Feed a Family of 4 a Week for £16

To feed 2 adults and 2 smallish children (or one extra adult) W/C
16th December 2019. All prices are Tesco prices, as shown online, and assume you have absolutely no food in.
I’m assuming that you have a couple of hob rings, an oven, a fridge, and a freezer. As it’s school
holiday time lunches are included for the kids as well as adults.

Shopping list

• 1 Carrot – Redmere Farms 1kg 29p
• 1 White potato – Redmere Farms 2.5kg 29p
• 1 Cauliflower – Tesco 29p
• 1 Brussels Sprouts – Redmere Farms – 500g 29p
• 1 Brown onion – Redmere Farms – 1kg 57p
• 3 Bananas 45p
• 1 British chicken thighs – Tesco (choose one with 6 thighs) £2.10
• 1 Cooking bacon – Woodside Farms 500g 72p
• 1 Medium white cheddar – Creamfields 400g £1.79
• 1 Egg – Tesco, 15 £1.19
• 2 White bread – HW Neville, 800g 36p each – 72p
• 1 Porridge Oats – Growers Harvest 1kg 75p
• 1 Rice – Growers Harvest 1kg 45p
• 1 Spaghetti – hearty food co – 500g 20p
• 1 Curry sauce – Hearty Food Co – 440g 30p
• 5 Baked beans – Stockwell & Co – 420g 22p each – £1.10
• 1 Chicken stock cubes – Tesco – 10 cubes 40p
• 1 Strawberry jam – Stockwell & Co – 454g 28p
• 1 Whole milk – Tesco – 6 pints £1.50
• 1 Frozen sweetcorn – Growers Harvest – 907g 77p
• 1 Self-raising flour – Stockwell & Co – 1.5kg 45p
• 1 Soft spread – Stockwell & Co – 500g 69p

Total: £15.59

If the bread won’t be on the date later in the week, freeze one of the loaves – you can toast it straight from frozen.

Breakfasts 

Make porridge each day with 140g of oats (about 1/7 of the bag), 250 ml milk, 750 ml
water. For three days, top portions with sliced banana. For the other four, add a dollop of jam to
each bowl.

Lunches 

• 3 days – chicken noodle soup (recipe below) with bread (2 slices/adult, one/child). 2 days
• Scramble 7 or 8 eggs with a dash of milk, stir in 50g of the cheese (grated) and serve on top of 6
• slices of toast (2 per adult, 1 per kid). 2 days – heat up 1.5 cans of beans, and serve over 6 slices of bread.

Dinners (all recipes below)

• 2 days – Chicken and veg curry with rice pilaf 1 day – Spaghetti with creamy bacon sauce
• 2 days – chicken pot pie
• 1 day – cheesy bacon bake with sprouts
• 1 day – bacon and baked bean bake

Recipes

Chicken noodle soup

• 2 chicken thighs
• 2 onions
• 2 carrots
• 2 stock cubes
• 200 g spaghetti
• 100 g frozen sweetcorn

Method

1. Chop the onions and carrots into small dice.
2. In a large saucepan, fry the chicken thighs until they are nicely brown all over. They will release their own fat as they cook.
3. Set aside on a plate. If there’s a lot of fat in the pan then pour some off and keep them in the fridge for cooking other things.
4. Add the vegetables to the same pan, and fry in the chicken fat for a few minutes.
5. Add 3L of water, the stock cubes, and add the chicken thighs back in.
6. Simmer, covered, over low heat for about 30 minutes, then carefully fish the chicken thighs out.
7. Let them cool for about 15 minutes, then strip off all of the meat in small chunks and return it to the pan, discarding bones and any gristly bits.
8. Break the spaghetti into small pieces, and add to the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes or so.
9. Add a couple of handfuls of frozen sweetcorn a couple of minutes before it’s ready.
10. Store the unused portions in the fridge, and reheat them on the hob when needed.

Chicken and Veg Curry

This makes enough for two meals. Put the half that’s for another day into the fridge in a covered container as soon as it’s cool enough.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken thighs
• 3 onions
• 3 carrots
• Half a cauliflower
• 1 tbsp flour
• Jar of curry sauce

Method

1. Dice the onions. Cut the carrots and cauliflower into bite-sized chunks. Include the stem and leaves of the cauliflower.
2. Fry the chicken thighs in a large pot until they are brown all over (doesn’t matter if they aren’t cooked all the way through yet).
3. Set them aside on a plate. When they are cool enough to handle, cut all the meat off the bones, and cut into small chunks.
4. Pour half the fat into a separate saucepan for the rice pilaf.
5. Fry the onion in the chicken fat in the pan until it’s starting to go brown, then stir in a tablespoon of flour (yes, it’s self-raising and normally plain flour would be used for this, but it doesn’t matter – still works!).
6. Add a mug of boiling water, and stir in – making sure you get any crispy bits off the bottom of the pan.
7. Add the carrots, and the chicken, then stir in the curry sauce.
8. Cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Stir in the cauliflower, and simmer for another 15 minutes.
10. Serve up with rice pilaf (see next recipe)

Rice Pilaf

This is for one meal, so needs to be made again when you have the other half of the curry

Ingredients

• 300 g rice
• 1 onion
• 1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 500 ml boiling water
• 1 tbsp of some sort of fat – chicken fat from making the curry, or cooking oil – or even some of the
• spread.

Method

1. Dice the onion.
2. Fry it in the fat over medium heat until it’s golden.
3. Add the rice, and fry it for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the chicken stock, stir well, then simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes.
5. Turn the heat off and leave it alone (with the lid on) for another 10 minutes or so.
6. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Spaghetti with Creamy Bacon Sauce

Ingredients

• 150 g cooking bacon
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp flour
• 250 ml milk
• 200 g frozen sweetcorn
• 300 g spaghetti
• 50 g cheddar cheese

Method

• Cut the cooking bacon into small pieces. Keep a fair bit of fat in it as we need it for the recipe! Grate the cheese.
• Cook the spaghetti in a pan of boiling water.
• Dice the onion.
• In a saucepan, cook the bacon bits and a tablespoon of water over medium heat until the fat renders out of the bacon and the bacon gets crispy.
• Scoop the bacon out of the pan, leaving the fat behind, and set aside on a plate.
• Fry the onion in the bacon fat until it starts to brown, then stir in the flour.
• Fry for a minute longer, then slowly add the milk, stirring all the time, to get a sauce that will thicken as it comes to the boil.
• Simmer for a minute or two, then add the sweetcorn.
• Mix the sauce with the cooked spaghetti.
• Serve with a sprinkling of grated cheese.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling (makes enough for two meals)

• 2 chicken thighs
• 100 g bacon
• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 2-3 potatoes
• Half a cauliflower, including leaves and stem
• 3 tbsp flour
• 250 ml milk
• 1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 500 ml boiling water
• Topping (makes enough for one pie – this is best made fresh and put onto the filling just before you want to bake it)

Ingredients

• 250 g SR flour
• 100 g spread
• 1 tbsp milk

Method

1. Chop the bacon into small pieces. Dice the onions, and cut the carrots, cauliflower and potatoes into bite-sized chunks.
2. In a large pan, fry the chicken thighs until browned.
3. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t cooked through yet – set aside until cool enough to handle, then cut all the meat off the bone and cut into small chunks.
4. Add the bacon to the pan, and cook until the fat renders.
5. Add the onion, and fry until it starts turning golden.
6. Stir in the flour, fry for a minute. Slowly add the milk, then the stock, stirring all the time, to make the sauce.
7. Add the chicken, bacon, carrots, and potatoes, and simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Add the cauliflower and simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Allow the filling to cool for a while, then put half into a baking dish. Put the other half into the fridge.
10. Topping: Rub the spread into the flour, then add water a tablespoon at a time until you have a soft dough.
11. Roll or pat out to fit the baking dish, and brush the top with the milk.
12. Put the dough on top of the pie filling, and bake at 180 C for 30-40 minutes.
13. The dough should be lovely and brown, and the sauce bubbling.
14. When you want the second pot pie, make a second batch of dough, and do the same thing.

Cheesy Bacon Bake

Ingredients

• 200 g cooking bacon
• 200 g cheese, grated
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 kg potatoes
• 500 g Brussels sprouts

Method

• Heat the oven to 180 C
• Cut the bacon into small pieces. Set the fatty bits aside to make the sprouts.
• Trim the Brussels sprouts.
• Thinly slice the potatoes.
• Into a baking dish, layer: 1/3 of the potatoes, half the bacon, half the onion, ¼ of the cheese.
• Repeat those layers.
• Top with the final 1/3 of the potatoes, and pour over a small mug of water.
• Top with the remaining cheese.
• Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. If the top is getting too brown before the potatoes are tender all the way through then cover with foil or a lid.
• Meanwhile, render the fatty bits of bacon in a saucepan.
• When they have browned and released the fat, add the sprouts and enough water to a depth of about a centimetre.
• Cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, giving it a gentle shake every so often – the water should mostly evaporate, and the sprouts will fry a bit in the bacon fat.

Bacon and Bean Bake

Ingredients

• 1 kg potatoes
• 2 tbsp spread
• 100 ml milk
• 50 g cheese, grated
• 2 onions
• 50 g cooking bacon
• 2 tins baked beans

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Peel the potatoes, then boil them, and mash with the spread, milk, and cheese.
• Dice the onions.
• Chop the bacon into little bits, and cook until the fat renders. Add the onion, and fry until golden.
• Stir in the beans, and pour into a baking dish. Top with the mashed potato, and bake for 30 minutes.