With food prices soaring, inflation hitting our food budgets, back in March I started thinking about how I could help families like mine…
That’s when I decided to do a meal that only cost €5 to feed all 5 of us!
I set some rules for myself… Obviously I wanted to stick to a €5 budget (where possible)! I wanted to make the meals somewhat balanced, with a focus on fresh ingredients. I wanted also to change the shops where i purchased the ingredients, as i was aware not everyone has the choice of where they can do their food shop. I wanted to include meals that would suit different diets, so that if you were vegetarian, celiac or even just very picky, there would be a meal for you.
I do not include cupboard staples, things you probably already have at home. It is just the main ingredients that i include in the costing of the €5 meal. However many of these ingredients can be used for additional meals, and also there are usually also leftovers!
So my first meal was a chilli with ingredients from Aldi. It included minced beef for €2.69, Basmati rice for €0.99, carrot & parsnip tray for €0.49, passata for €0.49, and baked beans for €0.25. The ingredients cost a total of €4.91.
I posted the full meal on my Instagram, in the form of a reel, and it was very well received. At the time of this post, there are 100k views on this particular reel. I have continued with these reels since, and post a new feeding 5 people for €5 meal every week since.
So far my meals have consisted of the above chilli, fish and chips, a sausage casserole, chicken and pesto with baby potatoes, a chickpea curry, spaghetti carbonara, butternut squash risotto, roast chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, and spaghetti aglio e olio.
I will post some of the recipes in future posts, but what i would love to know, is what is your favorite type of food? Do you like Italian, Indian or Asian? Do you like good home cooked foods, or are you a meal in 15 mins kinda person?