Disclosure: We were compensated for this review of Feed Your Family For £20 A Week. All opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links see our disclosure policy for more information.

Finding ways for our family to save money is one of my favourite pastimes I think that much is obvious by the content of my blog over the past six years. One area I’m always keen to cut back on is the grocery bill, I think it’s one of the easiest places to start when you are looking to save money. I was recently sent a fantastic book called Feed Your Family For £20 A Week by Lorna Cooper from Orion Books to review and I couldn’t wait to dive into the pages and learn how to feed my family for less.

Feed Your Family For £20 A Week contains over 100 delicious budget-friendly meals to feed your family, written by Lorna Cooper who five years ago set up a Facebook community of the same name. Lorna felt the need to share her money-saving knowledge because she saw so many young families struggling in the current economic climate to feed their families good, home-cooked food on a budget. Over half a million people have joined her Feed Your Family community and now Lorna wants to show even more people how to feed their families tasty food for just £20 a week.

Feed Your Family For £20 A Week Book Review

The first few pages of this book are absolutely invaluable and packed full of helpful information that will help you make the most of the recipes inside. There’s a foreword by Lorna herself where she explains why she wanted to share her knowledge and skills with other families, I found this part really inspiring. Lorna shares her own story about how she learned to feed her own family on a budget, her message about cooking from scratch for health reasons as well as the money-saving aspect really resonated with me. She also gives a good message about food waste and mindless buying which is such an important topic to address in my opinion.

The next few pages give good advice about adapting the recipes in the book to suit your family’s tastes, a very handy shopping list, a key equipment guide and 8 weeks’ worth of menus that you can follow. Lorna has also shared her top ten money-saving food tips too.

You can follow the whole 8-week menu plan which will cost roughly £160 or you can break it down and just follow the plan week by week. Following the weekly menu plans which include breakfast, lunch, and dinner will help you to stay within budget and save you so much money. It’s a great challenge whether or not you are feeling the pinch.

The Recipes 

The recipes are split into different categories like breakfast, soups & salads, light bites, slow cooker, fakeaways, sweet treats and more. I couldn’t believe how many different types of recipes were included, and they were all simple but tasty meals that the whole family would love. Looking through the recipes it was hard to believe that you cook such a variety of delicious food on such a small budget!

The recipes themselves are super easy to follow and each page features great food photography which I think is so important as I always like a visual of what I’m aiming to create. Lorna has also added handy tips, hints, and suggestions to a lot of the recipes which are so helpful.

We decided to choose some of the recipes that most appealed to us in order to test out some of the meals. Making a shopping list was so easy and I was really pleased to see that all the recipes I wanted to make needed no fancy kitchen equipment. I think recipes that require lots of different equipment can be a huge barrier to cooking on a budget.

I’m a huge fan of slow cookers and was really impressed by the number of different recipes included in the book for this method. I made Honey Soy Chicken which required the minimal of ingredients but tasted absolutely delicious.

I also made Sausage Pasta Bake which not only tasted amazing but also gave us enough leftovers to have it again the following evening. Because this recipe was so tasty the kids didn’t even mind the spinach and cherry tomatoes which are things they actively avoid usually.

Chris wanted to have a go at making something and he chose the Hearty Beef Pie recipe, this tuned out brilliantly and tasted so good. We had lots of leftovers but I couldn’t resist a second helping, it was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t believe it was homemade.

The kids wanted to have a go at making something too, they chose  On-The-Go Breakfast Flapjacks. This recipe only required 5 ingredients and made 16 flapjacks which make them such a low-cost treat.

We have really enjoyed everything we’ve made from the book so far but there’s so much more we want to try. All of the recipes are easy to follow and lots of them are really quick to prepare and make which is something I feel is so important as a busy parent with hungry mouths to feed.

Towards the back of the book, Lorna has also included information about the basics like how to make things like a tomato-based sauce, shortcrust pastry, jams and more. There’s also a guide to cooking potatoes which is really useful as they are so versatile as well as making a great cheap meal option.

I really do feel like Feed Your Family For £20 A Week is a fantastic investment for families looking to save money and cook on a small budget but it’s also great for anyone who wants to learn how to cook delicious meals from scratch too. There really is something for everyone in this book, it’s full of easy recipes that require simple ingredients that give you mouth-watering results.

You can find more recipes, tips, and advice on Lorna’s website fyf20quid.co.uk  on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

 

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