So how can I feed a family of five on £20 a week ?

[paddlinglikemad]

ok..have been put on very strict budget ( due to huge credit card bill!!) therefore after buying nappies and household stuff such as dog & cat food will have approx £20-£25 per week to feed all of us..including bbreakfast for all (weetabix me thinks) and lunch for DS2, DD and me and main meal for all ( ideally that can be split into 2 sittings as DH comes in too late to eat with kids..)
Thats me & DH, DS1 (5yrs) DD (2yrs) and DS2 (10months)...DH will only tolerate one meat free day a week ( but he may have to change!!) ..any ideas for main meals would be most welcome

corned beef hash
chicken cobbler - not made this for YEARS but dead easy and cheap

chicken thighs if you want a 'roast dinner'

my sausage pie

meant to buy the frozen mince purely for add we cheapness and convenience and never had any complaints yet. Sometimes you do get a couple of grizzly bits but needs must..lol

toad in the hole served with lots of veg.

Worth getting dry beans and lentils which may take ages to cook but work out very chep and very nutritious. Frozen veg often has special deals so you can get a load of peas and sweetcorn or spinach for much cheaper than fresh.

Do you know anyone who would loan you cloth nappies? Even cheap disposables are so expensive, it would make a big difference to your food budget.

Anyone who you could share the school run with to save on petrol costs?

Have you checked you are using the cheapest energy suppliers & phone lines, cut down use on mobile?

Do you have a mortgage - could you take a mortgage holiday (part or full?)

Might be worth talking to your local council, some give you free cloth nappies.

Trying to think of stuff from my student days:-

Any thing with mince, and beleive it or not Quorn mince is good and cheap.

Spag Bog
Lasagne
Cannelloni

The advantage with these three being that you can make one pot of the same sause and turn it into two different meals.

Sheperds Pie
Mince and potatoes (squirt ketchup into the sauce, makes it less boring)
Meat balls

Cheesy white sauce with everything it it. My mums famous leftovers meal, nice with rice. She tends to put chicken, boiled egg and some sort of veg through it. Very cheap.

Anything with eggs. By them in bulk at market/local farmer - omlette, flan, quiche, etc

Tuna casserole

Soups - add pulses to bulk out.

Try to grow your own herbs. Cheaper and tastes nicer than the dried ones.

Curry, particularly veggie curry goes a long way cheaply. Add paneer cheese for protein, and you can make your own by boiling milk and adding lemon juice. (kids love the process)

Roast a large, cheap frozen chicken, and you can make loads of meals out of it and soup/stock with the bones and left overs.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Another cheap and easy one: Tuna 'pop' - can't remember what pop stands for - will find the recipe

Tuna Polpettine

Preparation time : 25 minutes
Cooking time : 30 minutes
Total time : 55 minutes

Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the cherry tomato sauce
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (optional)
2 x 395g cans Waitrose Italian Cherry Tomatoes **I USE VALUE TINNED TOMATOES
2 tsp caster sugar
25g pack fresh basil, roughly torn CAN USE DRIED MIXED HERBS

For the tuna polpettine
2 x 200g cans tuna steak in olive oil, drained USE WHATEVER TUNA YOU HAVE
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
50g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated GRATED CHEDDAR WORKS JUST FINE**
2 salad onions, finely chopped NORMAL ONION WORKS FINE*
1 medium egg, lightly beaten

Method
To make the tomato sauce, oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry gently for 3-4 minutes, until the onion has softened and is translucent.
Stir in the tomatoes and sugar, and season with freshly ground black pepper.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened and glossy.
Add half the basil and keep the sauce warm over a gentle heat.
Meanwhile, place the tuna, breadcrumbs, cheese, salad onion and egg together in a large bowl and use a fork to combine.
Using your hands, shape the mixture into about 16 balls, each one roughly the size of a walnut.
Heat the remaining oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the tuna balls for 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally, until they are crisp and golden.
Drain on kitchen paper before placing on top of a dish of pasta, such as tagliatelle, or rice.

Pour the tomato sauce over, garnish with the remaining basil and serve immediately.

Porridge for brekkie, you can buy a big bag for about 90p

Corned beef hash
Spag bol (bulked out with grated carrot, peppers, mushrooms, courgettes to last longer)
Ditto chilli (make with baked beans, peppers, mushrooms etc)
(I can make these last a couple of days for 4 of us eating)
Cauliflower cheese
Macaroni Cheese
Tuna Pasta (tinned tuna, chopped toms, onions & some herbs)

if all else fails, shove a loaf of bread in the freezer and keep a stock of baked beans. Its not everynight the kids get beans on toast for dinner, tho mine like it with cheese grated on top.

if you want to use sausages, my sausage pie is dead cheap

sausage pie recipe please

OP mentioned cat and dog food specifically in 1st post, so presumably they are things she has to budget for or they wouldn't get fed. That and the measley £20/wk just sounds too tight to me, pets are a luxury (I do have pets, but I wouldn't if money was this tight). You could do it mostly eating potatoes bought in 25kg bags, I suppose, but how would any medical bills for the animals get paid?

This thread from last year is somebody bragging (and being widely admired) for saying that she could feed a family of 4 on £100/month -- plus the children qualified for school meals, and there were still some bits to buy when needed (like milk, fresh fruit and veg). Final total probably more like £27-£30/wk, and that's not counting value of the free school meals.

if our dh is insiting on meat, chicken livers are alo a cheap and tasty option - I have jsut bought a pound for 99p They can either be fried (don't overcook or they go rubbery) and then served with a balsamic vinegar (if you've got it) dressing - or some soy sauce.

Or you can mince it and fry it up with worcestershire sauce, some tomato keptchup, maybe a can of chopped tomatoes for a "devilled mince".

I hated kidney as a child and only found out when I was in my teens that my favourite supper "devilled mince" was in fact.......

Alos, have a look at Lidl and/or Aldi. You canreally reduce your costs by shopping there. There have been threads on what things are particualry good from those shops.

Sorry for the typos - I of course meant "your dh!

Buy a sack of spuds from a farm - a fiver will get a HUGE bag that will last a couple of months. You can also get massive sacks of pasta and rice. Works out much cheaper. Also frees up more weekly money after the initial outlay, to buy other things.

Always look out for good bogofs. Get fruit and veg from market. Go to butchers at the end of the day, you can get some real bargains.

Buy value range whereever possible. - esp loo roll, tinned tomatoes - in fact, if you have a netto - go there for tins and household stuff.

And your dh will have to 'tolerate' more meat free days. ffs. 'tolerate'.

Wow thanks for all the replies...

Chocolateteapot it will be until
Christmas, and then hopefully will be on a bigger budget..

Popyscal am thinking of getting a breadmaker as we eat a lot of bread ..are they hard to master and are they worth it?..(thanks LVofC but I am in Cheshire..bugger.!)..pan hagglety ..how do you do that ?

IvyKaty44 would love that brownie recipe and well done you on the budgeting..so it is possible then

OME666we did have a slow cooker years ago but I charity shopped it...

Oh and had vague notions of walking to school, (via a couple of cross country paths and a cycle path) about 2.5 miles..did a dry run today with double buggy and DS1 on his bike, would be poss but nearly killed me, attractive red colour & sweaty by the time I got there, took about 1/2 hour , but then DD wanted to walk back....took FOREVER then..okay if am up early and the weather is dry I suppose

paddlinglikemad - is that 2.5 miles each way or 2.5 miles total journey to school?

I walk 2.5 miles to drop my daughter at school and another 2.5 miles to pick her up before lunch every day. It's great exercise

we walk mile and bit to school which takes about 15 mins there[ds walking] and 10mins back then back again for pick up before lunch..however it is not across country routes..lol

Cheaper alternative to roast beef and veg meal.

Make a carbonnade style beef stew - basically cubed cheap cut of beef with onions,sugar,stock,beer and seasoning.

Serve a portion on a large individual yorkshire pudding (made in 8" round sandwich tin) with roast potatotes and loads of other veg.

Some great ideas here!

But yes, on this type of budget, your DH is going to have to change.

You can work wonders with tuna and tinned fish like salmon and mackerel. Also anchovies.

We eat a lot of pulses and soups around here.

Why not do what a particularly 'lovely' family did today in the restaurant where I was eating with my family...order loads of food, eat it, realise the waiters are struggling to serve everyone because its busy, announce you've been kept waiting too long, refuse to pay, and walk out.

Bold as bloody brass!!

Paddling, appreciate that animals are part of the family, but I'm sorry, I wouldn't put feeding animals ahead of my DH and children. It IS possible to keep a family of 5 from feeling hungry on £20/week but not sure it's enough to have a healthy, varied diet. How many animals do you have and what do you spend on their food, to put this into context?