If you had £20 to feed a family of four, for a week (10 meals), what would you make?

[LaChatte]

Two adults, one pre-teen with a moderate appetite and one 5yo who doesn't eat much.

How would you go about it? Everything else has been paid for, so it really is just to buy food with, and I'm trying to meal plan but lacking cheap ideas!

No meat or fish intake is required, as 4 days a week we all have a full lunchtime meal at work/school (already paid for). We have store cupboard basics (seasoning etc.).

Also if you buy a chicken, there are loads of lovely Mumsnet users that can teach you how to LITERALLY make it stretch over the course of the week and even to a dinner party on Friday! Don't forget to make stock from the carcass

There is a credit crunch recipe thread in the credit crunch section of mumsnet. I can't link to it from my phone but lots of fab ideas on there. Just search for it & it should come up.

We love French onion soup,it's easy to make, tasty and filling. You don't need to use a decent stock (a cube will do) or wine. A cheesy crouton made with a slice from a baguette makes it tasty comfort food

I agree about using bacon/sausages for adding flavour instead of the main star. I always use bacon as a base for pasta sauces and stews. I also tend make large pots of either bolognase/chilli. I will freeze batches, but will also eat these in different ways over three days.
1: spaghetti bolognase (or any pasta I have)
2: combine the bolognase with pasta and top with a cheese sauce to make a pasta bake.
3: top the sauce chilli or bolognase sauce with mash/sliced potatoes
4: chilli wraps

Here's a few more ideas:

Risotto (using whatever rice you use) made with bacon, peas and a stock cube.
Fafafels with pitta bread, houmous.
Pitta bread pizza's: some reduced chopped tomatoes, cheese and topped with peppers.
Cauliflower bacon pasta bake: this is topped with a cheese sauce and breadcrumbs.
Savoury pancakes
Quesadillas
Pasta served with garlic, olive oil and chilli
Pasta with broccoli and canned tuna

I also would buy lots of diffenent frozen vegtables and check what is avaialble, I once bought a packet of frozen falafels in Tesco for £1! I would also check out the ethnic aisles in the supermarkets, as often they have large packs of rice/pulses/tins for the same price or cheaper.

Toad in the hole with veg from freezer
Pasta with ham, value soft cheese and veg
Egg fried rice (rice, eggs, peas, soy sauce)
Jacket potato with beans
beans on toast
scrambled egg on toast
homemade scones/biscuits/cakes pancakes.
porridge
Spagbol with value spaghetti, value tinned tomatoes, frozen pepper and onion, leave the meat out or only use a small amount.
Chilli con carne with no meat.
Bulk out meals with frozen veg and mushrooms.

If I had twenty pounds to spend on ten meals I would buy
Oats
Bread flour
Plain flour
Yeast
Baking soda
Rice
Pasta
Dried pulses
Carrots
Onions
Broccoli
Tins tomatoes
Herbs
Butter
Jam
Peanut butter
Cheese
Cream cheese
Yoghurt
Raisins
Eggs

Assuming I had salt, pepper and a few spices I would make;
Granola from the oats, butter and raisins.
Fresh bread

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. pasta with a tomato or cream cheese sauce and broccoli
Veg and bean stew with dumpling
Veg curry made with some of the yoghurt and rice
Broccoli/onion/bean soup and croutons
Egg fried rice
Giant Yorkshire puddings filled with veg
Homemade baked beans on toast
Scrambled eggs on toast
Pancakes
Scones

Use the yukky mash to bulk out a tin of fish for fishcakes?

lentil dahl/stew with potato, carrot, cauliflower to make it more substantial)
the above mentioned veg curry (chickpea, cauli, carrot)
chickpea dahl
potatoes
couple of heads of broccoli (get your greens. it's not expensive)
head of cauliflower
beans and rice with cheese
porridge
beans on toast
weetabix
pasta with pesto and steamed broccoli

Macaroni cheese
Spaghetti with tomatoes and mushrooms
Jacket potatoes with beans
Omlette
Richmond sausages in a toad in the hole
Mozarella, tomatoes and pasta
Noodles with vegetables
Home made pizza

vegetarian shepherd's pie: brown lentils mixed with tinned tomatoes and topped with mashed potatoes.

Vegetarian chili: tinned black beans and kidney beans mixed with tinned tomatoes, onion and chili powder. Served with rice or jacket potatoes.

cauliflower soup is gorgeous esp if you make it with milk and blend well. sprinkling of parmesan and toasted breadcrumbs on top. warming stale baguette in oven is perfect for making croutons to make it more interesting. use storecupboard spices to customise your croutons for each soup.

soups are great for eeking out vegetables, you can use the frozen broccoli to make a lovely green soup. frozen peas, lardons, creme fraiche and parmesan would make a lovely basis for risotto or soup.

cabbage, potatoes, stock, pulses, any frozen veg can be added to a basic mix of onions/celery/garlic to make a filling soup. pasta shapes or broken up spaghetti can be added near the end of cooking time. when serving add a blog of pesto to it and that gives you a lovely minestrone, eat with crusty bread. its a healthy filling meal.

I'd make a big veggie lasagne with the ingredients you already have. also the rice is enough to make a veggie stir fry, pea risotto with parmesan, pea fritters, bean fritters. Definitely make a filling dhal with the lentils. Chickpea curry is lovely esp with herby bread or spiced rice.

porridge may get boring but its so filling. have creme fraiche and jam in it one day, cinnamon sugar the next, just to make it different.

buy some suet and flour to make dumplings to bulk out meals. you could make veggie patties for breakfast if you get bored with porridge. also home made baked beans are wonderful, just use up tomatoes, puree and spices that you have. grated potato fritters, mix mashed potato and flour to make potato scones for weekend breakfasts.

baked potatoes. bake them, scoop out the flesh and leave the jackets intact. mix the potatoes with butter/milk/creme fraiche and whatever cheese you have. Spoon mixture back into jackets and bake for longer. top with any cheese you have left.

I'd definitely be doing a lot of pasta, chick peas and kidney beans as they are all very filling.

Go to a Polish/Lithuanian shop that has a freezer section, buy 3X 2.5kg of frozen dumplings, a couple of tubs of sour cream and cheap butter. A bowlful of boiled dumplings swimming in butter and sour cream is immensely filling, it's delicious, and fairly cheap

Also the chap who said about pancakes is dead right too, cheap and easy to make large batches of. Jam can be bought cheap too.

Cheap pasta/noodles also a bonus, and mixing either of those with soup and water can stretch a distance.

Go to morrisons- at the moment they've got a massive sack of unwashed potatoes on offer for £2! you can do so much with potatoes!!
Id buy some mince(as above £2), id split a 500g mince into 2/3 portion for future meals and bulk the mince out with mixed beans/washed baked beans.
Id buy some sausages and some dried pasta, chop potatoes into chips and have sausage and chips/sausage and mash with some baked beans. sausage pasta bake.

Porridge, and as an alternate, your own bircher muesli with grated Apple and raisins.

Suppers,

Mac cheese
Lentil and carrot soup
Cauliflower cheese
Baked potatoes with eg baked beans or if feeling rich sausages
Sausage and mash
Stuffed cabbage. Use rice and lentils, or mince if you have the money. Our Tesco sells off cabbage for 9p, including savoy cabbages. You can make it either as one huge cabbage or like dolmades.
In season, stuffed marrow.
Baked apples.
Chunky veg soup. Eg curried parsnip, carrot and price.
Once a week, some stewing meat. You can use the stock for soup.
Risotto.
Pasta alla anything, eg carbonara. Use milk not cream, bacon ( freeze what you don't need), two eggs.

Just make sure you have enough veg. Choose in season, this country, and buy on a Monday or Tuesday when prices are lower.

Cheap tins of tomatoes are amazing. They are the base of so many sauces, thicken.soups.

these are nice and cheap to make
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9978/mexican-bean-burgers-with-lime-yogurt-and-salsa

Not sure if anyone has mentioned crumbles for a quick pudding?

You could me a huge fruit crumble with whatever fruit is on special: apples, plums, pears are especially good, then add an oaty crumble topping.

Keeps in fridge and good cold for breakfast!

The disgusting mash

OK make some up and add fried bacon, garlic, cheese - either use this as a topping to a shepherd's pie (using the lentils) or on its own fris n 'patties' for breakfast.

Use the baguettes as a pizza base and add cheese, tomato, whatever.

Rice and veg, fry some onion and garlic, add the veg, then add the rice and boiling water - this will be a meal on its own but you can use it as a side with meat. Add creme fresh, soy sauce or whatever to taste, if you make too much you can use the rest for fried rice/egg fried rice the following day.

Do you have flour? Make batter for Yorkshire puds for toad in the hole (if you can't get sausages try lamb cutlets) and pancakes for breakfast.

I always buy a whole large chicken (4.50 asda) it'll last four days including lunch! Make sunday dinner (night one), chicken risotto using some of the left over stock (night two), chicken curry (night 3) chicken wraps (night 4) i always use the good white meat for sarnies and the not so great bits for main meals using frozen veg to bulk up the curries/risotto. Wraps are cheap too last a bit longer than bread. Other meals: sasuage and bacon cassarole. Two tins of chopped toms, mixed beans and stock. Can freeze if you make a large batch. Chicken Dippers: bulk buy chicken breasts and pop them in the freezer. Use breadcrumbs and egg to make homemade chicken dippers or crispy chicken wraps. Mince meat: using crushed smartprice crackers, eggs and herbs you can make your own burgers. Usually 6-8 medium sized ones for a medium pack of mince 1.5kg. Will freeze. Pasta: you can make spag bog/chilli up really easily substitute little meat with beans/veg. I usually make this in large batches and freeze. Veggie pasta bake is cheap to make esp if you use frozen veg. Lunches can be tricky but making up soups, using left overs can work! Pancakes are cheap to make up, use chopped bananas, raisins, apple etc to get one of your five a day! Porridge oates gold for breakie or snacking, and flour/eggs/marg can be useful for making cakes as a dessert. :)

If it were me I'd try to live out of the cupboard this week, spend as little as possible so that when you are bored with disgusting mash you have a bit more spare for a treat.

Arghhhhhhh bastard Orange just took €111 out of our account instead of the usual €42 because we had to call them out (land line wasn't working for a week) and they bloody well charged us for it (the problem came from them), wtf, shouldn't they be giving us money off our contract because we had three weeks instead of four last month?!

Supernoodles. And use tins if beans and lentils to pad out dishes.

My kids love couscous with a few peas and a bit of cheese mixed in - esp if you add a bit of butter and cook in stock.

Pasta with tin of mackerel and tomatoes or with tuna and cheese. You don't need a lot to make it tasty.

Beans and cheese on jackets. Aldi are doing cheddar pretty cheaply at the moment.

I second the American pancakes! Can't go wrong! Or soak stale bread in a bit of egg/milk mixture and pan fry, yum.

I could do the meals no prob, pasta rice basics mince, iceland pizzas, basics chips etc. The problem for me would be the snacks, both fruit and the unhealthy sort. My 3 kids inhale cereal bars and biscuits, and I buy huge quantities of fruit so that they also snack on that. £20 would make it very hard to buy as much fruit and veg as we do.

I already buy practically everything basics but I still spend easily £50-£60 a week in the supermarket, plus extra in the market on fruit and veg.

Phone Orange, tell them you wish to make a formal complaint with their complaints team and tell them you have been left without money for food and that this needs resolving immediately.