Some tips from when I had lots of teenagers visiting
- bulk out meals with large bowls of pasta, rice or potatoes - keep any leftovers to make salads etc
- meals like bolognese, chilli, stew, pasta bake and curry etc can be bulked out with seasonal veg
- use cheaper veg as the basis of salads - grated carrots and homemade coleslaw are very filling.
- use cheaper cuts of meat - slow cook beef or roast chicken drumsticks or thighs
- Get the kids picking and helping prepare home produced veg - my brother used to take my kids to the allotment and then they made spicy parsnip soup for lunch
- Omelettes can be cheap and a "Spanish omelette" can use up leftover cooked veg and meat
- you can often get good deals on frozen pizza - less expensive than the pricy premium fresh pizzas
- perhaps have a bbq with sausage and/or burgers with lots of bread ad salads made with your own veg
Have simple filling breakfasts
- some simple value cereals (cornflakes, rice crispies, weetabix etc) and toast with jam or marmite. Put a carton of value juice in a jug. If they like porridge then this is a cheap and filling breakfast.
- "treat" breakfasts could be pancakes, eggy bread or eggs on toast
You could also keep costs down by getting them to help make some packed lunches for days out- some sandwich stuff, juice cartons and perhaps a multipack or crisps or funsize chocolate