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

A box of 12 eggs = £2.50ish

2 egg Omelettes each.

Add cheese, left over ham, left over tomatoes, mushrooms or peas? Or maybe one big fritatta

Those potatoes can be chopped up into homemade wedges or mashed up x

Will weekend lunches come out of the £70 budget?

@IncessantNameChanger try and stick to one or two shops. The petrol/ bus for getting to tesco, lidl and Costco will all add up x

I have tins of chickpeas so will try to add some. I love a cauliflower curry but the kids pick out the chicken so the next serving is just cauliflower which no one really wanted to touch. I have some frozen peppers somewhere I think, but trying to use what I have have this week. I have fresh peepers but going to use them in wraps latter in the week.

For weekend lunches. Sainsburys and Asda do instant noodles (chicken) for 23p ish

Tesco: it looks like they're 40p but it'll be a fun lunch for the kids

Halve the chicken in the curry, add lentils and frozen veg and use the second half of the chicken in the stir fry with more veg to pad it out. There’s no need to have meals made of just meat, way too expensive if you’re on a tight budget.

Other cheap meals could be jackets, beans and cheese, big pot of pasta with sauce made form tinned tomatoes, garlic and onions (add some cut up cheap sausages if you want meat in it), sausages and home made mash with frozen peas, toad in the hole with home made batter.

The Tesco and Costco bits are freezer / cupboard finds. I'm wondering if I can avoid any shopping but we are out of fruit. Hopefully one week of very little fruit want cause to much complaints. I go to Costco once every three months or so to get the household items. I even went mu my friends card to avoid renewing my membership.

Macaroni cheese is cheap, stick some brocoli in it for added veg. We have a soup night every week in the winter, minestrone doesn't cost much.

Yes. But dh doesn't eat lunch and hopefully the teens will sleep through it too. I'm planning on buying a baguette then beans on toast. We have the own brand supermodels for 23p too. Always have lots of these in.

It’s probably getting a few bags of frozen veg in.

Co-op does a meal deal thing. 5 items for £6 2 large battered fish, box of eight fish fingers, bag of chips, bag of peas and a tub of ice cream. Add bananas and do banana splits for pudding. Pad out with bread and butter if necessary.

Male homemade roti instead of naan. It’s just flour, water and a little bit of butter. 00 or bread flour if you have, but regular plain works fine.
thefoodcharlatan.com/roti-buttery-indian-flatbread/

chickpea, sweet potato and spinach curry - cheap, and cupboard staples often. ( I use tin chickpeas, tin tomato, tin coconut milk, and frozen spinach). You can use sweet potato, or butternut squash or even regular potatoes depending on what’s cheapest or you have in already. You can do without halloumi to keep costs down this week
www.allrecipes.com/recipe/268002/sweet-potato-spinach-and-halloumi-curry/

Minestrone soup - do for diner one day. Can use up random bits of veg, tin of haricot/ Kidney/ chickpea, with small or regular pasta. It’s basically a very flexible meal depending on what you have. Do basic homemade crepes with banana and chocolate spread for desert

Half a slice of toast doesn’t sound like enough for breakfast for any kids, never mind teens.

Pasta bake with a sliced potatoes on the top

Chicken thigh fillets are £6/kg, similar to beef mince

Agree with making the meals you suggest go further.
Adding spinach and some cubed potato or sweet potato to your curry will mean you need less chicken.

I'd do a gammon joint in the slow cooker (Lidl XXL if you get a weekend offer always good!).

Do it with skin on wedges and roast carrots/frozen veg one day then do it with pasta or flavoured rice for the next night.

I find big cuts of meat more cost effective. You'd be as well getting a whole chicken. You can use the tiny scraps left to make a chicken fried rice where you don't need loads of meat.

Mince bulked out with lentils works well for cottage pie

Those part baked rolls work out well. I've just had a posh fish finger butty using them. I have an air fryer so they only take five minutes. Good with soup as well if you make a pot for the weekend.

If you like curry, then a keema cottage pie would easily feed six with 500g mince and the rest cheap veg.

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-natural-soya-protein-chunks-60082095
This stuff! I'm not a vegetarian but buy this and it's often on offer. It goes much further than you expect.

They have two slices each, half a loaf cost wise. Normally own brand weetabix some days as well.

I have chickpea flour for roti. Not sure where I went wrong last time. Maybe should have used the rolling pin..... any tips?

My Eldest teen has poo pood an idea of burgers in Bagels as a meal choice. Shame, I don't have any rolls. I really don't want to visit the shops

Well then they eat the burger without the bagel

If they are very young they don't get to chose
If they are not very young it's a good time to teach home economics

I'd do porridge and boiled eggs for breakfast

Drop the sliced ham, mayo, jarred sauces. Those are expensive/poor value. You're paying for the processing factory, fuel, staff.

Hamhock, lentils, canned tomatoes, potatoes, herbs and spices, all kids of beans,. Filling, healthy, cheap.

Cheddar cheese, beans, canned sardines, tuna, pilchards, are cheap protein.

Which chicken thights are cheap you're paying for the weight of bones and skin. I'd use boneless chicken breasts ( smaller quantity of meat but zero waste)

Find out when your smkt loads the daily "reduced section" and be there.

Root veg are cheap (potatoes, parsnips, carrots, swedes) Beetroot (boil or cook your own.

Get a collapsible steamer so you can cook multiple veg/rice/pasta in one pan saving fuel.

Pad out a small amount of meat (mince) with lentils, grated carrot,grated raw potato finely chopped onions and celery; the saved stalks of brocolli, heels of cheese, left over mashed potatoes and gravy. Lots of veg and calories can be hidden from peope who "won't eat those".

@IncessantNameChanger - sorry, I do t know, I never use chickpea flour for roti ( as it’s hard to get where I live). But I’m sure you can find alternative recipe’s online for roti thy are with chickpea flour. It would basically be that, water and a bit or butter or oil.

Ham is something else I'd avoid on a low budget. Almost anything else is cheaper. However, Lidl and Aldi do big packs of ham offcuts that are a cheap way to buy ham. As well as sandwiches, they're good for omelettes or to add to a pasta bake.

You've mentioned instant noodles. I saw a great recipe for egg drop soup earlier.

www.eatingwell.com/recipe/280865/egg-drop-soup-with-instant-noodles-spinach-scallions/

I'd get frozen spinach as cheaper than fresh.

Eggs are your friend. You might have to look around to get the cheap ones, but most supermarkets do mixed size free range eggs for about £1/half dozen. I got these in M&S the other day, I usually get the boxes of 15 for £2.50 but these were out of stock so I got a dozen for £2 instead.

Eggs are great for making healthy meals on a budget. Much more filling than toast. You could do eggs whatever way you want, baked beans and chips for a filling meal for not very much.

Do you have anything in that you can use? Flour to make your own naan breads, or use pitta breads as a substitute (Morrisons own brand are the best and only about 60 p for 6).