£30

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if thats what you had what would you buy not to include basic like bread and butter each day.

but to feed a family of 4 for 6 days, dont need drinks or yoghurts or store stuff like sauce etc, so say for 6 meals what would u buy?

tuna, pasta and sweetcorn
2 roast chickens for a fiver (one for freezer)
loads of fruit and veg
eggs
cheese

then have roast chicken, chicken curry with the leftovers, cold chicken and baked potatoes - that's 3 meals

another meal of omelette

another tuna pasta meal

and lastly veggie pasta with cheese mixed in

mince - in bulk (mince n' tatties/bolognaise/chilli)

Potatoes - 6 different ways

Tuna pasta bake

Frittata - half a dozen different types of veg plus a dozen organic eggs

Own label spaghetti, own label passata to make spaghetti neapolitan.

Baking potatoes for jacket spuds you can fill with tuna and sweetcorn

I would go to the market for the veg and fruit and have whatever they have in their bowls for a pound each - if you live near a market like that.

Chickpeas, onions and tinned tomatoes to make spicy chickpea stew. Porridge for breakfast.

Lentil soup with chopped carrots onion and garlic with a big hunk of bread - lovely cheap meal and healthy. I often add a bit of curry powder too.

Buy one larger free-range chicken for about £9....
us eit for roast, then salad or sandwiches, use the carcass to make soup...

Good old beans on toast.

2 packs of mince - around £4. Will make 3 family meals (spag bol, lasagne and shepherds pie).

Lasagne sheets and pack pasta - £2.50. Three tins tomatoes £1. Onions carrot, gravy, tomato puree, green veg to go with shapherds pie - max £3. Cheese another £2. So three meals costing around £13.

Home made pizza should be possible if you make the pizza dough, have with coleslaw, totamtoes and cucumber for your 5 a day - cost around £5.

Other two meals chicken based (assuming you're not insisting on organic freedom range chicken). Casserole chicken legs, add potatoes, carrots, cook in sauce, onion, swede - should get away with spending no more than £6.

Finally a nice roast - could even include a pud!

If £30 is really just for main meals, it should be quite easy. Salmon fishcakes are sooooo cheap. We used this recipe yesterday - there was enough for 2 adults and 2 children easily. I reckon it probably only cost us £1.50 to make.

Rissotto is also v.v. cheap to make, and is filling and gorgeous! You can bulk it out with some crusty bread if you like.

Also how about a huge frozen free range turkey?

masses of meals of one of those

Buy frozen steak mince too - as cheap, if not cheaper than buying the bog-standard fresh stuff.

spag bol
baked pot and beans (with cheese?)
spanish tortilla/omlette
shep pie
roast chicken and trimmings
use chicken to make chicken fried rice next day then make stock for soup soup and have with sarnies

great ideas everyone how to you use the carcuss to make chicken soup??

do you just buk everything in

nice method and recips from lulumama www.mumsnet.com/Recipes?call=RecipePage&pid=2495

i would spend mostly on pulses and fruit and veg (cheaper from market). value pasta. value rice. and a large organic chicken for £12 or so which will do 3 meals (roast, cold cuts and soup or risotto with the stock).

alternatively organic mince for 3 meat meals.

i wouldn't get 2 for fiver broilers or cheap mince OR farmed (that is why it is cheap) salmon as they are really bad for your health nevermind the ethical stuff.

Morrisons sell a pack of pasta for 9p.

no morrisons here i am in northern ireland

FWIW the salmon fishcakes we made were made with wild salmon, not farmed.

basic range pasta is cheap in most supermarkets and you could still afford one 'good' chicken and lean irish beef mince on your budget.

I know this is probably the saddest thing i have posted so far but I am doing my online sainsburys shop so I thought i would see what i could get and if it was £30 just for 6 main meals then:

400g diced lamb - £4.00
500g minced beef - £2.20
1.63kg free range chicken - £6.37
225g chorizo - £2.99
2 tins of chickpeas - 0.80p
2.5kg maris piper potatoes - £2.78
4 tins of premium chopped tomatoes - £2.29
1kg basmati rice - £1.97
500g De Cecco spaghetti - £1.49
3 tins of kidney beans - £1.34
750g organic carrots - 0.66p
Celery - 0.68p
500g parsnips - £0.59p
600g stir fry family pack - £1.50

Grand total £29.66

Out of this I would do

1st meal - Roast chicken with veg
2nd meal - left over chicken with stir fried veg and rice
3rd meal chorizo with chickpeas, tomato and potato stew
4th meal cook minced beef with onion, celery, carrots and tomatoes. Have half with spaghetti
5th meal other half of cooked minced beef added with kidney beans and spices to make chilli con carne and rice
6th meal - lamb curry and rice with whatever veg i have left.

Actually may have to buy more rice as had rice quite a bit!

I didn't have any onions in my list! - would add a bag of frozen chopped onions at 0.69p so my total just goes over £30!