To those who are not sure you can feed a family for less than £100 a week

[Metoodear]

I posted a few pictures on the other shopping conversation of the food I cooked as people simply refused to belive you can weekly shop for less than £100 and not just eat pasta all week

Just come back from shopping and just wanted to show you my list and weekly plan Monday is not on their because I already have the dinner we are having salmon baby roasted potatoes and squash wedges with green beans

I have 3 kids and a cat no less Sp 5 of us in total this list includes stuff for lunch as well for me and husband

I it can be done if you don’t allow grazing and make a meal plan the

I was just curious and put everything from our big cook off into tesco online and it came out at £33.44.

I didn't put in any dried herbs, and a couple of bags of bread flour and some yeast wouldn't add much if you were happy with toast for breakfast. You could even add in some soup stuff for lunches and you'd be under £50 for the week.

cathf but I can only see some blueberries unless I can only see part of the list? So a punnet of blueberries between 5 people if all eating at the same time would only last a few mins?

About 20 seconds in our family Red, if that. If I ever buy any blueberries I put them at the back of the fridge to savour one by one, slooowly, all by myself.

I did our weekly shop and this week we are having

Sausage, mash & beans
Pork chops with roasted new potatoes and veg
Pizza (frozen)
Veggie chilli with wraps
Spaghetti bolognese
Chicken casserole

Breakfast is a choice of 3 cereals, or toast.

Lunch, 3 have school dinners, 3 of us at home will have rolls, salad, fruit, yoghurt.

Also bought shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste.

I spent £55 this week, but I did already have fruit and chicken.

Nobody has barecupboards by Friday

We often do. There's often nothing left by Friday apart from some herbs and spices and ketchup because we've ate it all

RedForFilth Frozen blueberries are a revelation. Much cheaper and last forever. Buy a couple of bags for £4 or three for £5 usually. Defrost overnight in the fridge for the next day or you can microwave them if you’re just using them as a topping for oats or something.

Patronising much OP?

If you have access to any Asian shops, they are by far the cheapest place to buy spices.
Also very cheap rice and pulses. The cans of pulses cost much less than the supermarket.
Dried pulses are also cheap, but you need to factor in soaking and a long cooking time. Ted lentils don't need soaking or pre-cooking so are also a good buy.
You can buy frozen cubes of mixed ginger and garlic, as well as separately. Frozen chopped chilli cubes too.
I'm fortunate enough not to need to budget, but hate waste. Something I make often is fritters. I chuck them in lunchbox es, but good for a main meal too.
Flour ( any kind), milk or water, an egg ( not essential), then any odds and ends of vegetables cooked or raw, grated / chopped, your choice of spices / herbs/ salt/ pepper if you have any. That odd spoonful of boiled rice you were going to chuck in the bin? Tiny end of dried up cheese? Bit of stale bread grated into crumbs? They can all be used, mix to a thick batter and fry off in spoonfuls. You only need a teaspoon of oil.
Also cakes or patties of cooked veg/ potatoes mashed up, tin of fish or bit of cheese if you have it. Coat with breadcrumbs or dust of flour on the putside.

Polish shops are also worth checking for cheap spices like paprika or dill.

Red lentils, obviously!

I like the sound of your fritters Weedsnseeds1, I'm going to try those.

They freeze very well, too diggerty

Frequency I'd be happy to post you a selection of spices, to get you started, if you are comfortable to PM me your address.
I have a huge selection and can easily bag you up some samples.

I bought some today from B and M. Did anyone know B and M sold spices? I didn't. They were 39p each. I got tumeric, cumin, ground ginger, curry powder, mixed spices, chilli powder and garlic and chilli salt.

I still need garam masala and possibly a few others but I think I have most of the ones I used to use often.

My meal plan had already been sorted this week but next week DD is having veg curry in her lunch box and we'll be having homemade chili - not from a jar, maybe veggie depending how many bills I have next week, homemade veg curry for dinner and homemade chicken korma.

I'm not sure what else to make. It's been so long since I cooked properly and the meat I used to use is still expensive. I might have a google later for some filling veggie meals.

I made a seriously easy, tasty, cheap dhal tonight.

100g red lentils boiled in pan

In another pan/wok, I heated oil (any will do), threw in some cumin seeds, then some chopped onions (from frozen will do), then added some salt, pepper, garlic granules, chilli flakes and a bit of paprika.

If you have the cumin, salt, pepper, paprika and chilli flakes in they’ll last you many many portions of dahl. Red lentils dried are so cheap.

You can leave a bit of water in the pan to make it wetter and serve with rice or just eat it alone with a salad, I did the latter. Absolutely gorgeous and cost less than 50p total for two regular portions or one huge one.

Whoops, I meant to say I used turmeric not paprika!

It’s a simple dish though, you can throw most things in it. Mushrooms are nice.

Your kitchen will smell amazing for a day or two from popping the whole cumin seeds in hot oil! So good.

Frequency: make dahl! You have almost everything for it now! Just need some dried red lentils!

It make a great lunch hot or cold in a Tupperware pot with a spoon. Very filling, really nutritious, and feels very decadent because it’s so tasty, the fried onions and spices.

That looks nice and I think they'd both eat that. I'm going to add that to next week's meal plan. We have red lentils in, so if I buy the rest of spices tomorrow and follow OP's budgeting it'll be completely free.

I forgot about B and M
They're also good for things like tinned tomatoes.
With mixed spice you can make bread pudding ( not bread and butter pudding, this is sort of solid, you eat it cold in slices)
Stale bread, soak in a bit of cold water to.soften. squeeze it out, mix in a splash of milk, some sugar, an egg, bit of melted butter / Marg / oil and some dried fruit ( value mixed fruit is fine) or a bit of grated orange rind ( dice up the flesh for your daughter's lunch box or snack).
Beat together to a thick batter, put in a greased baking tray and bake. Cook it when you are using the oven for something else to save fuel.
I make it by eye, but if you google it you can get a better idea of proportions.
It doesn't sound very exciting, but honestly, it tastes fantastic!

And with the ground ginger, cumin and turmeric, if you get some cinnamon next time, you could branch out into some Moroccan dishes, tagine and cous cous.
You can make preserved lemon very easily, which is the other common flavour in tagine, a fraction of the price of buying them. You only need a lemon and salt.
I feel quite excited for you

WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam I do anyway as there's only my son and myself. I was just commenting that one punnet of blueberries between 5 people as the only fruit on the shopping list seems stingy!

RedForFilth Yeah it does, though perhaps only one person likes them!

World food aisle is great for spices. I stock up there whenever I'm in the UK.

I just made some oat fingers using up random things I had left in the fridge and cupboard. They will be great for the DC snacking all weekend.

World food aisle annoys me irrationally. They sell those tiny things of spices in one place and then in a completely different place they sell the same thing for a fraction of the price! I know that some people wont use up the big bags of spices, but to have then in a different place seems underhand somehow!

Nobody has bare cupboards by Friday.

Fuck right off. I often go without eating so my children can.

Just fuck off.