A mom-of-three cooks delicious meals that cost less than 1 pound (approx. $1.30) for her family thanks to her frugal shopping habits.
Natalie Riley, 39, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, uses her savvy skills to prepare a monthly meal plan to keep organized so that she doesn’t overspend on unnecessary items.
Riley says that she likes her family to eat well while also keeping food costs low so that they have more to spend on activities and holidays. Riley lives with her husband, Tim, 41, and children, Fin, 19, Freya, 17, and Felicity, 13.
Riley, a social worker, said: “When my first child was born, I was 20 years old and needed to learn to live on a budget.
“I was a student at the time, I and my husband had a limited budget. I learned to not waste anything and shop around for the best deals. This normally included only buying seasonal fruit and vegetables, looking around for reduced items.”
Riley says one of her “top tips” for being able to cook meals for her family for less than 1 pound is only buying seasonal produce. She says buying meat from the butchers in bulk at the beginning of the month normally “works out more cost-effective than buying at the supermarket.”
“I have just continued with this ever since then,” she said.
Riley added: “We have a meat factory shop in our town, so I normally buy 2 kg [4.4 pounds] of mince, 2 kg of pork steaks, 2 kg of chicken breasts, 2 kg of sausages, 2 whole chickens, 2 kg of stewing beef each month, which normally costs me 40 pounds [$52].
“I then only buy seasonal vegetables which tend to be cheaper and bulk meals out with vegetables. I also stick to the recommended serving sizes for meat, as we often eat more than we need, which can keep the costs down.
“We also try to make one or two vegetarian meals a week. I tend to keep a well-stocked stock cupboard, which includes tinned tomatoes, beans, rice, and pasta, all from basic ranges.”
Another of Riley’s money-saving hacks is to cook all of her specific ingredients at once, which she also says saves her money on energy. She then divides up the ingredients and develops them into different meals.
“If I am making mince meals, I will cook all at once which saves energy. For example, I will fry 1 kg [2.2 pounds] of mince and mix with some finely chopped onions, celery, and carrots, and then add in 250 g [0.55 pounds] of lentils,” Riley said.
“I split this into three pans and in one pan I will add tinned tomatoes, passata, mushrooms, garlic, and Italian herbs for Bolognese. In the next pan, I will add 2 tins of kidney beans, a beef stock cube, tinned tomatoes, paprika, cumin, and chili powder.
“You can also add in any extra veggies you have to bulk it out. In the third pan, I will add in extra carrots, beef stock cubes, and simmer for savory mince for cottage pie. I then freeze these in meal-size portions and then I can just defrost and make up fresh.”
Riley says that she usually shops around and looks for food with yellow or reduced stickers, and if she is “lucky enough” to find meat or fish, she would then freeze it in portions.
“I also blanch and freeze fresh vegetables,” she said. “I took advantage of the reduced-price vegetables over Christmas, which I blanched and froze, I still have a few of these left.
“And I have stored my potatoes in a brown potato sack, which have kept them fresh and stopped them from sprouting.”
One of the cheapest meals that Riley makes is spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. She uses two tins of basic chopped tomatoes at 28 pence ($0.37) a tin, a small onion from a big bag at 5 pence ($0.06), two garlic cloves at around 5 pence, salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar, and a few basil leaves from her plant in the kitchen. The spaghetti she uses is from the basics range at 20 pence ($0.26) a pack. The total cost is 88 pence ($1.16).
“People can be surprised at the low cost of the items when I have made my meals. I think it’s all about keeping things well presented using vibrant produce and well cooked,” Riley said.
“I make a monthly meal plan and stick to it. We shop around this plan but rotate the meals, and if we don’t fancy something on a particular day set in the plan, we will change things around. Every week we always have a meat-free meal, a chicken meal, a mince meal, a pasta meal, an easy meal such as shop-bought pizza, a roast dinner, and a fish meal.”
Riley says she tends to budget over the month, so it would be 40 pounds ($52) on meat, which she freezes into individual portions.
“A well-stocked food cupboard will normally cost me 20 pounds ($26) for the pasta, rice, and tinned items,” she said. “I then spend on average 40 pounds a week on food, including vegetables, cereals, eggs, flour, fruit, fridge items such as ham, cheese, yogurts, and milk.
“So in total that would be around 220 to 250 pounds ($290 to $330) a month. This works out at 50 pounds ($65) per person for five people, so 10 pounds ($13) a week each, which I think is good for how well we eat.
“I like showing our children that it is possible to eat well and healthily on a budget.”
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