please can someone start me off? £50 weekly food shop - healthy/low fat

gratefulforhelp_2

Quorn is really good, but expensive so what about bulking it out with yummy red lentils, just make sure they're cooked properly...

scattymam1

Hiyah walmer , definitely meal plan.
I've been watching portion sizes recently - and instead of taking second helpings and stuffing ourself of an evening we've been putting it in the fridge so husband has it for his lunch the next day. Saves quite a bit.

Loads of good advice here - looking on the threads there's an endless supply of ideas.
Cheap cuts of meat always come out amazing when done in the slowcooker.

When I need to do a cheap week - meals I do are spag bol(made with onion, mushrooms,garlic and passata though you can get value jars of bolognese sauce), pasta with a tomato sauce, some kind of stew, and omelettes. Could be even cheaper if my hubby would agree to beans on toast some nights but would he be pleased with that ...err I don't think so.
Once a week my dd likes to have pancakes at the moment as the bags of mix from tesco are only 6p at the moment I think.

Good luck - this is the place to be and you have a very good attitude, wish you well, scattymam1

scattymam1

I hae learnt to cook from scratch more as I got jamie olivers ministry of food book - I learnt how to cook with herbs which I grow myself so I have a constant supply - saves me lots of money in the long run and really makes all the difference in the world to the taste.

msgnomey

Good luck!

We now shop at Aldi all the time and just pop to Tesco for the odd essential

ali1972

Definitely agree that pulses are your new best friend. Great for bulking out recipes and in fact I really like replacing the mince in dishes like shepherds pie and lasagne or bolognese with them, especially with tasty herbs or spices, which you accumulate really quickly once you start cooking from scratch. Also really simple things like value baked beans can be easily jazzed up by adding some diced apple and a spoon or 2 of curry powder. I also always like to keep the cupboard stocked up with value bags of basmati rice and pasta. Basmati rice cooked with a little onion and stock is great quick accompaniment to most meat dishes - and takes me only 15 mins or so from prep to completion. Also you can batch cook home made tomato sauce and freeze portions. Easy to make with bowls of ripe tomatos the greengrocer is flogging at the end of the day. Also things like homemade pizzas made from scratch are much easier than you would think and can be topped with all sorts of bits and pieces - Delia has a good recipe somewhere.

Cornishpixie_2

Hi, I have 4 children and spend around £250 per month but that includes 1 lot of school dinners and this month a box of wine. I prefer to do a menu plan, shopping list for the bulk of my shopping, online which lasts the month. I top up with milk, bread and fruit and veg from local greengrocer or Lidl. (depends how far I wan to walk). I have 1 child under school age who has monday's and fridays off nursery. We do a bit of housework in the morning and in the afternoon go out and do something before collecting others from school. I prefer to try avoid the shops, then only get what we need. Then again I just hate the whole supermarket experience.:eek: Just a thought as life is stressful enough. Good luck:D

walmer3

Thanks all, your encouragement much appreciated. I audited our freezer yesterday and did a meal plan for the entire week, so it looks like we may not have to go and buy anything more at least this week

Trazy

bags of frozen quorn mince and/or pieces are currently £1 each in Asda. I bought 15 yesterday :j
Trace

gratefulforhelp_2

blimey thats cheap.

tomterm8

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

Cut down on your cleaning products by using either Bicarb and vinegar (better for environment) or Stardrops (not so environmentally friendly) but it's cheap and can be used to clean EVERYTHING. I don't buy anything else now (it does my stainless steel sink great).
.

You shouldn't use vinegar on plate (i.e. silver plated taps), and you should be careful when using Bicarb on an enamel surface.