Sussex dad named among UK’s top influencers for his budget family meals blog

A Sussex dad known for his quick and tasty recipes, feeding the family for £5, has been named among the UK’s biggest influencers.
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Father-of-three Ian Northeast created Dad’s Delicious Dinners to show the funny side of family life, give his take on fatherhood and offer tops on fresh, affordable home cooking.

From his home in Upper Beeding he creates easy-to-follow, quick and tasty recipes.

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Vuelio, which has a comprehensive influencer database, named Dad’s Delicious Dinners among the top ten UK Daddy Blogs ahead of Father’s Day this year.

Blogger Ian Northeast with his daughter, the youngest of his three childrenBlogger Ian Northeast with his daughter, the youngest of his three children
Blogger Ian Northeast with his daughter, the youngest of his three children

The award recognised his ability to create budget meals in a small family kitchen.

Ian points out he is not a chef, just a single working parent who likes cooking.

He said: “It has been fun, plus I have learned so much in the past two years. Before I started, I didn’t really know much about websites, SEO and social media. This has taught me a lot in a short period of time.

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“I have also discovered a creative side to me and an ability to write fairly well. As a dyslexic person, this is something I’m really proud of.”

Vuelio uses an algorithm to rank all the blogs and puts the top ten in order after they have been reviewed by a team of in-house researchers. Social sharing, topic-related content, post frequency, engagement, social media influence, traffic and interactivity are all taken into account.

Holly Hodges , media research team leader, said: “Ian is a well-deserved newcomer to the competitive top ten dad bloggers, sharing his insight into family food and parenting.”

Ian, who came in at number ten, said he was honoured to be considered so highly and proud to be in the top ten, among such amazing content creators, writers and dads.

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He said: “I blog about food, family life, fatherhood and fun, easy-to-follow recipes and ideas for feeding the family for £5 with fresh and affordable home cooking.

“I am not a chef but instead, a single working parent with a budget, a small family kitchen, a handful of knives and lots of great ideas for keeping families fed and happy.”

It all began with a simple food blog about cooking for his family and keeping it to a budget.

He then started writing for various online publications, to give people an insight into his life as a dad, the trials and tribulations, the ups and the downs.

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Ian said: “We found ourselves in an eating rut. Same boring meals week in, week out. So over a very uninspiring spag bol the challenge was set. We would have at least one meal a week from a recipe that I had never cooked before. Because I am a single parent on a budget the cost of the meal was to be kept to a minimum, with the aim to keep it below £5.”

Not only did the meal have to be fresh and home-cooked, it had to be easy and not interrupt the normal family after-school activities like swimming, Brownies, football and play rehearsals.

Ian said: “It started to become a bit of an obsession, not only for me, the kids loved getting involved and I can tell you now that an impromptu flour fight whilst making fresh pasta was always going to end with big smiles on the faces of everyone involved.”

Visit dadsdeliciousdinners.co.uk for more information or follow Dads Delicious Dinners on Instagram.

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