Feeding a family on a budget

PrincessVamp666
PrincessVamp666 Posts: 1,176 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So - January is always a loooong month, and I am hoping you will share your favourite recipies for feeding your family filling wholesome and healthy meals on a tight budget. It is looking like I will have around £30 a week to feed a family of 3... seems okay, but one is a fussy toddler and the other is a fussy adult :)
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Replies

  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
    Aldi's is my go to place to stretch my budget. Not sure if you have a similar type store near you.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,940 Member
    Wow. That's going to be tough if you don't already have some stuff in your pantry.

    Beans, rice, frozen vegetables, eggs, fruit from the damaged bin, oatmeal. Everything in bulk. Hot dogs, bread. Start looking for a food pantry and/or community free meals.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    Get the sale flyers for all the grocery stores near year; I use budget bytes quite a bit for cheap recipes m; meat proteins are going to be your most expensive items
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    I've lived very well in the UK on 100 pounds per month. But I had a lot of extras, and often more expensive produce.

    Aldi tends to be cheaper than Lidl. Not really good, but you can get really cheap pasta there. Tins of chopped tomatoes are also very cheap. Add things like tinned tuna and onion and a pinch of sugar (don't forget salt) and you have a simple dinner. Look at the fruits and veggies on offer and figure out what to do with those. Cheapest type of potatoes. Onions and carrots tend to be very cheap at the moment. Wholegrain bread tends to be more filling than white bread. You could get thinly sliced ham, 400gr for I think 1.49. Mince tends to be cheap as well. Make bolognese sauce or your own meatballs, or chili con carne. Want to do something with fried fish? It's not that expensive per 4 pieces. Whack in ovendish, add small pieces of potatoes or sweat potato and whatever veggies you can get and roast for about 18 minutes, add those veggies that roast quicker later. Serve with whatever you can get cheap: hummus, make tsatsiki yourself, or ketchup if everything fails.
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    Buy what’s in season 😊
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    dry goods like pasta and beans
    canned or frozen
    buy what's on sale and/or store brands
    buy what's in season
  • amgreenwell
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
    Soups and slow cooker meals that stretch can be your friend.
    Lentils, beans (all varieties), rice (all varieties) and noodles to start. Pick a protein if you have enough money and cook all of it. Then throughout the week use that protein in different recipes.
    Go-to for cheap eats for me is lentil soup, black bean soup, chicken noodle soup, beef stew, vegetable soup, curry chicken, chicken taco (meat), pulled pork with bbq. All these can be used with bread or steamed veggie sides.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    Get the sale flyers for all the grocery stores near year; I use budget bytes quite a bit for cheap recipes m; meat proteins are going to be your most expensive items

    Yup, I plan my shopping and menus around what meat is on sale where. OP - not sure if https://flipp.com/ works where you are, but I've found it helpful to find specific items on sale here.

    Rice and beans bought in bulk are very economical.

    I usually make an egg-based dinner once a week, and that is cheap too.
  • duskyjewel
    duskyjewel Posts: 286 Member
    I save a ton of money on meat buy buying the markdown stuff they have to sell before the end of the day. Sometimes I cook it same day but most often it goes into my freezer. I rarely buy meat that is not in the markdown bin.
  • SmithsonianEmpress
    SmithsonianEmpress Posts: 1,163 Member
    amy19355 wrote: »
    Fussy toddlers won’t starve. Wait long enough they will eat anything.

    Fussy adults can buy and make their own.

    I agree with EVERYTHING that is said here!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
    I agree with not letting picky eaters wreck your budget or make the life of the food shopper and preparer insanely difficult.

    That said, @PrincessVamp666 you would probably get more specific advice if you offered more details about the pickiness you're dealing with. There's probably as many variations on "picky" in terms of what someone will and won't eat as there are picky people.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    If they are really hungry, fussies will eat
  • snowyne
    snowyne Posts: 268 Member
    Buy whole roaster chickens on sale. One chicken will serve you 3 times over. You can eat dinner, use leftover shredded meat for another meal, and then freeze the bones to make homemade chicken stock for soup - just add water, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, salt & pepper, bay leaf and some white cooking wine...so easy, cheap, nutritious and yummy!
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    snowyne wrote: »
    Buy whole roaster chickens on sale. One chicken will serve you 3 times over. You can eat dinner, use leftover shredded meat for another meal, and then freeze the bones to make homemade chicken stock for soup - just add water, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, salt & pepper, bay leaf and some white cooking wine...so easy, cheap, nutritious and yummy!

    Whole chickens are not really that cheap in the UK, and you'll spend tons on electricity or gas to cook it. I think if money is an issue then TO should also take cost of preparing the food into account.

    when we are talking about roaster chickens, they usually come precooked-rotesserie chickens. and then they do not need to spend "a ton" of money cooking them

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