$21 Weekly Food Challenge
April 26th 2010 11:23
Cheesy vegemite scrolls. Very yummy for lunch boxes
You do an audit of what you have in your freezer, fridge and pantry then you menu plan for the week around what is available.
It's a chance to also throw out that bag of flour full of weevils or the jar of chutney that is months, no years, past it's use-by-date.
For further details visit Simple Savings. They have even written a book on the challenge with some great ideas on how to feed a family of four for a week on only $21.
I decided to take up the challenge and spent Sunday afternoon cleaning out and writing down everything edible in our house. I discovered we had four bottles of BBQ sauce but no tomato, a packet of puff pastry, sachets of macaroni and cheese and various pasta side dishes and heaps of chutney jars.
Other items included:
11 loaves of bread (we own a cafe)
ham bone
split peas
baked beans
spaghetti
mince
pork spare ribs
rice cakes
6 meat pies
24 sausage rolls
Cheese
vegemite
peanut butter
jam
golden syrup
flour (both SR and plain)
chokoes
tomatoes
numerous herbs and spices
2 frozen chicken carcasses (for stock)
leftover spaghetti bolognaise
amongst other things.
My first task was to make cheesy vegemite scrolls, ideal for kids lunchboxes throughout the week.
Very easy. Just defrost a sheet of puff pastry, spread with vegemite, cover with grated cheese, roll up and cut into bite size pieces. Then pop in the oven for 10-12 mins or until cheese is melted and pastry brown.
Then I cooked up some chicken stock for some of the recipes I had chosen through the week.
Finally, just when we had gotten out the spareribs and sachets of fried rice, friends turned up with a chicken lasagne and salad to share for dinner.
They had taken pity on us thinking we wouldn't be able to eat for the week with only $21 to spend.
Most people don't realise that quite often they already have a week's worth of groceries in their house. This game is one of creativity and ingenuity. It may mean substituting some ingredients, maybe even bartering with neighbours.
It may mean discovering or making up recipes that could be at risk of being duds or great family favourites.
Either way I see it as a practical exercise in saving money and having a bit of fun with the weekly meals.
Day one is complete.
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Even though we pretty much eat down on what we have I still found enough to make a week's menu plan.
Mind you, our problem may be too much food. Because we own the cafe,hubby told me this morning we have some ham and rissoles that need to come home. They are still ok to eat but he didn't want to sell them to the public.
It's getting very 'fishes and loavesy'.
Sam