OS Help Required On 3 Day Meal Plan For Fellow New Oldstyler!!

Penny-Pincher!!

Morning

Im posting this on behalf of fellow OS who has asked for some advice/help.

Right, they need to sort out their food budget and cooking skills. They have a SC which they are not familar with and would like to know the cheapest places for bulk buys etc.

Income is very low.

They also have no printer, and writing everything down is difficult.

They are looking for a 3 day meal plan, with 3 different meals that can be made easily and enough left over for freezer portions. Maybe we could include the ingredients needed for the meal to simplify as much as possible for them?

I am unsure how many people they have in the family, but if we say each meal needs to make 5-6 portions untill i know for sure.

Thanks in advance for any advice-it will all be very much apreciated.

PP
xx

ambergold

Why not show her your meal plans penny pincher. I was so inspired when I read yours that I'm trying to do one.

squeaky

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

They also have no printer, and writing everything down is difficult.

If they right click on an empty area on a page there's an option to "save the page as..." so perhaps they could set up some folders to keep things in for reference and save having to write them all down, not forgetting that a fair number of pages could be bookmarked.

mummysaver

Hi Penny Pincher - until I clicked on the thread, I was going to suggest that the OP pm'd you - your meal breakdown was brilliant, as were the costings!

Guess a bolognese may be useful in the slow cooker - mince and toms are cheap, and extra quantites can be frozen, can them be used for spag bol, lasagne, etc.

Beef stew is fairly economical too - and this can be done easily in the slow cooker, and I find that the cheaper the cut of meat the better everyone likes it - also you don't need too much beef as it sort of disintegrates a bit and spreads itself out in the gravy! (When written down it doesn't sound too appetizing does it?!)

Some kind of pie or quiche may be good on the third day - as they may get a bit fed up with things in sauces! My lot like cheese and onion pasties, you only need a tiny amount of filling for each one, and you can freeze extras.

The £12.00 a head thread may be a good one to print off - or at least peoples meal plans, then perhaps you could help this person cost them.

Penny-Pincher!!

Will do, thought maybe that if we all maybe do one we could all help each other IYKWIM. I'll start

(Day1)Shepards Pie & Veg (6 portions)

1lb Mince lamb
tin of baked beans
tin of chopped toms
onion
spuds for mash
grated cheese(optional)
Cabbage & Carrots

Peel and get spuds on to mash. Lightly fry the onion and add the mince. Once cooked through add the beans and toms and put in ovenproof dish. Mash the spuds, spread on top of mince then sprinkle cheese on top. Put in oven on medium for about 20mins. Cook carrots and cabbage. This freezes well, so any extra portions...freeze.

(Day2)Sausage Casarole & Jacket Spud/rice or mash-(5 portions)

8 sausages
onion
tin of toms
swede, carrots, peas
casarole mix (18p from lidls)
spuds or rice to serve with

Brown off sausages and onion. Bung them in SC, add everything else and leave in SC on medium/low for about 6-8hrs. Serve with jacket spud, rice or mash.

(Day3)Easy Creamy Chicken & Rice-(6 portions)

6 chicken portions
tin of campbells mushroom soup condensed
sweetcorn
chickpeas
rice

Put chicken in SC, add everything else and leave on medium for 6-8 hrs. To thicken the sauce, add a little flour with water in a paste and add to SC. Serve with rice.

PP
xx

Dobie

How about suggesting that they base at least one meal on pulses rather than meat.
Dried chickpeas soaked & pre boiled, onion, tinned tomatoes & some curry spices in the slowcooker will make a fabulous chickpea curry for pennies a portion. Other veg can go in if they're cheap enough - cauli is good, mushrooms are excellent.
Veggie soup is also made for pennies & you can just chuck almost anything in thats on offer. Bulked up with a tin of kidney beans & maybe a hanful of brown rice it's very filling, tasty & healthy.
If they can't manage without meat sausagemeat is cheap & could be shaped into sausages & used for a toad in the hole & any left over sausagemeat made into sausage & onion pasties.
Cheese omelettes & HM chips or egg & chips are good for a change.

AussieLass

I probably would advise them a bit differently. Not too sure how meat prices compare over there but I would get them to buy a decent size piece of roasting beef.
For Day 1 - Roast, Roast Veggies & Gravy. Could make Yorkshire puddings to make it even more filling.
Day 2 - Sweet Curry & Rice - using some of the leftover meat.
Day 3 - Cottage Pie - again using the rest of the meat.

I know that this is having meat three times in a row but when money is tight it works out cheaper. Normally you would spread them out over the week but your's is only a 3 day plan. There's not really a lot of extra ingred that you have to buy in.

Wendrie

Veggie soup is easy in the slow cooker and can often be made with store cupboard ingredients:

Tomato Soup: Serves 12 (but you can reuse the soup base for several meals)

Chop up all the veg and cook lightly in a tablespoon of oil:
first in - 1 onion cook until almost transparent
then add:
3 sticks celery
1 clove garlic (or more)
1 turnip
1 swede/turnip
1 parsnip
2/3 carrots
1/4 head of cabbage
200g green beans (not mange tout as they go slimy)
2 tsp mixed herbs.

all the above is tweakable, if you have more parsnips that are going a bit soft or want to use up some peppers, fresh tomatoes etc. feel free to add them in.

Cook all of the veggies for a couple of minutes - just giving them some flavour then tip them into the slow cooker (if you are using fresh herbs add them now as well). Add a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes (if you have regular tinned tomatoes cut them up with scissors while they are still in the tin), rinse out the tins with a cup of water and add a stock cube (or bouillon)

Let it cook for several hours.

Lovely and thick soup with bread and cheese is a full meal.

Next day: to the remaining soup
Put it back in the slow cooker and add:
2 tins of drained beans (or soak dried beans over night) we use black and pinto
2 sticks spicy sausage chopped up into coins (Keilabasa or similar)
1 tsp chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin

if it looks a bit low in fluid add in a jar of passata or more tinned tomatoes, if it looks a bit thick add in some water/stock, a bit thin add in some lentils or similar to soak up some stock.

Cook for several hours and an hour or so before serving add some sliced tortillas/pittas or serve with regular sliced bread. Scatter some grated cheese or sour cream/creme fraiche on top and stir in before eating.

If there is any left (make sure you've removed all the bread products) you can brown 500g mince (chop up any left over meat you have) and add it in plus a few more seasonings - taste and see what it needs. Cook it in the oven alongside baking potatoes and a quick bread (cornbread, quick rolls). Makes a lovely thick chilli and serve over baked potatoes/rice/pasta add in a salad and your set. The long cooking does improve the flavour. You can use the same base and put mashed potatoes on top for a shepherd/cottage pie meal too.

I often make up a batch at the weekend and then we eat the soup tweaked for lunch over several days.

elona

How about "rubber chicken" using the slow cooker?

Tesco do chicken for £1.99 (half price)

Put chicken in slow cooker and once cooked slice off what you need for a meal with potatoes and veg

2nd day
Use chicken stock to make soup with veg and pulses

3rd day
Use the remains of the chicken (which will have fallen off the bone) for chicken pasta or chicken pie.

Do not forget ideas like home made pizza , stuffed tortillas or stuffed pancakes and large yokie filled with veg and gravy. These are all cheap.