Food challenge week 1

And the shopping list:

the pineapple, lettuce, aubergine and brussel sprouts were in the reduced section...pineapple has been cut up and frozen, the rest will keep ok in the fridge for now....

so that's a grand total spend of.......drumroll......£43.49

Now, "how on earth is she going to stick to £100 for a whole month if she has spent almost half in the first week?"  I hear you ask.... well, my plan was to stock up on certain items that were on offer at the start, and just topping up each week with fresh fruit, veg, bread and milk.  So I now have a budget of £18.83 to spend each week for the next 3 weeks.  It also means that our total meat for the month consists of: a whole chicken (approx 1.4kg), 2 packets of chicken drummers and thighs* (containing approx 4 drumsticks and 2 large thighs each), a packet of pork loins steaks (5 in the packet) and a packet of minced beef (777g).  Meat is now a luxury and I will be using it as an ingredient (as I have said before).  I will be making a little stretch a very long way.....

* I was on rota to cook a meal for a lady at church who has just had a baby.  I therefore used 3 of the large thighs from the two packets and deboned them.  I then chopped them up and made a caribbean chicken and potato curry, and some rice and aduki beans cooked in coconut milk (from storecupboard items).  It looked pretty substantial and would easily feed us four, so I think it'll be plenty for her and her husband and toddler.  As for the other thigh, I also deboned and chopped it up, marinated  it in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and oyster sauce, then used to make saturdays meal for us.  It was more than enough with the beansprouts and chopped veg (even some leftovers actually!)

As for the rest of the meat I bought, I divided the mince into 3 portions of approx 250g each and froze them seperately.  The pork chops are in the freeser and I will use the chicken to make 2 meals and some stock (to freeze for soups etc).

As you can see from the menu above, we will be eating leftovers for our lunch (me and Nick).  This is usually what we do anyway.  I haven't got a lot of bread in my shop, so I will bake some by hand from the bread flour I already have.  Snacks will be either cheese and crackers (already got the crackers), or homemade cake (already got flour, bought the eggs, sugar and margarine), fruit or veg sticks.

Anything else mentioned in the menu that I haven't bought whilst shopping, is stuff I already have in my cupboard/fridge/freezer.  I planned the menu around those items to keep the shopping bill low.

So anyway, I think that covers it.  This week the fridge and cupboards are overflowing, it remains to be seen if we will have such bounty available when the budget shrinks next week.......

£100 food challenge: Setting the scene....

So, I feel I should make a few things clear in preparation for this challenge, namely that:

1. the kids have school lunches so I will not have to include their lunches during the week in this menu.  However it will include both mine and Nick's weekday lunches, and all weekend ones. 
2. during the challenge, there will be a half term holiday.  During this week, I will have to factor in lunches and snacks for the kids during the day.
3. We are away 5th-6th of February visiting family and attending the chinese new year celebrations in Trafalgar square and London's west end.  I will, for obvious reasons, not be including the food eaten during this time in the challenge.
4. I have a pretty good store cupboard including, amongst other things; a variety of dried beans, bulgur wheat, wholegrain rice, LOTS of spices, dried lentils and odds and ends of pasta. In the freezer I have some frozen berries we picked last autumn, some frozen apple sauce we made, a few wild Alaskan salmon fillets, a couple of tubs of cannellini beans I cooked up in a batch, various assortments of vegetables and some home made chicken stock.   Whatever I haven't used up before the start of the challenge will definitely help me to achieve it!

With all this in mind, I am already collating ideas and recipes - I still think it's gonna be nigh on impossible, but I WILL give it a good go......

February Food Challenge 2011

£100 budget for food for one month for a family of 4.....

Yesterday, whilst preparing a whole chicken for roasting, I boasted to Nick that I reckon I could feed us all for a week from one chicken....I was actually completely exaggerating somewhat, but he somehow turned that into a challenge and told me to see if I could feed us all for a month on a measly budget of £100.  Well, I like a good challenge me, so despite reservations as to the actual probability of being able to stick to such a minute budget (especially with food prices rising as quickly as they are), I have been mulling it over ever since.  And I must say, I am quite intrigued to find out if I could really do it.  Technically I could just feed us all beans and rice, rice and beans for the next month and stay well within budget, but that's not any fun.  I want to see if I can do it bearing in mind the following:

• the food has to be balanced (in terms of healthy/some treats)
• the budget has to include ALL meals, drinks and snacks
• the food has to be able to satisfy two hungry, growing children (who eat most things, but are suspicious of others), a permanently hungry, lactating mum and a dad who works out 5 days a week and walks/cycles to and from work every day.
• the food must be interesting and varied, drawing influences from various types of cuisine - as this is how we like to eat normally

So, my budgeting and cooking skills are going to be tested to the absolute limit with this one I think!  Though my recently restocked storecupboard will undoubtedly help.....

For the sake of ease, the challenge will run from one pay day to the next, therefore it will begin Saturday 29th January and end Friday 25th February. Each week I will post my menu, shopping list and total spent - along with some recipes and reports on how we are doing.

First post will be coming up soon......

Weekly Menu: 16.10.09

Friday: Goan chicken curry, pilau rice, tomato and onion salad, poppadoms & chutney (the kids will have their usual friday treat of chips with either sausages or fish fingers - means I can make the curry extra spicy!)

Saturday: Macaroni cheese, fresh bread, salad

Sunday: Stuffed, roast chicken with roast potatoes, steamed vegetables and gravy

Monday: Fish and chorizo stew with rice

Tuesday: Fried chicken, french fries, coleslaw and corn on the cob (from the mother-in-law's garden) Ben has been asking for this all week!

Wednesday: Green bean and tomato stew with rice and salad

Thursday: Carrot, spinach and cashew nut pilaff with vegetable curry

I am really trying hard at the moment to have a balance of comfort food, healthy food and non-meat days all the while trying to stick to things the kids like and entice them to eat a variety of things - whew! It's hard work thinking up all these meals, the actualy cooking is a doddle!

Weekly Menu: 03.10.09

I had to make a few changes to the menu last week. I often swap days or even cook something entirely different - I just don't go out and buy anything extra. It has to come from my cupboard/fridge.
Last week I forgot to soak the lentils overnight so I cooked a chicken and shrimp fried rice on the wednesday instead. This meant that I didn't fancy vegetable fried rice on thursday, so we had a rice dish I made up, inspired by spanish paella and an african Jaloff. It was rice cooked with chicken, chorizo, lots of tomato puree and garlic, with plenty of herbs. That was a big hit and very easy so I'll definitely be making that again. Friday, I didn't make thai food, I made an indian chicken curry using a masala kindly donated by my friend Sienna (who is Goan). It was a mixture of LOTS of kashmiri chillies, vinegar and spices. And it was yummy!

Anyway, here's the menu I have planned for this week.

Saturday: Tagliatelle with smoked salmon, salad

Sunday: Chicken roasted with potaotes, lemons and olives, served with rice and salad

Monday: Lentil, garlic and butternut squash stew, rice

Tuesday: Roast pork with potato dauphinois, gravy and vegetables

Wednesday: Autumn Soup with fresh bread

Thursday: Can't decide yet. I'll see how I feel on the day/what leftovers we have that need eating

Friday: Don't know! Nick will probably cook or we'll get a takeout (a rare treat!) as I will be busy preparing all the food for Jasmine's party in the morning

Weekly Menu: 26.09.09

Saturday: Fusilli with parsley, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, served with fresh bread and salad (yes, this is very similar to what we had on monday - I may even just add some courgettes......it's a weekly staple in our house as it is quick, healthy and all of us like it, Ben included!)

Sunday: Herby chicken skewers with lemon dressing, garlic flatbreads, roasted aubergines and feta salad (may just have to cook some rice with that too - I am obsessed with rice!)

Monday: Roasted Vegetable puff tarts, new potatoes and salad

Tuesday: Linguine and meatballs

Wednesday: Lentil, garlic and butternut stew with rice

Thursday: Vegetable fried rice, clear soup

Friday: Fried chicken, oven fries, cole claw, corn on the cobs

As the kids have football practice after school on a tuesday, I always try to make one of their favourites for them as they are usually ravenous!

Weekly Menu: 21.09.09

Planning the weeks meals ahead of time not only means that I save money doing the weekly shop (I only buy what I need), but I also have less waste and I'm never stuck for what to cook. Another bonus is that I sometimes cook part or all of the dish in advance and freeze it until I need it (though that's only when I am being super organised!).

This week's menu is as follows:

Monday: Spaghetti with shredded courgettes dressed in olive oil, lemon and garlic. Served with a tomato and mozzarella salad and fresh bread

Tuesday: Homemade chikcen and bacon puff pastry pie with roast potatoes and steamed vegetables

Wednesday: Beef and black bean enchilada's with salad

Thursday: prawn curry with basmati rice, poppadoms and raita (the kids are eating at their friends house this evening so I can make it extra spicy!)

Friday: Hainanese chicken rice (taken from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey - this is book is worth every penny - we have tried a couple of the recipes already and they are delish!)

Normally I shop on a Saturday and plan meals from Saturday night, through Friday. We were away this last weekend so I didn't need to plan for those days. And other than the poppadoms, the puff pastry and the wraps for the enchiladas, I'll make everything from scratch (though normally I would also make the wraps too, but I've not been too well this week so am going a little easier on myself!). Nick thinks my obsession with making all my own bread is madness.....last week I made flatbreads, a wholemeal loaf, banana nut bread and wholemeal rolls. That was a lot of work and he ended up begging me to "just buy some bread!".