Feed a Family of 4 for 50 a Week
Desire to know how to feed a family of 4 for £twenty a week? Mummy blogger Anneliese Giggins gave information technology her all-time shot!
Mummy blogger Anneliese Giggins shows how to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week! She just loves a challenge.
Last time it was bootleg nutrient, this time she'southward trying to feed her family of 4 for only £20 a calendar week – yes, really! Read our exclusive web log to come across how she got on. Over to you lot Anneliese…
How to feed a family unit of 4 for £xx a week – what's it all about Anneliese?
I think it's fair to say I like a challenge simply I'one thousand wondering if I may take fix the bar besides high this time. For 30 days I volition exist scrutinising every unmarried price label, my calculator will be dusted off and put to daily utilize. Each potato, piece of pasta, smear of margarine, in fact every item of food which passes my family's lips will be calculated and I volition exist keeping a very beady eye on the shopping receipts.
Yes, yes, YES, this may seem rather a boring activity but information technology'due south all for a good reason, I promise! I think we are all aware that nutrient prices are sky loftier nowadays and they go on to rising. An boilerplate family of four volition spend at least £225 a month on nutrient (according to Office for National Statistics) and I'm sure some of us spend fifty-fifty more than, specially when jubilant special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas.
Anneliese, husband Neil and her two petty boys, Isaac and Oliver
A fair few of us at present prefer to acquit out the weekly or monthly shop online, however some still prefer to be the i to choose and pick out food at the supermarket or local grocery and butcher. Whichever way nosotros choose, virtually of us experience our heart sink when we run across the grand full and begrudgingly reach into our wallet. We are left wondering if we have enough money in the bank to cover the monthly utility bills, will in that location exist any cash left over to care for the kids to a mean solar day out?
I admit that I've get guilty of just shoving food into our shopping trolley without always searching the shelves for a cheaper culling. Earlier the children came along, I had more time to look for bargains but, when the boys are arguing in the shopping trolley, all I desire is to make a jerky leave from the overcrowded supermarket and get the hell out of at that place! Once I become home and unpack the food, I can't believe how much money was spent and how trivial food we have to show for it.
See Anneliese's commencement nutrient store receipt here and this week's m total
On that note I desire to carry out a little experiment to meet if our family unit of four tin survive on spending just £xx a calendar week on nutrient. Tin can we go to the end of the 30 days well fed on such a small budget? I don't think it would be good parenting to feed my children gruel for breakfast, tiffin and dinner, so I volition be hunting out the cheapest but too the most nutritious recipes I tin find. And in terms of the food shop I will be doing i bulk store at the beginning of the challenge and smaller shops over the four weeks. My upkeep it £80 for the month levelling out equally £20 per week.
And then hither's to 30 days of analysing every till receipt, counting out grains of rice and making every carrot count! There will be no room for waste; every morsel of nutrient we buy MUST be eaten. Hopefully forth the way I tin find like shooting fish in a barrel means to make savings, crafty recipes which don't rely on expensive ingredients. We might even save enough money to supercede our very old TV!
Total of money spent so far = £49.94
Week 1: The expert, the bad and the 'what was I thinking?'
The first week of my challenge has come to a close. For the past seven days I take been counting my pennies and making sure that I make them become equally far as possible. When shopping, I no longer notice the branded tins of baked beans or chopped tomatoes and my mitt automatically reaches for the cheaper value selection instead. Although I am only at the end of week one, I already feel I accept learned and so much. It's almost equally if I am learning a new language, but instead I'm educating myself on how to brand savings on food. It certainly is a large learning curve!
Get the recipe: Tomato risotto and garlic staff of life = £2.10
When I think about what has challenged me and my family most this showtime calendar week, I immediately think of the boredom! The food is so repetitive. It doesn't take long to go off Cornflakes and I'm non sure that porridge in Baronial is such a great idea! The daily snacks like biscuits and malt loaf are too wearing thin but, funnily enough, my boys seem perfectly content with what they are given. Possibly it's just Neil and I that are existence fussy! The evening meal is a saving grace as nosotros don't feel every bit though we are doing without. We've been making risotto, spag Bol, pasta salads and more! I'chiliad preparing our usual fare and simply making deductions, choosing cheaper ingredients and shopping in a budget supermarket.
Despite the monotony of some of the food, the fizz of saving money at the cash till more than compensates! After our kickoff bulk buy nosotros notwithstanding needed to stock up on things such as sausages, pasta and rice simply, by choosing the cheaper alternatives, nosotros managed to walk abroad from the greenbacks till with a jump in our step rather than a heavy middle! Of course information technology was difficult to resist grabbing a packet of burgers or a pizza but we found ourselves tutting at the expensive cost labels and walking abroad!
Become the recipe: Penne Bolognese = £ane.lx
Although my calendar week was lacking in food excitement, things were livened up with an interview for BBC Radio Oxford. I went forth to the studio to talk about my new challenge and to chat on the phone to a member of the BBC Good Food Magazine team and to none other than Jack Monroe. And I must say I was rather star struck to get to talk to Jack Monroe and to hear her keen hints and tips.
Even though she no longer lives on a harsh budget of £10 per week, she can still recite the price of a tin can of kidney beans and chopped tomatoes etc. I felt humbled to hear how Jack had to survive for 18 months on such a repetitive menu and an incredibly minor amount of money. I know for a fact that there are many others who only manage to scrape past.
Encounter Anneliese's second nutrient shop receipts here and this week's yard total
From my time at the radio station I learned that in that location are cheaper protein alternatives to meat, meals can be bulked out with beans and lentils or even tofu and great bargains are to be had at local farmers' markets; just get at the end of the mean solar day when things are being sold off inexpensive. I also learnt that frozen vegetables and fruit are often cheaper, last longer and are just as nutritious as the fresh version. And if at that place's the possibility of growing your own fruit and vegetables – go for it! I don't know what I would have done without my father-in-law'due south home grown cucumbers…
Week i circular up
- Best thing we ate this week: Nosotros really enjoyed hummus with pitta breadstuff and vegetable sticks. My younger son was particularly keen!
- Cheapest meal of the calendar week: Homemade tuna fishcakes (I made enough fishcakes for three meals) with potato wedges and broiled beans. £ane.45 for the meal.
- Kids' favourite dish of the week: Tomato risotto with garlic bread. Clean plates all round!
- Failure of the week: Running out of milk and having to purchase some from our village shop. Two pints of milk cost 89p instead of 95p for FOUR pints of milk at Aldi. That was painful and will not be repeated!
- Best thing I learned this week: When making risotto save a lot of pennies past using basic white rice. I used 'normal' rice for my tomato risotto and no one could tell the difference. Cheers to Jack Monroe for such a peachy tip!
- Thrifty trick of the week: I usually throw away pastry offcuts merely not this time! There was a bit of leftover pastry from my quiche this week and I managed to brand eight mini jam tarts out of it. A cracking treat for the kids (and Mummy and Daddy) and they only cost a few pence – effect!
Quiche (£2.threescore for 10inch) and jam tarts (15p) – made with the aforementioned pastry! Get the recipe: Broccoli quiche
Total of money spent and then far = £69.62
Week 2: Bargain hunting and lots of hummus
I'one thousand now at the halfway point of the challenge. It's very probable that, from at present on, I'll be counting down the days in apprehension of the end! Nosotros are not going hungry and are eating well, only I find myself hankering for the piddling extras I usually take for granted. Treats similar a scoop of water ice cream at the end of a warm summer's solar day or even fruit salad are off the menu. Instead we settle for a slice of slightly dried malt loaf or a Rich Tea biscuit, which sadly exercise trivial to fill the void!
Get the recipe: Hummus and carrot wraps = 24p each
This week, our breakfasts were either crunchy cornflakes or porridge with honey.
I don't usually eat cooked breakfasts, just now all I desire is a poached egg, baked beans, mushrooms, toast and lashings of ketchup. When information technology comes to lunchtime nosotros encompass hummus and use information technology on annihilation and everything. My youngest, Oliver, loves information technology on toast, while the rest of us relish it in wraps with grated carrot, or every bit a dip with pitta bread and vegetable sticks. Unfortunately, I dubiousness it will be long before I'chiliad sick of it!
Making pizzas with Isaac – Get the recipe: Cheese and onion pizza
We are nevertheless enjoying dinners, equally we are managing to consume the same sort of meals nosotros normally have, such as sausage hotpot, chilli with rice, and homemade pizza (now made with tomatoes from my father-in-law's garden). When I started this claiming my biggest worry was hunger. We accept large appetites and I was obviously broken-hearted that my children might not have enough to eat. However, we all go to bed with full tummies then we really can't complain. I just wish we could have a lilliputian more variety!
Chilli and rice = £1.xc
At the weekend we went into town to compare prices at several £1 and 99p stores. I found some good deals on branded products, but they notwithstanding worked out a piffling dearer than the value brands at a bargain supermarket. There might exist only a few pence difference, but every penny adds upwards. After leaving empty-handed, nosotros drove a few miles to our local farm shop on a chase for potatoes. The shop was beautiful and at that place was plenty of delicious food on display. It broke my heart to only buy a bag of dingy potatoes! Nonetheless, we were pleased with the price equally we managed to buy twenty for £ii.l. This meant we have enough money to purchase some hummus for side by side week. Hurrah!
Our supermarket store was very pocket-sized this calendar week – but a few essentials, similar milk and bread. I had to control an urge to throw packets of fresh pasta and tubs of water ice cream into my basket. I feel increasingly grateful that I don't have to continue living on such a rigid budget one time the challenge is over.
See Anneliese'southward third food shop receipt hither and this week's chiliad total
Week two round up
Best thing we ate this calendar week:
Homemade pizza. I love making pizza when I get the time, simply this challenge made it a necessity. We thoroughly enjoyed preparing and scoffing information technology!
Cheapest meal of the calendar week:
Jack Monroe's carrot, cumin and kidney edible bean burgers with irish potato wedges and baked beans. £one.03 for the repast.
Kids' favourite dish of the calendar week:
Homemade gnocchi in a homemade tomato sauce, with a sprinkle of grated cheese on pinnacle, plus garlic bread. My children barely came upwardly for air as they polished it all off!
Failure of the week:
Maybe the boys are hungrier than I thought, every bit I found them sitting on the kitchen flooring eating breadsticks. At present we simply have four left to last for two weeks. Eeek!
All-time thing I learned this week:
Cheese is expensive and I'one thousand trying to apply as little as possible. Previously I would add as much as a recipe stated but now I add together it to taste. Making a cheese sauce, I added half of what I would unremarkably merely by ignoring the scales, adding it niggling past little and having a gustation.
Thrifty fox of the calendar week:
Instead of adding a whole tin of sweetcorn to my sausage hotpot, I kept half dorsum and used the balance in a pasta salad. You can do the same with a tin can of tuna or beans, saving half for another repast.
Week 3: Blackberries to the rescue!
It'due south the finish of calendar week three. Our fridge is looking bare and the fruit basin at present sits empty on our dining room tabular array. Our boys adopt vegetables to fruit, but nosotros commonly fill the bowl with bananas, oranges and apples to eat equally a snack or later on dinner. Thankfully we are eating nutritious, homemade meals every mean solar day and no set up meals or jars of sauce take passed our lips. However, I am aware that, in this 3rd week, our five-a-day fruit and veg can't exist reached. Virtually days nosotros manage three or fifty-fifty four, just not five. When looking at the price of fruit in the supermarkets and at the farmers' market, information technology'south easy to see how difficult it is to include fruit in your daily nutrition if you are on a tight upkeep.
To overcome our electric current predicament, a friend suggested we search hedgerows for blackberries, as they are currently in season. We donned our waterproofs and welly boots and headed for the field behind our house. We got decidedly soggy in the pouring pelting just had fun as a family picking the blackberries and came back with a generous bounty, which we devoured with rice pudding!
Blackberry rice pudding = 15p for 4 servings
We are getting used to having the same lunches day in and day out. My youngest, Oliver, was delighted to have another tub of hummus to enjoy this week. He loves it on toast but enjoys dipping carrot and cucumber sticks into information technology, too. My elder son, Isaac, has never been keen on sandwiches but adores pitta breads filled with cucumber and a footling mayonnaise and he tucks into his luncheon without whatsoever fuss – hurrah!
As for snack time, the boys are still happily tucking into malt loaf. Nevertheless, I can't face it anymore and neither tin can my hubby – we would rather get without. My sweet tooth has been longing for something chocolatey so I made some chocolate cornflake cakes with Isaac at the beginning of the week. I was very glad that I'd bought some value chocolate at the start of the challenge, ready for such a moment! The sugariness crunchy cakes were delicious and nosotros are going to make another batch adjacent calendar week.
Chocolate cereal cakes = 38p total This tertiary week besides proved to be a social week. Start, the boys and I were invited to a friend'southward business firm for a play date; lunch would be made for us. At first I wasn't sure if we should become equally I was unable to contribute, but I realised that I couldn't stop my children from having fun and seeing their little friends. We were treated to delicious homemade carrot soup and Oliver couldn't get enough. I wait forward to returning the favour once this challenge is finished!
On Sat we had friends over to our firm for lunch and I had a massive panic about what I could feed them. Neil suggested bootleg pizzas. Information technology worked out perfectly – Isaac helped me and in that location was plenty of pizza to go circular so no one starved, as I had originally feared. This challenge doesn't exactly lend itself to social occasions merely we managed to scrape through!
Sausage and brew = £two.24 full
There are nonetheless no complaints at dinnertime. We have been enjoying things such as sausages with brew and vegetables, a irish potato and chickpea curry, and spicy mixed bean tortillas. Sadly I but have a small piece of cheese left for the last calendar week of the challenge. I volition have to exist very, very sparing as I merely take no money left for more!
See Anneliese'southward fourth food shop receipt hither and this week's thousand total
Week 3 circular up
All-time thing we ate this week:
We love our weekly pasta salad. I chop upward some boiled eggs, slice upward cucumber and tomatoes and stir in some mayonnaise. Yum!
Cheapest meal of the calendar week:
Homemade tomato pasta sauce with pasta and garlic bread. £1.25
Kids' favourite dish of the week:
Sausages with mashed potato, carrots, peas and gravy. £ii.24
Failure of the week:
Finding a mouldy onion and having to throw it away. I bought two bags of onions at the get-go of the challenge; I should have purchased one at a fourth dimension to avoid waste matter.
Best thing I learned this calendar week:
It's worth getting outdoors and scrimping for fruit. I tin can't believe I never thought of doing this before!
Thrifty play a joke on of the week:
For a inexpensive tomato pasta sauce, I gently fry a chopped onion in a little oil and then pour in 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and gently simmer for around 20 minutes until the tomatoes turn to a thick pulpy consistency. It'south and then ready to eat with pasta and a grating of cheese!
Total of money spent and then far = £79.92
Week iv: Done and dusted
The challenge is now over and I am breathing a sigh of relief. This final week was the toughest yet and I honestly wasn't sure if we could scrape by with what petty nutrient nosotros had. We didn't become over our budget but the last few meals were far from heady. My boys really savour my tomato risotto and accept come up to look an obligatory slice of garlic staff of life to be served aslope. Imagine their disappointment when not only did I leave the cheese out of the risotto but likewise that there was no garlic breadstuff to back-trail their repast. I was out of coin and we had to make do with what we had. I simply added more rice to the risotto so nosotros notwithstanding had total tummies; I remember I was but about forgiven!
There was also no coin to buy bread then I made my own this week. I enjoyed venting my frustrations as I kneaded the dough. All the same the loaves I produced were not as large equally the loaves you can purchase. They also do not keep well. This made me question what is added to shop bought bread to brand it go on for longer, not a nice thought.
Carrot soup and homemade staff of life = 50p for 4 servings
We had lots of carrots in stock this week and I was cracking to apply them upwardly so I decided to make a big batch of carrot soup. I admit that it wasn't the most flavoursome of soups, but information technology was packed total of vitamin A and in that location was enough for ii lunches. Obviously soup wasn't enough to go on u.s. going until dinnertime and so information technology was served with some of my homemade breadstuff. I felt very virtuous to know that I had made both with my ain two hands. I accept made a mental note to endeavor to make my own soup in time to come!
This calendar week Isaac was keen to assist me in the kitchen over again. We fabricated chocolate cornflake cakes which helped to satisfy my chocolate cravings and we also fabricated a small batch of ice lollies. A friend of mine makes lollies with just assistant and milk and they are surprisingly tasty. Isaac was perfectly content chopping upwards a banana and pushing the button on the blender. He then thoroughly enjoyed his refreshing assistant ice lolly.
Water ice lollies = 35p for iv
Although a few of our meals this week were disappointing, by and large due to the lack of cheese, we did manage to bask a roast dinner. Nosotros had to opt for sausages. However I pushed the boat out and fabricated some Yorkshire puddings, which felt like a existent luxury! On our last twenty-four hours we were completely out of food apart from a tin can of baked beans and some stale bread but, instead of finishing off the challenge with beans on toast, I made a baked bean 'pie' as suggested by Donna, who has been following the blog. Information technology made a more than interesting culling and was much enjoyed. The baked bean pie was followed past a tin of peaches. What a classy fashion to terminate the claiming!
Sausage roast dinner with homemade Yorkshires = £2.60 for 4 servings
Week four circular up
Best thing we ate this calendar week:
Sausages with homemade Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas and gravy.
Cheapest meal of the week:
Information technology has to exist the broiled bean pie!
Kids' favourite dish of the calendar week:
Tuna pasta bake
Failure of the calendar week:
Discovering that I have an unopened handbag of rice and pasta left over. Had I planned better I could have used that money on some fruit. I'chiliad SO cross with myself!
Best thing I learned this week:
It's amazing how much soup can be made from but a few veggies. It only costs a few pence to brand a simple soup. I cooked up a large batch and put half in the fridge for another day.
Thrifty trick of the week:
Information technology'due south better to buy loose vegetables and so you lot can counterbalance them on the scales and buy exactly what you demand. No waste and will save a little coin.
Chiliad total of money spent = £79.92 – in upkeep!
*Download Anneliese's meal list and prices here*
Week five: Looking back…
My challenge has come to an end and in all honesty information technology couldn't have come soon enough! We have been eating either cornflakes or porridge for breakfast for xxx days just I may every bit well accept been chewing on cardboard. I practise not rate the value cornflakes and will be glad to exist rid of them! On the other paw the lunches accept been more varied and we will happily continue to eat salad sandwiches, pasta salad, pitta breads and hummus. I was surprised past how I could slightly modify our evening meals and withal put filling and nutritious meals on the table. No one felt unsatisfied and we never felt hungry. If I'm honest I wondered if might have lost some weight during the claiming simply no, I didn't lose an ounce! I recollect this shows that we ate well and didn't go without.
I believe we saved a lot of money by but switching our usual supermarket to a deal supermarket and I am certain that this was the primal to getting through to the end of the challenge. However, when yous only pay 15p for a tin of rice pudding or 29p for a jar of jam y'all starting time to question the quality. I checked labels and was surprised to encounter that the value jam contained the same corporeality of fruit equally a far more than expensive brand and had less added saccharide! Sadly, my euphoria was soon dashed when I discovered that the tins of baked beans I'd been using contained 7g more carbohydrate than the beans we usually buy. When it came to salt I couldn't meet much variation betwixt brands then that helped me to feel a footling more positive!
Get the recipe: Spicy mixed bean tortillas = 68p per portion
I required a lot of chopped tomatoes for the challenge and, after eating our way through fifteen value tins, I accept no complaints at all and will definitely buy them once again. The one matter I will never purchase over again was the sunflower oil spread; it was horrible. When spread on hot toast or a jacket potato information technology left an oily layer and never really melted.
The meat was a fair quality simply the sausages were 'watery' and lacked flavor. My hubby feels strongly about only using local and well reared meat then I'm sure we will go dorsum to visiting the butchers. No i wants to spend ages checking labels but I do think you get what you pay for when it comes to such things every bit baked beans, staff of life and meat. Nonetheless, don't exist put off, equally you can make great savings on many other products such every bit dried pasta, milk, eggs, flour, chopped tomatoes, fruit and vegetables. The list goes on!
This claiming was to try to discover out if it really is possible to feed a family of four for just £20 a week. I realise it would be harder with teenagers but my children are still small; maybe I'll have to repeat the procedure in ten years time – or maybe non! Aye, the challenge is simply most possible, most things are, if you lot really set your heed to it or you are without choice Only is it an enjoyable experience? No.
After the first week, I could already see where I had previously wasted money, past the cease of calendar week 2 I was very grateful that I did not have to do this for longer than 30 days and by the end of the challenge I knew I wouldn't want to do this again. We managed to eat well merely this tight upkeep does not allow for much diversity or the ability to regularly see your five-a-mean solar day target. Fresh fruit and vegetables come at a high toll, so cheap carrots, broccoli, apples and bananas are the order of the twenty-four hours. I don't know if I could have managed without my male parent-in-police force's domicile-grown cucumbers and tomatoes. It is definitely worth trying to grow a few vegetables and fruit if there is space in your garden. Nosotros have strawberry plants but they were sadly out of season during the challenge!
Get the recipe: Pasta salad = 17p per portion (with homegrown veg)
If you are in a position where you lot simply have a small corporeality of money to spend on food you have to make choices. Would yous exist able to worry about added sugar? Practise you purchase a punnet of grapes for £ane.25 or exercise you employ the money to purchase ingredients for a main meal? The respond is that yous accept to make practice and, as long as you are making the almost of what you have and are putting food on the tabular array, you lot are doing well.
I have learned then much throughout these 30 days. I'm able to buy sure foods far cheaper at a deal supermarket. I know that using white rice instead of risotto rice makes no departure and I realise that I can make satisfying family meals that don't cost the earth. You lot can usually take things out of a recipe or brand substitutions and non find the difference. It is certainly far cheaper to make meals from scratch than it is to buy a ready meal, jar of sauce or a takeaway, not to mention healthier!
I walk abroad from this challenge grateful that I tin indulge in a tub of ice cream tonight and feel lucky to be able to stop living on such little coin. However, I am enlightened that we still accept a budget for our food shopping and I am determined to go along to make savings on what nosotros buy. Certainly not £20 a week; £30 would be far more achievable!
Budget recipes from the challenge
How to feed a family unit of iv for £20 a week – our favourite budget recipes the challenge…
Tomato risotto Broccoli quiche
Penne Bolognese Cheese and onion pizza
Spicy mixed bean tortillas Cucumber and love apple pasta salad
Feeling inspired to the challenge? Do yous accept any tips on how to feed a family of 4 for £twenty a week you'd like to share? Head over to our Facebook page to join the conversation!
Source: https://www.goodto.com/food/how-to-feed-a-family-of-4-for-20-a-week-114543
0 Response to "Feed a Family of 4 for 50 a Week"
Postar um comentário