£20 for four days of food-ideas please

[Q10intense]

For a family of 3 and Ddog, any ideas please? One of these possibly being a picnic for the beach-baguettes cheaper or normal bread (not as nice)

We already have-Some pasta, cherries, large potatoes, rice, bread flour, butter, tomatoes, cucumber, 1 milk, oats

Buy some broccoli, carrots, eggs, cheese, bananas, apples, more milk, tins of dog food, tins of tuna and a whole chicken. You should just about be able to get this for £20 at Aldi/home bargains.

You can make omelettes or frittata with broccoli and cheese (nice warm or cold).

Cheese and tomato or chicken sandwiches /baguettes for the beach.

Cold pasta salad with tuna or chicken leftovers or a pasta bake for the evening
Roast chicken with roast tats and veg. Make Yorkshire puds with egg, flour and milk.
Save the drumsticks and wings for the beach tea.
Scrambled eggs on toast with beans
Home made chips
Fruit crumble with the apples or banana and cherry pancakes.
Cherries, apples, bananas for snacks.

Also you might find there is a community fridge/cupboard near you that you can pick up some extra bits for free.

A lasagna serving 6 generous portions costs about £8 to make.

make bread - £1.20 for a bag of flour, 65p for 8 sachets of yeast, a bag of flour makes 3 large loaves or 4 focaccia. Get lettuce and you have the base of a salad for your picnic, tray of chicken legs is cheap

Dog food.
1 whole chicken or
1 small pork joint
Potatoes
Onions
4pts milk
Tub of baking powder
Large tub of plain yoghurt
Bag of frozen peas
Block of cheese
Tub of cream cheese
Eggs
Salad
French stick

1. Feed the dog. Fulfil your responsibilities towards your pet.

Chicken - some hot with salad and potato salad, some with salad for the picnic (assuming you live within walking distance of a beach, as you can't afford the train/petrol/parking with yoghurt and cucumber as a dressing (add spices as preferred) or cream cheese. Boiled eggs increase protein.

If anything is left over, make a curry sauce with spices and tomatoes and have lots of rice and flatbreads.

Pork - some as a hot meal with peas and mash, some cold in flatbreads (flour, baking powder, bit of yoghurt) with salad or chopped up and mixed with hot pasta, some peas and cheese.

If anything is left over, make flatbread toasties or pizza with tomato puree, bits of pork and tomato/cheese. Or make egg fried rice with it, peas, rice, scrambled egg and spices.

Eggs - breakfast x 2
Porridge - breakfast x 2

Jacket potatoes with cheese/cream cheese/pork/chicken/salad

By a frozen chicken its cheaper.

Eggs, milk, porridge oats. Carrots onions tinned tomatoes. Broccoli. Jar of peanut butter, block of cheese, tin of baked beans. Big pot of plain yoghurt.

Breakfasts - porridge, eggs & toast. Yoghurt & cherries

Lunches - make bread for sandwiches, cheese, tuna, peanut butter

Dinners - roast chicken, potatoes & veg, leftovers - chicken satay,
Tomato pasta with cheese
Jacket potattoes with beans/tuna

Do you have long life stuff in your cupboard? Plenty of pasta and rice, various flours, bag of sugar, dried milk powder, lentils, tins of chickpeas & beans, tinned tomatoes, tuna, sweetcorn, tinned fruit etc? Its a good idea to build up a stash over time. I could probably eat a reasonable diet just from my cupboard for about 3-4 weeks if i was ever caught short of cash, it can take away a lot of stress to know you have enough to eat when you have other worries.

Check local allotments, at this time of year they will sell surplus cheaply or even give stuff like courgettes away. There are already blackberries ripening and plenty of plums to be picked free where i live.

I’d maybe start with some chicken. Tesco do 2kg of Chicken Thighs for £5.75 or Chicken Drumsticks are on offer at £3.75 for 2kg at the moment. I’d get chickpeas (less than 50p a can) and tinned tomatoes (same price). Some onions, pack of courgettes and a pack of value wonky peppers. A jar of pesto, a couple of cans of baked beans and a block of basic cheese. A couple of tins of Tuna or Sardines or Mackerel (depending on your tastes) and a loaf of bread. This should come in under £16 based on prices in Aldi and Tesco (as of today in my local stores) if you go with the drumsticks and the more basic ranges. Check out the Aldi Super 6 and other offers. UHT milk is cheaper than fresh and would be fine for porridge or overnight oats. You’ve got a bit of leeway for more oats, pasta, bread, or a wee treat.

If you want to save on cooking you could season and roast all the chicken together, but things will be nicer cooked fresh.

I’d do some roasted chicken and roast veggies for one meal, that could be served with pasta and a sauce from the tinned tomatoes.

You could make a chicken and rice dish with the rice, chickpeas, onion, a pepper, a courgette, spices you have to hand and some more of the chicken.

Use some of the cooked chicken for your picnic, either as drumsticks or as a filling for sandwiches. Make a salad of your cucumber and tomatoes and take the cherries.

Make a veggie pesto pasta with another courgette, pepper and an onion. Top with cheese.

Could you bake the large potatoes? Or chop them into wedges/chunks in their skins? Bake in the oven (or airfryer) then top with baked beans and cheese.

Make toasties with the tinned fish, very nice grilled on toast. If you go with Tuna and you have a bit of cheese and onion left you could do a Tuna Melt.

If your budget is because things are tough there might be a food pantry or community larder in your area that you can access without any kind of referral. I used to volunteer in a little shop like that in our community and we also often had pet food available for free.

super cheap evening meals would be pasta with bechemal sauce using flour and margarine/stock cube plus frozen veg eg peas and sweetcorn. If possible with some cheese or tomato puree in it. Can or two of tuna for protein.

lunches I’d do a big rice salad with tomatoes and cucumber, plus sliced ham or chicken. You can buy chicken and ham offcuts at aldi for not a lot but they’re still decent meat as opposed to only 70% meat that’s highly processed. This would be cheaper than sandwiches

cheap healthy breakfasts I’d do cheap oats with milk and frozen or canned fruit.

snacks I’d buy massive bags of cheap apples and a big block of cheese that I’d cut into wedges plus cheap crackers, then raid cheap biscuit isle