How do people feed families on £40 a week?

dorsetlady

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I dont agree that a large chicken would serve 2 adults 4 times. Only if you gave the person 1 mouthfull.

I agree I would only be able to get four to five servings from a large chicken but perhaps I'm greedier than average!

SandA

flea72 wrote: »

Based in your meal plan, that nowhere near equates to £70 on food

A large chicken (£5) should feed two adults for at least 4 main meals, plus soup if you boil up the carcass

A family sized pie can be anywhere between £2-£4 again this should feed 2 adults for 2 meals

Toad in the hole, 2 sausages per adult (40p-£1.50). Flour, milk, egg £1 tops. So £1.40-£2.50 depending on quality of sausage used

Jacket potato with beans and cheese would cost about £1 for two people

Add in your frozen veg and sauces, your spend for main meals only comes in at around £15 for the week.

Few loaves of bread, pints of milk, fruit/yogs, ham for sarnies, still doesnt add up to £70

Maybe look at your last till receipt and then compare that to what you have left in the cupboard. Could be you are buying unecessarily and could create meals from what you already have, so technically, some weeks you dont really need to soend the full £70 you just like to keep your cupboards full

Hello

I had family around yesterday so bought a very large chicken which was in the region of £8.50 from Tesco. I also disagree I would get 4 meals out of this. When it is just me and OH eating a £5 chicken, we can only get 2 meals out of it max (roast and casserole the next day).

Ive had a quick skim of my receipt and other then buying shampoo for £2 the rest is food. I have just noticed though I bought some loose potatoes for my roasties, instead of the packets because I thought I did not need as many so thought it would be cheaper. Turns out that cost £3.20 .

Sausages cost £2.50 on offer for 12, veg around £1.50, i'm sure my stuffing mix was about £2 too!

I will have a good look at it and see where I am going wrong.

Thank you to you and everyone for answering this. I will have a look at approved foods now and also enter my shopping into Asda and see if thats any cheaper.

flea72

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I dont agree that a large chicken would serve 2 adults 4 times. Only if you gave the person 1 mouthfull.

Eat as roast, each adult gets a leg and a thigh

One breast for curry (being generous you wouldnt get that amount in a ready meal)

One breast for sweet and sour

2 oysters and a bit of brown meat makes a chicken/veg pie

Rest of brown meat and wings used in stir fry

4 meals, simples.

However if you shred the breasts one breast would be enough for 2meals, ie chowmein, fahitas, spring rolls, samosas, the list is endless

flea72

SandA wrote: »

Sausages cost £2.50 on offer for 12, veg around £1.50, i'm sure my stuffing mix was about £2.

Stuffing £2?? A box of sage and onion is 15p in sainsbobs

sassyblue

flea72 wrote: »

Stuffing £2?? A box of sage and onion is 15p in sainsbobs

Couple of bits of leftover bread, an onion and herbs from the garden (freeze them to use over winter although sage is fine to use even now from outside) wouldn't cost too much more, and be healthier than freeze dried stuffing. I use olive oil to bind and save on the egg - but let the mix marinade together first maybe with a drop of water to get it wet.

Just an idea OP

cg1982

tescos currently have 3 chickens for £10

Fire_Fox

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I dont agree that a large chicken would serve 2 adults 4 times. Only if you gave the person 1 mouthfull.

That is eight meals, healthy eating guidelines are ~100g to ~125g meat per portion so 800g to 1kg meat, I hope you get more than that off a large bird!! Tesco large chicken is ~2kg and at least two thirds meat, so 1.3kg or 160g per serving the rest bits you'd use for stock. And bear in mind you'd eat more for one meal and less for another, many people have a hearty soup with rubber chicken which you would never put 160g in.

SandA wrote: »

Hello

I had family around yesterday so bought a very large chicken which was in the region of £8.50 from Tesco. I also disagree I would get 4 meals out of this. When it is just me and OH eating a £5 chicken, we can only get 2 meals out of it max (roast and casserole the next day).

Ive had a quick skim of my receipt and other then buying shampoo for £2 the rest is food. I have just noticed though I bought some loose potatoes for my roasties, instead of the packets because I thought I did not need as many so thought it would be cheaper. Turns out that cost £3.20 .

Sausages cost £2.50 on offer for 12, veg around £1.50, i'm sure my stuffing mix was about £2 too!

I will have a good look at it and see where I am going wrong.

Thank you to you and everyone for answering this. I will have a look at approved foods now and also enter my shopping into Asda and see if thats any cheaper.

Tesco is a pricey place to buy whole chickens, they are £4.50 a kilo for large or extra large. And the larger the bird the more likely it's been pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics. :eek: You can get Aldi free range whole chicken for £3.40 a kilo, Tesco Value for £2.50 a kilo (buy two if too small), Asda Butchers Selection large chicken £3 a kilo.

When you have guests serve all the (cheap) trimmings: a massive tray of mixed roast root vegetables, homemade stuffing, bread sauce, Yorkshire puddings, carve thinly and people will naturally eat smaller servings of meat. You could alternatively do a cheap starter to help fill people up. Stuffing is not difficult to make from scratch and the ingredients are cheap, £2 is outrageous. Have a look at the price per kilo, you can pay £7 a kilo for Paxo and by far the largest ingredient is wheat flour!

When it's just the two of you stick to the government recommended serving sizes: you referred to a balanced diet in the OP, that is not eating 2kg of chicken in two meals, that is eating plenty of dairy, fish and vegetables. If you had bought an Asda bird you'd spend 2/3 of that so £5.60 saving £2.90, if you did that every week for a year you would save £150 just on those two meals, if you cut your portion sizes down so you got three meals instead of two you would save almost another £100 a year. That's potentially £250 saved on one single item. :money:

Try buying potatoes, onions and the like in bulk for several weeks instead of loose. I live alone and can get through 4kg onions, 2kg carrots and a whole red cabbage over a period of weeks, you just need to store them dry in a cool dark place.

HTH.

Luckystar

I think flexibility is key to saving money on weekly food shopping, buy what is on offer to make meals. Do you eat pasta as I find that a really filling and cheap family meal. Tesco have 500g bags pasta for 50p at the moment or buy bigger packs to save more if you can. You can then make a cheese sauce or use a tomato based one, add what you have in fridge/cupboard eg tuna and sweetcorn or ham/bacon and mushroom the choice is endless. I normally serve with some garlic bread or a small baton (less than 50p again I think). Same with flexibility on cereals if you want branded or if nothing is on offer buy tesco own. Good luck with your money saving

delhome

Do you have a food co-op near you? One has recently started up near where I live and it's fantastic. Every week I purchase the £3 fruit, veg and salad bags and that does us three adults for the week. Food co-op's also accept healthy start vouchers.

Clowance

aldi chickens - and they usually have all their legs not sstumps - £4.69 for 2kg. This feeds 5 people roasted, then 4 in a chicken pie and the bones and skin are pressure cooked for stock, which is used for vegetable hearty soup for 4 (with passata and any veg to hand including frozen, and pasta) with some fresh home made bread. So 13 portions for £4.69 with some additions (stuffing, pasta, passata etc).