callistra | $70 Challenge for FOUR adults

There's been a lot of discussion on my other post about Hillbilly Housewife's $70 menu for a week of food, and a good part of that has been the problems of switching it from American prices and foods to Aussie prices and foods. So, I'm issuing a challenge!

I want YOU to make up a $70 a week food challenge which is healthy, tasty, varied and easy on the budget. I'll provide some links below, and then the scenario under that. Sound in here if you're interested, and maybe a week? Two weeks to do it in? And then we share them all, plus the recipes you're using when you created your menu and shocking list.

http://www.gofor2and5.hstprdweb01.perthix.net/

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/dietsyn.htm

http://www.yourzone.com.au/content/Health_lifestyle/Nutrition/DietaryGuidelines.html

I am having problems locating things with actual numbers - like how many grams of meat etc, so I will specify how much of each I allow in my meal plan.
:-)

Also, a link from

fe2h2o
http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/foodchallenge.htm

Scenario:
Somehow, magically, you have no income, no spices, no pantry, no freezer full of meat. You have $100 for the week to feed your family, but $30 of that you need to spend on bills or petrol. (This is so there is a little leeway.)

This should be amusing - I prefer woolies but only have a coles catalogue. :-) So we shall see. Specials and etc are allowed, also farmgate purchases or cash only stuff, you just gotta tell us.

Current Mood: blah

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No problem!

Wait, should I assume a bigger family? :)

Oops, yeah. I guess.
Uh...
:-)
Three adults?

Actually, I was planning two and a child...

Darn.
:-)

I suppose the original is for four adults.

I was assuming "default nuclear" family - two parents, two point four kids. I think I could do four adults, though. I'd need to use dried beans.

1.9 kids these days.
:-)
But yes, dried beans, brown rice, lentils, chick peas... all are featuring in my menu too.

created your menu and shocking list

One shocking list...

One hair dryer and a bath tub

A tazer

A horrid naked photo of your parents

A naughty story with a horrible twist at the end

(I think that list would count as shocking too)

Sorry I'll be over here now

Ha! a spank for you!!
:-)

You shouldn't provoke me so :þ

mm we are only 2 ppl here so i don't know how that will work

:-)
It's called doubling key things, and this is supposed to be a challenge after all.

And it's an equalizer so that afterwards we can just change some numbers to suit ourselves. For example, you're a household of two, I'm 2.3, Capnoblivious is 1, babalon is 2.2....

So if we just say 4, then we can adjust it later.

you mean living on less than 70$ for a week... well given that's currently 2 nights worth of takeaways that should be fun :)

:-)
A challenge is always a good thing! Can you and SO cook?

i can quite well when i have the tools and space.... him? i believe only by recipe and even then i'd get him to test it first

on my cooking i'm trying to get better... i can cook well but i'm trying to build my ability to make something out of nothing and develop my own things. (for my latest experiment made out desperation check my lj later once i manage to get the picture off my phone :) )

Woolies catalogue is online: http://woolworths.smedia.com.au/activemagazine/onlinecatalogue/wa/

Well it's a "Desperate" week so:
3.5Kg of Broccoli @ $2.48 / Kg
3.5Kg Spuds @ $1.67 / Kg
3.5Kg Carrots @ $0.96 / Kg
3.5Kg Beans @ $2.79 / Kg
14Kg Brown rice @ $1 / Kg
1 bottle of kekap manis @ $3
1Kg Butter @ $4.00
2.8Kg Oats @ $1 / Kg
2 x 3L Milk @ $4 ea

each person gets basically the same meal each day:
125g x 2 of either Broccoli, Spuds, Carrots or Beans
250g Brown rice
dash of butter or kekap manis

(This is for lunch and dinner)

Breakfast is 100g of Oats with milk

Suprisingly you could survive on this for several months if the boredom didn't kill you.

$59.45 for a week

I'd spend the extra 10.55... no point in dying of boredom, maybe something to spice the meals up?

How about 5l of Red Wine?

GOON!

If the boredom didn't get you i'd kill you just on principle. That is not food .

Bite me! It's better and more varied than what I ate at Uni.

Heh, then there's be meat if he did!
:-)

Breakfast is 100g of Oats with milk

*and* a stick of butter! :)

The butter is for the spuds, beans and carrots...

yeah, I know, but out of a whole kilo surely you could spare a lump for breakfast butter :)

What about a subgroup, $35 for for two adults?

and how 'healthy' does it have to be?

Salt pork, lemons and rum diets are not allowed.
:-)

damn, she's onto me.

I was thinking more, as recently I have started having cuppa soup as breakfast. I usually can not stomach food for the first hour after getting up and by the time I can, I've just arrived at work. So I'd either skip breakfast or get a sticky bun from the canteen.

Tomato Soup is fast becoming a very satisfying breakfast for me, especially at this time of the year...

Tomato soup is great! A shop near me was selling it for 99 cents a tin! I bought lots!

Yeah, sure, just note it at the top of your post.

I'll be back to think about this properly later... but I thought I should correct my user name:-) The last should be an 'o' not a zero... think two units of water:-)

Fixed
:-)
The funny thing is, I *was* thinking that at the time!! LOL
I plead still not well.
:-)

Teaching Work Studies the last couple of years I taught, I actually did an exercise like this with the kids. The first time it was a brief add on to the programme I was using, but they found it so interesting (and it seemed to me, so useful) that I then gave them more time. It was thanks to doing this with them that I started menu planning.
I have vivd memories of the look of horror on one boy's face... he figured chinese was cheap, so he'd have that daily... he could afford to eat 3 days a week:-)

LOL
If he could cook, chinese could be cheap...

*grin*

I think the not cooking was a big part of his plan:-)

Did you point and laugh and tell him TWO MINUTE NOODLES FOR YOOOO!

:-)

Sounds fun. I'll try and give it a bash.

I think the no spices thing is a little unrealistic. Your investment in your pantry is very little per week but over time is invaluable. If you had no income tomorrow you would still have your spices. If we were actually doing this it would be over the course of several months so you could factor a little in each week for things but if you are doing a list just for one week then it just doesn't work as well.
It also doesn't account for the fact that you save when you buy in bulk and use over time. That's where we save a lot of our money but we are fortunate to have the cash flow and storage space to do it).
650g white bread in Woolies... $2.50 on special (2 for $5)
bread mix 10Kg bag from FAL... $12.88 makes 13 x 1.25KG loaves which when you include the cost of the yeast comes in at about $1.10 per loaf which is nearly twice the size of the commercial one.
Saving is about $3.70 per 1.25Kg loaf we eat.

We'll do up a weeks menu but I'll use the cost of things we have bought in bulk rather than if I was going out shopping for what I used in a week every week. For example, if we use 750g of bread mix to make our bread then the cost would be (750/10000)*12.88 or $0.97. Should make for an interesting comparison.

Yup, cool.
:-)
I've also come across the same things, but I'm thinking more of putting it out there for people who don't have the beginnings of anythings because it's easier to work from ZERO than from SOMETHING. If that makes sense. :-)

Kids straight out of home, suddenly divorced couples with child(ren), elderly people who's partner who did the kitchen stuff died and they have no clue...

But whatever, as long as you note it in the top when done.
:-)
This is fun!

Pretend all your spice ran out the day before. :p

I think the spices thing is unrealisting as well. Other pantry stuff (flour for example) I'll do, but I think I'll pick four or six spices and assume that I _do_ still have them. That way it is more limited (otherwise our weekly menu is often likely to include 20 different spices?), but it's unlikely that we'd run out _all_ at once:-)