Want to know how to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week? Mummy blogger Anneliese Giggins gave it her best shot!

Mummy blogger Anneliese Giggins shows how to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week! She just loves a challenge.

Last time it was homemade food, this time she's trying to feed her family of 4 for only £20 a week - yes, really! Read our exclusive blog to see how she got on. Over to you Anneliese...

How to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week - what's it all about Anneliese?

I think it's fair to say I like a challenge but I'm wondering if I may have set the bar too high this time. For 30 days I will be scrutinising every single price label, my calculator will be dusted off and put to daily use. Each potato, piece of pasta, smear of margarine, in fact every item of food which passes my family's lips will be calculated and I will be keeping a very beady eye on the shopping receipts.

Yes, yes, YES, this may seem rather a boring activity but it's all for a good reason, I promise! I think we are all aware that food prices are sky high nowadays and they continue to rise. An average family of four will spend at least £225 a month on food (according to Office for National Statistics) and I'm sure some of us spend even more, especially when celebrating special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas.

Anneliese, husband Neil and her two little boys, Isaac and Oliver

A fair few of us now prefer to carry out the weekly or monthly shop online, however some still prefer to be the one to choose and pick out food at the supermarket or local grocery and butcher. Whichever way we choose, most of us feel our heart sink when we see the grand total and begrudgingly reach into our wallet. We are left wondering if we have enough money in the bank to cover the monthly utility bills, will there be any cash left over to treat the kids to a day out?

I admit that I've become guilty of just shoving food into our shopping trolley without always searching the shelves for a cheaper alternative. Before the children came along, I had more time to look for bargains but, when the boys are arguing in the shopping trolley, all I want is to make a hasty exit from the overcrowded supermarket and get the hell out of there! Once I get home and unpack the food, I can't believe how much money was spent and how little food we have to show for it.

See Anneliese's first food shop receipt here and this week's grand total

On that note I want to carry out a little experiment to see if our family of four can survive on spending just £20 a week on food. Can we get to the end of the 30 days well fed on such a small budget? I don't think it would be good parenting to feed my children gruel for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I will be hunting out the cheapest but also the most nutritious recipes I can find. And in terms of the food shop I will be doing one bulk shop at the beginning of the challenge and smaller shops over the 4 weeks. My budget it £80 for the month levelling out as £20 per week.

So here's to 30 days of analysing every till receipt, counting out grains of rice and making every carrot count! There will be no room for waste; every morsel of food we buy MUST be eaten. Hopefully along the way I can find easy ways to make savings, crafty recipes which don't rely on expensive ingredients. We might even save enough money to replace our very old TV!

Total of money spent so far = £49.94

 Week 1: The good, the bad and the 'what was I thinking?'

The first week of my challenge has come to a close. For the past seven days I have been counting my pennies and making sure that I make them go as far as possible. When shopping, I no longer notice the branded tins of baked beans or chopped tomatoes and my hand automatically reaches for the cheaper value option instead. Although I am only at the end of week one, I already feel I have learned so much. It's almost as if I am learning a new language, but instead I'm educating myself on how to make savings on food. It certainly is a big learning curve!

Get the recipe: Tomato risotto and garlic bread = £2.10

When I think about what has challenged me and my family most this first week, I immediately think of the boredom! The food is so repetitive. It doesn't take long to go off Cornflakes and I'm not sure that porridge in August is such a great idea! The daily snacks like biscuits and malt loaf are also wearing thin but, funnily enough, my boys seem perfectly content with what they are given. Maybe it's just Neil and I that are being fussy! The evening meal is a saving grace as we don't feel as though we are doing without. We've been making risotto, spag Bol, pasta salads and more! I'm preparing our usual fare and simply making deductions, choosing cheaper ingredients and shopping in a budget supermarket.

Despite the monotony of some of the food, the buzz of saving money at the cash till more than compensates! After our first bulk buy we still needed to stock up on things such as sausages, pasta and rice but, by choosing the cheaper alternatives, we managed to walk away from the cash till with a spring in our step rather than a heavy heart! Of course it was hard to resist grabbing a packet of burgers or a pizza but we found ourselves tutting at the expensive price labels and walking away!

Get the recipe: Penne Bolognese = £1.60

Although my week was lacking in food excitement, things were livened up with an interview for BBC Radio Oxford. I went along to the studio to talk about my new challenge and to chat on the phone to a member of the BBC Good Food Magazine team and to none other than Jack Monroe. And I must say I was rather star struck to get to talk to Jack Monroe and to hear her great hints and tips.

Even though she no longer lives on a harsh budget of £10 per week, she can still recite the price of a tin of kidney beans and chopped tomatoes etc. I felt humbled to hear how Jack had to survive for 18 months on such a repetitive menu and an incredibly small amount of money. I know for a fact that there are many others who just manage to scrape by.

See Anneliese's second food shop receipts here and this week's grand total

From my time at the radio station I learned that there are cheaper protein alternatives to meat, meals can be bulked out with beans and lentils or even tofu and great bargains are to be had at local farmers' markets; just go at the end of the day when things are being sold off cheap. I also learnt that frozen vegetables and fruit are often cheaper, last longer and are just as nutritious as the fresh version. And if there's the possibility of growing your own fruit and vegetables - go for it! I don't know what I would have done without my father-in-law's home grown cucumbers...

Week one round up

• Best thing we ate this week: We really enjoyed hummus with pitta bread and vegetable sticks. My younger son was particularly keen!
• Cheapest meal of the week: Homemade tuna fishcakes (I made enough fishcakes for three meals) with potato wedges and baked beans. £1.45 for the meal.
• Kids' favourite dish of the week: Tomato risotto with garlic bread. Clean plates all round!
• Failure of the week: Running out of milk and having to buy some from our village shop. Two pints of milk cost 89p instead of 95p for FOUR pints of milk at Aldi. That was painful and will not be repeated!
• Best thing I learned this week: When making risotto save a lot of pennies by using basic white rice. I used 'normal' rice for my tomato risotto and no one could tell the difference. Thanks to Jack Monroe for such a great tip!
• Thrifty trick of the week: I usually throw away pastry offcuts but not this time! There was a bit of leftover pastry from my quiche this week and I managed to make eight mini jam tarts out of it. A great treat for the kids (and Mummy and Daddy) and they only cost a few pence - result!

Quiche (£2.60 for 10inch) and jam tarts (15p) - made with the same pastry! Get the recipe: Broccoli quiche

Total of money spent so far = £69.62

 Week 2: Bargain hunting and lots of hummus

I'm now at the halfway point of the challenge. It's very probable that, from now on, I'll be counting down the days in anticipation of the end! We are not going hungry and are eating well, but I find myself hankering for the little extras I usually take for granted. Treats like a scoop of ice cream at the end of a warm summer's day or even fruit salad are off the menu. Instead we settle for a slice of slightly stale malt loaf or a Rich Tea biscuit, which sadly do little to fill the void!

Get the recipe: Hummus and carrot wraps = 24p each

This week, our breakfasts were either crunchy cornflakes or porridge with honey. I don't usually eat cooked breakfasts, but now all I want is a poached egg, baked beans, mushrooms, toast and lashings of ketchup. When it comes to lunchtime we embrace hummus and use it on anything and everything. My youngest, Oliver, loves it on toast, while the rest of us enjoy it in wraps with grated carrot, or as a dip with pitta bread and vegetable sticks. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be long before I'm sick of it!

Making pizzas with Isaac - Get the recipe: Cheese and onion pizza

We are still enjoying dinners, as we are managing to eat the same sort of meals we normally have, such as sausage hotpot, chilli with rice, and homemade pizza (now made with tomatoes from my father-in-law's garden). When I started this challenge my biggest worry was hunger. We have big appetites and I was obviously anxious that my children might not have enough to eat. However, we all go to bed with full tummies so we really can't complain. I just wish we could have a little more variety!

Chilli and rice = £1.90

At the weekend we went into town to compare prices at several £1 and 99p stores. I found some good deals on branded products, but they still worked out a little dearer than the value brands at a bargain supermarket. There might be only a few pence difference, but every penny adds up. After leaving empty-handed, we drove a few miles to our local farm shop on a hunt for potatoes. The shop was beautiful and there was plenty of delicious food on display. It broke my heart to only buy a bag of muddy potatoes! However, we were pleased with the price as we managed to buy twenty for £2.50. This meant we have enough money to buy some hummus for next week. Hurrah!

Our supermarket shop was very small this week - just a few essentials, like milk and bread. I had to control an urge to throw packets of fresh pasta and tubs of ice cream into my basket. I feel increasingly grateful that I don't have to continue living on such a rigid budget once the challenge is over.

See Anneliese's third food shop receipt here and this week's grand total

Week two round up

Best thing we ate this week: Homemade pizza. I love making pizza when I get the time, but this challenge made it a necessity. We thoroughly enjoyed preparing and scoffing it!

Cheapest meal of the week: Jack Monroe's carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers with potato wedges and baked beans. £1.03 for the meal.

Kids' favourite dish of the week: Homemade gnocchi in a homemade tomato sauce, with a sprinkle of grated cheese on top, plus garlic bread. My children barely came up for air as they polished it all off!

Failure of the week: Maybe the boys are hungrier than I thought, as I found them sitting on the kitchen floor eating breadsticks. Now we only have four left to last for two weeks. Eeek!

Best thing I learned this week: Cheese is expensive and I'm trying to use as little as possible. Previously I would add as much as a recipe stated but now I add it to taste. Making a cheese sauce, I added half of what I would usually just by ignoring the scales, adding it little by little and having a taste.

Thrifty trick of the week: Instead of adding a whole tin of sweetcorn to my sausage hotpot, I kept half back and used the remainder in a pasta salad. You can do the same with a tin of tuna or beans, saving half for another meal.

 Week 3: Blackberries to the rescue!

It's the end of week three. Our fridge is looking bare and the fruit bowl now sits empty on our dining room table. Our boys prefer vegetables to fruit, but we normally fill the bowl with bananas, oranges and apples to eat as a snack or after dinner. Thankfully we are eating nutritious, homemade meals every day and no ready meals or jars of sauce have passed our lips. However, I am aware that, in this third week, our five-a-day fruit and veg can't be reached. Most days we manage three or even four, but not five. When looking at the price of fruit in the supermarkets and at the farmers' market, it's easy to see how difficult it is to include fruit in your daily diet if you are on a tight budget.

To overcome our current predicament, a friend suggested we search hedgerows for blackberries, as they are currently in season. We donned our waterproofs and welly boots and headed for the field behind our house. We got decidedly soggy in the pouring rain but had fun as a family picking the blackberries and came back with a generous bounty, which we devoured with rice pudding!

Blackberry rice pudding = 15p for 4 servings

We are getting used to having the same lunches day in and day out. My youngest, Oliver, was delighted to have another tub of hummus to enjoy this week. He loves it on toast but enjoys dipping carrot and cucumber sticks into it, too. My elder son, Isaac, has never been keen on sandwiches but adores pitta breads filled with cucumber and a little mayonnaise and he tucks into his lunch without any fuss - hurrah!

As for snack time, the boys are still happily tucking into malt loaf. However, I can't face it anymore and neither can my husband - we would rather go without. My sweet tooth has been longing for something chocolatey so I made some chocolate cornflake cakes with Isaac at the beginning of the week. I was very glad that I'd bought some value chocolate at the start of the challenge, ready for such a moment! The sweet crunchy cakes were delicious and we are going to make another batch next week.

Chocolate cereal cakes = 38p total This third week also proved to be a social week. First, the boys and I were invited to a friend's house for a play date; lunch would be made for us. At first I wasn't sure if we should go as I was unable to contribute, but I realised that I couldn't stop my children from having fun and seeing their little friends. We were treated to delicious homemade carrot soup and Oliver couldn't get enough. I look forward to returning the favour once this challenge is finished!

On Saturday we had friends over to our house for lunch and I had a massive panic about what I could feed them. Neil suggested homemade pizzas. It worked out perfectly - Isaac helped me and there was plenty of pizza to go round so no one starved, as I had originally feared. This challenge doesn't exactly lend itself to social occasions but we managed to scrape through!

Sausage and mash = £2.24 total

There are still no complaints at dinnertime. We have been enjoying things such as sausages with mash and vegetables, a potato and chickpea curry, and spicy mixed bean tortillas. Sadly I only have a small piece of cheese left for the last week of the challenge. I will have to be very, very sparing as I simply have no money left for more!

See Anneliese's fourth food shop receipt here and this week's grand total

Week three round up

Best thing we ate this week: We love our weekly pasta salad. I chop up some boiled eggs, slice up cucumber and tomatoes and stir in some mayonnaise. Yum!

Cheapest meal of the week: Homemade tomato pasta sauce with pasta and garlic bread. £1.25

Kids' favourite dish of the week: Sausages with mashed potato, carrots, peas and gravy. £2.24

Failure of the week: Finding a mouldy onion and having to throw it away. I bought two bags of onions at the beginning of the challenge; I should have purchased one at a time to avoid waste.

Best thing I learned this week: It's worth getting outdoors and scrimping for fruit. I can't believe I never thought of doing this before!

Thrifty trick of the week: For a cheap tomato pasta sauce, I gently fry a chopped onion in a little oil then pour in two tins of chopped tomatoes and gently simmer for around 20 minutes until the tomatoes turn to a thick pulpy consistency. It's then ready to eat with pasta and a grating of cheese!

Total of money spent so far = £79.92

 Week 4: Done and dusted

The challenge is now over and I am breathing a sigh of relief. This final week was the toughest yet and I honestly wasn't sure if we could scrape by with what little food we had. We didn't go over our budget but the last few meals were far from exciting. My boys really enjoy my tomato risotto and have come to expect an obligatory slice of garlic bread to be served alongside. Imagine their disappointment when not only did I leave the cheese out of the risotto but also that there was no garlic bread to accompany their meal. I was out of money and we had to make do with what we had. I simply added more rice to the risotto so we still had full tummies; I think I was just about forgiven!

There was also no money to buy bread so I made my own this week. I enjoyed venting my frustrations as I kneaded the dough. However the loaves I produced were not as big as the loaves you can buy. They also do not keep well. This made me question what is added to shop bought bread to make it keep for longer, not a nice thought.

Carrot soup and homemade bread = 50p for 4 servings

We had lots of carrots in stock this week and I was keen to use them up so I decided to make a big batch of carrot soup. I admit that it wasn't the most flavoursome of soups, but it was packed full of vitamin A and there was enough for two lunches. Obviously soup wasn't enough to keep us going until dinnertime so it was served with some of my homemade bread. I felt very virtuous to know that I had made both with my own two hands. I have made a mental note to try to make my own soup in future!

This week Isaac was keen to help me in the kitchen again. We made chocolate cornflake cakes which helped to satisfy my chocolate cravings and we also made a small batch of ice lollies. A friend of mine makes lollies with just banana and milk and they are surprisingly tasty. Isaac was perfectly content chopping up a banana and pushing the button on the blender. He then thoroughly enjoyed his refreshing banana ice lolly.

Ice lollies = 35p for 4

Although a few of our meals this week were disappointing, mostly due to the lack of cheese, we did manage to enjoy a roast dinner. We had to opt for sausages. However I pushed the boat out and made some Yorkshire puddings, which felt like a real luxury! On our last day we were completely out of food apart from a tin of baked beans and some stale bread but, instead of finishing off the challenge with beans on toast, I made a baked bean 'pie' as suggested by Donna, who has been following the blog. It made a more interesting alternative and was much enjoyed. The baked bean pie was followed by a tin of peaches. What a classy way to finish the challenge!

Sausage roast dinner with homemade Yorkshires = £2.60 for 4 servings

Week four round up

Best thing we ate this week: Sausages with homemade Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas and gravy.

Cheapest meal of the week: It has to be the baked bean pie!

Kids' favourite dish of the week: Tuna pasta bake

Failure of the week: Discovering that I have an unopened bag of rice and pasta left over. Had I planned better I could have used that money on some fruit. I'm SO cross with myself!

Best thing I learned this week: It's amazing how much soup can be made from just a few veggies. It only costs a few pence to make a simple soup. I cooked up a big batch and put half in the fridge for another day.

Thrifty trick of the week: It's better to buy loose vegetables so you can weigh them on the scales and buy exactly what you need. No waste and will save a little money.

Grand total of money spent = £79.92 - in budget!

*Download Anneliese's meal list and prices here*

 Week five: Looking back...

My challenge has come to an end and in all honesty it couldn't have come soon enough! We have been eating either cornflakes or porridge for breakfast for 30 days but I may as well have been chewing on cardboard. I do not rate the value cornflakes and will be glad to be rid of them! On the other hand the lunches have been more varied and we will happily continue to eat salad sandwiches, pasta salad, pitta breads and hummus. I was surprised by how I could slightly modify our evening meals and still put filling and nutritious meals on the table. No one felt unsatisfied and we never felt hungry. If I'm honest I wondered if might have lost some weight during the challenge but no, I didn't lose an ounce! I think this shows that we ate well and didn't go without.

I believe we saved a lot of money by simply switching our usual supermarket to a bargain supermarket and I am sure that this was the key to getting through to the end of the challenge. However, when you only pay 15p for a tin of rice pudding or 29p for a jar of jam you start to question the quality. I checked labels and was surprised to see that the value jam contained the same amount of fruit as a far more expensive brand and had less added sugar! Sadly, my euphoria was soon dashed when I discovered that the tins of baked beans I'd been using contained 7g more sugar than the beans we usually buy. When it came to salt I couldn't see much variation between brands so that helped me to feel a little more positive!

Get the recipe: Spicy mixed bean tortillas = 68p per portion

I required a lot of chopped tomatoes for the challenge and, after eating our way through 15 value tins, I have no complaints at all and will definitely buy them again. The one thing I will never buy again was the sunflower oil spread; it was horrible. When spread on hot toast or a jacket potato it left an oily layer and never really melted.

The meat was a fair quality but the sausages were 'watery' and lacked flavour. My husband feels strongly about only using local and well reared meat so I'm sure we will go back to visiting the butchers. No one wants to spend ages checking labels but I do think you get what you pay for when it comes to such things as baked beans, bread and meat. However, don't be put off, as you can make great savings on many other products such as dried pasta, milk, eggs, flour, chopped tomatoes, fruit and vegetables. The list goes on!

This challenge was to try to find out if it really is possible to feed a family of four for just £20 a week. I realise it would be harder with teenagers but my children are still small; maybe I'll have to repeat the process in 10 years time - or maybe not! Yes, the challenge is just about possible, most things are, if you really set your mind to it or you are without choice BUT is it an enjoyable experience? No.

After the first week, I could already see where I had previously wasted money, by the end of week two I was very grateful that I did not have to do this for longer than 30 days and by the end of the challenge I knew I wouldn't want to do this again. We managed to eat well but this tight budget does not allow for much variety or the ability to regularly meet your 5-a-day target. Fresh fruit and vegetables come at a high cost, so cheap carrots, broccoli, apples and bananas are the order of the day. I don't know if I could have managed without my father-in-law's home-grown cucumbers and tomatoes. It is definitely worth trying to grow a few vegetables and fruit if there is space in your garden. We have strawberry plants but they were sadly out of season during the challenge!

Get the recipe: Pasta salad = 17p per portion (with homegrown veg)

If you are in a position where you only have a small amount of money to spend on food you have to make choices. Would you be able to worry about added sugar? Do you buy a punnet of grapes for £1.25 or do you use the money to buy ingredients for a main meal? The answer is that you have to make do and, as long as you are making the most of what you have and are putting food on the table, you are doing well.

I have learned so much throughout these 30 days. I'm able to buy certain foods far cheaper at a bargain supermarket. I know that using white rice instead of risotto rice makes no difference and I realise that I can make satisfying family meals that don't cost the earth. You can usually take things out of a recipe or make substitutions and not notice the difference. It is certainly far cheaper to make meals from scratch than it is to buy a ready meal, jar of sauce or a takeaway, not to mention healthier!

I walk away from this challenge grateful that I can indulge in a tub of ice cream tonight and feel lucky to be able to stop living on such little money. However, I am aware that we still have a budget for our food shopping and I am determined to continue to make savings on what we buy. Certainly not £20 a week; £30 would be far more achievable!

Budget recipes from the challenge

How to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week - our favourite budget recipes the challenge...

Tomato risotto               Broccoli quiche

Penne Bolognese                  Cheese and onion pizza

Spicy mixed bean tortillas              Cucumber and tomato pasta salad

Feeling inspired to the challenge? Do you have any tips on how to feed a family of 4 for £20 a week you'd like to share? Head over to our Facebook page to join the conversation! 

With food prices up a whopping 12 per cent this year, you may find that there's a lot less in your shopping basket for the same money, try our cheap weekly meal planner to help keep costs low.

To help you make the most of your food shopping, we've put together a cheap weekly meal planner, featuring a month's worth of recipes designed to feed a family of four, for just £40 a week.

Some websites offer meals for under a fiver, but you soon realise you can't buy single eggs and tablespoons of milk - and suddenly your meal isn't looking so cheap. Here, we've done the sums for you and added what you'll need for the week without cheating on the quantities you need to buy products in.

Take a look at our cheap weekly meal planner and download the shopping list to take with you - you can even print out the meal planner to stick on your fridge!

The cheap weekly meal planner

Week 1 shopping list

Week 2 shopping list

Week 3 shopping list

Week 4 shopping list

- 100 ways to make the most of your food shopping  - How to use up your leftovers - What's In My Fridge? Make meals from what you have in

Our mummy blogger Anneliese has been set the challenge of feeding her family of 4 their 5-a-day, every day!

Research shows that the average household is still failing to reach that magic number, so Anneliese will be thinking of ways to get more vegetables into her kids' dinners, how to make sure the whole fruit bowl is used up and crucially, see if she can keep her food bills down in the process. You might think getting your 5-a-day is easy, but think again. Over to you Anneliese...

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Mummy's Little Helpers | Anneliese's recipes   | Feed your family on £20 a week

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The challenge explained

I think it's fair to say that I love a challenge, so when I was asked to keep track of how much fruit and vegetables my family eat and to be sure to stick to the recommended 5-a-day target, I thought, how hard can it be? My family of 4 happily eat fruit and veg!

A few days down the line, and I can't help noticing the lack of variety in our fruit bowl or how my 4-year-old boy suddenly detests broccoli. What happened to the little boy who would eat the vegetables from his plate before he touched anything else?! Yes, my 2-year-old loves apples and carrots but he turns his nose up at most other things. Suddenly, I am feeling rather daunted at the prospect of ensuring we ALL reach our 5-a-day, every single day!

Before starting this challenge on 1 January, I have looked into why it is so important to reach this recommended target. I have always known that eating fruit and vegetables is what we should all do but, I admit, I didn't really know why! I came across this article in the Daily Mail and was told that eating just a few portions of fruit can cut the risk of premature death by heart disease by up to 50 per cent, not to mention help to protect against certain cancers and even ward off those pesky cold and flu viruses... the list goes on. All of a sudden, I was taking this challenge very seriously and revaluating my own diet. I tend to skip most fruit; it's expensive and I know the boys like it, so I leave it for them. I tend to heap vegetables onto my husband's and children's plates, thinking it's better that they have it, rather than me. Not only have I been setting a poor example to my children by skimping on my own fruit and vegetable intake, but I could be heading towards a future of ill health - and what use would I be to my family then?

Of course, it's all very well and good deciding that I WILL ensure we eat our 5-a-day, but working out portion sizes only further boggled my already boggled brain! All four of us require varying portion sizes, due to age and gender so I was left feeling rather confused. It obviously isn't going to be a case of shoving a load of fruit into the blender and making a smoothie every day. I will have to think out and plan each meal and snack to be sure that we all finish the day with tummies full of the correct portions of fruit and veg, or enough at least. This challenge is certainly not as easy as I first envisaged! Just when I was hit by a wave of doubt, I came across this wonderfully simple website, what's a 5-a-day, where you can choose any fruit and vegetable and it will immediately tell you how many you need to eat to equal a portion. Hooray! I am sure I will be using this handy website on a daily basis.

As my two young boys have suddenly decided that each vegetable needs to be thoroughly dissected and inspected at every meal time, I think I am going to have my work cut out. I had thought I was on to a winner with potatoes as we eat them nearly every day. I was saddened to read on the NHS website that potatoes are not actually included in our 5-a-day as they are considered to be a starchy food, so are clubbed together with other starchy items such as pasta and rice. On a positive note, potatoes contain vitamin C and are a great source of fibre when we leave the skins on, so I shan't feel too broken hearted!

I think the main issue with my children is that they are immediately aware that they have vegetables on their plates as I have never made any effort to disguise them; I used to congratulate myself on having such good eaters. However, my four-year-old is now very suspicious of anything other than carrots, while his two-year-old brother is keen to copy him! I have now accepted that I cannot simply let the vegetables left on the plate get thrown away; instead, I shall do my best to disguise the nutritious mouthfuls by grating, mashing and blending every root vegetable or bean in sight! I am sure that I can hide all sorts of goodness in a Bolognese, homemade burgers and sandwich fillings. I can't wait to get started to see what cunning ideas I can come up with!

Not only will I need to come up with crafty inventions to cram the recommended 5-a-day into my children, my husband and me, but I will also need to see how our family food shop will change. Although, we buy a fair amount of vegetables and fruit, we will have to buy more to reach our target on a daily basis. I am sure we will feel the pinch to our purse strings - but by how much? Will we have to cut back on other food items to allow for the extra expense? My main worry is the waste. Just because we buy lots of fruit and vegetables does not mean that I can force feed it to my children! I really will have get busy with my grater!

My aims for the challenge:

1. Try a variety of new fruit and vegetables (and get the kids to eat them without complaint - wish me luck!)

2. Keep waste to a minimum - there's nothing worse than waste so I'm going make sure any waste is put to good use and used for other meals too.

3. To not spend too much money on our food shop - I know fruit and vegetables can be pricey so we're going to shop around before we buy to make sure we save money.

4. To plan ahead – every meal, every shopping list etc. and plan out what we're going to eat each week.

Watch this space for more to follow!

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Week one: It's all about the money, honey!

The first week of my 5-a-day challenge has come to an end - and my goodness, has it been an expensive one! On New Year’s Eve, the boys enjoyed the afternoon with their grandparents while Neil and I headed to several supermarkets to make the most of some alone time. To be honest, rare child-free supermarket trips can almost be classed as a pleasant day out as we are free to browse without refereeing arguments and no toddler to my shopping list!

Our first shop for the challenge started in Aldi and it went quite well. Whenever I shop in Aldi, I am always amazed by the great value. We were able to get grapes, butternut squash, swede, red peppers and lots more at very reasonable prices. I also bought tinned kidney beans, chickpeas and chopped tomatoes as they are also included in your 5-a-day.

As I had already written out my meal plan for the first week, it was a little frustrating when I couldn't find a few key ingredients. I was greeted by empty boxes when looking for fresh strawberries and beetroot, there was no frozen or fresh spinach to be found and what few lemons they had weren't in good shape. As Tesco was almost next door, we decided to try there too. We managed to locate the frozen spinach, but still couldn't get hold of any strawberries but did manage to put a few non-essentials into our trolley... We certainly paid the price at the check-out! Despite only leaving with a few bags of shopping, we managed to spend a whopping £59.48. This is more than we would normally spend in a week and what was worse, I would need to buy more in just a few days!

I tried to push the big overspend out of my head when my challenge started the following day. It was New Year’s Day, which is typically a time when most of us try to avoid chocolate and cakes and aspire to eat a healthy well balanced diet. I usually only last three days before I am back on cake. However, this time things are different. I can still eat my beloved cake but I also have to squeeze in five portions of fruit and vegetable every single day. This may not sound too difficult but over the course of this week, I have eaten far more than usual and my tummy feels constantly full. I worry that my waistband will soon start to feel the pinch!

I often skip breakfast. I tell myself that I am too rushed to eat it and, by the time I get home from the school run, I have a cup of coffee and a biscuit (or two) instead. Now, however, breakfast equals a great opportunity to tick off one or even two of my five a day. This in turn fills me up and stops my biscuit snacking! I have enjoyed porridge with banana, delicious blackcurrant bircher muesli and fresh blueberries with natural yoghurt and cereal. I have to say though that I fear that I am in danger of turning blue. An adult has to eat four heaped tablespoons of blueberries to equal a five a day portion. That is a huge amount when you actually sit down to eat it! I had to force myself to munch through every last blueberry, and then Oliver decided that he could only manage half of his. As the blueberries cost £3 for the 250g punnet, I couldn’t bear to throw them away so ate those too. I could barely face my blueberry pancakes the next day!

See what the Giggins family have been eating this week (Plus how many of their 5-a-day have they consumed each day!)

Lunch has been the most challenging meal and so far we have mostly had large mixed salads in sandwiches or mixed into a pasta salad. The mixed salad is full of things such as celery sticks, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, grated carrot and sweetcorn. I am very cautious and class the giant salads as just one portion of our five-a-day. Despite the variety, some of the quantities are not enough on their own so I have grouped them all together as the NHS website suggests. Another confusing aspect of the portion sizes is the child’s allowance. After some research online, it appears that a child under 10 years of age has roughly half of an adult’s portion. An adult’s portion should weigh 80g, so I think that if my boys, who are aged two and four have around 40-50g then we are doing alright!

Of course, you cannot forcefeed a child their recommended quota. If a small child does not want to eat something, there is nothing that can be done about it. I have spent a lot of my time this week trying to cajole and even beg Oliver at least to try his pasta salad, parsnip roulade or swede fries. Oliver seemed to take great pleasure in shaking his head, forcefully pushing his plate away and shouting “TOAST” every single time! I topped him up with snacks of grapes or apples and even put extra carrot on his plate, the one vegetable he can't get enough of! A few days in and I tried sitting Oliver on my lap after enduring another dinner time stand-off. I put his untouched veggie-topped pizza in front of him and he immediately tucked in. He has homemade pizza each week but I think that all the other new meals had unsettled him and he simply needed some reassurance and a cuddle. At least with Isaac I can explain what we are having and I can encourage him to try new things. On most occasions, he will clean his plate once he allows himself to try it. The butternut squash falafels are a case in point. He hates butternut squash and had seen me preparing it (despite my best efforts to hide it) so had already decided he wasn't going to like the falafels. Thankfully, Isaac did reluctantly give them a try and then went on to eat the lot. However, he wasn't keen on the sweet braised red cabbage, which Oliver enjoyed, or the homemade mushroom soup, which Neil and I loved!

I regained the boys’ trust on Monday when I made my ever reliable spinach pasta bake. Using frozen spinach is such a money saver and it is also a lot easier to prepare. Isaac has declared this to be his favourite meal since he developed the power of speech, while Oliver always inhales his portion so I declare it to be a winner! This is the meal I make when we are rushed and tired. I sometimes use a jar of pasta sauce or make my own depending on my level of exhaustion! I fully expected to make my own tomato sauce for this challenge but couldn't resist taking a peek at a jar of sauce when at the supermarket and was surprised to see that it included one of our five-a-day, hooray! Although I do like to make our meals from scratch, it is nice to take a shortcut every now and then.

So at the end of this first week, we have visited the supermarkets on four occasions and the visit with the boys was the most eventful. If you look at the receipts, you will see that we bought a single carrot in Sainsbury's. We have no need for this random carrot but felt we should buy it after Isaac picked it up and started to eat it. This moment reminded Neil and me why our New Year’s Eve shopping 'jaunt' was such a treat!

Of course, all of these supermarket trips have meant that we have spent a scary amount of money. I am confident that we will have no need to spend this much in the weeks that follow as we have now purchased most of our staple foods such as tinned tomatoes, potatoes, cereals, cheese, etc. I had wanted to visit our local farmers’ market last weekend, but we had such heavy rain that the market square was deserted when we arrived. I aim to try again this weekend and see if I can bag any bargains. I will also look into using more tinned and frozen fruit and vegetables as they are still classed as being part of our 5-a-day and that is what this challenge is all about. It will also be interesting to compare their quality, taste and texture. Another aim is to find ways to sneak vegetables into the boys’ food. I have never made any attempt to hide fruit and vegetables in the boys’ food but it is becoming clear to me that trying new things can be off-putting for young children, while texture is also an issue. For instance, Isaac tells me that mushrooms taste like slugs. As I have never eaten a slug, I cannot possibly compare!

Join me next week when I get grating, blending and mashing...

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Week two: It's going grate!

This second week has been an interesting one and, despite a few frustrations, I have really enjoyed it. I am eating much more than I usually would, but this is purely because I am eating well. I no longer skip breakfast, choose a biscuit over fruit or eat boring toast for lunch. I am quickly realising that this challenge is forcing me to address my own diet, not just that of my children. After all, my job is to lead by example; it is important that I set a good one!

Lunchtime dilemmas

The hardest part of this challenge so far has been lunchtime. It is really tricky trying to come up with a variety of food to put into Isaac's lunchbox. However, I have to say that Isaac is doing brilliantly. In fact I think he is coping better than I am! I send him off to school with a lunchbox full of carrot, celery, cucumber, red pepper and hummus for dipping. He comes home with an empty lunchbox while I didn't manage to finish my celery! I am starting to wonder if I have been underestimating my boys. Was I not giving them enough variety in the past? When something was rejected did I give up too easily?

See what the Giggins family have been eating this week (Plus how many of their 5-a-day have they consumed each day!)

Fruit smoothie heaven

The best part of this week has been the delicious fruit smoothies! I have made them in the past, but I have usually stuck with bananas. However, now is not the time to play it safe, so I have added in frozen mixed berries, yogurt and pure orange juice. The resulting smoothies are absolutely delicious and jam-packed with three of our five a day. The funny thing is that my two year old refuses to eat most berries, so you can imagine my delight when he gulps down his smoothies!

Although my blender was kept fairly busy this week, my grater has been used EVERY single day. Grating is undoubtedly a tedious task but I am pretty sure my bingo wings are firming up!!!! I really enjoyed making my sage and onion veggie burgers. I have made them before, but this time I weighed the vegetables to be sure that we would have the correct quantity in our burgers. When I looked at the huge mountain of grated carrot, I realised that I was using far more than usual. So many recipes contain just one carrot, a single stick of celery or one onion, but the resulting portion sizes are of course diminished when divided across a family. It's pretty clear that we had previously fallen short; one carrot between four just isn't enough!

The beetroot challenge: Success

As I have already mentioned, this five a day challenge has made me reassess my own diet. It is also a good reason to re-visit any fruit and vegetables I have disliked since childhood. I really, really dislike beetroot and I used to beg my Mum not to put any on my plate. Whenever I dared to try it, my gag reflex was well exercised! Last week I decided to try beetroot for the first time in over ten years. However, I wasn't prepared to eat a slice of beetroot. I needed to use the same tactics that I employ on my children and hide it. Well, of course I couldn't hide it as I KNEW it was there – and anyway how can you hide the bright red colour?! My answer was to embrace the colour, simply blitz it into a purée and mash it into potato. I was amazed to discover that I couldn't taste a hint of beetroot in the resulting colourful mashed potato, hurrah! Isaac gobbled all of his up but Oliver was obviously completely thrown by the strange red food on his plate; he folded his arms and kept his mouth firmly sealed! Despite Oliver's refusal, I felt positively elated to have successfully left my beetroot demons behind and I was soon planning to make beetroot burgers a few days later!

The courgette challenge: Fail

This week has also been the week in which I made it my mission to make my boys like courgette!! When I weaned the boys, courgette was their favourite food. However, this has since changed. Any hint of a courgette and the plates are pushed away in disgust! First of all I lulled them in to a false sense of security by making a deliciously moist chocolate and courgette cake. The offending courgette was not visible in the dark brown cake so it was happily devoured. Unfortunately, just because a cake containing courgette is gobbled up, it does not mean that a courgette will be eaten in any other form. A few days later, my lovingly prepared courgette and bacon carbonara received a lukewarm response from Isaac, who reluctantly ate half. Oliver patiently picked the tiny specks of grated courgette from each individual piece of pasta before eventually eating a single handful!! Despite the disappointment I wasn't ready to give up on my courgette crusade! The following day I made courgette fritters and some sweet potato hummus to go alongside. I think 'a complete failure' is the only way to describe the outcome! The hummus looked pretty good but tasted absolutely vile and the courgette fritters were met with suspicious frowns. I added some tomato ketchup but Oliver wouldn't be tempted. Isaac did eat a courgette fritter after some shameless begging on my part but didn't ask for seconds!

The day was thankfully redeemed when I made shepherd's pie for our evening meal. I went all out with my veggie hiding tactics! I blended all of the vegetables until they were almost at a purée consistency and, yes, I added some courgette too! The mashed potato was another good excuse to add more vegetables. I cooked the potatoes with a swede, mashed them together and offered a silent prayer that swede hater Oliver wouldn't notice! This time I surfed the waves of success as both boys devoured all of their veggie packed meal, unknowingly scoffing four of their five a day in one sitting! To celebrate I made some 'cheat's cheesecakes’ for dinner, topped with homemade jam from a friend and some tinned strawberries. I really wasn't sure what I would make of strawberries from a tin but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite their ugly appearance they were very tasty. Of course I'd rather have fresh, but in January they are very expensive and not easy to come by!

Money, money, money

At the end of the second week I feel that we are just starting to level out our spending. Yes, £81.18 is still a bigger spend than I am happy with but it is better than the £107.32 we spent over the course of the first week! For the second week in a row, we attempted to visit the local farmers’ market but, yet again, we were hit with bad weather and there were no stalls to be seen. Instead we drove on to a farm shop and were greeted with an array of beautiful fruit and vegetables. The prices were reasonable but sadly we couldn't get all that we needed. Another trip to the supermarket ensued! It is becoming clear that, if you wish your family to eat their five a day, it will impact on your finances, even if you are able to shop around. I am now longing for an allotment so that we can grow our own!

Next week I want to try a fruit or vegetable that none of us has ever tried. This challenge has made me want to try new things and I am keen to see what we can find; it may prove trickier than I think!

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Week three: Out with the old, in with the new!

I am well over half way through my 5-a-day challenge and eating a multitude of fruit and vegetables has become second nature. My overall health seems to be responding to the extra vitamins I'm getting! I feel a little less sluggish, my mood is brighter but most importantly, I haven't had my usual January cold. Yes, we do still have a week of January left and I have probably tempted fate but I'm still glad to have gone this far without developing my usual sniffles. The boys have also avoided the germs that waft their way through school. I can't help wondering if the change to our diet has already improved our immune systems in these 3 short weeks. If we are able to fight off a few more colds, then I am happy to continue peeling and grating veggies and using my blender on a daily basis!

Our first celeriac encounter

This week I was keen to try a fruit or vegetable that the family had ever eaten before. I thought it might be a little tricky but it ended up being so much harder than I thought. Perhaps our family is not as adventurous as I had previously thought?! In the end, I was forced to pick up a muddy, gnarled celeriac from the supermarket shelves as it was the only thing that none of us had tried.

Once home, I looked online to see what I could learn about this seemingly uninteresting root vegetable. I must admit that I was disappointed to read that it tasted similar to celery! Not one to be put off, I decided to make a celeriac lasagne which, just to confuse, contains no pasta. Alternate layers of sliced and puréed celeriac make up this side dish. I was pleasantly surprised at the result, but sadly Isaac and Oliver were not. Their celeriac lasagne was left to go cold on their plates. However, I am glad we tried something new and I now know not to be put off. The boys were not keen on this dish, but I can still try adding celeriac to mashed potatoes and will attempt this recipe in a few month’s time, to see if they can be tempted...

Breakfast, lunch and dinner explained

I haven't made any new changes to our breakfast choices this week. We seem to have settled on just a few selections, such as, Weetabix and banana, fruit smoothies or porridge with grated apple. Most weekdays we go for the Weetabix and banana option as it is the quickest to scoff in the mad rush to get to school. I know the boys would happily have the fruit smoothies every single day but as they contain fruit juice, I worry about their teeth - also, they take ages to drink them. Perhaps they are savouring the flavour, but I have never known such slow drinkers!

Lunch is also a simple affair of either pitta bread with vegetable sticks and hummus, pasta salad, or cheese and cucumber sandwiches. Raisins, grapes and apples are also included to top up our 5-a-day. As I pack a lunchbox every school day for Isaac, we wait until the weekend to enjoy a hot lunch. This weekend I made a creamy butternut squash and carrot soup. I have never been very good at making soup, so I was thrilled when this batch was full of flavour and was devoured with glee by Oliver. By the time he had finished his bowl of soup, his chin had developed a vibrant orange hue. It was a great feeling to know he had eaten 2 of his 5-a-day, especially when he protests that he doesn't like butternut squash!

See what the Giggins family have been eating this week (Plus how many of their 5-a-day have they consumed each day)

Oliver, who is 2 years old, is usually harder to convince than his 4-year-old brother. I can't persuade him to try things. If he doesn't want it, there's no way I can change his mind! This is why I am pleased to see him doing so well this week. We had even more success when I made pea pesto a few days ago. Neil didn't look too sure when I told him what was on the menu but it wasn't much different to mushy peas and his plate was soon empty! Oliver usually refuses to eat peas but he wolfed down his pasta covered in pea pesto. It just goes to show that the visual appearance plays such a big part with young children. When a fruit or vegetable is unrecognisable, they might just give it a try and find they like the taste!

Broccoli meatballs galore

Broccoli 'meatballs' were next on my list of new things to try. I hate to disappoint but they don't actually contain any meat; they are just meatball shaped! I made a tomato sauce to go with the broccoli 'meatballs' and Neil and I found them to be rather tasty. Unfortunately, Isaac and Oliver took some persuading to try the offending green 'meatballs' but did go on to eat them. Phew!

Pudding? What pudding?

With all the sweet smoothies and fruit we enjoy for snacks, we haven't felt much need for puddings of late, which makes a change! However, I thought I should make more of an effort this week. Fruit in jelly always goes down well and this time I added tinned mango. However, Oliver wasn't keen on the mango and expertly managed to pick all the jelly off of the fruit. An apple and mixed berry crumble with custard proved more successful and the bowls were scraped clean. We certainly don't have fruit crumble often enough, it's so yummy! I also had lots of fun making Rice Krispies cakes with Oliver at the weekend. I added a 5-a-day twist to our usual Rice Krispies recipe and puréed some prunes and added this to the mixture. This may sound a little odd but prunes and chocolate go very well together and the resulting Rice Krispies cakes turned out to be very moreish and were enjoyed without any guilt. They were one of our 5-a-day!

This week's grand total

After all this talk about food, it's time to turn attention to the cost of it all! I'm relieved to say that we have spent less than last week and we are now getting closer to a more sensible amount. The till receipt says £70.90 but if you deduct the cat food it's under £70!

We are now heading into the final week and I will be pushing us a little further and aiming for 7 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, as there was so much talk about this being the real recommended amount in the media at the end of last year. I am in no doubt that this fourth week will be the toughest of them all but I'm looking forward to stepping up to the challenge! Will we all end up with tummy aches and an empty bank account? Time will tell!

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Week four: Goodbye 5-a-day, hello 7-a-day!

Well, here I am at the end of my 5-a-day challenge and I have to say that this fourth week has been the hardest. I raised my game in this final week and tried to get my family of 4 to eat 7 portions of fruit and vegetables per day instead of the usual 5, as there was so much press coverage about this being the real recommended number at the end of last year. This was a lot harder to maintain over the course of the week. I think that if we wished to stick to 7 portions a day it would require real forward planning and a lot of extra effort.

How to be a vegetable trickster

To reach the 7-a-day target, I had to be a little more creative with our meals. I became a vegetable trickster when I made sausage and mash but ditched the potatoes in favour of butterbeans. I really didn't think Isaac and Oliver would be impressed with butterbean mash. However, we had clean plates all round; perhaps the addition of gravy helped hide my deceit! The boys even ate the vegetable risotto I made this week. In the past, I've always kept to a simple tomato risotto, but I pulled out all the stops this time and added a multitude of roasted vegetables. It proved to be a success and I think it will become a family favourite.

Using my blender

My blender was put to good use again this week when I tried to make a cauliflower sauce for the first time. I was so pleased with the recipe as it is very simple and I hoped that it would be an ingenious way to get the boys to eat cauliflower. Sadly, I made a rooky mistake and gave the boys slices of crusty bread to keep them occupied while their dinner was cooling down. The boys were so happy stuffing their faces full of bread that their cauliflower rice bake offered no temptation. They wouldn't even try it, while Oliver thought it more fun to turn his slice of bread into a regal crown! I must admit that I found the cauliflower sauce to be lacking in flavour. However, I'm sure that this can easily be solved with a little garlic and some parmesan cheese - a good reason to make it again!

This week’s 7-a-day challenge

I am pleased that we were, for the most part, able to reach the higher 7-a-day target, but Neil and I did begin to feel a bit sick as we were having to eat so much more, while Oliver went through a few extra nappies! I am delighted to report that I finally managed to get to a farmers’ market last weekend! I have had plenty of failed attempts, but this time I had two friends on hand to escort me to a wonderful monthly farmers’ market in a nearby village. There were plenty of fruit and veg stalls to look at, but I also found myself drawn to the bread stall! I did well at the market and bought carrots, onions, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, cucumber and butternut squash all for £6.50. My friend then pointed out some Jerusalem artichokes and asked if I'd ever tried them before. I hadn't, so I decided to give them a go, just in the spirit of trying new things! The lady from whom I bought the artichokes gave me suggestions on how to cook them. I followed her lead and roasted the artichokes with cheese on top. They were surprisingly tasty and the boys ate them too. Result!

The grand total for this week

Although we did well at the market, there were quite a few fruits and vegetables that I couldn't get hold of, while we also needed the usual essentials from the supermarket. Our total spend in this fourth and final week was £71.77. This is £15-20 op top of our usual weekly shop. This makes a big difference to our family budget and is not sustainable. I need to find ways to eat our 5-a-day on a more manageable amount. Fresh fruit in particular is expensive. I've found that it is cheaper to buy frozen fruit, and it will of course last longer as you can use exactly what you need and put the rest back in the freezer for another day. Even tinned fruit is acceptable and can be included in our 5-a-day, so I shall add the odd tin to our shopping trolley too!

Looking back...

When I look back at this 5-a-day challenge, I can see that my family has come a long way over the course of these 4 short weeks. At the start of this challenge, my fruit intake was minimal and vegetables were limited to dinner time. My two young boys would eagerly tuck into apples, bananas and carrots but everything else was eyed with great suspicion and often left untouched. This challenge has forced me to look at our diet and make a real effort to add more fruit and vegetables to our meals. I realised very quickly that we were not eating enough variety. I was giving the boys their favourites, as it was easier than trying something new and risking rejection. It is very frustrating to spend hours preparing a meal only for it to be pushed away in disgust. However, we now know that variety is the key. For example, before this challenge, I was unaware that a tablespoon of tomato purée equals one of our 5-a-day. We could easily eat 5 tablespoons of tomato purée in one sitting and think that we had done our bit; unfortunately, it's not that simple. The most important part is to eat a selection of fruit and vegetables, so I knew that I had to force my two boys out of their comfort zone.

See what the Giggins family have been eating this week (Plus how many of their 7-a-day have they consumed each day)

The fruit

In the first week, I pushed the boys’ boundaries. I was surprised to find that they both loved pineapple, while Isaac amazed me by tucking into sticks of carrot, red pepper, celery and cucumber. Apparently, salad becomes acceptable when it's dipped in hummus! Fruit smoothies seem the best way to add lots of fruit to your diet. We were regularly consuming 3 of our 5-a-day in one go, just by having a smoothie for breakfast. In our final week, I started to sneak in frozen spinach and although I was aware of a faint earthy aftertaste, the smoothies were still delicious; the boys didn't notice the difference and continued to gulp them down!

I think I've managed to persuade both of my boys and also myself that fruit makes for a very tasty snack. We are now able to fill the fruit bowl with a multitude of fruity goodness - not just apples, oranges and bananas!

The vegetables

The hardest habit to break was, unsurprisingly, the vegetables! Give Isaac and Oliver carrots at every meal and they would be perfectly happy. These past 4 weeks, I have tried lots of new ways to serve vegetables and I have had varying degrees of success. It soon became apparent that if Isaac and Oliver could see the disliked vegetables, such as the dreaded courgette, then their plates were immediately pushed away. However, if I blended the vegetables into teeny tiny pieces until they were no longer visible in a sauce, then I would celebrate success! My blender has certainly become my best friend and is used almost daily.

The future of our 5-a-day

I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. We have tried so many new recipes and ideas and I think we are all better eaters as a result. I intend to keep reaching the 5-a-day target, but I'm sure that some days we won't quite manage it. Although it isn't too hard to reach our 5-a-day, it is actually quite difficult to maintain it every single day. I am happy if I can get my boys to eat a variety of fruit and veg; if we can make it 5 then that's a bonus! The tricky part is working out the portion size for each of your 5-a-day. It soon became apparent to me that we had not been measuring up in the past and we had to consume a lot more food to accommodate the 5-a-day 'diet'. I am surprised that I haven't put on a couple of stone!

I have found that my own diet has improved and the reason I haven't gained more than a pound in weight is because I didn't have any room left in my tummy for cake! I will definitely stick to making fruit smoothies, soups and also adding vegetables to mashed potatoes and blending vegetables before adding to a tomato sauce. I have learned so much and I intend to carry on learning and embrace the huge variety of fruit and vegetables we have on offer to us. How lucky are we!

Our mummy blogger Anneliese Giggins took part in a 30 day challenge to feed her family of 4 on a budget of £20 a week.

Having successfully completing her challenge, Anneliese shares her handy and helpful tips that she learnt from her experience.

1. Plan what you're going to make in advance

Planning what you're going to eat for the week will stop the temptation to buy extra items when you visit the supermarket. You'll know exactly what ingredients you need for each meal and how some ingredients will overlap into other recipes. It's a great way of making sure you buy what you need and use it all up too.

2. Shop around

If you always find yourself visiting the same supermarket over and over again it's time to shop around. You could try market stalls for veggies, pound shops for branded products and you could even forage for your own fruits in the great outdoors like Anneliese did. Look around for different deals at the supermarkets and look online too - sometimes you can get discount codes online that wouldn't apply in store.

3. Turn today's leftovers into tomorrow's lunch

Leftovers from dinner? Turn it into tomorrow's lunch! Using up leftovers is a great way of making sure you get every penny's worth. Turn your roast dinner leftovers into bubble and squeak brunch, use leftover meat in curries or risottos or use ready cooked pasta in salads for lunch - the possibilities are endless!

4. Make from scratch

Making some meals from scratch is a great way to save money. Anneliese managed to make a family-sized pizza for around £1 which is so much cheaper than a takeaway or readymade version - and a lot healthier too!  

5. Loose vs bagged

Anneliese found that buying loose fruit and veggies in the supermarket or from market stalls was much cheaper than already packaged or bagged fruit and veg. If you buy loose fruit or veg too you can decide how many of each you'd like instead of buying a bag and not using them all up.

6. Chopped tomatoes are a life-saver

A tin of chopped tomatoes can really go a long way. They're cheap to buy, have a long shelf life and can make the basis of any tomato based sauce - from Bolognese to pizza sauce.

7. Adapt recipes

Adapting recipes to suit your budget and your family's taste buds of course is acceptable. For example you don't have to go out of your way to buy risotto rice for risotto as you can just use regular white rice instead which is much cheaper.

8. Buy pasta in bulk

Some items are best bought in bulk. Anneliese discovered that buying pasta in bulk was so much cheaper than buying little packets every now and then - especially as her family were pasta fans. Swap the small for the large and save yourself a few pennies here and there.

Visit Anneliese's blog to find out all about her challenge

Where to next? More from Anneliese plus budget recipes...

 Cheap family meals - £1 per head!            More recipes from Anneliese

Make more of your food shop            50 foods that are better homemade

Do you find you run out of ideas for meat-free meals? Our four week meal planner is full of ideas! So if you're a vegetarian or if you're just trying to cut down on the amount of meat you eat, you've come to the right place.

Meat free meals aren't just about substitutes such a Quorn, our vegetarian meal planner is full of ideas that use vegetables, grains and cheeses to give your meals plenty of flavour without the meat.

If you're a strict vegetarian, watch out for certain types of cheeses such as Parmesan, which is made with animal rennet. You can get vegetarian versions in most shops but the majority of times you can replace with a vegetarian-friendly cheese or leave off.

All these meals feed four people so if you're cooking for less or more people, you'll need to adjust the ingredients. You can switch around the weeks, have meals on different days of the week - the choice is yours. Don't fancy one of the dishes? Take a look through our vegetarian recipes to find an alternative dish.

You can even download printable versions of the meal planners to attach to your fridge so the whole family knows what's on the menu - and don't forget to print out the shopping lists for each week to take to the supermarket.

Where to next?

More vegetarian recipes

Delicious and easy dessert recipes

More meal planners

It's hard to eat healthy meals when you're cooking for your whole family but don't worry, we're here to help. We've created meal planner with a whole month of healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy. What's more, we've even drawn up shopping lists for each week so you know exactly what to pop in your supermarket trolley each week.

At goodtoknow we really believe in being healthy but not hungry and this is reflected in our meal planner. Among the healthy, veg-packed meals, we have clever diet versions of our favourite meals and a few weekend treats with a healthy spin.

Healthy eating isn't just about eating lots of fruit and vegetables either. Protein and carbohydrates are an essential part of a balanced diet as they ensure you stay fuller for longer - which means less snacking!

All these meals feed four people so if you're cooking for less or more people, you'll need to adjust the ingredients. You can switch around the weeks, have meals on different days of the week - the choice is yours. Don't fancy one of the dishes? Take a look through our healthy recipes to find an alternative dish.

You can even download printable versions of the meal planners to attach to your fridge so the whole family knows what's on the menu.

Fancy a healthy sweet treat? Take a look at our diet desserts or lower-fat cakes

Finding varied dinners you can make on a gluten-free diet can be challenging but there are plenty of options that the whole family will enjoy. We've put together a whole month worth of gluten-free meals for you to get plenty of ideas.

Gluten is a protein found in some grains and all forms of wheat. Some people cut out gluten as part of a diet regime while others are intolerant to gluten or suffer from Coeliac disease. Whatever your reason for cutting out gluten, our easy recipes will make your meals times a whole lot tastier.

If you are intolerant to gluten it is still worth checking certain products before eating as some unlikely ingredients, such as some brands of soy sauce, can have traces of gluten.

One of the biggest obstacles with gluten-free meals is the side, if any of these dishes don't look filling enough you can add a gluten-free side (potatoes, rice, salad and vegetables).

All these meals feed four people so if you're cooking for less or more people, you'll need to adjust the ingredients. You can switch around the weeks, have meals on different days of the week - the choice is yours. Don't fancy one of the dishes? Take a look through our gluten-free recipes to find an alternative dish.

You can even download printable versions of the meal planners to attach to your fridge so the whole family knows what's on the menu.

Fancy something sweet for afters? Try our delicious gluten-free cakes and bakes