Mum explains how she feeds family of four for £1 per person - how you can too
A mum has revealed how she can feed her family of four for as little as £1 per person, each day.
With the cost of living crisis at the forefront of many families minds, many households are looking at how to get the best possible value out of their weekly shop.
And with food prices on the rise, many staple items have shot up in price - including butter and bread.
Following this, one mum has shared exactly what she cooks, how much she spends on her food shop and whether she had any leftovers from the week.
Zoe Chamberlain aimed to cook the most cost-effective meals that could be stretched and adapted through the week, report Birmingham Live.
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By buying all her ingredients from Aldi, she looked at how she could adapt even the most basic items and turn them into something amazing every day.
The mum cooked dinners fresh everyday - which she says her kids loved (Zoe Chamberlain/BirminghamLive)The mum also looked at her and her family's eating habits to see how she could save money.
She ended up successfully spending just under £30 for the week - which works out just a little over a £1 per person each day.
Most importantly, she cooked dinners fresh everyday - which she says her kids loved.
Her meal planner also gave the family a cooked dinner each evening, with leftovers being used for lunches and a few extra items remaining for the following week.
The mum did her shopping in Aldi - and it cost her just less than £30 (Getty Images)Sunday: Roast chicken dinner
Zoe says that for Sunday, she cooked an extra large roast chicken with roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, peas and gravy.
Each member of the family had a thigh or drumstick, and she ended up cutting "up all the breast meat and split it into two portions."
In oder to make the most out of the whole chicken, Zoe says that "One went into the fridge and the other into the freezer for the following week.
"I also simmered the chicken bones to make a stock."
Monday: Cottage pie
On Monday, Zoe made cottage pie by slipping the "minced beef in half and cooked it in two separate pans, turning one into a cottage pie filling with onions, carrots, peas, broccoli and gravy and topping it with cheesy mashed potato."
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With the other half, she put it into the pan and added onions, garlic, passata, tomato puree and herbs to make a large Bolognese.
The mum say that Monday night the family had the cottage pie for tea, and the Bolognese went into the fridge.
Zoe Chamberlain thought she could cook cost-effective meals that could be stretched and adapted (Zoe Chamberlain/BirminghamLive)Tuesday: Chicken curry
The mum-of-four says that what helped her this night was - despite the fact that she could make her own curry sauce from scratch - having a "jar in the cupboard makes it simple and easy" for a midweek meal.
To the ready-made sauce, she added onions, mushrooms and cooked chicken, alongside half a tin of tomatoes to make it stretch further.
She served this to the family with steamed basmati rice.
Wednesday: Spaghetti Bolognese
Zoe said that the middle of the week is usually busy for the family, so she opted for something quick and easy.
She said: "Wednesday is a busy night for us with after school activities so it's good to have a dinner that's ready to go. I simply decanted the Bolognese mix into a pan and boiled some spaghetti.
"We grated some cheese to go on the top and enjoyed tea in no time."
Zoe says that she even had leftover ingredients from the week and used them in her lunches (Getty image) (AFP via Getty Images)Thursday: Sausage casserole
This day, the mum says she opted for a chicken casserole which is "always a winner with the kids".
Cooking the sausages from frozen in the oven - which took about 20 minutes - Zoe then cut them into bite-sized pieces, and added them to a pan of sauce she made with onions, garlic, red peppers and mushrooms.
To this sauce she also added tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs and cannellini beans and just a little chilli powder.
Friday: Pasta Carbonara
Zoe says that this is "another nice easy dinner that's really cost-effective."
For Friday's dinner, she cut the bacon "into small pieces then fried it for five minutes then added it to cooked spaghetti and peas mixed with eggs, grated cheese and herbs."
The mum says that you can also use tagliatelle for this dish, but it's a little more expensive.
Saturday: Chilli Con Carne
Having defrosted the Bolognese sauce the night before, this made Saturday's dinner very easy for Zoe.
She says she put the defrosted bolognese into a pan, "added plenty of chilli powder and some red kidney beans then steamed some rice and grated some cheese to put on the top."
With the cost of living crisis and rising food prices, Zoe wanted to see how far she could go with a smaller budget (Getty Images)Shopping list in full
- Whole chicken - £4.79
- Potatoes - £1.25
- Mushrooms - 85p
- Carrots - 28p
- Onions - 55p
- Garlic - 89p
- Broccoli - 69p
- Gravy granules - 99p
- Red pepper - 43p
- Frozen sausages - £1.99
- Frozen peas - 85p
- Basmati rice - 89p
- Curry jar - £1.19
- Minced beef - £4.19
- 2 passata cartons - 49p each
- 2 tinned tomatoes - 38p each
- Mixed herbs - 49p
- Chilli powder - 59p
- Bacon - £1.35
- 2 packets of spaghetti - 28p each
- Eggs - £1.55 for six free-range
- Mature cheddar - £2.69
- Red kidney beans - 33p
- Cannellini beans - 59p
Total: £29.72 = £4.29 each day, or £1.06 per person
As an additional note to all her recipes, Zoe says that you could "add additional herbs, spices and Worcestershire sauce for flavour if you have them in your store cupboard."
She also says that she used her leftover ingredients for lunch, such as an omelette, bacon sandwich, chilli on baked potato, cheesy jackets and leftover pie.
There were also leftover sausages, rice, peas, chicken, pasta, herbs and spices to use the following week too.
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