My kids love Fridge Raiders but I don’t love the price, so I made my own at home for 46p – they were devoured in minutes
THEY’RE a much-loved snack among kids.
But Fridge Raiders don’t come in cheap – at £1.30 a pack.
So one mum has come up with a clever recipe to make her own chicken bites at home, for just 46p a portion.
The other thing is that Emily’s recipe contains just seven ingredients, while Fridge Raiders are packed with over 20.
“Would you believe me if I told you you could make these for fraction of the price that they are in the shops and that they’re better for you?” Emily began her TikTok video.
She then gathered together what she needed for the recipe, before putting a teaspoon of paprika, onion granules and garlic granules in a bowl.
She then added half a teaspoon of salt, a touch of black pepper and two heaped tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Emily stirred all that together, and suggested adding a bit of water if it’s “too thick”.
She then diced up the chicken breasts, and covered the pieces in the sauce, before leaving it to marinate for around 30 minutes.
Once the time was up, she added the chicken to her air fryer, and cooked for between 12 to 14 minutes.
“This will make at least 7 portions, unless you’ve got teenagers like me, then they don’t last long!” she concluded.
“Great for lunchboxes or for a protein hit,” Emily captioned the video.
“Trust me they don’t last long in the fridge!”
“My toddler is obsessed with Fridge Raiders,” one person commented on the video.
“I might give this a go, thanks!”
With Emily replying: “When made, put them in an empty fridge raider packet and then give them to you little one.
“See if they know the difference!”
Five savvy mum hacks to save you a fortune
ANY parent knows just how pricey it can be to feed the kids - especially if they're a fan of branded, expensive products. But there are a few hacks that can help save you money, as mum-of-two and Fabulous Digital Senior Reporter Sarah Bull explained:
Batch cook
This is a hack that lots of mums, including myself, swear by. One thing I like to do is batch cook a tomato sauce – hiding a load of vegetables inside, including carrots, peppers and onion. Once it’s cooled, pop it into an ice cube tray to freeze. Then you can pop out the portions and bag up – ready to use for anything from a pasta sauce to a pizza base.
Home Happy meal
You’d be hard pushed to find a kid who doesn’t like McDonald’s. But with Happy Meals now priced at £3.89 each, it can be pricey getting them for your children – especially if you’ve got more than two. But why not try making your own home? Keep the packaging from your last trip to McDonald’s and cook up some chicken nuggets and fries in the air fryer. Pop a budget toy in a little bag and serve with a Fruit Shoot for a budget-friendly at home Happy Meal.
Make use of leftovers
If you’re savvy enough to plan things in advance, you can make use of leftovers to keep your kids sustained for another day. If you make something like pizza, for example, why not make enough for lunch the next day too? Lots of kids actually prefer cold pizza, and it’s especially useful if you make packed lunches for yours.
Get the kids involved
Not specifically a budget hack, but one that I’ve found always helps encourage kids to eat things they haven’t tried before. I’ve cooked things like fajitas, and put the ingredients all in different bowls, before getting the kids to make their own. While I’ve put out their favourites – like chicken, cheese and cucumber – I’ve also popped pepper and lettuce in a bowl. And, much to my delight, they both sampled that in their fajitas. What a score!
Ditch the brands
One thing that can make shopping much more expensive than it needs to be is going for branded products. We always used to be a family that swore by Heinz ketchup, refusing to go for anything else, but with the price of that shooting up, we’ve swapped for supermarket own brand ketchup and saved loads – especially considering how much of it we get through. If your kids are less than willing to make that swap, why not put the unbranded product in the branded product’s packaging and see if they notice the difference?
“I myself go through so many packets of Fridge Raiders,” another added.
“Deffo be trying this. Thanks a mill!”
“It’s saved us some serious money,” Emily responded.
“I love love love this! Definitely will give a go,” a third commented.
“Oo this is super handy, thanks!” someone else wrote.
“You might want to double the recipe,” Emily suggested.
“They’ve all gone in our house already!”