Feed A Family Of Four Only £29.99 Week All In !

Hardup_Hester

I've printed all the meal plans from here & will be trying them out, I'll be interested in seeing how close to the costings I can get here in Berkshire, we do have a local farmers market, but it is incredibly expensive, I accept that the quality of the food is better, but if I don't have the funds available, quality has to go be the board!
I'll let you know how I get on.
Hester

KatrinaC_2

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

MrsBartolozzi,

can you post the recipe for your Thai coconut fish? it sounds very interesting

Kat

MrsBartolozzi

Hi, My PC has been playing up and I have been unable to get online for a few days, and I think there are a few things I should add to my original shopping list. I assumed that the potatoes would come from a large 25kg sack from grocers/farm shop costing around £5 for several weeks worth to spread the cost.

The recipe for Thai coconut fish is simple and less a recipe, more a bung it all in a dish thing which suits me fine. I borrowed this recipe from a friend who used to live in Thailand for a while, and I cannot vouch for its authenticity - but it is yumm.
Thai style Coconut Fish

I use around 800g of defrosted frozen fish - any white fish will do,I don't weigh the quantity of fish I just look and say "is it enough to feed us all?" if you know what I mean - the sauce is enough for 4 good portions.

SAUCE
1 tin coconut milk
1-1.5 cm fresh ginger grated (I buy when on offer and freeze then grate as needed)
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla) - if you don't have this add a little salt to taste
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2-3 spring onions chopped

mix all the sauce ingredients in a casserole dish, and taste - add more chili sauce/nam pla if needed (if you like things hot add a little chili flakes), but be careful with the fish sauce cos too much is salty and not nice.
Cut the fish into bitesized pieces and squeeze to drain (if previously frozen) cos you don't want it too wet. Add fish to the sauce and stir covering all the fish. Take a couple of spoonfuls of sauce to add to the rice water before cooking. Cover,and put in oven for around 30 mins at 150c, but this depends what else is in the oven, maybe a little bit longer. Uncover the dish 5-10 mins before it is ready, to thicken up the sauce a bit.
Serve with plain boiled rice (I know it says long grain in the menu but basmati or thai royal is nicer) and stir fried veggies. My OH and DS1 like to add more chili sauce at the table to taste.
Hope I did not forget anything, and I now know what we will be having for tea tonight - coconut fish!

MrsB.

debbym

I thought that it might be useful if we had a list of costings per person for recipes already on MSE - then we can pick and choose something for everyone I hope (lol) so with the help of the Tescos website and Excel here is the first of many ...

N.B. Can't promise but I will try and update this if I get a chance;)

Vegetable and Pasta Soup Alla Campania (assuming serves 4 and not including bread and butter on the side) cost per person = 68p

Tuna Pasta Bake (main course) (not including salad and assuming 100g of pasta per person N.B. although other value products as a baseline I haven't used value pasta shapes as I don't like em:o so if this doesn't bother you then could be done cheaper:D ) cost per person = 59p


Highland Casserole (assuming feeds 4 - price per person does not include any side veggies etc ) cost per person = 87p

Shortie

Okay, I made this tonight for tomorrow's dinner and double cooked so one in the freezer too. Not the best quality meat I agree but it's what I had in until stocks are run down to start with the local butchers again...

This is the way I usually bulk my food up and I only realised how cheap it was until after I'd cooked it... It'll feed 2 adults and a 4 year old for 2 dinners (in my house at least). Add garlic bread or salad to make it go further again:

Mince meat pasta bake:

~250g mince (1/3 pack of tesco value fresh mince - weighed out before for slimming world diet ) 50p
2x tins of tesco value chopped toms 42p
2 large carrots from 70p 1kg bag, (Mr Ts again) ~ 20p
Frozen sweetcorn and frozen peas ~ 50p
4 onions from large £1.50 market netting bag ~ 20p
1/4 bag of £1 Mr Ts 3kg pasta bag 25p

Sauce cooked and reduced, added to cooked pasta and divided into two large oven dishes. Cheese to be added when cooked, but tesco value cheese (normally cheaper as we buy a HUGE block from Macro) £1 for the two dishes??

Total cost £3.07, or £1.54 per dinner for 3. Thats 50p per person. Can be easily scaled up for more people, and using local butchers meat wouldn't have cost any more for better quality but I didn't have it in. I think it's quite a balanced meal. Maybe not full portions of the 5 a day , but then it's just one meal out of 3 to get you daily intake into