£30 to feed 4 ppl for a week

[AndromedaM31]

Dear lovely mumsnetters,

I have £30 to cover dinners for 4 people for a week. That’s 2 kiddies & 2 adults. Send me your cheapest meal ideas please! (I’ve got jackets already lol)

Thank-ye!

Xx

The other potato could be used for fritata so eggs bacon and potatoes with a few her if you have and a bit salad

Veggie is cheaper than meat. Jackets, toast and butter for breaky, pasta in all combinations is cheap. A big bag a potatoes can make everything (wedges, jackets, mash and is cheap). If I'm skint I sometimes get a frozen family pie for about 1.50 for Sunday lunch with potatoes and the cheap Yorkshire puddings they are about 50p a bag. It feels like a nice proper posh dinner for the fraction of a chicken.

@TazSyd Yes I think it's the most filling, easy, tasty thing! I like it with lots of black pepper and a sliced, fried courgette.

@kojolo

Yes, absolutely don’t forget the black pepper .

I’ve just put the cream cheese on next week’s shopping list (we’ve got everything else we need), so I can make it next week. Thanks for the reminder.

Can of chopped tomatoes, can of mixed beans, mixed herbs, paprika, onion, carrots, celery finely diced and sautéed. Serve with crusty bread (homemade is cheap but French stock works well). Aldi is cheaper for this, even with fresh parsley comes in at 40p a head

Agree with all the above, some great suggestions. I'd also buy a big bag of carrots as they can bulk out most dinners and are cheap.

001 are you really suggesting one 4 egg omelette with one onion and a couple of rashers of bacon is enough for a family of four's main meal? It's not even 200 calories a person.

@titchy they can fill up on toast.

Use half the spaghetti, half the bacon, 2 egg yolks and some cheese for carbonara.

The other half of the spaghetti, the red sauce the sweetcorn and some cheese

Boil and slice one potato and make a frittata with the rest of the eggs, some cheese, a fried onion and some frozen peas. Serve with bread and butter.

Buy another 12 eggs and a couple of tins of beans.
Make wedges with the rest of the potatoes and half wedges, eggs and beans.

Buy a bag of SR flour, some tomatoes some sausages, make pancakes with sausages, fried tomatoes and eggs.

Make a big pan of beans using dried cannellini beans, a couple of onions, a couple of tomatoes, mixed herbs and garlic. Season with salt and pepper when they are cooked. Serve with toast. This will be enough for 2 nights.

You can use the rest of the frozen peas, some onions, some garlic and veg stock to make a simple pea soup that you can eat with bread and butter.

So buy
12 eggs
2 loaves
Tomatoes
Sausages
Cannellini beans
Onions
2 tins beans
Self raising flour
Frozen peas

they can fill up on toast

Or she could spend the money she has and everyone eats the right amount of calories nutritiously!

Are food banks an option op?

Some great recipes and tips here but just to take the stress off a bit, os there any locally? You're asking for dinners, what about breakfasts etc?

@titchy

001 are you really suggesting one 4 egg omelette with one onion and a couple of rashers of bacon is enough for a family of four's main meal? It's not even 200 calories a person.

Yes.

As mentioned, if they're still hungry, there's bread available

@titchy

they can fill up on toast

Or she could spend the money she has and everyone eats the right amount of calories nutritiously!

It's for one week... Doesn't have to be super nutritious.

And if she genuinely only has £30 left... then she needs to try and save a tiny bit. Even saving £10 might make the difference.

And besides, by using what she has, she still has plenty to spend on other meals/treats/ stuff for kids so they don't notice.
When things are tight, meat, fish and other expensive items are a luxury.

I don't want to derail any further, but if it's a one off OP should spend the cash she has rather than starve the family for the week.

If it's a long term issue then they categorically should not be subsisting on 200 calories for a main meal then bulking up with cheap white bread.

As a one-off when you have 50p to last the weekend maybe, but not when you have £30 and not if you're on the metaphorical breadline.

I agree with 001. I've been in this position and £10 can make all the difference. Its made the difference in here between having electricity or having none, between having sanpro or none, all sorts of things.

If it's a one off, short term emergency, then all that matters is having food. Nutritional shortcomings can be overcome later. Folk can fill up on toast. Another couple of pounds spent would get some peanut butter and some jam to break up the monotony, but you need to leave yourself with a bit of rough.

@titchy

I don't want to derail any further, but if it's a one off OP should spend the cash she has rather than starve the family for the week.

If it's a long term issue then they categorically should not be subsisting on 200 calories for a main meal then bulking up with cheap white bread.

As a one-off when you have 50p to last the weekend maybe, but not when you have £30 and not if you're on the metaphorical breadline.

Well, I am assuming that this is the last £30 the OP has, so presumably things are tight.

So yes, she can spend more on food that I suggested.

But she might then struggle to pay electricity bill next time and had fuck all to fall back on. Or going with beans instead of tuna for her jacket potato (and even better, make the wedges I suggested) saves her £2+ which she can buy the kids an ice-cream with, or a pack of biscuits or a bun from the bakers so they don't notice things are bad.

There's a bigger picture.

What's the point of making sure your kids have tuna instead of beans this week if next week you can't afford to pay the electricity bill?

Those cheap noodle packs can be a good lifesaver. Chuck in a boiled egg and some veg and you've got a cheap and not terrible meal nutritious wise (not the most healthy but tastes good!).

'Minestrone' soup
Pasta with Tom sauce
Baked pots with baked beans
Sausages with mash and peas
Bake eggs in tomato and tinned bean sauce with a green pepper and touch of spice
Soft boiled eggs with lentils and a green vegetable

Sorry posted by mistake
Porridge for breakfast
Toast and jam/ marmite for lunch
Apples
That will be 6 days and then reappraise; you might have enough left for another pasta dish or at least food for the children and you should have enough to buy something else eg make a pizza , fish finger sandwiches, toad in the hole, etc.

Some brilliant ideas here

Was going to suggest pork or turkey burgers as when I use a pack of mince for them, they seem to make loads (easily 4 good burgers). You can grate an apple into the mince the way that you would do cheese (peel if you think the kids would think it was weird, as you then don't see it), and add a little bit of finely chopped onion, salt and pepper, also finely chopped red pepper is nice to add if you have got it to use mainly in something else, and I have also added a bit of dried stuffing before and allowed it to soak up the apple juice. Mix up with your hands and shape burgers (they will be a little wetter than just mince) and carefully fry. Once fried and beginning to brown on the sides, I recommend finishing them off in the oven for 10 mins. Serve with chips or wedges. Can make meatballs or meatloaf in roughly the same way (meatloaf rather nice topped with a chutney or cranberry sauce, thinned down with boiling water and popped on the top to go sticky).

Oh, pancakes is also a good one if you are good at them (I'm not but I love them. I sometimes find the mixes a bit easier but make sure you have cooking oil for frying and not cremating too many).
I would supply shredded thin ham, mild grated cheese, and a drained tin of sweetcorn to stuff them with. Potentially also a savers cauliflower cheese meal if anyone likes that- chop up the cauliflower in it and stir around.