me and dh and ds need desperate food shopping help

mummytoash

Hi. Me, dh and ds have just had our income reduced and need major help. I have £30 a week to do breakfast dinner and tea. My dh hates fresh fish but will eat breaded/battered and also dislikes cous cous. I dont like fresh tomatoes but will eat tinned, jarred etc. Has any one got any ideas for cheap meals or free plans?
:eek:

*Maya*

Sorry to hear your situation.

My first suggestion would be to look at all the food you currently have in stock and maybe join the storecupboard callenge.

There is also a grocery challenge which is a sticky at the top of the first page on Old Style.

HTH. xxx

bc3000

Buy a 2.5kilo of pasta from asda, I'm sure they're about £2-3 and they'll last forever. Try pesto? that lasts for a couple of meals, but maybe that's just me because I cook for myself..

I'm sure you'll be fine if you just base your meals on either potatoes, rice or pasta, and stick to what's on offer not necessarily what you like best/usually get.

Get a big chicken, use leftovers for curry/stir fry, then make soup out of the bones?

marri_lou

Hi there. Do you like porridge?

Breakfast get a big bag of value oats, a packet of frozen berries/punnet of bananas and a carton of milk - porridge fruits and milk for brekkie. 1kg oats (59p), (£2.25) for 3.4 litres milk, frozen fruit for £1 from Farmfoods if you can get it. Weigh out 50g of oats each (BIG bowlful) and make with 1/2 water and 1/2 milk. This should do you at least a week for £3-4.

Lunches - Pasta with your own stir through sauce, some lentils for cheap protein and maybe a bowl/flask of soup. The homemade soup balances out to maybe £1 a pot for basic lentil and veg,

Lentil and vegetable curries
rubber chicken
beef bolgnese padded out with lentils, and lots of veg

Theres really lots you can do, and I'm sure theres meal planners in here, I'll go and have a search for you.

got-it-spend-it

I ditto the porridge suggestion- it's lovely with grated apple in and one apple would easily be enough for all of you. A handful of raisins/ sultanas is good too and relatively cheap.

For lunch I would suggest soup. My favourite is vegetable and red lentil- use any veggies that are on offer. I find tinned tomatoes, onion, carrots, leeks, sweet potatoes are all really good. Just chuck in a handful of lentils and some veggie stock and you have several lunches very cheaply.

Check out this thread for some inspiration http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333&highlight=feed+the+family+for+20

Good luck- I'm sure you will do fine with some good planning!

mummytoash

great idea with the soup and the porridge with fruit. The pasta im definitely going to use

marri_lou

Cheap whoopsied mince if you can get it made into burgers. Again can pad out with cooked lentils.

Have a look at student websites to see whats cheap to make. Some of them are great like beyond baked beans for example

x_zombie_x

Hi,

I've been lurking on this board a few weeks and thought i would offer some advice

Anyhoo... I find my main money saver is sausages. I've been buying the Sausage Co ones from morrisons for £1 and they are really tasty. If you do a search you can find so many recipes and ideas for them.

I've just had spaghetti and meatballs made from them and they were delicious :T

xx

kezlou

This is what i try and do for my family, we are a family of four = 2 adults and 2 children who eat like horses. My 8 yr old eats an adults portion.

This thread has great ideas, helped me out a lot:-
£20 to feed a family of 4 for a month?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333

I do this quite a lot and does quite a few meals, as we also have a limited budget.

1kilo of mince(doesn't matter if meat / soya) ( i use the cheapest mince in the supermarket)
2carrots chopped
1 tin of tomatoes
handful of red split lentils or 1 handful of porridge oats
2 onions chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Put in about a pint of water
salt, pepper
herbs (optional)

Shove in slow cooker on low for about 6hours or on the cooker till it becomes thick but may need more water on the cooker.

I then split this up onto 4/6 meals, depending on what we have.
You can then use the mince to make bolognese, chilli (just add kidney beans and chilli powder), lasagne etc
As your doing the meals just bulk up with veg to make it more filling.

Buy a whole chicken, roast it as usual.
Strip the leftover meat off and use it in other meals e.g curry, sandwiches, wraps etc
Boil the chicken carcass and use it to make a stock and use it to make soup etc.
Out of a chicken i make about 5 meals out of it.

Try and buy bulk pasta and rice it will cheaper in the long run and is great for bulking out meals. Hope it helps

Kez

marri_lou

http://www.beyondbakedbeans.com/articles/20080306

have a look at this lentil pie, and it has a decent amount of veggies in it!

kezlou

Also just thought:

You can use brown lentils to make stews and casseroles.I've been doing this for a while and they taste great. The brown lentils make the meal quite "meaty" and my OH thinks it has meat in when it doesnt. Evil i know.