Moneysaving Meals for one

catznine

R. Mac - If you would like a copy pm me, I have a spare copy I can send to you

littleangel

Fruit and veg tends to be much cheaper from markets and greengrocers than from supermarkets - it makes your money go so much further, and you can buy as little as you need without worrying about where to store it or when you need to eat it by.

Austin_Allegro_2

My weekly shopping bill is normally between £10 and £15. I used to spend £20-£25 but found that a lot of this was stuff that just went to waste, or brand name items that were no better than own brand/economy items.

For me the main cost saving area is meat and fish. I tend to only have 'proper' meat or fish like a chop or something once a week. The rest of the time I have mince, tinned tuna, bacon, sausages etc.

I also used to get through one or two bottles of wine a week, even for cheap stuff that works out at £8-£10 a week so I now do without or have homemade wine. If you really want to have wine you could buy one of those cases they always advertise in the Sunday papers that work out at around £3 a bottle.

I don't feel 'deprived' at all - I think we waste a lot in the modern day and eat a lot of stuff we don't particularly need or enjoy but just think we have to have.

culpepper

Hmmmm, think that I am going to have to give in and buy one!!! ;D
Rx

Look in charity shops for microwave containers.I got a browner in my local charity shop for 50p.
You can also use glass containers.I cook a chicken in mine in a large pyrex bowl covered over with clingfilm.

halloweenqueen_2

Put a couple of chops in a raosting tin - cover with gravy - out in a couple of potatoes cut up failry small, an onion, a couple of carrots and a handful of frozen peas - peppers are an optional extra - either fresh, frozen or dried - whack in the oven until nearly cooked - then put in a few dumplings and take out when they are cooked.
You have meat, potatoes, vegs dumpling and gravy in one tin, the pots will be lovley and soft as will alll the veggies and if the chops are on the small side they won't shrink!

halloweenqueen_2

a few herbs are good too - sage or mixed herbs or whatever you have!

student100

A couple of "recipes" I've half-invented lately :

"Carbonara" (ok it's not perhaps how the Italians would do it but anyway...)
Cook some pasta. Cook a couple of rashers of bacon & chop into pieces. Break 1 egg into a jug, add an equal amount of milk & beat the egg into the milk. Drain the pasta and keep it in the pan, add the bacon. Put the pan on medium heat and pour in the egg/milk mix. Stir like crazy with a wooden spatula until the eggy milk stuff starts cooking into a sauce.
Take off the heat and serve immediately, if you want add a bit of grated cheese on top. Tip: fill the pan with water right away or it will be a pain to clean later

Bacon, pepper & mushroom pasta
(you could substitute anything for these really)
As before, cook some bacon & chop into small pieces. Chop some red pepper and mushrooms and fry them a little bit (if you fry the bacon then fry them in the bacon fat for flavour). Make a roux sauce - (I remembered this from school food tech lessons ) - melt about a tablespoon of marg in a pan, then stir in a similar amount of plain flour (should form a sort of paste). Add about 1/4 pint (?) of milk a little at a time, again stirring like crazy to get rid of any lumps. (I just guess the quanties and it usually works out OK, sorry I can't be more precise ). Cook the sauce a bit so it thickens then stir the bacon, mushroom and pepper in to the sauce. Pour the whole lot over the pasta & eat.

Pancakes
(great for a snack meal - eat half with cheese/cream cheese and the other half with honey or something)
These are thick "scotch pancake" style ones
I don't have scales so I use approx amounts of flour measured by volume in a measuring jug.
Use about 6-8 fluid ounces of flour (don't pack it tightly into the jug). Put the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and break one egg into the well. Beat the egg with a spoon, at the same time combining some of the flour. Gradually add milk - you need about the same amount or just less than the volume of flour you used - stirring constanty. Stir some more to get rid of the lumps Pour the batter into the jug. Heat a frying pan with some oil/marg in it and pour some batter in - the pancakes should be about 3-4 inches across. Cook on one side then flip them over & cook the other. Stack them on a plate while you cook the rest.

If you use plain flour, you end up with dense thick flat pancakes a bit like scotch pancakes. If you use self raising flour you end up with lighter American style pancakes which I prefer. If you make them with self raising flour then you can tell when the first side of the pancake is cooked because bubbles appear all over the top side.


Sorry these are all rough and ready recipes - I follow in my mum's footsteps in just chucking stuff in and hoping for the best using educated guesses for quantities.

culpepper

if you are feeling up to it make some dumplings (i just mizx ome marg, salt, flour, and water togteher, make litt;e balls of dough, and drop them in. they arent very fluffy though, but satisfying none the less).

use self raising flour and mix so they only just hold their shape(not to soggy) and they will puff up beautifully

r.mac_2

Put a couple of chops in a raosting tin - cover with gravy - out in a couple of potatoes cut up failry small, an onion, a couple of carrots and a handful of frozen peas - peppers are an optional extra - either fresh, frozen or dried - whack in the oven until nearly cooked - then put in a few dumplings and take out when they are cooked.
You have meat, potatoes, vegs dumpling and gravy in one tin, the pots will be lovley and soft as will alll the veggies and if the chops are on the small side they won't shrink!

Yum - I am going to try this out for sunday. also sounds great as there is probably very little washing up! I am all in favour of that!

Can you suggest what temperature (gas mark or equivalent) that I should cook this at? :-/

Great suggestion Thanks

r.mac_2

culpepper - great tip for the dumplings. I will give this a go when trying halloweenqueen's sunday roast in one dish.

student100 - thanks. I had forgotten about carbonara! If it's not written down I tend to forget - what will I be like when i actually get old! ::)

The tips here have been really useful. One recipe I have tried and LOVED is the malt loaf, made from bran. Very tasty and cheap to make - also doesn't have special storage instructions! I defiantely recommend that one.

I'm getting there, albeit slowly, but at least I am learning. Thank you so much to everyone for their ideas.

Rx