With the cost of living continuing to rise, finding ways to save money has never been more important.
One mum has shared how she was able to cook 100 meals for her family starting from just 57p a portion. Lorna Cooper purchased a £59 Value Hamper from MuscleFood which allowed her to cook 25 dishes over five weeks, with each meal serving herself, her husband and their two children.
MuscleFood's latest two hampers were designed to help those struggling with the cost of living crisis and are available for £45 and £59. Altogether, Lorna cooked up 100 portions from the hamper, with the meals working out from as little as 57p per portion.
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The £59 hamper includes a total of 7.3kg of lean meats such as beef mince, beef steak, pork sausages and chicken breasts and has been designed to make 66 meals for less than 90p a portion. Among the meals Lorna cooked were two lasagnes, which cost a total of £5.20, two cottage pies which cost £4.58 and a sausage chilli costing £4.80.
Lorna bulked up the dishes by using ingredients such as lentils, beans and vegetables to get the most out of the hamper. She also added porridge oats to her cottage pie, which thickened the dish and meant the minced meat could go further.
She said: "Adding oats to a dish is actually an old trick from our ancestors. It thickens up the meal and anyone who eats it will hardly tell the difference between the oats and the meal because they're cooked together. "Another way to bulk up a meal is to actually cut the meat up. Bulk up a typical pasta dish by chopping up a few sausages. No one is going to know exactly how much is in there, visually it will look like a lot more has been added.
"It's the same with chicken, I personally like to shred this and once it's done, it looks like there's so much of it. It's perfect for using as a bulky sandwich filler."
46-year-old Lorna became a savvy shopper and cooker nine years ago when she was forced to stop working due to a back injury - meaning the family had to make their food shops go further. She has since set up a Facebook community called Feed Your Family, which has over 500,000 followers and sees Lorna and her members share deals, tips and tricks.
Lorna has also written the book Feed Your Family for £20 a Week and created free weekly meal plans which she shares with her audience. Here are Lorna's top three tips on how to feed your family for less:
- Always batch cook two meals - it will take the same time to cook two as it would one and you'll be saving on gas and energy in the long run.
- Fill up the freezer - it is cheaper to run a freezer that is full of food than an empty one, so Lorna suggests freezing your meats and other foods to help them last longer.
- Create a prize index in your head - Lorna recommends keeping the previous week's shopping receipt and heading to a new supermarket to compare the prices of goods from different shops and find out which products are cheaper from which store.
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