£400 to last the month - Ideas please!

[CaptainCabinetsTrappedInCabinets]

Payday is the 24th.

2 adults 2 children (DC is a picky eater)

I need to keep the weekly food budget to around £60pw to give me some wiggle room.

I need to cover breakfast, lunches and dinners.

I have about 5 days worth of dinner ingredients in the freezer.

I need meal ideas please guys!

So far I have;

1. Spuds and beans
2. Egg on toast
3. Batch cook a vat of turkey chilli
4. Sausages, taters and peas
5. Batch cook a vat of bolognaise sauce

Ham sandwiches for lunches

Cereal for breakfasts

Tuna pasta salad with tin of sweetcorn & mayo
Frozen fish & vegetables are good value
Special/ Egg fried rice (can add any leftover vegetables and leftover meat)
Dahl
Big hearty soups with potatoes/ chickpeas/ lentils to bulk out
If you get bored of sandwiches you could grill them to make toasted sandwiches

The price at Lidl is quite different to Tesco/ Sainsbury's so might be worth a try. Also our local greengrocer is great value.

For meat it's worth going to your local butchers and asking what they recommend as cheaper cuts. Ours does a Flat Iron steak enough for 2 adults + 2 little kids for £10

Thanks for the ideas 😊

Never heard of Olio so will look that up.

TGTG is too risky as a PP said. You don't know what your going to get so you don't know if you will be able to make a meal.

This is a good suggestion

Cottage pie with lots of veg to pad it out, I get 6 large adult portions from £5 worth ingredients.

Coconut Dal, rice and green beans is super cheap, healthy and my dc loved from tiny, cost is approx 50p a portion

Buy bigger bags of dried pulses and lentils - much better value than cans / pre cooked and a great source of protein - eggs, meat and fish are all comparatively much more expensive.
Olio is a great app, plus community fridges where you can often get the ingredients for a decent veg soup. Pad with noodles or bulgar wheat to make it last longer.
Look into any local shops that might offer cheap, end of life veg - we've lived in 3 places where we could pick up a bag of random things for about £1. If you prep and freeze these down straight away they last am extra month as ingredients for pasta sauces, soups and stews and stir fry.

Hi OP, there’s some really good stuff suggested so I won’t repeat anything, apart from the Jocasta Innes recommendation-fantastic book well worth it, and the short term fix for you for now is to google search her and you will get recipes that way.

I just wanted to add if you don’t already then go full fat for everything- milk, real butter (supermarket own brands is good value), yogurt etc. if you have time then some basic baking will give you filling snacks/puds (sponge cakes, cookies).

Avoid any diet foods or snacks for the duration they have very little nutritional value.

Hope you are ok.

I would try to get more vegetarian dishes into the mix as a good, long term, money-saving and healthy strategy, if you can get the kids to eat veg. Rose Elliot is a great vegetarian cookery writer, she has a book called 'Cheap and Easy' which is about £3.50 secondhand online with good stews, bakes, soups etc. Also might be worth thinking about growing some of your own food once spring comes. Tomatoes and salad leaves are super easy to grow (you can do it with pots, don't need a garden) and children love getting involved.

This is a really good point.

A 40g serving of quick porridge oats made with 190ml of water, microwaved for 3 mins at 800W, served with 50ml of skimmed milk is 9p including electricity and milk. You can throw some pumpkin seeds to jolly it up, these can be bought from Lidls.

Minestrone soup (paupers cookbook but made without the bacon - more of a hearty vegetable stew) is 18p a large bowl (easily an adult meal portion) including electricity.

Red lentil dhal curry and rice is 40p a portion including electricity.

What age are DC - wondering if they can walk the route some of the time.

Also, you mentioned you have to pay £4 parking. Is there anywhere to park 10/20 mins away? If I can't park near work free, I've found a road that's about 12 mins away so can avoid parking costs. Just have to allow a bit extra time to walk.

I'm sure you have, but look at what store cupboard foods you already have that can be incorporated into meals, ie canned tomatoes, baked beans, pulses, tuna for main meals. Any canned soups could be a portion of two with bread for lunch.

So, inventory done. ✅

Used some of your ideas to make up a menu for this week so thank you.

Checked out Olio and will keep that in mind and check day to day for anything I think I could use.

Didn't think about the parking. It's in a big city center with lots of parking restrictions so I will need to research roads and areas nearby. Work currently get subbed parking at one of the local multi stories, so it is way cheaper than parking as a shopper. But it's a great idea so I will look into it.

DC are 11 (makes own way to school) and 8 (picky eater)

ARGH first look on here 40 minute walk 😭

https://freeparkingspots.com/

Batch cooking. Chicken casseroles, beef stews, shepherds pies, lasagne, fish pie, stir fries, veg pasta with cheese, omelettes.