Cost per Meal

Our grocery budget of £170 a month includes household supplies, such as toilet paper and the £40 a month cost for school meals, this means that I have to keep the cost of meals way down. In effect, it means that the cost per day per person has to stay well under £2 per person.

How do we do it and still stay healthy and take account of all the food allergies etc. ? Well, lately, as food prices have been rising I have had to be more conscious about what we have been eating and move to cheaper options. We still stay healthy but I no longer stock up on every good deal I see and I'm more conscious of making the most of what we have in the garden.

Yesterday's menu for me cost £1.75 and included 5 a day fruit and vegetables. I thought that you might be interested to see what it was to give you an idea about calculating your own food costs per person.

Breakfast - 2 economy wheat biscuits, berries from the garden, 200ml milk

Snack - a banana

Lunch - 8 rye crackers, 1oz butter,1oz cheese, tomato salad

Supper-wholewheat macaroni cheese, 2 vegetables

5 cups of tea throughout the day

You can see that I don't eat dessert or have many snacks through the day. I have reached that age in life when my metabolism doesn't allow them ! However, for the teenagers and young adults in the house this menu would be too meagre, so breakfast is more substantial, something like pancakes and supper always includes a dessert and there has to be baking. They usually have a snack before bedtime , so homemade bread and sandwich fillings such as hummus are always available.

So far, I have not had to raise the grocery budget in line with rising food costs, but it does mean that we now eat lasagne on Sundays, rather than roast chicken and we are back to a lot of vegan meals. Fingers crossed that the garden produces well this season and I can continue to feed us well for less !

Do you have a favourite frugal meal ?