Cheap food: Money saving expert mum makes thrifty family meals for 62p a head

Penny pinching Lorna Cooper, mum-of-four serves up six weeks worth of meaty family meals for just 62p a portion.

The super thrifty mother has cooked up 32 healthy meals, each feeding five, including lasagne, curry, pies, and stews with a total shopping bill of just £100.

Lorna, from Paisley, used lots of money saving tricks to help the food stretch further, like bulking up with lentils and vegetables.

Lorna used every bit of each ingredient she bought including boiling up bones for stock, and once prepared, froze all her meals.

Among her list of ingredients were chicken breasts, various types of mince including beef and pork, braising steak and sausages.

Lorna said: “I’ve always watched what I’ve spent when it comes to the grocery bill and over the years have learnt a lot of different ways to make meals stretch further.

“Even I was surprised at how much I managed to produce out of the ingredients I had but with a few small additions and some clever planning, I came out with 32 meals.”

Lorna even managed to make fifteen individual meals out of 400g of pork mince in a way you can emulate in your own kitchen.

“After browning off the mince with onion and garlic, I added carrots, celery, peppers, fresh tomatoes and tinned tomatoes plus the usual seasonings,” Lorna said.

She added lentils as an ingenious touch to make the meat go further.

“I then added 200g of lentils. The lentils made a massive difference to the quantity because of all the liquid and flavours they absorb.

“So out of that pot, I made two lasagne and a huge pasta Bolognese. I thought the lentils might take away from the meaty taste – they didn’t. The mix was delicious.”

Lorna also used chicken as a main protein – using bulk amounts of the meat for lots of different meals.

“Chicken breasts are another great ingredient which you can really stretch. I got 5kg and from that made 13 big meals, feeding five people a portion. So enough to feed a total of 65 people in total.

“I use two chicken breasts for each meal and always dice them before I start. Smaller pieces absorb more of the flavour so make a tastier dish, and it looks as though there is a lot more.”

Lorna continued: “It’s all about bulking the meals up without losing the flavour or the meatiness of the dish. Vegetables are the obvious choice. Cauliflower, potatoes, carrots and celery are all perfect for bulking out a curry.”

Lorna’s meal break downs

Lasagnes and pasta Bolognese

Pork mince 400g £2.66

Garlic clove 5p

Onion x 2. 5p

Carrots x 4 12p

1/2 stick celery. 28p

Pepper x 3. 37p

Lentils 200g 32.5p

Herbs 5g 14p

Beef stock 1p

Lasagne sheets. 19p

Cheese 200g £1.00

Flour 15g. 1p

Butter 25g. 10p 

Milk. 11p

Pasta. 30p

Total              £7.29

Divided by 15 portions is 48.6p 

Chicken Korma

Chicken breasts x 2 £1.84

Cauliflower 1/2 50p

Broccoli 45p

2TBSP Korma paste 11p

Chicken stock 0p

1 onion 2.5p

Rice 250g  20p

Total £3.12 

Divided by 5 is 62p per portion

Lorna bulk bought her meat from online food retailer MuscleFood.com for £65 and supplemented it with fresh vegetables and store cupboard essentials.

A chef on This Morning recently demonstrated how to make a chicken korma for 90p.

Chef Miguel Barclay shot to fame thanks to his Instagram account, @onepoundmeals, which shows how to cook meals for £1.

Miguel also made an apple rose tart for dessert – costing just 44p.