Feed family of four for £50. Anyone done it?

[Koshka]

hi

Just seen the advert fir feed a family of four for a week for £50. I don't usually shop In Sainsburys more of an asda girl and can't ge itfor less than £80 for three adults and a pig 4 year old DS

Anyone done it? Any good?
Tia :)

How on earth? breakfast, lunch & dinner? I cant do it under £100! Bland food, little nutricial variation and ok for families who love to diet. My hubbys lunch box must contain £3 worth of good food.

it wouldnt do us
OH eats more than 2 slices of bread and 1/4 of a tin of tuna + 1 piece of fruit for lunch!

when its bacon sandwiches at the weekend they only use 6 rashers of bacon for 4 people.... even if 2 are children i dont think thats enough!

I cant see how the meals they plan provide 2000 calories a day though.....

Im sure if you used the meal plan and purchased food in asda it would cost even less, and IMO it is a good plan to base meals on, but be prepared to buy a bit more, & add a few more snacks unless you are all on a diet!

Er well, perhaps the particular food suggestions included in this are bland and uninspired but it is perfectly possible to feed a family of 4 for a week on £50. Sometimes a lot less.

Grr - it makes me cross when people assume that if you can't spend LOADS you eat a poor diet. My family eats a good, balanced diet and doesn't want for anything nutritionally. Yes, we may not buy brands, we may eat a fair amount of value food - but so what?

wrote before you posted nannyyl.

alittlebit shy I also agree that it CAN be done, and you can actually eat a decent amount of nutritional food.

especially if you buy fruit / veg from market where its SOOOO much cheaper than even the cheapest ranges in the supermarkets.
Also the eggs at my market are local, free range, SO MUCH bigger (and tastier / nicer, the shells are harder the yolks are more orange) than supermarket free range eggs and £1 for 6.... bargain....

I've fed three people for £50 in the past... Breakfast alternated porridge or eggs. Lunches were mostly homemade veggie soups with bread - you can get quite a lot of variety into soup - or sandwiches. Supper included a lot of vegetarian meals... things based around jacket spuds, beans/lentils and pasta, for example... with jelly or ice-cream for those that liked dessert. Meat once a week would be either a roast chicken, sausages or a some kind of casserole. Possibly not the most exciting menu in the world but pretty healthy. :)

My typical shopping list would look like this - always the 'value' or 'basics' version of everything, naturally.

1 bag porridge oats (£1)
2 doz value eggs (£2 - £3)
several cans tomatoes (£2)
basic pasta shapes (£1.50)
Dried kidney beans/chickpeas/lentils (£1 - £2)
1 chicken or sausages or stewing steak (£2 - £3)
5kg bag of spuds (£2)
Seasonal/British veggies - carrots, cabbage, onions etc. (£5)
Apples/pears/bananas (£2 - £3)
bag of froz peas (£1)
Milk... (£5)
Block jellies (£1)
1litre basic icecream (£1)
Bread (£5)
Butter/marg (£1.50)
Oil (£2)
Ham and canned tuna for sandwiches (£4)
Mayonnaise (£2)
Block of cheddar (£3)
Garlic, herbs and spices to liven everything up a bit and we always had a bit of flour and sugar in the cupboards etc.

I've done it for a while for about £60, there are 5 of us 6 at weekends.
breakfast: cornflakes, porridge or pancakes

snack: fruit in season or discounted at aldi that week and biscuit

Lunch: soup (dead cheap to make; bag of carrots or parsnip or lentils and herbs from cuboard, ) or sandwiches and veg sticks, then fruit

snack: fruit/biscuits

dinner (cost on average £3 a day)

• spag bol or tuna or tomato or pesto or carbornra (all under £2 for 5 of us)

• baked pots and sweetcorn or cottage cheese or cheese or tuna or leftover spag bol

-lentil curry, or veg dhansak, or chicken korma

-fishfingers/fish if on offer/pots and veg

-chicken if on offer (lasts 2 days of roast and one day of risotto)

puddings: yoghurt (big pot), fruits, icecream, crumble, etc

and on and on.

can't do it with the wine/washing powder
have to plan meals and think whats on offer/discounted (often freeze stuff)
and have only done recently out of duress but hasnt been that bad.

It's easy to feed 4 people for 50pounds a week. I usually manage to feed all 6 or 7 of us for around that. It's all the toilet roll/soap powder/toothpaste stuff that pushes the bills right up.

breakfast: boring cereal like weetabix/shreddie type thing, toast with peanut butter/jam/cheese or scones/banana bread etc.

lunch: soup and bread, sandwiches, simple pasta or rice dish

dinner: lots of different things usually under about 3 pounds (tonight butter bean goulash, tomorrow salmon loaf. Other nights this week sausage hotpot, tomato mince pasta bake, curried potato wraps.)

puddings: biscuit, yoghurt, hm muffin/cupcake thingy, cake and custard

snacks: fruit, crisps(big bag) toast, pancakes or whatever I've baked.