Feed the family for less than 40p per person.

So grocery shopping is getting a bit more expensive isn’t it?  And that’s not much fun for any of us, particularly those of us with less disposable cash.  In our case there are 3 ravenously hungry boys to feed in the house so we’re always on the look out for budget friendly recipes.

Now one of the main reasons we love peanuts is because they’re a really affordable source of protein, fibre, heart-healthy fats and energy (aka calories).  In fact our research shows that it’s 2.5 times more expensive to get your daily protein from a protein bar than it is from Real Handful peanuts and that rises to nearly 8 times more expensive if you choose the cheaper own label peanuts available in supermarkets.

So we thought we’d start sharing some of our favourite recipes that use peanuts to add flavour, texture and all important nutrition into family mealtimes.  We’re not saying eat these recipes every night but they’re an awesome lower cost go-to recipe to drop into the mix.

We’re kicking off the series with our Peanut Pesto Pasta.  For the pics we’ve used spaghetti but you can of course substitute for any pasta.

Cost per Person:

Less than 40p per person using Real Handful Sea Salted Baked Peanuts

Less than 17p per person using Supermarket Brand Salted Peanuts

Ingredients;

500g Supermarket Brand Spaghetti (or other pasta).  Currently 23-28p.

1/3 Jar of Supermarket Brand Green Pesto.  Current 85p per jar.

125g of Salted Peanuts (Real Handful or other).  £12 for 1kg on www.realhandful.com or circa 50-60p for 200g bag of Supermarket Brand

Method;

1. Cook your pasta and drain (don’t throw away all of the pasta water just yet)
2. Stir 2-3 table spoons of Pesto into the Pasta (make it go further by adding 2-3 spoons of the pasta water back in.  Ok now you can throw the rest of the pasta water away ha ha)
3. Apply some heat and stir the pesto through the pasta
4. Crush your peanuts
5. Serve up the pasta and sprinkle the crushed peanuts over the top to finish.

And that’s it!  Bosh.  387 calories, 4.4g of fibre and 12.8g of protein per serving.

If you want to mix it up throw in some Spinach with the pesto and pasta for colour or for an extra protein hit add some cooked chicken (or Vegan Chicken alternative) or simply a few more peanuts. 

Give it a try and let us know what you think.  Tag us on Instagram - @realhandful and #cookingforpeanuts and we’ll be sending out free sample packs of Real Handful to the best pics.