Can you still feed a family for £55 a week?

This article has really brought the 'Monty Python' types out - you sucked on a piece of damp cloth , couldn't afford a cup! You do need time to find the bargains and need to be near a town, not a city. In the midlands where I live, Farm Foods is a great shop, that, combined with the wekly markets enables us to get a lot of food a t far less than Tesco. I do grow veg and almost self sufficient in potatoes. i bottle tomatoes for winter too. Dandelions do not grow in winter so don't rely on those, but in summer you can eat mine! I do feel sorry for thise that are sufferring Council Tax benefit cuts due to the fact that the UK is a busted flush. sadly benefits were allowed to grow like topsy over many years and when the credit bubble bust the government ( the last one and this one) found there was nothing in it, eevn the hot air was gone.

These 3 evening meals to feed a family of 4 cost a grand total of £13.80 at today's prices !!! Buy the largest chicken you can around £6.00 veg for a roast maybe mashed carrot and swede and a packet of own brand stuffing which is around 26p. Use just the breast for your roast (there should be enough one one breast for 4 of you) Day two use the other breast to make a chicken and mushroom pie (use some of one of the legs if need be) Put butter in a pan add lots of mushrooms (buy the economy packs ) saving some to use in an omelette for your lunch.and saute until they are cooked making sure there is still some butter in the bottom of the pan then add a desert spoon of cornflour and cook in the butter till you make a roux (the butter and cornflour come together) take it off and add milk bit by bit stirring all the time to make sure there are no lumps. When you get to a fairly thick consistency stir in the chopped chicken breast (you may need to add more milk as the chicken will thicken it up) and add seasoning to taste.Using a packet of shortcrust pastry mix (own brand around 64p) make the pastry and roll out to make the top and bottom on an average sized dinner plate.Put the bottom layer on the plate pile the chicken and mushroom mix on top, dampen the edges to make it stick and put the top layer on crimping the edges with your fingers. Buy frozen chips again around 64p and put the pie and the chips in the oven at the same temperature Open a tin of peas to warm up and it will all be ready in around 20 mins.Day 3 is my families favourite ! chicken broth and dumplings On day two strip as much meat off the chicken carcass including legs and wings etc then put it in the fridge covered with foil. Put what is left of the chicken into a big pan and bring to the boil and then simmer for ten minutes. Next day about an our before you want to eat carefully lift the carcass out of the pan and check the broth for any stray bones. Put it on to boil again and add hard veg (carrots swede parsnips and onions etc) and boil for around 15 minutes Peel a few potatoes and cut into chunks (try and make all your veg a similar size to ensure even cooking) season as you go adding a little with each addition. Add the potatoes after the first fifteen minutes along with any soft veg you may want to use ie celery leeks etc I tend to save all left over veg for this over the previous week. While the last of the veg is cooking either make up a packet of dumpling mix or make your own using my grannies recipe which is. Put around half a pound of self raising flour in a bowl add 50-75 grams of butter broken into pieces and rub through as if you were making pastry lifting it high into the air to make it lighter clench your hand with the mix in it if it sticks together its ok if it doesn't add a little more butter. When it is ready add enough very cold water to bring it together and form into decent sized balls drop these into the broth and turn down to a simmer cook for 7-1/2 minutes and turn over and cook for another 7-!/2 minutes Serve and enjoy !

The advice about not using supermarkets for all items is spot on. They might be cheaper for some basics like tinned tomatoes and baked beans, but fresh fruit and veg is always, in my experience, much cheaper in the market. I got a bag of about 8 red, yellow and orange peppers for £1.00 in my local market recently, which would have cost over a fiver for the same amount/weight in the supermarket (plus I didn't want any green ones which always seem to be included in multi packs). Made fabulous roasted pepper, tomato and lentil soup - enough for about 6 generous portions. Also, deep discounters are a great place to buy basics such as toilet rolls, washing up liquid etc and - my local Aldi and Lidl stores both sell free range chickens for £4.99 - that's about 3 quid cheaper than the equivalent at my two nearest 'mainstream' supermarkets. We wanted a turkey for Xmas dinner - Aldi price £27, local supermarket £38 for same sized bird. Granted, £27 is still a lot of money, but more than a tenner cheaper than the mainstream price. I rarely buy chicken portions these days - a whole chicken is cheaper and we manage at least two main meals from it for our small family (roast dinner one day and chicken fried rice, with lots of veg in it the next). It's time the major supermarkets were shown that we won't been hoodwinked into paying their (fixed) prices any longer, then they may be forced to lower their prices in line with alternative suppliers