How much does a regular evening meal cost you?

[shylatte]

This year money is tighter and I need to cut back. We are fairly frugal, but good quality food is very important to us - our shop (for 5 of us) is approx £200 per week. I cook everything from scratch, buy value products where I can. Our main problem is that the two eldest are really into sport/fitness and protein is a big thing for them. Heavy carb meals don't satisfy them at all, and dc1 wants chicken breasts and cooked salmon fillets as snacks.
On a Thursday we have fish, usually salmon or cod, which costs about £12 for the meal (this is from Lidl, not a gourmet fishmonger). That is before veg and a carb side. As part of my 'cutting back' I bought 750g of prawns on offer for £5. We've just finished a stir fry, to which all of the dc have declared is more like a snack rather than a meal On Sundays the dc like a lamb leg roast, and that alone is nearly £20.
My question is, is this normal? What would be the average price of a meal and what size is your family? DH thinks this is fine but I feel it is too much, but don't know how we can cut back.

Notdoing that is a very good point - we don't get excited about special meals (eg Xmas) because we eat very well every day. We don't go to restaurants because I can't justify the cost - portions are absolutely crap and I can do it better and cheaper at home.
I recognize that we are eating too much animal protein but I really don't want to increase our carb consumption. I'm of the opinion (rightly or wrongly) that carbs are empty calories.
Re mince, I buy really good quality lean mince from the butcher for £8.50 per kg. A few nights ago I picked up reduced mince in Sainsburys and made it into a lasagne. After taking one mouthful, ds asked where I'd bought the mince as the quality wasn't as good as usual. I realize that sounds like something out of a Victoria Wood sketch but there you go.
Whoever said I have food issues is spot on. I don't know how this started but it is my fault. We don't need to eat like this.

I've tried frozen veg for roasts and they were awful

Only if you over cook it. Steamed it tastes indistinguishable from fresh.

I use a cheap as chips metal hob top one like this

Yes.. You need cheaper protein. The fitness people I know eat a lot off eggs, cottage cheese and quark.

We don't go to restaurants because I can't justify the cost - portions are absolutely crap

This says to me that your idea of portion sizes is off, because restaurants (unless you’re doing the 10 course tasting menu) tend to have larger portions.

And yes, you are wrong to say carbs are empty calories. What do think your brain runs on? It’s glucose, not protein. Carbohydrate-containing foods are also key sources of fibre (which you will need more of to help you pass all that meat!), vitamins and minerals. The healthy eating guidelines recommend that over 1/3 of your diet is fruit and veg, and the same of starchy foods - they don’t recommend that just for the hell of it.

OP it really is a matter of choice. You've been choosing to have the finer things in life. If you want to continue, it will continue to cost £200 a week. If you want to compromise, you can save a lot of money.

Korean drug eggs

Top snack, seriously.

Take the DC on a trip to Aldi
Whole wheat couscous 95p for a kilo
100% whole nut peanut butter £1.15 a jar

Sporty teen snack
1 packet noodles with taste powder, handful of soya mince, grated carrot, handful of peas, half a tin of black beans
Cheap cheerful and packed with protein

I tried steaming broccoli and cauliflower and it was nothing like the fresh version. Maybe I did it wrong but no one (including me) ate it.
Apologies about my 'chandelier' comment, I meant the 4 pronged light fitting in the centre of my (rented) living room. I've learned from MN that I'm aspirational, I also say pouffe (pronounced pouffay) and settee .

@Caspianberg

It’s also not great eating meat every day, for both health, environment and money.

Two dishes we have made recently which are great for ‘veggie’ beginners:

Sweet potato and black bean paprika casserole with rice ( or baked potatoes)

Sweet potato, halloumi, chickpea and spinach curry, rice and homemade naan.

Please could you post the recipes for these? They sound delicious 😋

Frozen broccoli is probably the worst frozen veg going. Peas, peppers, Morrisons stir fry mix and broad beans are all good.

@rosie561 - both pretty easy, and 1 year old ate ( you can adjust any spice to taste)

healthylivingjames.co.uk/sweet-potato-black-bean-stew/

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/268002/sweet-potato-spinach-and-halloumi-curry/

Tbh you're sounding a bit bonkers now with your misplaced snobbery it seems that's where your DC got it from if their delicate Princess and the Pea taste buds could immediately detect clearly inferior mince.

I read a great book called Spoonfed which debunks many food myths including how much extra protein you need if you're exercising a lot - answer is, not much.

Sparkl absolutely no misplaced snobbery at all. I was horrified that dc could tell the difference, as I certainly couldn't. I grew up on chick sticks and Findus crispy pancakes, I certainly don't have a refined palate.

Re the empty calories.

A normal, healthy meal would be one salmon fillet, some potatoes and loads of veg.

If you need more calories than that because you’re incredibly active, then it’s fine to add a few more potatoes.

You are not frugal. I’m not frugal with food and I only buy lamb at Easter. I like to have oily fish every week and it’s “proper” salmon about once every 6 weeks. Buy proper l mean a rectangle of salmon that costs around £6. On the other weeks we have pasta sauce made from either anchovies, onion, garlic with cabbage, or sardine tinned tomatoes onion and garlic, or smoked salmon “trimmings” with cream cheese. I also do smoked mackerel and leek hash. Lots of my other meat meals are mince based. Lasagne (nigellas), cottage pie, mince and tatties with dumplings, chilli. These all have an amount of lentils and the mince and tatties has Pearl barley. They all have a lot of veg in. Carrots and onions are practically free. Green peppers are great in a chilli.
I rarely buy chicken breast. Wings are good and I sometimes make a curry with a packet of legs. I get thighs for anything I want diced chicken for. I add sweet potato or diced squash to curries if appropriate. We aren’t really “Sunday dinner” eaters but I make toad in the hole or a roast chicken a few times a year. I love smoked haddock with cream and spinach so that’s a real treat. Two of my dcs are egg maniacs but 6 eggs is just greedy. Your house sounds like an Atkins themed birthday party. Don’t you ever just have beans on toast?
I wouldn’t be buying chunks of meat and salmon as “snacks” for someone who’s eaten 250g of meat for dinner.
In answer to your question we are a family of 5 (12 and over) and spend around £60-70.

I agree frozen veg is better in things - I often buy frozen peppers for in fajitas/pasta/stew and frozen spinach for curry. Frozen edamame is good as well.

Balance the meals properly using a decent macro calculator, if they're into fitness, they'll know this.

Carbs aren't empty calories, they're there as an energy source. Energy from protein is harder to access and ok if you're trying to cut weight to go low carb but not at their ages and activity levels.

A leg of lamb is not being frugal, use shoulder, neck, shanks in stews, casseroles, loads nicer, higher in fat and more filling.

I'd also be upping the bean and pea content of meals. Balance the meals between different sources, way better for the microbiome.

Could you get them in to more plant based meals by introducing them to some of the vegan bodybuilders and athletes? Plenty of highly performing people eating no meat at all

I had a consultation with a nutritionist this week and she sang the praise of carbs. If your DCs are doing less than 40 mins cardio exercise then they NEED to fuel on carbs instead of protein before. Your body needs that energy source for easy access.

Sounds like they’ve probably into weights and rugby so maybe not relevant but just a thought. Definitely not empty.

The body builders head to aldi and
Lidl near me to bulk buy the fat free greek yoghurt which is packed with protein.

Protein does not have to be meat!

@shylatte just to add to ideas, I make big batches of bolognese sauce and freeze in containers. In it I put the usual mince beef , chopped tomatoes (cheap ones), onions mushrooms and mixed dried herbs and a bit of red wine. I also add green lentils (cheap protein and iron), and blended veg - anything goes - spinach, peas, sweet corn, carrots, celery.. adds nutrients and makes it go further. With this, dried pasta, some bread on the side and grated cheese. Makes a nice meal and imo cheap to make and well balanced! You could make into lasagna too (but I cba with making white sauce).
Protein is acceptable in all its forms, doesn’t have to be meat, plenty of vegan body builders out there! There’s a lot of protein in peas, for example. You can find natural peanut butter (as in, no sugar/salt) in b&m sometimes. I only buy it at Tesco when it’s on offer and it goes on toast for breakfast or as a snack.

P.s beans on toast is a great meal. Protein, carbs and it’s one of your 5 a day. Fruit and plain yoghurt for pudding.

We are also a family of 5 with two adults who do exercise and a 15 year old.

We easily spend £200 on food a week and I just don't find carbs filling.

We have a lot of chicken based meals or minced meat, spag Bol or chilli, we also go to Morrisons for offers on meat as they often have rump steak £10k or pork on offer

Restaurant portions are huge! Unless you're doing Michelin taster menu.

You guys must have enormous portions.

Tbh you're setting your kids up for unrealistic expectations if they can taste the difference in mince. When they are 20 and building their careers they can't buy the best quality of everything.