Thrifty Foodie

The meal plan

23/09/16 – 10/10/16

 The receipt - £85.31

So, as you can see – we spent £85.31 on our shopping bill. Minus household items like cleaning products, cat foods etc, car maintenance totalling £15.25.

Our actual “food shop” was therefore £70.60.

This includes 10 breakfast options, 12 lunch options, 8 snacks options and 20 dinner options (with leftovers doubling as lunch options)

All of the meats and dairy purchased are organic / free range / higher welfare.

The purpose of this document is to show how eating healthy, enjoying food and cooking with a plan, makes budgeting for a couple very doable.

Sarah and I split our bills 50/50, meaning that this 3 week shop cost us £42.50 each, which equates to around £3 each per day.

£3 each per day allows us a breakfast, lunch and dinner, with snacks and the ability to feed the cat and keep the house clean.

So whether employed of unemployed, a varied diet and easy to follow home cooked food is absolutely do-able.

The average weekly payment of job seekers allowance in the U.K. for people of my age is £73.10.

With gas and electric at £10 each per week (£20.00) public transport weekly pass for potential job seeking £10.00 - £12.00, assuming housing benefit and council tax benefit  is in place to pay for accommodation, £3 a day is a reasonable budget for food / meal planning £21.00 per week.

£20.00 bills

£10.00 – 12.00 transport

£21.00 food

£22.10 leftover

Breakfast recipe

When your loaf of bread is nearing its end and looking a little sorry for itself, bring it back to life with a tasty breakfast treat.

French Toast – serves 1

2 slices of bread (£0.03)

1 egg  (£0.13)

15ml milk  (£0.02)

Mix the egg with the milk and drop the slices of bread into the mixture, soaked up all the moisture, pan fry in a lightly buttered frying pan on a medium heat until golden.

Dinner Recipes

Posh Fish Cakes – makes 4 (serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main)

1 white frozen white fish fillet (£0.33)

5 frozen mash pellets / 1 serving (£0.14) OR 1 tin of new potatoes (£0.15)

1 spring onion (£0.07)

2-3 stalks of coriander (homegrown, taken from herb box)

1 fresh chilli (homegrown, taken from herb box)

For the coating

1 egg (£0.13)

50g breadcrumbs (homemade, using stale bread, blended)          

£0.67 total cost

 Defrost fish and potatoes.

Flake fish and season with salt and pepper. Chop spring onions, chilli & coriander. Mix all the above into the mash potato.

Shape into patties.

Beat the egg in a small bowl, in a separate bowl have your breadcrumbs.

Dip your patties one by one, first into egg, then into your breadcrumbs.

Fry in a lightly oiled pan until crisp and golden.

Serve with side salad of lettuce and cucumber.

Swedish Janssen – serves 2

1 tin of new potatoes (£0.15)

1 tin of anchovies (£0.70)

100 ml of milk (£0.15)

50 ml of hot water

50 ml of crème fraiche (£0.15)

1 white onion (£0.06)

2-3 stalks of parsley (homegrown, taken from herb box)

£1.21

Slice onion nice and thin, sauté in a little butter until soft.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add potatoes.

Chop up anchovies and add to pan, mixing together potatoes, onions and anchovies.

Pour over 100ml of milk and 50 ml of hot water.

Simmer for 30 minutes on a low heat.

Take off heat, add crème fraiche and serve topped with chopped parsley.

Breakfast

Toast & butter, waffles & syrup, porridge, cereal, yogurt & fresh berries, bacon sandwiches, poached eggs on toast, French toast, crumpets.

Lunch

Hummus & pita, cucumber & cheese sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, cheese & oatcakes, tuna sandwiches, egg mayonnaise sandwiches, tuna salad, salmon salad.

Snacks

Cheese triangles, malt loaf, crumpets, fruit, yoghurts, biscuits, chocolate bars.

Dinners

Spinach & potato curry, chickpea & potato curry, Thai green chicken curry, fried chicken & chips, butternut squash soup, crispy chilli beef, beef stew, salmon, potato & broccoli parcels, salmon & broccoli pasta, Thai salmon noodle salad, white fish cakes & salad, white fish bianco, spring green & bacon soup, Swedish janssen, spaghetti bolognese.

In 2014 I was in Closer Magazine, talking about Food Budgeting

Back when I was on probation, working every hour god sent at the University to try and keep my head above water, food budgeting was the pinnacle of keeping on the straight and narrow.

It’s now 2016, and I am blessed to be in a more stable environment, but the ethos is the same, make the most of what you’ve got, treat yourself here and there, but keep the essentials… essential.

Here is my menu plan and costings from 2014 :-

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Cereal and Milk	Fresh fruit and Yogurt	Porridge	Granola and Yogurt	Toast and Jam	Eggs on toast	Pancakes with syrup
Lunch	Chicken Soup	Sandwiches	Omelette	Mixed salad	Sandwiches
Dinner	Beef brisket style with sweet potato wedges	Tomato soup with soda bread	Vegetable thai curry with rice	Chicken burgers with baked beans	Mutton Tagine with Bulgur wheat	Cauliflower soup with bread	Roast chicken with potatoes and carrots

Fresh Shopping List                                                                                            Cupboard Essentials already in

Milk (4pt Skimmed Milk, Asda £1.00)                                                           Rice (1kg, Asda £0.40)

Natural Yogurt (500g, Asda £0.40)                                                                  Flour (1.5kg, Asda £0.40)

Free Range Eggs (6, Asda £1.00)                                                                     Yeast (125g, Asda £0.65)

Cheese (200g, Asda £1.00)                                                                                                Salt (750g, Asda £0.29)

Strawberries (500g, Appna Supermarket £1.00)                                          Bulgur Wheat (1kg, Venus £0.89)

Bananas (4, Appna Supermarket £0.97)                                                         Onions (2kg, Appna £1.00)

Tomatoes (840g, Appna Supermarket £1.67)                                                               Garlic (1 bulb, Venus £0.20)

Sweetcorn Cob (1, Appna Supermarket £0.49)                                             Cumin (100g, Venus £0.75)

Fresh Peas (45g, Appna Supermarket £0.16)                                                                Chilli Powder (100g, Venus £0.75)

Red Chilli (1, Appna Supermarket £0.06)                                                      Golden Syrup (680g, Asda £1.29)

Sweet potatoes (440g, Appna Supermarket £1.63)                                      Mixed Nuts (200g, Asda £0.56)

Chicken breast mince (500g, Appna Supermarket £1.86)                          Stock Cubes (120g, Asda £0.40)

Mutton Ribs (1kg, Appna Supermarket £1.89)                                             Tinned tomatoes (400g, Asda £0.31)

Total £13.13                                                                                                       Coconut Milk (400ml, Appna £0.49)

                                                                                                                                Butter beans (400g, Appna £0.49)

The Garden Box                                                                                                   Tomato Ketchup (550g, Asda £0.36)

Thyme, Parsley, Basil, Rosemary, Chives, Rocket, Chilli’s                       Potatoes (1kg, Asda £0.69)

                                                                                                                                CocoPops (800g, Poundland £1.00)

                                                                                                                                Brown Sugar (500g, Asda £1.00)

Menu Plan

Monday:-

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

½ chicken portion from previous weeks shop (£1.25)

2 carrots from previous weeks shop (£0.16)

½ a leek from previous weeks shop (£0.18)

1 onion from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.03)

2 cloves of garlic from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.02)

1 stock cube from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.05)

A selection of herbs from ‘The Garden Box’

Method

Place your half chicken into a large saucepan, cover in cold water and bring to the boil. Once at boiling point, skim any foam from the surface of the pan and drop your chopped vegetables and herbs into the pan with a stock cube and leave to develop for an hour or so; on a medium heat. Keep an eye on it ensuring you press a paper kitchen towel to the surface every so often to remove any skin forming. Remove your chicken, allowing to cool until safe to handle, then shred into lovely pieces and pop back into the saucepan. Bring the soup back up to the boil, and you are good to go!

Beef “Brisket Style” with homemade rolls and sweet potato wedges

Ingredients

Leftovers from yesterday’s roast dinner approx. 300g cooked beef (£1.90)

1 onion from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.03)

2 cloves of garlic from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.02)

1 tbs tomato ketchup from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.02)

1 tbs sugar from the ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.01)

1 large sweet potato (£0.59)

1 stock cube from ‘Cupboard essentials’ (£0.05)

A selection of herbs from ‘The Garden Box’

Method

In a saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic, adding the tomato ketchup, herbs and loosen with chicken stock liquid, once at the boil and of a “gloopy” consistency, add the beef to the roasting tin, cover in foil and cook in a hot oven for 2-3 hours. For the potato wedges, cut into wedges, toss in olive oil, salt and herbs, bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes around 220c until crisp and golden.

Prepare for the week with some essentials and some treats:-

White Tin Loaf

Ingredients

300g plain flour (£0.08)

1 tsp of yeast (£0.04)

1 tsp of salt (£0.01)

150ml of luke warm water

Makes a loaf for 2 people

Soda Bread

Ingredients

300g plain flour (£0.08)

150g plain yoghurt (£0.12)

50g milk (£0.08)

1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda (£0.04)

1 tsp of salt (£0.01)

Water to loosen if needed

Makes a loaf for 2 people

Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

50g mixed fruit and nuts (£0.14)

150g porridge oats (£0.10)

50g brown sugar (£0.10)

50g butter (£0.20)

100g golden syrup (£0.25)

Melt peanut butter and drizzle over for something special

Makes 15 bars

Making the most of what you’ve got

A lot of our meals are making the most of ‘wastage’

The leftover meat from our Sunday lunch, is the base of our Monday night dinner.

The ½ roast chicken is the leftover meat from last week’s homemade chicken stock, creating a base for a variety of meals. We keep our homemade chicken stock in the fridge for 2 weeks and use it for soups, sauces and risottos.

Bringing together a few cupboard basics, we can make tasty treats like breakfast bars, saving money on cereals and milks every week, they make a nice change, and help curb the temptation of buying supermarket snacks throughout the day. They are healthy, cheap to make, and easy to store.

Baking bread is the most versatile kitchen trick. With an average home baked 300g loaf costing as little as 16p, it can be used in a variety of ways, here are a few to think about :-

1.       Good old fashioned toast for breakfast

2.       Sandwiches for lunch

3.       Blitzed into breadcrumbs and used to make healthy chicken nuggets/burgers/kievs/schnitzels

4.       Sliced and baked into croutons to add to soups and salads

5.       French toast – sliced bread dipped in eggs, milk and sugar, a real treat

6.       Bread and butter pudding – using your loaf and making a tasty pud!

7.       Summer Pudding – fully loaded with summer fruits, my mums favourite!

Another great way to make the most of what you’ve got is to preserve it – literally.

Using up fruits and vegetables in jams and chutneys is a great way to keep them at their best. Easy to make and have great shelf life tucked away in the fridge.

Foraging – not always the easiest thing to do for the city dweller, but last September I picked hundreds of blackberries which I turned into a variety of things – jam, chutney, and most exciting of all, turned into blackberry vodka in pretty jam jars as Christmas gifts.

In 2016, I can add a bit more to the foraging concept

Nettle soup – what a triumph.

Get your gloves on and go out and pick a big bag of nettles. Stay safe, don’t get yourself stung, pick high up, and wash thoroughly.

500g nettles (free/forage)

1 tin of new potatoes (£0.15)

1 white onion (£0.06)

1 vegetable stock cube (£0.05)

300ml water

50ml of crème fraiche (£0.15)

£0.41

Wash nettles thoroughly.

Slice onion and potatoes thinly, fry in a lightly oiled pan until softened.

Add water and stock cube, simmer for 10 minutes on a medium heat.

Add washed nettles to pan and simmer on a high heat for a further 5 minutes, until wilted and cooked.

Blend with hand blender.

Add crème fraiche and stir in.

Even a posh risotto made from foraged sorrell!