydrated and it really helps to keep costs down.

If your DS is joint tenant, he will not get housing benefit in his own right. I believe that it is paid per household.

If you post the sort of meals that you both eat maybe I could come up with a meal plan for you.

In the meanwhile I suggest that you go and look on the benefits board there is a lot of help on there for someone in your situation.

Butterfly_Brain

PasturesNew
You made me chuckle, we won't run you out of town :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
All cheap recipes are welcome

moments_of_sanity

BB, I am glad it's not just me that won't tolerate fussiness. My youngest DD17 is a vegetarian and like you, I cook the same as we have but with either substitute veggie food or more veggies. Her Sunday dinner was roast potatoes and lots and lots of veg, Yorkshire pud (we had a very small roast beef joint, one slice for me and eldest DD and 2 slices for DH) and gravy. Last night we had sausage, mash and beans, DD had vegetarian sausages with mash and beans.

I do find we can eat really well when packing out with veggies, Ald! Super 6 save me a lot of money and without it we wouldn't eat so well. If I cook spag Bol (and the veggie alternative), I pack out with onions and grated carrots, 200g of meat will easily do 4 dinners, although I do eat a smaller portion than DH. My DH always laughs at my spag Bol and says 'do you like meat with your onions'! Can you ever have too many onions in food? :rotfl:

I am impressed with the amount of runner beans you got from 8 plants, guess what I am growing next year as I love runner beans but never buy them as they are too expensive. I did grow tomatoes this year and got about 8lbs from them which makes up my spag Bol bases.

wishus

nursemaggie wrote: »

A car you must be joking it would take the whole of my income to run one.

I am not trying to be awkward but I have a shopping trolley I have had shopping trolleys for years. How do you get them on the bus when they are heavy?

I eat swede, I cannot live on it, I have not seen a swede for less than 50p for years.

I will tell you something that happened 5 years ago when I first left my husband and 3 of us were living on £100 a week them. I went shopping and bought lots of savers things. I cooked dinner and put on rice to cook the normal amount I was used to cooking for three. When it was cooked there was only enough for one. I worked it out that cheap rice actually works out more expensive than quality rice because there is nothing there much after it was cooked. I ended up cooking the whole bag of rice.

I do know how much things cost in Mr M I shop there every week. Aldi is a £4 bus ride plus a one mile walk that is why I take my son. I tried walking both ways one week. We got half way home and I could not walk any further. Lidl is a £8 bus journey as it is two buses. £4 is the minimum return fare.

I have cancer I cannot walk a long way I seem to be able to manage just under 3 miles and then my legs just cease up.

I do not think it is anything to do with my GP no wonder they are collapsing under the strain if they get patients going to them because they have no money. Your average GP has over 20,000 patients. How many of them do you think are struggling. When the NHS first started the average GP had just 1000 patients.

I only wanted to point out that I thought there were not enough calories in the meals people were suggesting I am sorry I said anything. I only mentioned my circumstances for them to see there are real people trying to exist on this.

As I have already explained why we rarely eat potatoes why on earth would I buy 12.5 kilos of them. If I buy 1kilo half go bad and I have no where to store them.

Oh my, Nursemaggie, yes I agree with you about strains on services. I can't believe we're like this in our country. But if you find yourself poorly and needing the doctor, please do mention it. I hate to think of anyone going hungry.

As for using the shopping trolley on the bus - I really try not to! Pulling a heavy trolley off the bus one day was a catastrophe for me as I fell with the momentum and the wheels just smashed. :eek: I'm lucky there are shops within 1-1.5miles of my house, and I am quite mobile (haven't always been).
Lucky, too, that I have an Ald* 2 miles away, that was recently doing 49p swedes, but mostly I pop to A*da's and get them when they are YS'd.
It sounds like you're at the end of your tether!

thefamousexcuse

Hi nursemaggie,

so sorry to hear that your having such a rubbish time! I really hope things do get better for you both soon.

In the meantime, if you could let us know what you like to eat we can can go from there? Some of the things that guys on here can come up with are amazing! Just please know that we are not judging you, just trying to help.

boultdj

Nurse Maggie,sorry I did not see your post about spuds being no good for your family, till after I posted,I'm very slow at typing. Rats to the cost of the bus fair and other shop's being far away, but I would check with the nurses at your doctors to see if you can be refered to food bank,like wishus surgested, the one's at my doctors can, but it's not widely know, and seeing as it's the nurses,not the doctor who can refer you it should be qiucker to get an appointment.hth.B

midnight_express

Tesco deliver from £1 and they stock a wide range of value stuff.

Butterfly_Brain

Aaaargh I have water pouring out of the ceiling, waiting for an emergency plumber, thank goodness I have pipe insurance :eek:

I will be back later