A thrifty mum has revealed how she feeds her entire family with a tiny budget.
Mary Bells, who lives with her husband and two children, shared tips and tricks on how to make enough meals for an entire month with just £47.
To make the feat even more impressive, both of her children have ‘different dietary requirements’, which the mum has to keep in mind when cooking.
Mary took to the Facebook group Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK, where she shared a post on how she did it, along with a range of recipes.
‘No more cooking for me for a month!!,’ she wrote, while also adding the snap of her meals in glass containers with plastic lids from IKEA and The Range.
‘When you have two kids with different dietary requirements, you’re on a diet and both you and your husband are off to uni/college next week, it’s time to batch cook the hell out of life!
‘All made with bargain meat and veg brought from the bargain isle so a grand total of £47 this will feed four of us for at least 30 days!
‘That’s September sorted, sorry kitchen but I won’t be back for some time.’
The people in the group were stunned and applauded Mary’s exceptional budgeting skills.
‘Incredible!! You are one amazing woman!,’ wrote one person.
‘Wow this is great super woman,’ added someone else.
Here are some of Mary’s super easy recipes, if you fancy trying them for yourself:
Mushy Pea Curry
- Get three tins of mushy peas and blend in curry powder, ginger, garlic, chilli and paprika in a pan. Stir well.
- Then, chop some onions and fry in a different pan with vegetables (your choice).
- Mix the contents of each pan together, along with one tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of lentils and a tbsp of tomato purée.
- Add meat if you fancy it.
Five-spice pork and asparagus
- Start by marinating the pork, mixing in 2tbsp of cornflour, 2 tbsp of five-spice (which you can pick up in pretty much any supermarket) and a dash of soy sauce. Let this marinate for two hours.
- Grab a different pan and fry some onions, add some more five-spice, and then pop the pork in.
- Finally, add asparagus and 200ml of pork stock simmer.
- Let it thicken up and then it’s ready.
Chorizo and chicken pasta bake
- Step one: boil some pasta.
- Step two: chop chorizo with onions, garlic and chilli, fry up with chicken and then seal the pan. Add vegetables of your choice if you want.
- After that, pop in a tin of chopped tomatoes, some tomato purée and chicken stock.
Lemon chicken
- Squeeze two lemons into a bowl, and hold on the lemon. Then, add the rind of half a lemon, along with light soy sauce, 250ml of chicken stock and 2tbsp of cornflour.
- Then it’s time for the chicken, along with chilli, ginger and garlic. Add the sauce and the leftover lemons, let simmer until the mix thickens.
- Remove the whole lemons. Add spring onions to serve.
Cowboy hot pot
- Chop up back bacon and around six to eight sausages.
- Then fry these off with onion, smoked paprika and regular paprika.
- Add vegetables of your choice, along with two tins of beans and one tbsp of tomato purée.
- Boil or roast potatoes as your side, and serve.
Unsurprisingly, the genius chef also runs her own Facebook group, focused on batch cooking.
It’s aptly named Batch Cook With Me and has several thousands members already.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/08/31/mum-reveals-feeds-entire-family-47-per-week-13203299/
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