To feed my family on £1 per person per day

[Dramatic]

I've heard about celebs doing this and finding it almost impossible but really it's not that hard, I spend £25 a week (or less) on me and 3 kids. Am I a cheapskate or do other people spend this much? I shop at Aldi if that makes a difference. Maybe I'm depriving my kids by spending £1 a day on them. How much do you spend per person per day? Surely it's not that unreasonable to think £1 a day is plenty to feed yourself, why are people making such a fuss about it?

[Trollsworth]

Lambs liver is dirt cheap, and most supermarkets do packets of cooking bacon. Tonight, I semi cooked the liver in a saucepan, chopped it tiny with scissors then smushed it with pepper and lots of mint sauce. Then I put bacon in muffin trays, to make little bacon pots, and loaded the liver mix in. I squashed it down, put more bacon on top to make lids, and voila, little bacon and liver burgers. Bake these in the oven until they are cooked. Serve with a cheap cheese slice, ketchup, and grated carrot in a granary bun, with potato wedges and baked beans if your children are as hungry as mine are after Thai boxing.


I worked out

5p for the bacon
20p for the potatoes
25p for the liver
5p for the mint sauce
25p for the beans
15p for the bun
5p for the cheese slice
5p for the carrot.

That's £1 for an adult portion, probably halve it for a toddler, and there is a HUGE amount of nutrition in that meal.

[unrealhousewife]

Agree about feeding foods like cheese when children don't like them - sometimes it's a symptom of an intollerance. Even vegetables at a young age aren't that brilliant. I was told by a doctor to stop giving mine brassicas as they were making her bloated - her stomach simply wasn't ready for it. And a friend of mine kept feeding her dd raisins and then wondered why she had toileting problems.

[unrealhousewife]

The poor should not be forced to eat liver and lentils.

[Deverethemuzzler]

Is liver safe for young children?
I thought it was too rich in Vit A?

I may be confused though.

Liver is not really considered palatable by the majority is it? I hated it as a child and it was common back then.

[unrealhousewife]

Trollsworth your liverburgers sound absolutely vile. Sorry

[Oldraver]

You should do what St Jamie says and pick herbs from your local park.

Our local council has done some planters with Rhubarb and herbs in...though I wounder if they will get miffed if they are picked and used

[MrsKoala]

Annabel Karmel had liver recipes in her weaning book and DS LOVES it. He's had it since 6mo. I think it's just no liver when you are pregnant Devere, and not more than twice a week for kids.

I'm not totally averse to some calves liver and bacon and mash with a re wine gravy, or a chicken liver pate or risotto, but sorry Trollsworth, i agree with Unreal, your liver burgers sound gag inducing.

[Deverethemuzzler]

Ah ok. I knew there was something about liver. Vaguely remember from when I was pregnant and when DD was newborn and MIL kept trying to make me give her Cod Liver Oil.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I quite like liver, but I think even I'd have trouble stomaching those liver burgers.

[Waltonswatcher1]

Feed a family for a £1 each ?
What a joke . Am so sick of all this now .
Liver burgers sound totally grim , but good for you .
I'm off to do my shopping order .
I might post about that - 'feed my family for the price of a bloody mortgage payment challenge '.

[fatlazymummy]

Good news for Sainsbury shoppers (I am, though not really through choice) ,some items have actually come down in price, and not just as a special offer
Free range eggs down to £1/6, wholemeal Pitta's down to 50p. And they now sell 4 pints of milk for £1,competitive with Iceland's.
Didn't notice any thing else cheaper, but there could be.

[fatlazymummy]

Oh yes, I used to quite like liver as a kid, even though I hated most meat. Never given it to my kids though, don't know why.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

It's not just Sainsbury's *fatlazymummy'. All the bigger supermarkets have lost a significant number of shoppers to Lidl, Aldi and Iceland, affecting their profits. I think Morrison's started by reducing their prices and the others have had to follow suit to keep up.

Some of Tesco's fruit and veg is cheaper than it was, but it's not quite on a par with lidl yet.

[goodasitgets]

Completely irrelevant to food but use the pharmacy minor illness scheme
I have a pre payment card for prescriptions, didn't realise it entitled me to access for that. I had thrush after antibiotics, popped in and the treatment (branded) was free
It would have cost £12 otherwise which makes a huge difference
It covers children too and people that don't pay for prescriptions, things like threadworm, headaches, athletes foot etc

[fatlazymummy]

rafa thats interesting to know.
I was checking out the aldi website the other day, and perhaps I'm missing something but I didn't think they were all that cheap. A lot of the prices seemed very similar to Sainsburys basic range (which I buy quite a lot of, and like).
The toiletries and skin care ranges looked good though, and I've heard good things about them.

[SaucyJack]

Aldi stuff might not be cheaper than buying Sainsbury's Basics but the taste and quality is a hundred times better* for the price you're paying.

*this might be a slight exaggeration....... but the food is much nicer.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

We only have Tesco, most of the fruit and veg is definitely cheaper in Lidl. Probably the meat is too, particularly if it is on offer.

Tinned stuff and store cupboard stuff can go either way. The stuff that is about the same price is probably better quality in most cases, but Tesco Value stuff is usually cheaper, so it depends on how tight my budget is as to what I end up buying.

[EverythingCounts]

Where on earth are you buying 48 Weetabix from at £1.51? (on about page 3/4 of the thread) They are currently £4.18 at Tesco and I can't imagine even the heaviest discount would go below half of that! Are they a supermarket own brand? Which one?

[Lauren83]

Stressed... Very useful tips there, I'm not budgeting too much at the mo but may be in the future so will remember those thank you

[stressedHEmum]

Your welcome, Lauren.

we had bean chilli last night - cheap, quick and easy

3 tins cheapy kidney beans 90p or there abouts
carton passata 30p
onions 10p
1 pepper 30p
pack baby corn 60p (aldi super six)
chilli powder, cumin, salt and pepper 20p
rice 20p

made 4 generous adult portions for less than 60p a head

We had lentil soup for lunch

1/2bag lentils 50p
5 carrots 30p
2 leeks 50p
onions 10p
4 stock cubes 20p
salt, pepper, parsley 10p

There are leftovers for today's lunch for some of us, so there were probably 6 adult portions for less than 30p a head, just add some bread and some rice pudding for a decent lunch for less than 50p each.

I agree that Aldi stuff is not always cheaper than the other supermarket value ranges, but it is much better quality for the money.

I know that it's not very pleasant to think about, but there are lots of families really struggling to afford food. Our foodbank gives out about 300 boxes a month, so any help or support we can give each other is really needed.

[Waltonswatcher1]

Rice 20p ?!
Did you grow your own ?

[antimatter]

I think if you buy in bulk from Indian shops (they have for instance broken rice which is more than good enough and much cheaper than anything you can get) you can price portions of rice that low.
However adult with 3 small kids would take ages to eat it. Unless you buy and split with other families.

[whois]

Don't need to go the an Indian bull shop. Just need a normally sized tesco (not express or metro).

Tesco Everyday Value Long Grain Rice 1Kg
£0.40 (£0.40/kg)

So that is actually less than £20 if you assume 4 adults at 100g each (that's a decent portion).

[whois]

Indian bulk not bull...