I cut my weekly food budget from £400 to just £30 for five people by cooking everything from scratch – but we had to ditch chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks
- Craig Harker, 36, from Stockton-on-Tees, cooked all meals during challenge
- Read more: Parents stop paying their kids pocket money during cost-of-living
A couple have revealed how they slashed their food budget from £400 to £30 after cutting out takeaways and restaurant meals.
Father-of-three Craig Harker, 36, and partner Rochelle Fairley, 29, from Stockton-on-Tees, cooked all their family’s meals from scratch during their inflation-busting challenge.
The couple went on a trolley dash in their local Asda and Aldi stores and spent a total of £30.80 over both shops, roughly what they would spend on an average takeaway order.
Food blogger Craig – who completes eating challenges for the entertainment of his legion of online fans – reckons he saved around £400 on his weekly food costs.
And the couple even lost a stone between them in weight during the seven days, which saw them eat 21 meals at an average cost of just over £1 per meal.
Craig Harker, 36, and partner Rochelle Fairley, 29, from Stockton-on-Tees, have eaten three meals a day plus snacks for a week – on a budget of just £30
The couple went on a trolley dash in their local Asda and Aldi stores and spent a total of £30.80 over both shops, roughly what they would spend on an average takeaway order
Craig said: ‘It felt good, I think it brought us together because we were cooking together every day.
‘I’ve probably saved more than £400 because I wasn’t buying fast food every day. We bought everything from Aldi or the essentials range.’
They loaded their cupboards with Asda’s Essentials range and raided Aldi’s shelves for the best bargains.
They stocked up on meats, rice and vegetables and made their budget stretch by buying tins of soups, rice pudding and peach slices.
Craig then cooked delicious recipes for his family to enjoy, including spaghetti bolognese, Chinese sticky pork and chicken curry.
He shared his story online to help people struggling to budget and to inspire creative ways to economise during the cost of living crisis.
And they even had food left over at the end of the week.
Food blogger Craig – who completes eating challenges for the entertainment of his legion of online fans – reckons he saved around £400 on his weekly food costs
The couple loaded their cupboards with Asda’s Essentials range and raided Aldi’s shelves for the best bargains (pictured, their receipt from Aldi)
They stocked up on meats, rice and vegetables and bought made their budget stretch by buying tins of soups, rice pudding and peach slices
Craig then cooked delicious recipes for his family to enjoy, including spaghetti bolognese, Chinese sticky pork and chicken curry (left) and sausage stew (right)
Craig revealed how he and his girlfriend were still enjoying ‘big, hearty portions’ despite cutting their food budget
He added: ‘As a food blogger, I eat fast food every day, or I’ll eat at a restaurant or a takeaway.
Craig’s meals for the week with £30 budget
Breakfasts: Porridge most days, with Sausage and scrambled eggs a couple of times
Lunches: Soup, Jacket potatoes, chicken wrap
Dinners: Chinese sticky pork, spaghetti bolognaise, sausage casserole
‘With the cost of living crisis and the way everything is going, I thought up this challenge of using the cost of a takeaway for days.
‘It wasn’t to show that it can be done – because everybody can budget if they try – but I wanted to show how you can still have good quality meals within that budget.
‘We were still having big, hearty portions, we still had big meals.
‘It’s been a good week, we’ve been able to do it, but people shouldn’t have to live like that.
‘Hopefully we can help give people some tips and they can use them to help budget and make the most of their food.
Father-of-three Craig, who runs food blog Dad Loves Food alongside owning The George Pub and Grill in his hometown, lost 9lb over the course of the week.
His partner, Rochelle, lost 5lbs.
An average day of eating for Craig normally would consist of a full English breakfast, a packet of biscuits with a brew, a burger for lunch and dinner from a fast food chain, like McDonalds or KFC.
The couple enjoyed a hearty bowl of porridge for breakfast each morning (left), as well as treats like beans on toast (right)
The food blogger even dreamt up creative snacks while not wasting any of his food, including whipping up his own Swiss rolls
But after he spent the week committed to his shoestring budget, he has developed a new found love of porridge.
And he even dreamt up creative snacks while not wasting any of his food.
He added: ‘We cut out chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks. For the first couple of days we felt hungry and fancied a snack.
‘So we cut the crust of a slice of bread, spread jam over and rolled it up and put it in the frying pan and we had mini swiss rolls.’
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