I feed my family for less than 2' says thrifty mum as she shares five easy dinners for budget p

Publish date: 2024-05-29

A SAVVVY mum has revealed that she is able to feed her family for less than £2 thanks to five budget friendly recipes.

Grace Mortimer posts budget meal tips on her instagram account @_myfirstmeals, which she began after hearing about families struggling to feed themselves during the cost of living crisis.

The 30-year-old has even written a book of her budget recipes, which featured on the Sunday Times' bestsellers list.

Grace said she never compromises on flavour, despite the fact her meals cost so little.

The Gloucester mum told SWNS: " "With the cost of food rising to all time highs at the moment, I think we're all feeling the pinch.

"My weekly food shop has risen by 50 per cent on average. I shop at Aldi because I find it to be the cheapest.

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"Plus other supermarkets price match with them, so it makes coming up with a meal plan a lot easier for people to use who don't have one nearby."

One of Grace's top tips is to stay away from branded products and to buy supermarket own brands where possible.

She also advised looking in the world food aisles of supermarkets as she said these often have products such as tinned tomatoes and coconut milk for cheaper.

The thrifty mum also explained that it's better to store your leftovers separately.

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She explained: "If you've made spaghetti bolognese, don't chuck the sauce and the pasta into the same Tupperware or pot because then your only option when it comes to using them is, well, spaghetti bolognese!


"The pasta can be used in a pasta bake for example, with some tinned tomatoes, friend bacon, steamed spinach and mozzarella.

"And the bolognese sauce can be turned into a cottage pie using some leftover or frozen veg and topped with mashed potato."

The mum of one added that shoppers should always be wary of supermarket "deals".

She said: "These are usually endorsing big brands and can appear great value but below the price ticket on each shelf is a weight to price ratio and sometimes you're better off buying a different brand altogether or the supermarket own if you need multiple tins of something."

The budgeting pro also said that people should not look down on frozen vegetables.

She said: "There's just no need for the snobbery around frozen veg, It's brilliant value, keeps for longer and often has higher nutrient density than some fresh veg which has been sitting in chilled warehouses for weeks."

The mum's final tip is to use social media to look for budget meal inspiration.


She said: "It's a fantastic free resource full of recipe creators and the comments section are the equivalent of trip advisor!
"If they don't work, you'll be able to see, if people are raving about it, it's probably a great recipe!"

Here are Grace's £2 meal ideas.

The prices of the ingredients are based on Aldi.

Seriously Garlicky Seafood Spaghetti

Ingredients:

TOTAL = £1.90

Method:

Mince the garlic and dice the onion.

Add both to a large saucepan with some oil and fry until golden.

Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Chop up the seafood sticks and added them to the sauce.

Boil the spaghetti and once it's cooked, add to the sauce.

Chicken, Broccoli & Potato Pie

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Chop up the broccoli and slice one of the potatoes into cubes.

Add the veg to a pan with oil and sauté until the potato is crispy.

Put the veg into an oven proof dish, pour over the chicken soup and mix together.

Slice up the second potato and place it on top of the pie.

Brush the potato with oil and put the pie in the oven for 30 mins until it's golden and crispy.

Roasted Carrot & Coconut Soup with Garlic Bread


Ingredients:

Total = £2.07

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 decgress.

Peel and chop up the carrots and put them on a tray with some oil.

Season with salt and pepper and then roast them for 1 hour.

After the carrots are cooked, remove them and add them to a blender with the coconut milk, stock pit and 500ml of boiling water.

Blend until smooth and then add the mixture to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Place the garlic bread in the oven for 15 minutes and then serve it with the soup.

Refried Butter Bean Flatbreads

Ingredients:

Method:

Preheat the over to 200 degrees.

Place the chickpeas on an oven tray with some oil and roast them for 30 minutes.

Mix together 400ml of yoghurt and 2 cups of self raising flour and bring them together to make a dough.

Turn the oven to 200 degrees (fan).

Roll the dough into 8 flatbreads on a well floured surface.

Add them one by one into a frying pan with oil and fry both sides until golden.

Chop up the onion and add half of it to a frying pan and fry until crispy, before adding the butter beans.

One the mixture starts to dry, add some water to loosen it and break the beans down and then bring the mixture to a simmer.

Add the other half of the onion to a bowl and with some salt to part pickle it.

Assemble the flatbreads with the remaining yoghurt, beans, chickpeas and pickled onion.

Pea Green Crispy Gnocchi with Pangrattato

Ingredients:

Total = £1.58

Method:

Add the peas, stock cube and 100ml of water to a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the onion and gnocchi in a frying pan with oil and fry until crispy and golden.

Add the bread to a spearate frying pan with oil and fry until crispy.

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Add the sauce to the gnocchi and bring to a simmer before topping it with a crispy breadcrumbs.

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