I fed my family of four for a week for £40 in 2020 - but how does this compare to today?
Food shopping and savings is always a popular subject to write about.
And, as a mum of three hungry boys, its always on my mind to find ways to keep the food bills down.
Two years ago, I shared a meal plan to feed four people, my children and I for a week.
That included breakfast, lunch and a home cooked dinner, plus drinks. This cost LESS than £40 to feed four, for a week.
I have now revisited this meal plan to check on the ingredient costs to understand just how much prices have gone up by.
I was super surprised to see the exact same food and ingredients had only gone up by £2 - from £39.99 to £41.99!
There were some food items that had gone up a lot. For example, eggs had gone from 10p each to 17p.
Aldi own-brand chocolate spread (a favourite in my house) had gone from 99p to £1.39.
However, many items had reduced in price, particularly with the introduction of wonky vegetables.
Carrots, frozen vegetables and avocados are all lower in price.
All the ingredients and food is sourced from Aldi, prices correct as of July 12 2022.
My top tips to keep the costs down include:
- Using wonky fruit and vegetables
- Using frozen vegetables to save money
- Buying good quality meat (free range chicken) but use it for several meals
- Making food in bulk to use for two different meals
- Buying some products from the essentials cheaper range
- No alcohol (sorry!)
- Making your own treat food, tacos and pizza
Here is my week-long food plan, along with prices and details on recipes to inspire you to save money on your family dinners.
Sunday - Total spend £6.31
I am starting with Sunday as its great opportunity to cook roast dinner and then use that chicken for leftover meals during the week.
Sunday breakfasts are great for homemade pancakes. I use the failsafe Nigella Lawson crepe recipe and our toppings are lemon, sugar and chocolate spread. Total cost £1.51.
A theme through the week is always keeping lunch simple. Sunday lunch is chocolate spread sandwiches with apples slices and cheddar cheese chunks. £1.10.
Dinner is a roast chicken, and I have pushed the boat out with a British free range corn-fed chicken costing £7.59 for a bird of around 1.9kg.
This roast chicken will not only be for Sunday dinner, it will also be used in Monday lunch and dinner.
Along with the roast chicken is roast potatoes, frozen mixed veg, broccoli and gravy. Total cost £3.70
Monday – Total spend £8.00
Breakfast is toast and butter. The bread I am using is essentials white sliced. Overall breakfast costs £0.20.
Lunch is using a third of the leftover chicken from the day before for chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches, with strawberries for dessert. It adds up to £3.68.
Dinner is also using the leftover chicken to make a chicken and vegetable pie with mash.
This is made using shop-bought puff pastry, frozen mixed vegetables plus a third of the leftover chicken, plus homemade mash with butter and milk.
I made a double portion of the potatoes to save for later in the week. Total cost £4.12
Tuesday – Total spend £6.43
Breakfast is very simple - Cheerios and milk. Supermarket own-brand keeps the costs down here, and the whole thing costs £0.53.
Lunch is very simple: sausage rolls with carrots and cucumbers. £0.72.
Tuesday dinner is homemade Taco Tuesday.
You’ll need:
- 8 wraps (can leave these soft or pop them in oven at 200 hanging over the cooking rack for 3-4 minutes until hard)
- 500g beef mince + 1Tsp Mexican spice mix – Cook together in a frying pan
- 100g salsa
- ½ packet salad leaves
- 1 avocado smashed with lime juice
- 200g grated cheddar
Total cost of these ingredients is £5.18 - it's so much cheaper than a takeaway.
Wednesday – Total spend £6.21
Breakfast and lunch are simple again. Breakfast is toast with butter, lunch is chocolate spread sandwiches with apple slices and cheese on the side. £1.30 in total.
Dinner is another home-cooked meal where I recommend you make double the portion to use on Wednesday and Thursday night dinner.
Wednesday night is cottage pie.
Here are the ingredients and method for the meat sauce. Once made, top this meat mixture with the mash that you have saved from Monday night.
You’ll need:
- 750g beef mince
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tsp each of Thyme, oregano and basil.
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 500g mushrooms
- 3 Tablespoons beef gravy
Method
1) Chop up the garlic and onions and fry off for five minutes, until cooked. Add the meat and cook until there is no more pink.
2) Then add the chopped mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs, gravy granules, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic, add another 200ml of water and leave to simmer for at least 20 minutes.
The total cost of the cottage pie is £4.91, this includes the half you have made for Thursday night too.
Thursday – Total spend £3.34
Breakfast on Thursday is Cheerios with milk,and lunch is bacon sandwiches with strawberries on the
side. The total cost for all that is £3.02.
Dinner is made using the leftover meat sauce from the Wednesday where you made a double portion, with pasta. The cost is just £0.32.
Friday – Total spend £4.61
Friday's breakfast is back to Cheerios, but with a homemade vegetable soup for lunch.
Method
1) Take two onions, chop and fry until cooked.
2) Add a chopped sweet potato plus 200g of frozen mixed vegetables, plus vegetable stock.
3) Cook for 20 minutes until the sweet potato is soft.
4) Add more liquid for your desired consistency.
5) Serve with bread and butter.
Breakfast and lunch cost £1.54 altogether.
Dinner on Friday is sausages, eggs, wedges and beans - costing £3.06.
Saturday – Total spend £5.13
And finally, for the last day of the seven-day meal plan, we have a treat day.
Breakfast is pancakes again, using same recipe as previously mentioned.
I find the pancakes fill everyone up for a while.
Lunch is sausage rolls, with carrots and cucumber.
The total cost is £2.29.
Dinner is pizza, but homemade.
Buy a pre-made pizza dough and top it with a choice of tomato puree, cheese and ham.
It cost me £2.84.
The only extra cost I have allowed for a litre of blackcurrant cordial and a llitre of apple juice to accompany breakfast on some days - that costs £1.96.
There you have a budget-busting money saving meal plan for a week to feed a family of four with plenty of homemade treat meals and healthy filling dinners.
It costs £41.99 for the week - that works out at £6 per day or £1.50 per person per day.
You can follow many more of my ideas on my Instagram page.
