Mary Whitmore threw down the Marigold gauntlet. Could the home economists help
her to cut the cost of feeding her family of six? The part-time
special-needs primary school teacher and her husband John, who works for an
educational software company, have felt the effect of rising food prices
more than most. Their fridge suffers an after-school onslaught, from Alice,
8, Rosie, 12, Matthew 14 and Sam, 17, before the family gathers round the
farmhouse-sized kitchen table for supper in their Portsmouth home.
Mary compares prices and never misses a good offer on her weekly Sainsbury's
raids. However, by the end of the week she runs low on milk and bread and
has to top up at the garage shop where, inevitably, she succumbs to the odd
unscheduled treat. Occasionally she braves the discount supermarkets Lidl or
Aldi. Cutting their £150 weekly food bill was going to be as tough as a
mutton stir-fry.
The evening meals are usually meaty and, as Mary suspects and Times
nutritionist Amanda Ursell confirms, don't always include as many vegetables
as they should. The family often add cheese and get through two jumbo blocks
of cheddar a week - at least £6 worth - much of which is grated on to their
supper, while some goes into the children's packed lunches.
The Whitmores are willing to introduce more vegetables into their meals. “The
children aren't that bothered about eating meat; it's just that you get into
the habit of cooking it,” Mary admits. “I'm keen to try pulses, though I'm a
bit scared of them.” John looks worried - the thought of split peas brings
back unwelcome memories of childhood meals. Mary mostly buys frozen
vegetables, so she can cook them as and when she needs. And some veg, such
as broccoli, are cheaper frozen than fresh.
What about fruit? At home nothing lasts long in the fruit bowl. The children
help themselves to fruit yoghurts after school and Mary occasionally buys an
apple strudel, which they have with custard. At the weekend there's often an
ice-cream binge, and between them the Whitmores can get through three tubs
of Ben & Jerry's without much difficulty.
The new regimen
Once we had devised a menu of evening meals that were lower in fat, contained
less meat and dairy and more pulses and vegetables, we set the Whitmores to
work. To trim the family food bill, Mary had to rethink her repertoire and
also to start baking. She invested in a breadmaking machine that could turn
out a loaf, made with 25 per cent wholemeal flour, for about 30p.
“The smell is lovely and the kids love it,” says Mary. Her bread cost about
only £3 a week to make compared with the £10 spent on loaves bought in the
supermarket and garage shop. Enticed into the kitchen by the smell of
freshly baked bread, the children often ate it just with butter instead of
chocolate spread after school. They also tucked into it for breakfast
instead of cereals, which cut down on their milk consumption. As a result,
they stopped running out of bread and milk and Mary broke the habit of trips
to the garage shop.
To cut the ice-cream bill, without too much protest the family exchanged their
£12-a-week Ben & Jerry's habit for a £2 tub of Aldi strawberry
ice-cream. Mary and John planned to console themselves with a nifty rum and
raisin ice- cream, made by soaking raisins in some rum languishing at the
back of the cupboard mixed with Lidl's real vanilla ice-cream.
Buying yoghurt in the biggest quantities available helped to trim the bill by
£5, partly because the children thought twice about decanting it into bowls
rather than grabbing individual pots (six of which cost more than a giant
tub from Lidl).
Savings in the can
To make sure they got enough fruit without refilling the fruit bowl every day,
Mary turned to tinned and frozen. She gave her daughters plain yoghurt
perked up with a handful of frozen raspberries, and for £2 knocked up a
fruit salad with a tin each of mandarins, pears, peaches and pineapple. “I
was surprised how cheap it was,” Mary says.
As Amanda Ursell explains, the canning process doesn't destroy the useful
antioxidants in the peaches and mandarins, the fruit retains some vitamins,
and one serving of the salad counts as a portion of the day's fruit and
vegetables. According to Amanda, the changes to the week's menu gave the
family more vitamins, supernutrients and fibre, and less saturated fats from
meat and cheese. Using pulses instead of meat may help to lower their
cholesterol levels.
To come up with a healthier, tasty menu on a tight budget, we had to use our
loaves and Mary had to bake her own. But the family approved and her hard
work paid off. With £15 saved on evening meals, and about £10 each on bread
and desserts, the Whitmore's food bill went down by about 25 per cent.
Overall cost:
The Whitmore's weekly food bill:
BEFORE £150
AFTER £115
SAVING £35
CUTTING COSTS OVER THE WEEK
MONDAY: BEFORE
Birdseye fish fingers, McCain's oven chips and baked beans.
Cost £6.75
AFTER
Home-made fishcakes, frozen peas and fresh cabbage.
Cost £4
Money-wise
Four fish fingers each adds up to about £4, whereas a large tin of wild
Atlantic pink salmon is £1.58 and enough for six fishcakes (see recipe,
facing page). Home-made potato wedges would be cheaper than pre-prepared
oven chips, but the fishcakes are filling enough on their own.
Health-wise
The salmon in the fishcakes provides a good serving of omega-3 fats for a
healthy brain, while the peas have less sugar and salt than the baked beans
but still give plenty of cholesterol- lowering soluble fibre as well as
vitamin C. Adding cabbage boosts intakes of potentially cancer-fighting
supernutrients.
TUESDAY:
BEFORE
Shepherd's pie with frozen vegetables.
Cost £6
AFTER
Meatloaf made with sausagemeat and minced beef, jacket potatoes, frozen
broccoli and fresh carrots.
Cost £5.75
Money-wise
The sausagemeat and lean minced beef for the meatloaf cost about the same as
the 700g minced lamb for the shepherd's pie, but the Whitmores add to the
cost by piling on grated cheese. Frozen broccoli was slightly cheaper than
the frozen mixed veg; fresh carrots were cheaper than frozen. There were
leftovers for a packed lunch next day.
Health-wise
As the meatloaf recipe uses the equivalent of one sausage per person mixed
with lean minced beef it is healthier than sausages on their own and also
less fatty than the lamb and cheese on the shepherd's pie. Swapping mash for
jacket potatoes brings the fat down further. Frozen vegetables are excellent
for vitamins and supernutrients.
WEDNESDAY
BEFORE
Sausages, mash and frozen broccoli.
Cost £5.50
AFTER
Chorizo, bacon, flageolet bean, potato, onion and cabbage stew (see facing
page).
Cost £5.20
Money-wise
Mary Whitmore is always on the lookout for offers on posher sausages, but it's
not the most exciting supper. Chorizo is pricey, but using less than the
original recipe specified still gave the stew a delicious savour; combined
with bacon, the meat content cost only £3. Tinned beans, rather than dried,
were used for an intensely satisfying meal.
Health-wise
Chorizo and bacon can be fatty and salty, but the recipe uses these more as
seasoning, allowing the beans to provide the main source of protein. The
flageolet beans are great for soluble fibre to steady cholesterol and blood
sugar levels, and the onions pack in sulphur- based supernutrients. This
tasty meal packs in a good variety of nutrients.
THURSDAY
BEFORE
Spaghetti bolognaise.
Cost £5.50
AFTER
Fusilli with roast butternut squash and red onion, thyme and Parmesan.
Cost £4.80
Money-wise
A little mince goes a long way on spaghetti but the jar of bolognaise sauce is
twice the price of the two tins of tomatoes, an onion and garlic it would
take for a home-made sauce. Squash isn't a particularly cheap vegetable but
it is filling; a little Lidl Parmesan makes all the difference to this dish.
Health-wise
Other than the tomato in the jar of bolognaise sauce, which doesn't provide as
much of the red antioxidant pigment lycopene as a can of tomatoes, there are
no vegetables in the spaghetti meal. The fusilli dish has plenty of veg, and
squash is great for antioxidants; with pigments that are good for skin and
eyes. You need less Parmesan than cheddar and, therefore, will have less fat
in the meal.
FRIDAY
BEFORE
Tuna, sweetcorn and pasta bake.
Cost £5.50
AFTER
Sweet potato, chickpea and spinach bake.
Cost £4.50
Money-wise
Two tins of tuna, one of sweetcorn and a jar of sauce and more cheese account
for the cost of the fishy bake. Sweet potato is popular in the Whitmore
house and, with a can of chickpeas, onions and a tin of tomatoes, makes a
substantial supper. The recipe uses fresh spinach, but frozen is cheaper;
tinned even cheaper.
Health-wise
Tinned tuna is good for protein but it is the one oily fish that once canned
doesn't retain its omega 3s, so there's nothing to lose by switching to
chickpeas for the protein. Like other pulses, chickpeas are good for fibre.
The vegetarian bake boosts vegetable intakes from less than a serving in the
can of sweetcorn to two per person. Canned spinach has less vitamin C than
frozen but other supernutrients are preserved.
SATURDAY
BEFORE
Korma made with chicken breasts and a jar of sauce, naan breads, microwaveable
rice, onion bhajis and samosas.
Cost £14.80
AFTER
Chicken thigh and drumstick, cauliflower, potato, pea and green bean curry
with rice.
Cost £9
Money-wise
A pack of cheaper chicken cuts (RSPCA Freedom Food standard), plus lots of
veg, created a curry so filling that no one missed the extra naan or the
bhajis and samosas. Basmati rice is cheaper than microwaveable packs. Frozen
cauliflower is half the price of a fresh one, the sauce made with a tin of
tomatoes, coconut milk and korma paste costs less than a large jar of
ready-made curry sauce.
Health-wise
Cutting out the naan, bhajis and samosas dramatically cuts the fat in this
meal. But replacing with extra rice means that it is still filling but much
healthier. From almost zero before, there are now several vegetables.
SUNDAY
BEFORE
Roast free-range chicken with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, carrots,
broccoli and roast parsnips.
Cost £14
AFTER
Shin of beef casseroled in stout with carrots, celery and mushrooms, with
mashed potato and roast parsnips.
Cost £10
Money-wise
After spending about £12 on a free-range chicken there's nothing left after
lunch. Roast beef is out of reach but shin, the cheapest of cuts, slowly
cooked with stout and veg, makes a beefy lunch.
Health-wise
Shin of beef provides the energy-boosting mineral iron, which is present in
only small amounts in chicken. It's not as fatty as other cheap cuts and
this recipe doesn't fry the meat in fat first as many stews do. The
vegetables in the casserole don't leach out nutrients during cooking; they
are all preserved in the juice to be eaten.
I make "Baked Beans that haven't been baked" and other creative variants with legumes and beans and oats and rice - all very delicious!
I am virtually total veggie and believe I am healthier and feel much happier - and it's much cheaper.
I make my own bread and yogurt - by hand!
I avoid supermarket
gordon mann, mexico, mexico
Grant, Perth. Meat is not a luxury, it is an essential source of vitamin B12. Vegans have such a great diet they have to have mega supplements. Humans are designed to be omnivores, There is an awful lot of snobbery here about tinned/frozen foods - bad form. Our food is too dear thought.
Sal, Chelmsford, UIK
Don't forget to cost in the home-baking electricity costs?? And who would want children to eat tinned fruit rather than fresh...what about the roughage and sheer pleasure of biting into a fresh fruit...pleeeeease...there is economy and there is parsimony.
avril, surbiton, surrey
Grant, Perth..you can get plenty of nice inexpensive youghurts without resorting to eating left out milk! Meat is an essential part of a balanced diet not a luxury! Also to the lady spending £50 per month you must be very thrifty!
Jemma, Glasgow,
Nowhere in this, however admirable, is the cost of the mother's time shown. She is assumed to have the time and skill to prepare the meals; and the patience to coach reluctant kids to eat new things. Anyone else noticed that all this 'frugality' just means that women have to do more work?
Helen, Stornoway, Scotland
I agree with Myriam, Lyon, France. Tin fruit is not a good substitute for fresh, which is cheaper when in season. And why on earth would you want to cut down on the children's milk consumption? It is essential for their growth. But I do like the advice on home-cooking rather than ready-made foods.
Maja Hosking, Skopje, Macedonia
Easy to see where costs were cuts much of the cooking 'before' used convienence products microwave rice for example which is ridiculously expensive when compared to cooking it,
Cooking seems to be the best way to save on your shopping bill!
Nadine, London,
Cheryl thats less than a pound per day per person? How do you do that?
andy, belfast,
Well what a storm - let's face it saving £35 a week (£140 p/w and £1680 a year ) is a significant amount. We live with 3 teenagers and a generally very hungry 8 year old. So it's never been a surprise to us how much we spend on food - but that's our choice . And we like ice-cream !
John, Portsmouth, England
my food bill is £50 a month for the two of us! How on earth do you spend £150 a week?!?!?! I cook everything from scratch and its nearly always healthy. Theres always fresh fruit around and we never go hungry. Albeit, nothing is branded unless on offer but hey i cant taste the difference!
Cheryl, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
I bake my own bread without a breadmaker - no outlay and no electricity costs since the oven is solid fuel, but I doubt it costs only 30p, even so. Admittedly there are only two of us, but our food budget is probably 1/4 of theirs, largely because we don't eat icecream, etc.
Anya, Sedgeford,
Grant from Perth, meat does not have to be a luxury. We eat meat for every meal. You just need to be flexible with what you cook, and know what to do with different cuts, so you can just buy whatever is on special. A little thought goes a long way.
nikki, London,
Myriam - read the labels carefully. An awful lot of tinned fruit is packaged in fruit juice rather than syrup, therefore containing no extra sugar. Better tinned fruit than no fruit at all.
Fiona, London, UK
No Jackie, I just think there are other places a saving of £35 a week can be made before you start feeding your children inferior food, like sugary fruit salad.It can be hard to get children to eat fresh fruit, why break that habit?
Rachel , London,
As a Frenchwoman I've always been shocked by the high cost of fresh fruits and vegs in the UK. But do you think a can of fruits kept in sugary syrop is better for health than fresh fruits ? For my part I prefer giving my children seasonal fruits which are often less expensive than imported ones.
myriam, lyon, france
To many people a saving of £35 a week is significant - I guess Rachel of London must be very rich in order to scoff at saving £140 a month or £1680 a year.
Jackie, Sedbergh,
Seems like an awful lot of extra work and scrimping to save just £35. Depriving the kids of fresh fruit too?
Rachel , London,
Does baking your own loaf of bread really only cost 30p? For a low power breadmaker (480W) and an average electricity price of 10p / kWh my breadmaker uses nearly 15p electricity per loaf.
Kate, Assen, Netherlands
Please supply the recipe for the sweet potato, chickpea and spinach bake. Thanks
Pat Charles, Cheltenham, England
I nresponse to MA Parr, unfortuantely we are not all politicians/executives nor do we have their income. Some of us work to survive and cannot afford to do other than make every change we can.
Lesley, St Ives, Cornwall, England
In response to MA Parr, unfortunately we are not all politicians/executives nor do we have their income. Some of us work to survive and cannot afford to do other than make every change we can.
Lesley, St Ives, Cornwall, England
I despair for humanity if people can't work out that buying itty bitty punnets of yoghurt instead of a big tub - or, simply making your own by refilling the tub with milk and setting in a warm place overnight - is more costly and wasteful. And everyone must realise that MEAT IS A LUXURY.
Grant, Perth,
If you have to eat such food what is the point of working? Do our politicians, bank executives, utility executives have to bake their own bread and go to tinned fruit? I could see doing this if the breadwinner has lost their job or you are saving up for some lovely holiday but only then.
M A Parr, St.Helens, England