How to feed your family for less than THREE POUNDS per day: Resourceful mother reveals the secret to creating hearty meals on a shoestring budget (and she even shops at Waitrose)

A resourceful mother is on a mission to show that it's possible to feed your family for just £3 per day.   

Thanks to some tactical grocery shopping, graphic designer Jane Ashley, 47, from London, manages to whip up her breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for her family of three for less than £1 per person.

Now Jane - who still shops at Waitrose - has launched a blog filled with recipes she's adapted to create deceptively frugal meals, including fried bean tacos and Thai curries. 

Jane Ashley (above), 47, from London, is able to make her family's breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for a day - all for less than £1 per person

She hopes her blog will offer something for everyone - no matter who you are (above: a shopping list Jane shared with her readers)

Her cost-cutting kitchen experiments include creating desserts out of leftovers – she’s even been known to turn leftover cold mashed potato into a Moravian sugar cake.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FRUGAL FAMILY

Breakfast: Porridge with raisins, poached egg on toast or toast with butter and jam

Lunch: Leftover hot and sour chicken soup with homemade bread, leftover cauliflower bake or vegan cheese toasty or pea and mint soup and chicken sandwiches on homemade bread

Dinner: Chicken and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, mussel spaghetti or roast chicken and stuffing, with roast potatoes and parsnips carrots and cabbage with gravy

Snack: Flapjacks, healthy brownies or an apple

Jane used to spend £150 in a single trip to the grocery store, but was inspired to try feeding her family on a much tighter budget after speaking to a friend who works at a local food bank.

After hearing about the struggles faced by people living on very little money, Jane vowed to rein in her supermarket spending. 

And the home cook and blogger - who gets her husband to photograph all of her dishes so she can share them online - now insists you can still make her money-saving methods work even while shopping at upmarket supermarket chains like Waitrose 

She's even created suggested grocery shopping lists for her followers, after some said it was tougher to make savings when buying for just one or two people. 

In response, Jane has compiled lists suited to students, couples, and even vegetarians, in a bid to show her budgeting tips can work for everybody - and not just big families with multiple mouths to feed. 

Her frugal meals include fried bean tacos with guacamole and pomegranate salad (above) and Thai green curry - and includes vegan and gluten-free dishes

Jane says that you can even shop at more upmarket supermarket chains like Waitrose while still successfully feeding a family for a pound-per-day (above: a roasted cauliflower dish)

Jane was inspired to try feeding her family on an extraordinarily tight budget after speaking to a friend who works at a local food bank (above: veggie burgers with chips and salad)

Jane (above) has found ingenious ways to adapt recipes she finds online and in cookbooks that everyone can feed their family on a budget

She has found ingenious ways to adapt recipes she finds online and in cookbooks that everyone can feed their family on a budget.

JANE'S TOP TIPS FOR FRUGAL FEASTS

1. Always have a shopping list

2. Check what you have run out of or need before you write your list

3. Never go shopping when you are hungry or hungover

4. Check your prices, supermarkets are always putting prices up or down.

5. Buy supermarket own brands.

6. If you overspend in a supermarket, then order online

And Jane has tried to make the recipes and shopping lists as easy as possible for others - as she and her partner work full-time.  

The graphic designer says: 'You don't need fancy ingredients to cook good food. 

'Before I started my blog, I could easily walk out of the supermarket with £150 worth of shopping - but I've learned to be more frugal, less wasteful and still eat well.'

'Hopefully my blog should offer something for everyone to help you to save money whether you're a poor student, struggling to feed a large family or even if you're just trying to save some funds towards a holiday.' 

Jane - whose husband, Phil, 50 takes all the photographs for her blog - explains: 'My husband and I work full time so we don't have a lot of time in the evening. 

And she has tried to make the recipes and shopping lists as easy as possible for others - as she and her partner work full-time (above: a chicken and mushroom pie with vegetables)

The graphic designer, who has her own food blog, says: 'You don't need fancy ingredients to cook good food' (above: Christmas dinner)

Jane says: 'Before I started my blog, I could easily walk out of the supermarket with £150 worth of shopping - but I've learned to more frugal, less wasteful and still eat well'

HOW TO MAKE A MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKE FOR £1.14

serves 8 

45g unsalted butter – 20p

110g of leftover mashed potato – FREE

190g plain flour, plus extra to dust – 10p

7g fast-action dried yeast – 14p

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

40g Light Brown Soft sugar – 20p

1 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest – 30p

1 large egg – 20p

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Method

Lightly grease a 20cm diameter cake tin with butter.

Put the mashed potato into a small bowl, then add a tablespoon of boiled water and whisk until smooth

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

In another large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or until creamy.

Add the egg and beat until smooth then beat in the vanilla extract.

Turn the mixer speed to low, then add the flour mixture and the whisked potato mixture a spoonful at a time ending with the flour.

When the dough is smooth and combined, lightly dust a work surface with plain flour. Scrape out the dough onto the work surface. Flour your hands and knead the dough several times, it will still look a bit shaggy.

Drop the dough into the prepared cake tin and press it into an even layer with your fingers. Cover the cake tin with cling film, then set aside in a warm place for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in volume.

Heat the oven to 180°C or Gas mark 4.

To make the topping, in a small bowl, fork together the brown sugar, cinnamon and orange zest with a pinch of fine salt.

Dip a finger in some plain flour, then poke 12-15 holes all over the surface of the dough, about 3cm apart, burrowing all the way to the bottom of the tin.

Swirl the tips of your fingers around in the dough to encourage the holes to stretch a bit and stay open. Fill each hole with a few pinches of the sugar mixture. Scatter the rest of sugar topping over the surface of the dough.

Put the tin on the middle oven rack and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake is puffed and golden and a skewer pushed in comes out clean.

Cool in the tin on a wire rack before turning out onto a platter or cake stand and serving.

Jane - whose husband, Phil, 50 takes all the photographs for her blog - explains: 'My husband and I work full time so we don't have a lot of time in the evening' (above: Thai green curry)

In her guides, Jane shows how you can use leftover ingredients for other meals to help save you money (above: hot and sour chicken soup)

'I do as much prep work as possible for the weekends in terms of baking cakes and making curry pastes.

'And I've seen other recipes where people use half of a lemon or a quarter of an onion to create a meal for under £1 which is great. 

'But at the same time, supermarkets won't sell you a vegetable or fruit in that quantity.

'So in my guides, I've shown how you can use the rest of the ingredients for other meals to help you save money.' 

FRIED BEAN TACOS WITH GUACAMOLE AND POMEGRANATE SALAD

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 x 400g cans blackeyed beans, drained and rinsed

3 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

For the guacamole

1 small garlic clove

2 tablespoon roughly chopped coriander

1 chilli, sliced

2 avocados, halved and stoned

Juice 1 lime

For the salsa

About 100g pomegranate seeds

1 chilli, finely diced

1 small white onion, finely diced

Small handful fresh coriander, chopped

A few leaves of lettuce sliced

To serve

8-12 homemade wraps (our chapati recipe) or tortillas

chipotle or other hot sauce

Sliced lettuce (optional)

Vegan yogurt

Method

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and add the garlic. Fry until golden, then add the beans.

Pour in the cider vinegar, maple syrup and spices along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, to taste.

Cook until warmed through, crushing gently with the back of your wooden spoon, then set aside.

In a bowl crush the garlic, coriander and chilli into a rough paste. Scoop in the avocado with a little salt and crush roughly - you want it chunky, not smooth. Squeeze in the lime juice and set aside.

Mix the salsa ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat a griddle pan and quickly griddle the tortillas and stack them to keep warm in a low oven.

Reheat the bean mixture.

To serve, put 1-2 heaped tablespoons of beans on a tortilla. Top with a big spoonful of guacamole and some salsa, a little sliced lettuce, hot sauce and a dollop of vegan yogurt.

This recipe was adapted from BBC good Food Recipe