Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

Fruball

It's been a long time since I wrote out a cheap meal plan but here is something that I think I could happily eat for a week. It isn't meant to be nutritionally balanced etc but to stop people from being hungry when limited funds available. I would want extra fruit/veg if I had spare money.

All tesc0 value and assumes S&P and herbs available.

1kg frozen chicken breasts
3 tins baked beans
1kg rice
curry sauce
S&S sauce
Gravy Granules
Streaky bacon
Cheddar
Eggs
Onion
Brown bread (to add to meals or use for snacks)
2 x 1.3kg mixed veg
2.5kg potatoes

Total £13.49 for 14 hot meals. 2 hot meals per day (plus a few lunches) for 1 week.

Meals

Frittata
6 eggs, 1/4 onion, 2 potatoes served with b beans Feeds 2

Roast chicken dinner
2 chicken (pieces), 4 potatoes, mixed veg, gravy (could make stuffing from bread, onion and herbs) Feeds 2

Curry
1 chicken, 1 potato, 1/4 onion, b beans and curry sauce, serve with rice Feeds 2

Sweet and Sour
2 chicken, sauce, frozen mixed veg, rice Feeds 2/3

Special Fried Rice
Rice, mixed veg, 2 eggs, 1 chicken, 2 bacon, 1/4 onion Feeds 2

Jacket potatoes
2 potatoes, 1 tin b beans, 100g cheddar Feeds 2

Breakfast hash
3 potatoes, 4 bacon, 2 eggs 1 tin beans, 100g cheddar Feeds 2



Left over after rough calculations - this could be used for some (obv not all) lunches, ie beans on toast, bacon sarnie, egg sarnie, hash etc.
bread
4 slices bacon
3 eggs
200g cheese
2 portions veg
half onion
1 tin beans
rice

(Value jam is 29p and real butter 98p so for an extra £1.27 you can have something sweet on toast too)

Fruball

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

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

:eek: Oh my goodness :eek: Hope it gets sorted asap x

thefamousexcuse

Hi Nursemaggie,

I have been having a think to see what I could come up with. Just a rough idea as I don't really have a definite idea of what you and your DS eat. Sure other could do a better job but its a start .......

Breakfasts

Weetabix with milk
or
toast and jam

Lunches

Broccoli and blue cheese soup
bag of broccoli cook according to instructions as per back of packet in vegetable stock instead of water. Then when cooked and fried onion and garlic. Then add blue cheese and blend. Season to taste. Have with toast.
This should make about 12 portions if not a few more so this will easily feed the two of you for a week

Sardine rice
cook rice according to packet instructions and then mix with tin of sardines and perhaps a handful of mixed veg you have fried with half an onion.

Kipper kedgeree
Place the kippers into a deep baking dish and pour over the boiling water.
Leave the kippers in the water for five minutes, then take them out of the water but keep it for later.
Carefully remove the meat from the fish, taking care to remove all the bones. Place the kipper meat into a bowl and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a deep frying pan with a lid until hot then add the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the onions and fry for 3-4 minutes, until just softened but not coloured.
Add 1tsp curry powder and cook for a further minute.
Add 1/3 of a bag of rice and stir to coat well in the onions.
Add the reserved kipper soaking liquid and heat to a gentle simmer, then cover with the lid and cook for 12-15 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed.
Stir in the kippers.
This should feed 2 people over 2 days, 3 if served with 1 boiled or poached egg per person.

Pitta pizzas
Basic tom sauce - reduce a tin of tomatoes with a pinch of sugar, mixed herbs and half a garlic clove. This will be the sauce for the base.

Top pitta with sauce then some of the ham (that has been shredded) and mozzarella (again that has been ripped up) maybe some sweetcorn if you want. Bung under the grill until the cheese is melted.

Corned beef and bean roll
with the left over 2/3 block of pastry.
Mix both tins of corned beef with a tin of beans and 2 potatoes that has been mashed. Season.
Add the corned beef to the pastry and roll abit like a sausage roll.
Bake in the oven for about 20mins until the pastry is cooked.
This again will serve 2 for 3 days for lunch.


Dinners
Spag bol
use 1/3 of mince - bulk out with lentils
half spaghetti
1 tin of toms
onions
frozen veg mix


chilli and rice
1/3 of mince
kidney beans
onions
frozen veg
chilli powder

mince and yorkies
1/3 of mince
frozen veg
onions
yorkie mix (equal amounts of flour egg and water, usually half a cup which amounts to 2 eggs)


fish pie
1/2 bag frozen fish
flour and milk to make white sauce with mixed herbs
sweetcorn and peas
mash top - maybe ask DS to peel potatoes, mix in some cheese spread and top with a little grated cheese.
Will make 4 portions so freeze some for later.

Fish, chips and mushy peas
2 fish fillets
batter - flour and water
frozen chips
tin of mushy peas
bread and butter?

gammon, egg, chips and beans
gammon grills
2x eggs
frozen chips
1 tin of beans

Toad in the hole
2 sausages per person
yorkie mix (equal amounts of flour egg and water, usually half a cup which amounts to 2 eggs)
1/2 stuffing mix
gravy (maybe slice 1 onion and make onion gravy)
with roast parsnips and carrots (1 parsnip and sliced carrots)

sausage meatball pasta
6 sausages (skinned mixed with a little stuffing mix and an onion re rolled into meatballs and then fried)
tin of toms
mixed herbs
1/2 spaghetti

bacon and sausage rice
4 sausages (skinned and dry dried - looks a bit like mince)
1/3 pack of bacon fried
onion and frozen veg fried.
1/3 pack of rice cooked with a tin of tomatoes.
mix all together and serve maybe a little grated cheese.

Chicken and bacon pasta
chicken breast fried with 1/3 pack of bacon and an onion.
mixed with a tin of

chicken and vegetable pie.
cook chicken breast and shred.
mix with frozen veg, fried onion and sweetcorn in a white sauce.
1/3 pack of pastry.
serve with chips.

chicken curry
2 chicken legs cooked and shredded.
mix with fried onion and curry powder and a tin of tomatoes.
serve with rice.
will make four portions of curry so freeze later.

chicken and veg soup
chicken carcass to make chicken stock.
pick to get last of chicken from the bones.
When the stock is ready boil carrots, parsnips, swede and onion with some lentils.
Once lentils are cooked - blend.
serve with toast.
Should make enough for 6-8 portions so can freeze left overs and use for lunches.

I have done this from MrM's website and this would be enough to feel the both of you for 2 weeks if not a little longer as some of the the main meals will more than likely stretch. As I wasn't sure what you had already I have started from scratch. The whole shopping list comes to just over £40. So depending on what you have in the price will change. I will post the list once I have typed it Also depending on where you live this can be done online and delivered.

I know you said that your DS didn't like lentils or pulses but where they have been used they cook down to nothing but bulk out the dish. I promise he won't be able to taste them. OH is the same, he says he hates them but never notices when I cook with them which is 90% of the time.

Butterfly_Brain

Frubal and thefamousexcuse that is brill :T

Update, it was the pipe under the bath and I now have a big square hole in my kitchen ceiling, DD thought it was brilliant when she could see the ligh from the kitchen in the bathroom

To top everything off the plumber missed the front door step and went flying :eek: He was ok and was really nice about it and told me not to worry, but I was mortified :eek::o:eek:

I will be glad when today is over

NewShadow

So no beans or pulses other than baked beans, no potatoes, no peanuts, no store cupboard. £20 per week for the two of you?

70p - 500g wholewheat couscous
45p - 1kg rice
35p - 500g penne

45p - 1.5kg Plain flour
77p - Yeast
22p - lemon curd (strawberry or mixed fruit for 7p more)
100p - 1.3kg mixed veg
100p - 1.3kg mixed veg
63p - 1kg onions
20p - 10 stock cubes
85p - curry powder
30p - sweet and sour sauce
55p - chilli con carne
34p - tinned toms
34p - tinned toms
34p - tinned toms
34p - tinned toms
34p - tinned toms
24p - beans
24p - beans
100 - sausage meat (400g)
104 - streaky bacon (200g)
248 - whole chicken (I’m assuming about 600g meat)
125 - 15 eggs
25p - chicken paste
23p - rich tea
15p - rice pudding
15p - custard powder
22p - sponge mix
15p - custard powder
22p - sponge mix

telco today - £16.79

Breakfast
Toast and lemon curd (use this no kneed recipe for easy, great, bread - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVwrTAJtSNk)

Lunches
Savoury rice - Rice, stock cube, mixed veg
Chicken soup - Chicken carcass, onions, mixed veg
Chicken paste sarnies
Beans on toast
Eggs on toast

Dinners
Chicken curry - Chicken, Tomatoes, curry powder, rice
Egg curry - Hardboiled eggs, Tomatoes, curry powder, rice
Chicken sweet and sour - Chicken, onions, sauce, rice
Sausage pasta - sausage meat, onions, tomatoes, pasta, mixed veg
Bacon pasta - Bacon, onions, pasta, mixed veg
Sausage chilli - Sausage meat, Tomatoes, Beans, Chilli, Rice
Spicy couscous - Couscous, Chicken, curry powder, mixed veg, tin tomatoes (dash of sugar if you have it)

Puddings (for those days you’re feeling cold and hungry)
Tea and a pack of biscuits
Rice pud and a dollop of lemon curd (or strawberry for 7p more)
Sponge and custard twice

nursemaggie

I am sorry I did not want people to give me a list of things to buy.

We eat most veg everyone has the odd one or two they do not like, My son is not a fussy eater. He will happily eat a proper curry every night of the week as long as they are made from scratch with spices not generic curry powder.

We were happily managing on about £40 a weeks for food, toiletries cleaning materials etc. Any bus fares have to come out of that so obviously using lots of public transport leaves us with less money.

We live in a small 2 up 2 down house with the tiniest of kitchens. we do not have room for more than a small extra slim fridge freezer. There is no way I have room to shop for two weeks shopping at a time, I would have to store one weeks food in the sofa. .

By now you should know we do not have a garden nor do we have any sort of outhouse or shed.

This last two weeks since Morrisons removed half the cheaper foods is just the last straw.

The last thing I want to do is stop going out to buy food I would be housebound then.

We do not eat processed food only fresh home cooked food. I have been cooking from scratch all of my life I never use things like ketchup, brown sauce, or salad cream.

I can cook endless dishes with cooked chicken, a few examples, I have 20 different curries in my I can knock in about 20 minutes, chicken pasta chicken and ham pasta, several cottage pie type meals using cooked chicken, chicken and sweetcorn in chicken sauce. Spanish chicken, you can mix the cooked chicken in a lasagne. I make up something new every week.

The ultimate convenience food is an egg and there are endless things you can do with them.

Sausages are not a cheap meal. We eat them occasionally not every week.
We rarely eat beef because it is just too expensive. If I bought some skirt and made a casserole it costs about 3 times the price of a chicken one.

We don't eat soups just never have. I really don't see the point. There should be no leftovers from one meal to the next if the right quantities are bought and you just cook according to every ones appetite.

I do not eat snacks and I have never encouraged a fussy eater in my household. I have had some nightmare visitors among my children's friends. One pkt of chocolate digestives lasts us 4 to six weeks.

I also cook lots of Chinese meals too, using the proper spices etc and not jars and other rubbish.

I was not criticising anyone just pointing out there were not enough calories in most of the menus.

As for the gas and electric I go over to OVO on Friday. If Npower do not send me a correct bill when they send their final bill I had already planned on going to Offgen they are their for that job.

All that has gone wrong with it is the person who took my reading from me at the beginning did not write down the correct number. They have gone on compounding it. I did have every intention of changing after 3 months but they failed to send me a bill and I still have not had one yet. We have been with them for nearly nine months. I have been giving them regular meter readings starting with monthly, it is now down to every day. They can see I am not using £800 of gas a month. It is impossible to use all that in a two up two down especially as we do not turn our bedroom radiators on. That added to the problems. The loss of the good value chicken from Morrisons at only £3 which I have had no problem in stretching to 5 full main meals was sort of the last straw.

Like with any of these things everything being beyond my control has made it worse because there is nothing I can do. DS is not a child he will be 21 in February. I was lucky to have one extra baby at the age of 48. It has not made for easy retirement planning, or much of a sate pension. I would not be without him.

BB I hope everything but the hole is fixed OK now. I finally got the hole in my living room ceiling fixed last Monday after pestering the agents from moving in. I hope they do not make as much mess as the guys last Monday made fixing my ceiling. They covered my two sofas and all the cushions with plaster.

NewShadow

Can't sleep...

Personally I tend to cook on a Sunday and eat leftovers all week at work.

So I was lying in bed (as you do) and was thinking... Assuming my cupboard was completely bare, and I had to buy everything from the supermarket rather than the market, my first month would look something like this:

1.90 - Soya mince - 375g
2.69 - mince - 750g
70 - carrots - 1.5kg
63 - onions - 1kg
43 - passata - 500ml

1.89 - cumin seed - 400g
1.99 - ground coriander - 400g
1.15 - dried kidney beans - 400g
43 - passata - 500ml
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
1.75 - peppers - 900g
50 - garlic salt - 90g
50 - chilli powder - 50g
45 - rice - 1kg

98 - peas - 1kg
99 - sweetcorn - 1kg
20 - beef stock - 20 cubes
1.00 - King Edward's potatoes - 2.5kg

40 - lasagne sheets
45 - Natural Yogurt - 500ml
43 - passata - 500ml
43 - passata - 500ml
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
1.25 - 15 eggs

30 - spaghetti - 500g
30 - spaghetti - 500g
43 - passata - 500ml
43 - passata - 500ml
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g
34 - chopped tomatoes - 400g

Total - 22.96

In the slow cooker, 150g soya mince (76p), 250g mince (90p), 250g grated onions (16p), 250g grated carrots (12p), carton of passata (43p) and some water. Cost of ingredients used = £2.37

Split into 4 (59p each) after about 8 hours in the slow cooker - should be around 4 litres.

1st batch
To the base (59p), add 100g (soaked and boiled) kidney beans (29p), carton of passata (43p), tin chopped tomatoes (34p), bag of diced peppers (175p), add 1tbsp cumin (1p) and coriander (1p), 1tsp garlic (2p), 1tsp chilli powder (4p). Cost of ingredients used = £3.48

Split into 5 potions (each 2 meals ) and freeze. Defrost as needed and serve with 100g rice (5p). Total meal cost 40p per serving.

2nd batch
To base (59p) add 200g diced carrots (9p), 200g peas (20p), 200g sweetcorn (20p), stock cubes (20p) and water. Top with 1kg mash (40p) and split into 5 portions and freeze. Defrost as needed. Ingredient cost = £1.68 Total meal cost 17p per serving.

3rd batch
To the base (59p) add 2 cartons of passata (86p), 3 tins of tomatoes (£1.02), 1tsp garlic (2p) and 250g rough chopped onions (16p). Layer mince and pasta (40p). Top with mixed yogurt (45p) beaten with 4 eggs (33p). Bake and split into 6 portions - defrost and serve with garlic bread (home made fresh) Ingredients used = £383. Cost per portion = 32p (excluding garlic bread)

4th Batch
To the base (59p) add 250g rough cut onions (16p), 2 cartons of passata (86p), 1tsp garlic (2p) and 3 tins of tomatoes (£1.02). Split into 5 Cost of ingredients used = £2.65 Defrost as needed and serve with 100g spaghetti (6p) (and grated cheese if you’ve got any in) Total meal cost = 33p

Total ingredients used cost = £12.69
Portions made = 42

Leftovers (roughly and not allowing for wastage)

225g Soya mince
500g mince
1.05kg carrots
250g onions
350g+ cumin seeds
350g+ coriander
300g kidney beans
75g garlic salt
45g chilli powder
800g peas
800g sweetcorn
1.5kg potatoes
11 eggs

I can also make the same kind of thing but moussaka, or fajitas. I batch make calzones, pizzas, wraps, bread. Bulk make pasta sauces, ratatouille, soups, casseroles, stews, hotspots. Whatever can freeze and’s on offer.

For the rest of the day:

I have oats for breakfast (1kg sack is 75p and lasts me a month at 35g a time), with cinnamon (bought at £9 per kilo from amazon that lasts me about a year in oats, hot chocolate, and cinnamon bread, so around 75p a month), and dried fruit (84p for 500g - lasts me around a month again.) Meaning a months breakfasts cost me around £2.34.

My lunches are either a range of flavours of couscous (wholewheat couscous is 70p for 500g - two bags is roughly a months worth, flavoured by whatever I fancy from the spice cupboard), with hard boiled eggs (8p each), and pickled beetroot or gherkins(£1 for a HUGE jar from Lidl - its yet to run out so I can’t guess at the cost per). Or I go for spicy soups and stews with whatever raggedy looking veg and (generally) lentils or pasta or home made bread. Call it £5 for eggs and gherkins?

So, I'd need less that £30 for the month.

It'd be a bit repetitive. But the next month would let me build on my stocks... and I'd quickly get back to where I am with a full to the brim 6 foot freezer in the lounge :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

Nurse Maggie

I'm a bit confused by the mention of it being necessary to pay busfares though you are retired. Can you get a bus pass? or are you in a similar position to myself (ie I retired at 60, but not yet reached my revised State Pension Age and you live in England - so therefore no bus pass yet)?

Re your comment in another thread about "mainly supporting small local charities now", are you still giving some money to charities? I have been surprised to see a few posters who obviously also live on very low income still donating to charity and I rather admire them for doing so in those circumstances, but have to admit that that's one of the first cutbacks I make myself personally. Admitted its easier for me to think "I cant afford to donate to charity, so I wont" because I know that I will be leaving my house to charity eventually, so there will be a large lump sum given in one fell swoop to charity at some point. Obviously, if I didn't have a house to leave then that would result in charities not getting anything from me ever basically, so I might feel a bit differently...

Murphybear

threeboysmummy wrote: »

hi i love reading the thread ...and have got some good ideas, my question is i have 5 in my family and the kids are 13 16 and 19 ,so they all eat adult portions and the oldest one has to have a large pack lunch as he does manual work and needs a lot to sustain him, the older two are also autistic, am strugling with 25 pounds i cat get it below £270 a month how do you all do it ?

I misread your post, thought you had a cat weighing 25 lbs:D

Murphybear

I recently discovered this thread, it's brilliant

BUDGET CHRISTMAS LUNCH

Got this from this month's Good Housekeeping magazine (money saving tip, got subscription as present;)

This year’s GH budget basket, which includes the overall cheapest items across all supermarkets, is 3% cheaper than last year's!

Now in its sixth year, Good Housekeeping's annual Christmas dinner survey compares the prices of 11 key Christmas dinner items across all the major UK supermarkets, to find out how cheaply you can buy them, and from where.

Unlike the individual supermarkets' own budget basket comparisons, we only use fresh veg prices, we compare the same items each year to give a true reflection of whether prices are going up or down, and we don’t use pro rata prices. In other words, we calculate the total cost as a consumer would.

For example, if a supermarket only sells mince pies in packs of six we multiply the pack price by two


THE ULTIMATE BUDGET BASKET

- Lidl Braemoor Turkey, £9.99
- Co-op Maris Piper potatoes, 1.5kg, £1.50
- Sage and Onion Stuffing, Morrisons, Asda,Tesco, 2x 85g, 30p
- Aldi Sprouts, 750g, 49p
- Aldi Carrots, 1.2kg, 49p
- Tesco Parsnips, 750g, 90p
- Tesco Everyday Value cranberry sauce 185g, 50p
- Sainsbury’s Basics Christmas pudding, 2x 454g puds, £2
- Brandy butter Aldi and Lidl 200g, £1.49
- Sainsbury's Basics Mince Puffs x8, 65p
- Christmas Cake: Iceland Large Iced Fruit Bar, 800g, £3

Basket total: £21.31
Total per person: £2.66

I appreciate that most people won't want to shop in half a dozen different supermarkets but it gives some ideas on not breaking the bank for Christmas dinner. More details on their website