The Feed 2 for As Little As Poss Challenge!

EagerLearner

Hi all,

Mr EL and I spend on average £35 a week on shopping, to include cleaning materials etc.

I wondered if any other couples out there wanted to join this challenge to save some money? Singles are also most welcome - you can use the recipes to make double the food you need and freeze the rest.

We could post meal plans, ideas and tips for cheapest but nutritious meals for two people.

I have a spreadsheet where I have placed various meals we make regularly, and worked out the cost, so I know roughly which meals are cheapest but would love your suggestions so we can all save even more.

Any money we save will go into our ISA where our flat deposit sits in waiting for the day when hell freezes over and we can afford a mortgage...

Any takers? :T

PS: If you do list a recipe, please clearly show:

Ingredients needed
Approx cost for all ingredients
How many portuions the batch makes
Cost for 1 portion (needing 2 for both to eat)

Tam_Lin

Yes please - count me in! I've just started costing our veggie main meals and they're averaging £1.20/portion.

EagerLearner

Hi Tam Lin, excellent! What kind of thing are you making?

My best one so far is:

Marroccan veg curry (batch cooked) 0.40
Cous cous 0.05
TOTAL MEAL COST FOR 2 = 0.90p for 2 portions

studentphil

At home we have meat free spag bol but it costs about 6 quid but it does 4 (or even 5 small) servings) But that is putting onions, mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, Quorn, Jar of sauce, pasta and cheese to top.

But you could cut that down a lot by using a tin of toms, cut out the peppers, put in carrots or any cheap veg.

studentphil

It is cheaper to get something like Asda meat free than Quorn. It does come frozen but it is often on 2 for 1.

studentphil

Pasta, with cubes of Cheese, toms, herbs mixed together with a little olive oil if really nice and cheap at this time of year.

Pasta and any veg in a white sauce topped with bread crumbs browned under the grill.

Soups are really cheap if you use seasonal veg.

If you have any dried up bread like french stick, cut it in half long ways, bit of olive oil to soften it, 17p tin of toms drained, finely chopped mushroom, onion, a few bits of dried herbs, top with old hard cheese out of your fridge. Then about 20 mins in the oven.

MercilessKiller

Hey hey.

I'm a studnet living with my girlfriend. We get some frozen things that last for ages (like oven chips and croquets).. for lunches loads of tuna thats on special offer in asda, and loads of cheap half baked asda own brand baguettes. Asda's own mayo.. and some toastie bread.

Then we get 2 turkeys for £4. Some rice and sauce. A few pies, and then the special offers on ready meals like yorkshire pudding filled with meat type things...

We average £32 a week and that inc's drinks, cleaning stuff, everything!

On the rare occasion I may have to pop out to buy some extra milk or whatever but ya get the drift

Tam_Lin

I'm doing veggie curries with chickpeas, pasta sauces, veggie bakes, that kind of thing; DH still eats meat so I'm trying to do substantial stuff that he won't mind. Last night I did roast beef because of the freezer disaster, and just ate cauli/broccoli/leeks in cheese sauce, mash, and peas with veggie gravy and some mint sauce (it was lovely). I've posted some recipes on Gingham Ribbon's Veggie Spring thread. Right now I'm cooking a kind of Quorn chunk chilli, with onions, courgettes, sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes, garlic and a packet of Coleman's chilli mix that I found in the cupboard; we'll have that with rice and some grated cheese on top and Greek yoghurt. Anything left over will be frozen and I'll use it for work lunches. This afternoon I'm making lemon drizzle cakes to freeze in slices.

studentphil

Omlettes with anything fom toms, cheese, mushrooms, onions.

Another good one is when Beef Toms are cheap in the summer is to slice it but not right through (so it looks like a toast or letter stand) and then put cucumber, onion in the slots. Serve with some cottage cheese for a low fat protein.

Tam_Lin

EagerLearner - what are you putting in your Moroccan veg curry?

studentphil

Chapattis are a really cheap and easy way to help fill you up with a curry.

The only real thing you need for them in flour, oil, water, cumin seeds.

200g of flour will make 8 if I rememberr correctly.