€3.69 challenge

SunnyDub1

Deleted User wrote: »

Although s(he) appears to have removed it from the blog in question since, there was a Lidl challange once to feed a couple on €50 for a week in Lidl alone.

The challange was "So, can you feed two people for a week for around €50? And I mean feed two people well - not on cheapo pizza and stodge."

and

"I’ve set some ground rules for myself. The meals must be varied and there must not be excessive effort or time involved - it must be practical for people who work and who don’t have all day to spend cooking. There has to be the odd treat. The food must taste nice and be vaguely nutritionally sound"

By the power of Internet Archiving all the meals can be seen in the old blog entires here.

It looked like (s)he did ok, with only a few compromises on personal morality like buying eggs that were not free range. The OP set a value of €3.69 for example. The dinner on Day 1 of the challange was €3.71 which was "beef stuffed cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, accompanied by stir fried sugar snap peas. This was both delicious and very filling, so filling that there are two little parcels left over and I’ll be very happy to have them for lunch tomorrow.". The picture on the site looked good too!

Day 2 of the challange came in at €3.82 "For dinner I sliced 2 turkey breasts into strips and stir-fried them with onion, a few broccoli spears (half a small head), sugar snap peas, mushrooms, red pepper (which I am now out of) and garlic. It was seasoned with red pesto."

All in all €3.69 looks quite doable for a meal price. It is hard for me to driectly price compare and give advice though as I grow most of my own vegetables and herbs and keep chickens for eggs so there are a few things I honestly do not know the price of any more. I also capture and kill my own rabbits when and where possible, usually keeping them and feeding them up for awhile until I can not wait any more and I turn Craving into Carving. And I fish. I am also growing and feeding my own geese for xmas for myself and a couple of choice loved ones.

To be fair €50 is an average amount per week for 2 people to feed off. I have a freind that feeds her, her partner and 2 yr old for €40 a week.

SunnyDub1

SunnyDub1 wrote: »

To be fair €50 is an average amount per week for 2 people to feed off. I have a freind that feeds her, her partner and 2 yr old for €40 a week.

As I said I do not know given my attempts to become as self sufficient as possible means I am unaware of prices of many things these days.

Clearly however the value you can get away with every week.... €50, €40, €10... are all going to be predicated on the compromises you are willing or not willing to make. It sounds from the blog link like the writer was aiming at some pretty high standards, including treats and wine and things like that.

So while €50 was not jaw droppingly amazing it was still a good series of blog entries on how one can stretch ones money while still eating really well.

However the main point was the OP set a limit of €3.69 and that is around where most of the meals in the link I gave came in... so I felt the link relevant and useful to add.

Thumby

€80-€90 a week feeds myself, my food hoover(13 yr old son), and my two younger kids from lidl, this includes school lunches for the eldest two. Back to the op grab a pack of bacon bits, double pack is around 1.50 in lidl,an onion and fry them off gently while the pasta is cooking. Make up a basic carbonanara sauce (minus the wine) with milk,butter and flour. Bit of grated cheese mixed into the sauce on day 2 for varation and there have carbonanara for less than 1.75 per day. :-)

D-FENS

humberklog wrote: »

3.69 isn't the kind of budget to be fannying about with mixed herbs.

Noodls OP, oodles of noodles.

http://aldi.ie/ie/html/product_range/product_range_23204.htm

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=256149714

hardly truffle shavings.
Everything I listed would be bought for under 3.69
Plus, pasta and Noodles, really?

Boombastic

Have a look on the other thread on how to gourmet these meals up :pac:

humberklog

D-FENS wrote: »

http://aldi.ie/ie/html/product_range/product_range_23204.htm

http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=256149714

hardly truffle shavings.
Everything I listed would be bought for under 3.69
Plus, pasta and Noodles, really?

Pasta and noodles? Now yer talkin:)

Hadn't even thought of mixed dried herbs tbh, I was thinking of the fresh ones. I'm programmed "posh mode".

Noodles are cracking cheap food though, can do loads with them, even have them with pasta (well, maybe not).

GastroBoy

the incredible pudding wrote: »

Onion, garlic, can of tomatoes and eggs. Great pasta sauce right there!

Where are ye goin with the eggs...?

DEFTLEFTHAND

45 cent own brand pan of white bread. You can do a lot with bread.

40 cent tin of beans, to put on toast.

1.20 Denny special offer ham, 10+ hang sangwiches.

If you have ketchup and a functioning grill you can make homemade pizza with it. :pac:

Tonyandthewhale

OP, what do you normally feed yourself on that you're worried about feeding yourself on the guts of 4 euro when you've already got half the ingredients you'll need for dinner?

3.50-4 would be the most I'd usually spend on a dinner unless I was doing something fancy or cooking for a few people and I'm not currently on the breadline.

Also, blackberries are in season now, go pick a few and add them to your porridge (49c) in lidl tomorrow morning with maybe a dash of brown sugar and just a pinch of salt (to be added while you're cooking it). Heavenly.

Anyone

One good thing about this recession is that eating/cooking/living cheaply has actually become fashionable. Some pretty cool ideas in this thread and the other one recently.

Cantona's Collars

The 69c fruit & veg offers in Aldi will sort you out for most of your needs for a week,they have bacon mis-shapes for €1.99,there's enough meat there to feed a person for around 3 days & they are tasty.

Rigol

Or you could just get some free stuff uhhuhhuhuh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrwjiO1MCVs

mfceiling

Throw 19 cent into the bin and you're left with.....................three fiddy

You can always survive on three fiddy

im invisible

So... You got about three fiddy?

mfceiling wrote: »

Throw 19 cent into the bin and you're left with.....................three fiddy

You can always survive on three fiddy

damn you! I suppose thats what i get for reading the thread instead of just posting

MadYaker

Thumby wrote: »

€80-€90 a week feeds myself, my food hoover(13 yr old son), and my two younger kids from lidl, this includes school lunches for the eldest two. Back to the op grab a pack of bacon bits, double pack is around 1.50 in lidl,an onion and fry them off gently while the pasta is cooking. Make up a basic carbonanara sauce (minus the wine) with milk,butter and flour. Bit of grated cheese mixed into the sauce on day 2 for varation and there have carbonanara for less than 1.75 per day. :-)

I'm sorry but thats not carbonara sauce. There is no eggs, or parmesan or black pepper. Its just mush made from milk butter and flour, 3 ingredients which aren't even in carbonara.

On topic: 3.69 is plenty to feed yourself for 2 days, you can get noodles in lidl for 20 cent. You could eat for a week on 3.69.

RADIUS

thee glitz wrote: »

I have the above mentioned sum, 250g pasta and can access a local of any supermarket
chain in ROI. Can I feed myself for today and maybe even into tomorrow?

1 kg of Chicken thighs in Aldi for 2 euro.
spend the rest on some seasoning or sauces.

BOHtox

3.69? how about 3 fiddy

thee glitz

Thanks guys, though it panned out a bit different...

I withdrew a miracle tenner from the atm, ended up with 1 btl beer, 4 pints, 1 whiskey,
tobacco & skins, lunch, tae and hang & cheese sangiches and got enough left for pasta sauce

noxqs

Make up a basic carbonanara sauce (minus the wine) with milk,butter and flour.

What is this? Wine in carbonara sauce ?? Milk? Butter? Flour?

You're either a Michelin cook spinning this sauce in a new way, or not a cook at all. *Not sure if face*

Boombastic

noxqs wrote: »

What is this? Wine in carbonara sauce ?? Milk? Butter? Flour?

You're either a Michelin cook spinning this sauce in a new way, or not a cook at all. *Not sure if face*

Milk butter and flour = basic white sauce aka bechemal

Sofaspud

You already have pasta, buy a bag of frozen veg (I use Iceland as I'm in the UK but shouldn't cost more than €1 or €2) and whatever cheap meat you can (again, I use Iceland's frozen pre-cooked chicken bits) sausages tend to be very cheap and when cut up they go really nice in a stir fry.

Stir fry the veg and meat til cooked, take it out and stir fry the pre-boiled pasta for a minute before adding the veg and meat. That's my lunch almost every day now, though I usually add soy sauce (cheap) and lemon juice (very cheap) and a scrambled egg in too. Bloody delicious, healthy and a perfect student meal.

Capt'n Midnight

General General wrote: »

Earthworms. Lovely.

aren't you supposed to leave them for 24 hours to get all the dirt out of their system ?

Moonbeam

You could make a nice bean chilli and have change left.

Fuzzy Clam

Moonbeam wrote: »

You could make a nice bean chilli and have change left.

I would guess the 3.69 might have run out by now;)

the groutch

10 packets of those 20c noodles from Lidl.

and then blow the other €1.69 on a 500ml bottle of coke from your local rip-off newsagents, just for lols

Shout Dust

You can get 18 eggs in aldi for something like €2.50, get some cheap 45c bread and 60c ham and you can make fried eggs, scrambled eggs on toast, french toast, omelette, ham and egg sandwiches or toast. Or if you cut back on the eggs you can get a big tin of beans for 29c.

NuckingFacker

thee glitz wrote: »

I have the above mentioned sum, 250g pasta and can access a local of any supermarket
chain in ROI. Can I feed myself for today and maybe even into tomorrow?

You are doing it wrong. I've no idea how, but jasus, you're doing it wrong. You need to change a few things and get with Biggie - you gotta get paid.

sunflower27

Deleted User wrote: »

The dinner on Day 1 of the challange was €3.71 which was "beef stuffed cabbage rolls with tomato sauce, accompanied by stir fried sugar snap peas."

So, she had cabbage rolls with beef in a tomato sauce and peas.

Love the way a few extra words can make something simple sound gourmet.

Mushroom foam is the best one I have seen yet scrawled on a chalk menu. Give me strength :D:D

Paramite Pie

A tin of kidney beans in Lidl is 35c (i think?).

Kidney beans are full of protein so nutrition needn't be ignored. I love my meat but when I'm stuck it's a great substitute. They're very filling and there's two portions in the tin. It'll go further if you have other veg.

stefan idiot jones

Spend the lot on salt and vinegar chipsticks or banshee bones.
Horse them all down in one go and your mouth will be fcuked for a few days and eating will be the last thing on your mind.