A thrifty mum is sharing recipes online to help during the cost of living crisis - and claims she can feed a family for just £10 a week. Grace Mortimer, 29, says she creates recipes that can feed up to four people - for as little as 22p per person.
The mum-of-one cooks them up at home then posts a picture the recipe and the cost of ingredient on her Instagram page @_MyFirstMeals. Grace came up with the idea when she was worrying about the cost of living crisis his winter.
The led her to thinking about how people struggling on a shoestring would manage to feed their children, and she first posted her £10 tips on September 27. Grace, a cook and author from Gloucester, said: "I’m very worried about the cost of living crisis for my own family, it's terrifying.
"Thankfully we can heat our home and eat but I know many people are having to make a choice between the two. That's just awful. It's very depressing, and isn't getting any better as it gets colder. I just want to help people who are on a really tight budget.
"I love cooking so it felt like a good way to help. People just can't believe how much food you can make for just £10." Grace and sales manager partner Tom, 40, used to budget £50 a week to feed themselves and their six-year-old son.
But the mum has since realised she can make her household breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week for just £20. She was deeply moved by the 30,000 Instagram replies she got back last month when she asked people if her idea to post her £10 meal plan would be useful.
Grace said teachers talked of children who were surviving on just one school meal a day, and a policewoman told her she fainted at work. And another woman described how she and her husband sleep with their eight-month-old baby because they can't afford to put the heating on, and he still wakes with blue hands.
"The stories are heartbreaking", she said. "People are really struggling already."
"It was the most responded to question I’ve ever put out on Insta, and made me realise how big this crisis is. It's absolutely devastating."
Grace started her insta page @_MyFirstMeals to share meal ideas for babies and toddlers in April 2020 when she realised parents would be missing out on groups to meet and share information because of Covid lockdown. She published her cook book 'My First Meals' in August.
Grace's meals contain no more than five ingredients and are simple to cook - needing no fancy or expensive kitchen equipment. She posts five meals a week which feed a family of four, with leftovers for lunch to get them through the working/school week.
With favourites like sausage soup coming in at £1.83, and veggie pie £1.75 (both 22p a portion), each week plan costs no more than £10. Grace consulted with specialists and food banks to make her meals easy, nutritional, and to ensure she was using ingredients readily available in peoples' homes.
Her prices are all based on Aldi she explained, because other supermarket basic ranges are all price-matched with the store. She said: £10 is the lowest limit I think, or you start having to cut out important food groups like protein, or eating less, neither of which is a good idea,.
"I just wanted to encourage people on the lowest budgets. And it's simple, not too wordy and few steps, so people can do it and don't worry about making mistakes and wasting ingredients.
"Visual appeal is important, especially for kids, but cost has to be the priority now. I haven't extended it to the weekends yet: this just felt like the best I can do right now.
"I would love to get these recipes on school newsletters, and I wish the government would promote things like this through public messaging."
Recipes
Veggie pie:
- One bag of frozen veg mixed with a tin of beans and some cheese
- Mash on top with more cheese
- Place it in the oven at 200C
Sausage soup
- Tinned tomatoes, one swede
- Half a kilo of carrots, water and an optional stock cube
- Blend it up
- Fry sausages to pop on top
