Need help this month - £46 for food for 2 adults, 3 pets and toddler

chezba

Whilst supermarkets have lentils, if you have any asian (particularly Indian as opposed to Chinese) supermarkets near you they sell a huge variation of lentils in large bags at a fraction of the cost of supermarkets. They also sell large bags of herbs and spices much cheaper and also rice.

Good luck with the budget but from your store cupboard lists you already have quite a lot of meal options. I want to try and use all my stored food rather than continuously buying more and not using stuff I have!

T.

Yorkshirechick

Ok well I've just been to Asda and Aldi to get the other bits I need for the month.
I got a 15kg bag of dog food, 24 cans of cat food, 30 eggs, 2 chickens, large bag of carrots, large bag of onions, large bag of potatoes, and some wrapping paper (for my DS first birthday on Thursday). It all came to £26.74, and that should be it now apart from milk.

I'm going to have a look at the list of all the food I have and do some meal plans now.

Also - we're having a small party for DS first birthday next Sunday, and I need to do a cake and also some nibbles for the guests (both babies and adults). I think there will be about 20-25 people coming.
God just realised I have to sort all that food out too. Is there anything I can do with the food I have? I could probably ask a few people to bring some nibbles.

I want to make him a cake too and have "never" made a cake..... Does anyone have an idiotproof cake recipe that I can make with the ingredients I already have?

Thanks for all your help

tufty1964

my advice for a start is to get a chest freezer, the freezer in my fridge freezer on has 3 drawers and couldn't fit nothing in. So just before xmas I bought a small chest freezer it's been a godsend.
I tend to cook a lot and freeze stuff, if hubby has gammon I always cut some off and then make a pea and ham soup, also I'll make batches of quiches, spag bol sauce, chilli, freeze left over rice and pasta and make butternut squash soup and leek and potato, some times I make butter pies with cheese that a cheap meal.
good luck.

Nitha

Yorkshirechick wrote: »

Ok the kitchen freezer now and all done:

2 x spotted !!!!!! puddings
10 x sausage rolls
20 sausages - OK you have 4 sausage casseroles there. Get 4 cans of value baked beans, gravy granules, carrots, onion and garlic add some hot water to thin out the sauce a little.
2 pckts mixed veg - bulk out your casseroles
2 salmon pieces - Get some potatoes and make salmon fishcakes or fish pie
2 garlic bread - Serve with a spag bol or your meatballs
6 breaded fish portions - make up chips from potatoes - fish n chips
18 meatballs - Get some spaghetti and tinned tomatoes add garlic and onions you have two portions of spaghetti and meatballs
frying steak - Slice and add to stir fry veg serve with rice and soy sauce for an asian style stir fry
2 garlic naans - Top with tomato puree, mushroom and cheese for naan pizzas
7 portions home made soup -Serve with the bread 3 meals there
about half a loaf of bread

I think you can make at least 13 main meals out of those. I'm assuming your toddler has a small portion of whatever you're eating. We tend to make two man-size meals and then give DS (who is 1 on Wed) a small portion out of my meal.

Toonie

I had a party for new year and the bits and pieces I put out were a bowl of cheap crisps (you could try making your own, or make some potato wedges), a french stick already sliced, with butter and soft cheese, and carrot sticks, breadsticks and a small tub of houmous (which cost £1 at somerfield).

You could perhaps make some cheese straws and some bread rolls. Or even make a batch of shortbread (plain flour, butter and sugar) and some scones and have afternoon tea.

Cat72

It will be really hard to feed about 20-25 people normally so definately ask for people to bring things- have you not got any good bakers in the family to make a homemade cake ?
Also Will you not need extra drink- even if it is just juice.
Maybe you could use up your sausage rolls- if they are minis great if not all the better just cut them down. Maybe also mix up some of your couscous and make some pizza's and slice up ( using some of your tinned tomatoes ).
You have plenty of puddings and sweet items in your cupboard to use up.

Back to your main meals. I would suggest using up some of your curry sauces to make up veg curry. I use my cheap aldi veg- you can also easily freeze it by. I tend to add a fair amount of potatoes ( to bulk it out ),peas etc & just eat it with a nan bread or couscous.
Good idea to make frittatas with your eggs,and use leftovers to bulk it out- again potatoes are good with it & cheese.
Personally I love beans & toast -again maybe a small bit of cheese on top.
There are some good ideas for beans on the heinz website here- really simple too.Like baked bean & sausage pie.
I also freeze my bread buy so it doesnt get wasted.
My last tip is to go shopping later , when the shops are reducing the food prices. Good way to pick up things really cheap & you cn also freeze them.

pookienoodle

lots of great ideas on here,can you cut back on the number of people coming to your little ones birthday party? 20-25 is a lot for a 1st Birthday,he may be overwhelmed.
If not I would certainly ask guests if they can bring something,try to be specific or you will end up with several of the same things.
extend the party food with sandwiches made from value bread with cheap fillings such as egg mayo or value paste(some are not too bad),then cut them up into nice kid friendly shapes and sizes and no one will know its value bread.
Also the very cheap crisps/corn snacks that they sell in most supermarkets are not to bad once out of the packet and in nice bowls.
jelly is a very cheap pudding,serve with a bit of cheap squirty cream.
good luck with your budget and Congratulations on your marriage.

brokenwings

a nice pud to make with the tinned peaches is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1648859&postcount=13

black saturn saved my life with her frugal meal planner

anyone know if she is stilla round?

narabanekeater

Yorkshire chick
Thurday is my DS 1st birthday as well!
He was due xmas day but stayed put
Good look on your food challenge

Yorkshirechick

Right - I've texted the girls from the baby group and arranged to meet them for a play at the local play centre instead of them coming to the party, so now there will be only around 10-15 people, family and very close friends, and only 3 children including DS.
It should be a lot easier to do food for them, I'll just do some sandwiches of tuna, cheese and egg mayo. Some sausage rolls, maybe buy a pizza, some crisps and a cake.
Do you think that would be enough for people? As I said it's mainly family, so I'm sure they won't moan too much... hopefully

Right -I'm starting the meal plan now.