Can you make a meal for a family of 4 for £5 or less?

[Jayne266]

I have just challenged my DH to this. I have got a spaghetti bolognese using value range were applicable (not the meat) and came up to £3.64.

Basil £0.61 (dried)
Carrot £0.08 (1 carrot)
Chopped tomatoes £0.62 (2 Tins)
Spaghetti £0.19
Mince £1.50
Onion £0.18
Garlic £0.30
Garlic bread £0.33

Have you got any ideas?

Brians none of those meals have any green veg in them.

I get that people are trying to eat cheaply, but there is a limit unless you are absolutely on the bread line.

I would prioritise good food over almost anything else in our budget, except the mortgage and heating.

Swap the sweet corn for peas?

Does veg have to be green?

Snack is lettuce straight from the bag (£1)

There is cabbage in the coleslaw?

Courgette in the meatballs?

am I being greenist?

Herbs are green!!!

Yes we use spinach in salad, but it's £1.99 here so not cheapest option.

There's no way 6 eggs would be £1.20, and Iv never seen a cheap sack of pototes on sale within miles. The cheapest tuna is £4.50 for x3 tins.

We have no Aldi/ asda/ cheap markets etc. the only places are Waitrose, ocado, delis, fancy markets.

I also don't see much greens in these lists. A salad here wouldn't just be a salad leave wih dressing, but spinach/ rocket/ watercress, with red onion, grated carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, olives etc...

In answer to op, our cheapest meal is probably pesto pasta

Pasta -80p
Pesto- £1.25 ( half a jar)
Mushrooms - £1.20
Peas -20p
Red onion - £20p
( and would add spinach often but that adds £1 to cost)

I buy from a local veg shack or a van that sits on a roundabout layby near work for our veg.

DC aren't keen on salad so it's normally a main meal without but they can have cucumber, red pepper etc when ever they want or they eat it raw as I'm preparing a main meal.

Tinned tuna is £4 for 5 tins here

Just goes to show how hard it is to judge who is getting more for their £5 meal

Of course you can.

Pack of minced beef/pork/lamb mixed with fried onion and make into meatballs. Make a tomato sauce out of a tin of supermarket own brand chopped tomatoes/pasatta, with garlic. Add pasta to make a tasty filling meal.

Or tuna & sweetcorn pasta. Mix a couple of tins of tuna with mayo and sweetcorn and mix with cooked pasta.

Both can be served with a cheap green salad. I work opposite our market and veg/fruit is much cheaper than in the supermarket. It doesn't keep as long admittedly but it's very cheap. Where Asda/Tesco are selling blueberries for £2.99 they are going for £1 on the market. Same for asparagus, lettuce, broccoli etc

And don't discount frozen stuff. I buy frozen sliced onions, mushrooms and peppers for a £1 a bag from Asda. Goes a long way and saves on waste.

Pork and Pineapple £4.22

value rice 24p (150g @40p per kg from Tesco)
500g pork belly £3
handful of button mushrooms 50p
tinned pineapple rings 43pp
50g value frozen peas 5p (@99p/kg)
soy sauce (assume you have some)

That even leaves you a enough for some Tesco chocolate mousse for pudding.

Brian it is good if veg is green, from a health point of view.

Sweetcorn and peas do count, but they are very carby. I would do two green veg with almost every meal. Broccoli, cabbage, greens, spinach, asparagus etc. Or a mix of spinach, watercress, lettuce if we were having salad.

I do, of course, understand if it is a question of just putting food on the table with limited money.

Frozen green veg is great, I buy green beans, broccoli, spinach, peas. There is no waste and they are fresh. I also make soups with them.

Frozen berries are also brilliant and good value.

I also use a lot of frozen fish, again it is fresh.

I make a paella type thingy with long grain value rice, smoked sausage (lidls) 1/2 pack frozen seafood mix, tin toms, peas and pepper.
Tortilla - use up leftovers in this
Huevos rancheros - very cheap
Sausage toad, cabbage and pots (or onions and baked beans)
Chicken pie (from left overs) with mash and veg.
Carbonara and brocolli
I regularly make dinner for about £2 -£3. Carbs are the cheap filler I think.

I save loads by not buying hardly any crisps, biscuits, sweets, soft drinks, processed stuff, cakes, cereal, yoghurts, bread, fancy cleaning stuff (just dilute washing up liquid and multipurpose cleaner), ready made sauces, or ready made pizzas, quiches, soups. We eat well on a budget, I have six big eaters here and we would spend a fortune if I bought ready meals for everyone, or lat them eat expensive snacks when they felt like it.

It is a good point, though, that building up equipment and store cupboard stuff is hard if you're on a tight budget, or if you're not able to get about easily, or if you are very short of time and energy.

I think as long as you have a stock cupboard you could.

In fact I think most days my meals come to less then £5 for 5 of us. Although It helps as children aren't teenagers.

Things like I only buy fresh veg for sunday dinners the rest is frozen.

I would opt for vegetarian meals as cheap meat can contain things you really don't need and/or want.

Lentil and vegetable stew may be an option, but depends if you can get the veg (market?) cheaply.

You would need 250 g lentils, 2 medium potatoes, 250 g leeks, 250 g courgettes, 1 stalk of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, parsley, lemon.

It is a Claudia Roden recipe.

As pp have said though, it's all dependent on having a store cupboard. There was an MP recently did it for £1 a day or something ridiculous, but he counted the fractions of the stuff he bought, so he counted 10p for olive oil for example, conveniently forgetting you need the £2 to buy the bottle of oil in the first place!

That said, I think a competent cook can do this but for me it would mean no meat, because I won't buy cheap meat, lots of pulses (which DH doesn't really like) and probably not enough fruit in the house generally.

It's easy and becomes easier the longer that you have to do it for. You just have to adjust some of your expectations about what you can buy/eat.

I have less than £50 a week to shop for 7 people - 4 adults, 1 6ft2 16y/o boy, a teenage DD and a 10y/o. The meals I make are regularly under £3 for all of us. Tonight, I made minestrone soup - it cost £4 to make but fed us all tonight and will give me 3 lunches through the week. All that needs added is some crusty bread.

other regular things -
potato, spinach and lentil curry
pasta with caramelised onions and cheese
spanish rice with rocket and kidney beans mixed through it
chilli and rice
leftover chilli made into tamale pie
lentil soup
potato soup
pasta e ceco
chick pea and pasta soup
potato and onion pie
slow braised cabbage pasta
bean burger roils with salad and wedges
pasta with white bean sauce
patatas bravas
broccoli rice
chicken curry
chicken pasta
chicken soup
pea soup
pea dahl and rice
jacket potatoes with mushy peas, cheese tomato and onion
noodle stir fry with mandarins, mange touts, left over meat and soy sauce

Things that need separate veg get served mainly with mixed veg, salad leaves, carrot and cabbage salad, cucumber and pepper sticks, roast carrot and swede - whatever is cheap at the time. Soup is served with bread and followed by yoghurt/rice pudding

I only cook with meat once or twice a week, fish is usually tinned or occasionally frozen, except for the odd bit of smoked mackerel or packet of smoked salmon trimmings.

We eat a very varied and balanced diet, just a cheap one. When you have no choice, you learn quickly.

We had spaghetti Carbonara tonight which I reckon was less than a fiver, and fed 2 teens(6ft3), DH and I.

10 rashers streaky bacon
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
Small carton single cream
2 eggs
25g Parmesan
Spaghetti.

I do a quick dish of pasta, red onions and a few bits of fried bacon with some Danish blue cheese or Stilton stirred through. That'll be less than £5 too.

I think it very much depends on whether you can get fruit and veg cheaply. We can't so either meat/ fish/ veg costs the same

Ie :
250g organic mince cost £3.50
2 organic chicken fillets £4.50

If I make say a veggie lasagne so no mince I would add lentils £1, courgette £1.50, aubergine £1 at min. ( as well as the other ingredients I would use same as with mince) - so veggie equivalent the same

Chicken fillets I might marinate and grill and serve with rice. If I do a veggie option I would do grilled cheese and veg. hallumi £1.80, mushrooms £1, red pepper 80p, courgette £1.50. Veggie option £5.60

Veggie option is often only cheaper if not actually replaced with lots of veg but just meat left out and nothing added. Ie tomatoe pasta ( just sauce and pasta).

We love pasta (49p for bag) with red pesto (99p) and chorizo (£1.49) with sweetcorn (33p) through it. All from Aldi and could make three times over with these ingredients. Also turkey mince enchiladas. Tortilla wraps (89P), turkey mince (£1.49), red pepper (69p), red onion (15p), tinned tomatoes (39p), red pesto (99p), clove garlic (30p), tsp sugar (sachet stole from supermarket restaurant to keep costs down for sake of this example. lol!) Wou

Sharond101 wild child!

My DCs fave meal is pasta egg and cheese. The pasta comes in a big bag for £3 so no idea how much it costs per meal but we get loads of meals out of one bag so maybe 30p? Then when the pasta is cooking I throw some peas in the pan too, maybe another 30p worth. While it is all cooking I mix grated cheese, maybe £1 worth, with about 8 eggs which are free at the point of eating cos we have chickens at the bottom of our garden and ook it in with the drained pasta for a minute. So total about £1.60 and extremely popular.

Just couldn't dare take myself over the £5 budget! Needs must.

Colcannon:
Potatoes (1kg, 79p)
Cabbage (80p)
Onion (15p)
Veg stock (99p a box, store the rest)
Bacon trimmings (1/2 a lb, 49p)
=£3.22 and you'd have lots of veg stock cubes left over.
Mash the potatoes and fry off with the rest until it browns at the edges.
Yummy, filling, green veg, meat. All well within budget.

Meant to add, the bacon trimmings are usually fatty enough that you can fry stuff in the pan juices and don't need oil.