How to plan a week of meals on $140
<p>One mother feeds her busy family of four for $140 a week – and says you can too.</p>
<p>Kathrine Lynch has devised a budget-friendly menu of family classics such as roast chicken with gravy and vegetables, beef and vege stirfry, and homemade burgers with handcut chips. The total cost is $5 per person, per day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. </p>
<p>Lynch <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/family-life/94574678/Mum-creates-62-dinners-from-100-worth-of-groceries" target="_blank">made waves</a></strong></span> two months ago when she cooked 15 dinners for her family for $100, and shared the feat on her <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/busyhappykidsnz/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a></strong></span>. Her latest post has had more than 20,000 views in two days. </p>
<p>Her new <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.busyhappykids.com/" target="_blank">challenge</a></strong></span> developed after she asked her Facebook followers what they spent each week to feed two adults and two school-aged children and the results averaged between $200 and $250. </p>
<p>She realised that she was consistently doing the same for $50 to $100 less.</p>
<p>Her weekly shop for the $140 menu included two packets of frozen vegetables; rump steak, casserole beef, beef mince, hoki fillets and shaved ham; 3 litres of milk, 500g of butter, 500g of edam cheese, 6 eggs; 1 kilo of rice, three loaves of bread and one packet of rolls; tinned tomatoes and tinned soup; fresh carrots, lettuce, broccoli cauliflower, onions, pumpkin, kiwifruit, pears and bananas.</p>
<p>Lynch shopped at her local Pak n' Save. The most expensive items were a twin pack of chicken for $13.99 and a 2.5kg bag of agria potatoes for $7.49. The cheapest was 89 cents for a packet of chicken gravy mix.</p>
<p>On the plan, breakfast consists of Weetbix or toast; lunch is a sandwich or roll filled with chicken or ham plus tomato, cheese and hardboiled egg, and one piece of fruit; and dinner is animal protein, vegetables and carbs.</p>
<p>Snacks include popcorn, carrot sticks and yoghurt. There are no desserts, alcohol or "treat" foods like gourmet cheese, olives, or chocolate. </p>
<p>Lynch says her family averages four servings of fruit and vegetables a day rather than the recommended five, but they eat more fresh produce in summer when it is cheaper. </p>
<p>A PE teacher before having children, Lynch saw kids coming to school with no lunch, or carrying a bottle of fizzy drink and a packet of chips. "I thought for what that cost I could give them food for a whole day," she said.</p>
<p>Lynch realised that while she can go to the supermarket, scan the specials and devise a nutritious meal plan, a lot of people don't have that skill.</p>
<p>"My main goal is to get people to the point where they can do that. There are a lot of people out there struggling with their budgets."</p>
<p>While the $140 menu is intentionally simple and geared towards people who don't have a pantry full of exotic spices and condiments, Lynch says it can be adapted to suit more adventurous palates. </p>
<p>She encourages shoppers to start by aiming to shave just $20 a week off their weekly shop. "That's $1000 a year, that's your Christmas sorted. It takes the stress out of it.</p>
<p><em>Written by Eleanor Black. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>. </em></p>
