Aiming to feed family of 6 breakfast and dinners for £70

[IncessantNameChanger]

Ok so I'm really strapped for cash. I'm going to see if I can manage this! I'm not saying it's ideal but it think it's possible.

Disclaimer - its just food. Drinks are tea, squash, milk and coffee

I'm trying to see if I can feed 3 adults and 3 kids for breakfast and dinner for the week ( only me has lunch at home)

Monday
Toast half thick toasty 79p loaf from lidl

Butter 1.99 sains

Lunch two slices of bread.

Butter
Roast ham 89p tesco 125g
Mayo 90p lidl
Cherry Tom's 69p 250g

Dinner

1.25kg chicken thighs £5.99 per kg in Costco £7.49
Rice 48p kg Tesco
Two jars lidl Tikkia 79p

Fruit 6 apples gala tesco 90p

Total 15.71

Would normally have narn bread with curry but just using what I have in

Tuesday
Rest of loaf, ham, butter, toms, mayo from yesterday for lunch and breakfast so additional cost plus more bread 79p

Dinner
2 packs straight to wok noodles lidl 85p each
Pork shoulder steaks 6 pack thinly sliced 4.79 lidl

Bag mixed veg 72p

Apples 90p

Total cost £8.90

Tomorrow is chicken wings and risotto so will be very cheap

We never eat chicken when we’re skint. Mince and sausages all the way…

Can you add a couple of tins of chickpeas to the curry and a bag of frozen veg and make it last 2 days ( for an additional £2 ish )

What does everyone else have for lunch if you're the only one at home? If having a hot meal at school etc light dinners like omelettes or beans on toast/jackets are fine. If they are just having a sandwich too, even with dinners with some veg as you've described, I'd try and up fruit/veg at breakfast and lunch

Also get curry spices (even just curry powder) and use tinned tomatoes and it'll be cheaper than two jars of ready made sauce, bulk out with veg and chick peas and you'll get a second family portion for the freezer

I wouldn't serve a chicken curry made just from chicken and sauce. If you were to add chickpeas and cauliflower you could half the amount of chicken needed.

I am sure it can be done. But.
Your family will need to be flexible, not fussy, nor squeamish.
Will they eat liver ? Very cheap.Yorkshire puddings will stretch a meal.
Potatoes are very filling.
If you start with your carb then work around that. Porridge is very cheap for breakfast.
Homemade soup can be if made with carrots etc. Things made with mince and lentils will stretch the mince eg. Cottage pie. Chilli. Which leads onto beans which are usually cheap if you buy the dried variety.
You have to balance cookery costs with cheapness of the ingredients of course. Pork if you eat it can be cheap. Fish sadly is only cheaper in tins.
If the family get involved and turn it into a challenge to see how much you can eat for how long. If you have a freezer, use up what you have in it. Sounds obvious but true.
People don't always look at receipts and sometimes you can buy things almost on automatic without checking the price. Once you do it readjusts what you opt to buy next week. Good luck !

Jacket potato night with beans and cheese. (Buy strong cheese use finest grater so u need less).
Sausage casserole is cheap.

Pasta Arabatica. Just tomatoes, onion and chilli flakes.

Boiled ham joint from Aldi cooked with fresh carrots and served with mashed potatoes and peas. Ham joint cost about £4.50

Cumberland sausages from Aldi about £1 so buy 2 packets to go into toad in the hole. Served with vegetables and gravy.

Soup is a very cheap option for lunch and you can freeze it..

Use dried rather than fresh for your carbs ie rice, noodles etc.

Go veggie one or two nights - bean chilli, or spaghetti with a spicy tomato sauce (two tins toms, cayenne pepper, garlic, salt, 1 x onion) and cheese grated. You could add tin of tuna to that for a pasta bake if family like fish.

Agree with PP that chicken is expensive. Mince for bolognese, keema curry can be bulked out with red lentils which go mushy with cooking so not obvious in the finished dish.

Egg, beans and chips: parboil chipped potatoes and finish in oven, fry eggs and 2 x tins baked beans.

my cheap weeks are things like big fuck off lentil bolognaise for two nights then lasagne for another 2. Serve with salads and garlic bread to mix it up.

or chilli with rice and jackets alternated for a couple of nights.

big slow cooker bbq pulled pork.have with jackets, rice, on pizza, in prebaked rolls.

basically as advised above. Stretch that curry to two or three nights. If you’ve yogurt and self raising flour you can make flatbreads, mix 50/50 to a dough and then dry fry.

The pork obviously involves more investment upfront, but you can make it last the week with a bit of thought

Porridge would be cheaper and more filling for breakfast.
Jackets are a good low cost staple. We do muffin pizzas which are cheap but store bought ones are only 50p each or £1 for the bigger ones if your kids are older.
Tbh I spend £70 on a family of 5 (1 baby) and never feel like I'm scrimping. So totally doable.

Sausage, mash and frozen mixed veg with gravy for dinner one night. Cheap and very filling.

I also second pasta arabiatta. Just add lots of grated cheese on top.

Water...lots of water instead of juice, even for a week. Hot water with lemon will make you feel great instead of coffee aswell, even for a week. Great detox.

So if you do everyone’s breakfast and your lunch for £2.50 you need some £7.50 dinners for 6 people suggestions.
How about a roast? Chicken, potatoes and carrots and parsnips cooked in the oven on bottom shelf.
Do you have basics such as cooking oil, salt and pepper?

Vegan Richmond sausages x 8 are £1.75 in Sainsburys and serve with homemade mash and beef gravy!

Find your most local food charity. Round here we have an organisation that provides a family a week's worth of ingredients for £17. That includes bread and bread products, milk, a box of chilled, a box of frozen, a box of pasties or pies, a box of fruit/veg and a box of pantry food.

@JennyDarlingRIP

In my experience, hot meals at school are not filling enough to be a child's main meal for the day.

Ham, egg and chips is a popular meal in my household. I add some mushrooms and a plate of bread and butter in the middle of the table.

A roast with sausages as the meat.

Jacket potatoes 62p for 4 (so buy 2 packs?)
Buttery with leftovers?
Baked beans 26p per tin?

Bulk all meals out with beans or lentils.

They have school meals so hopefully a balanced hot meal.

I always think a night or two of super cheap makes a big difference. eg a baked bean based "stew" with rice works out very cheap. I usually chop an onion, add some finely chopped bacon or chorizo (not a lot - just to get the taste and meatiness). Then for me, DH and DS I'd probably do 2 tins of baked beans or one tin of baked beans and one of cannellini beans. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar, a bit of water and/or stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with rice and a grating of cheddar cheese.

Agree that if you add veg to your curry your chicken will go much further. Cauliflower is usually quite cheap so a good one. I like butternut too.

Pancakes can make a cheap breakfast. We do banana pancakes. Roughly 8 tablespoons of self raising flour, 2 eggs and enough milk to turn it into a thick liquid. Add two mashed bananas, a pinch of salt and some vanilla essence (if you have it). That will easily do a generous portion for 3 of us - although DS is a bottomless pit. You could double it.