Bored on food budget - any suggestions

Nigella_2

I spend £30 - £35 week on groceries

£ 2.00 4 Litres UHT Skimmed milk for cereal / drinks etc.
£ 2.00 Cereal (oats / museli or what's on offer)
£ 2.00 Bread Flour , yeast, lo salt + /or bread
£ 5.00 Fruit (Apples/Pears/Satsumas/Bananas or on offer)
£10.00 Vegetables (Fresh or frozen Carrots/Cauli/Peas/Peppers/Beans/Oven Chips)(Fresh Onions/Garlic/) (Frozen Vegetable 2x Lasagne / 1x Cannelloni)
£3.00 Salad (Tomatoes/Cucumber/Beet/Celery)
£6.00 Tuna / Sardines / Mackeral canned
£5.00 Misc (Olive Oil / Hot chocolate / Tea's / Decaff / Pasta / Brown rice etc. on offer)

I just eat ready made veg lasagnes / Cannelloni. Tinned fish on toast / salads / Stirfry with rice/pasta or solo.Sometimes with tin tomatoes.

I am so bored as been like this for ages!!!!! Any simple alternatives please within ££

sukysue

can't you buy a bit o cheese and make some pizzas?

dirtyflannel

Try Quorn its on offer all over about £1 a bag can add spices and sauces make spaghetti bolognaise or lasagne or cottage pies.

Quick lasagne

lasagne sheets 32p
jar tomato cooking sauce 50p
instant cheese sauce mix 30p
quorn £1 ( plenty left for other dishes)

mix quorn with tomato sauce then layer in oven proof dish with lasagne sheets then whip up the instant cheese sauce pour over top chuck a bit of cheese on oven for 25 mins on medium

much healthier than those cheapo frozen lasagnes

same with cottage pies just add a sauce to quorn make up some instant mash best 1 i find is from netto for taste in a brown box about 20p pop it on top with a bit of cheese could pop some frozen veg in quorn to make it a bit healthier

dirtyflannel

Are you a veggie cos dont see any meat eggs or chicken ?

what about tortilla wraps with salad and ham or chicken or a curry?

Horace

Try making a simple quiche - you don't even need to make the pastry case, you can buy a savoury one from the supermarket.

Try making homemade soups, stir frys etc. rather than eating lots of processed food which actually costs more than if you buy the ingredients and make it yourself - look in your local greengrocers for fruit and veg as it will often be cheaper than buying from the supermarket.

mouseymousey99

How about spicing it all up a bit, no wonder you are getting bored!
Sag Aloo (spinach & potato), Dahls (use some lentils - as a side dish or main) or some curries - some cracking books out there.
The breads you could flavour with some tomatoes or walnuts (or dried fruit)
Honey in the oats - and you can bake with it? The oats and honey can double up as flapjacks or honey cake.
Tinned fish and salad you can make salad Nicoise
Potato salad/pasta salad
Courgette and cottage cheese lasange (huge pot cottage cheese is v cheap)
Ricotta cheese for Canneloni
Soups - cold soup now its Spring? Use your tinned toms?
Pate's - use with your bread?
Get a good selection of cookery books at the library and go mad!!
Souffle's - v easy - cheese & broccoli ??

Nigella_2

Thanks for suggestions - keep em coming. I do eat meat but limit it for wealth and health benefits.
Other than student cook books, it is hard to find a recipe book for cheap n easy recipes so thought would MSE it!

Home made Lasagne / Bolognese / Pizza / Lettuce Soup use to be regulars on my menu BUT I have done them to death!!!
I use the frozen Veg Lasagne/Cannelloni 2-3 times a week as a quick meal (£1 in Iceland)
Perhaps I need 14 or more budget, good, filling, easy recipes.

mouseymousey99

Risotto...(a thousand and one variations)...
Breadcrumbs (from bread you made - err of course) for meatloaf/meatballs/chicken Kiev etc etc etc
oats for crumbles -
Just thought, your'e not one of those people writing a book or an article are you - please say you are not...
Don't buy that stuff in Iceland - MAKE IT!! No, disagree its not hard to find a book the world is stuffed full of them - tried 'Paupers Cookbook'? Jocassta something - wonderful book - red cabbage (spiced)..tried Delia Smith?
Borscht
Goulash (I'm assuming you are going to make all this - no Mr Iceland - remember)?

Cornishpixie_2

If you bought a chicken and say 1lb minced beef you could make quite a few dishes with them, portion them up and freeze. Jacket pots and fillings, omlettes, Hm Burgers, Fish cakes, potato cakes,pasta, couscous with veg chopped and mixed in. are other options. There's quite a lot of receipes on the grocery challenge. Salad weather is around the corner. I wouldn't be afraid to experiment. Only you know what you will and won't eat.

Fire_Fox

It seem to me the main problem is a lack of variety in your ingredients! If you want easy you want a slow cooker. It literally takes me ten minutes to chop veg and trim a cheap cut of meat - if you make a stew the day before you can leave it to cool and skim off any fat. I don't fry off anything, it all goes in raw for four to six hours and I come home to a healthy hot meal.

Protein
I suspect you will find that a whole chicken is as good value as tinned fish. Turkey thigh - or better still turkey drumstick - is cheaper still. Also both turkey mince and lean pork mince are pretty cheap, healthy and can be stretched a looooong way! You might consider purchasing some eggs (ideally omega enriched) and certainly a variety of beans and lentils. Cottage cheese with fruit or honey for a sweet breakfast, or savoury low fat soft cheese mixed with tinned fish as pate for lunch. Consider tinned pink salmon instead of tuna as it's much cheaper than red salmon.

Carbohydrates
Your diet seems to be pretty heavy on wheat in the form of bread, pasta, flour, cereals? Try pearl barley, or better still pot barley if you can get it. Brown rice noodles and wholemeal egg noodles do exist but may need some hunting down. Sweet potatoes are very healthy and not overly expensive, mix well with carrot or white potatoes. I like a handful of soup mix (red lentils, split peas, rolled barley grains) chucked into all sorts of stews in my slow cooker.

Fruit & Veg
Salads, unless you love them, are not great value for money. Not very filling, not much by weight for your money. Better to have fruit and veg when in season. I often like to prep by colour as much as anything - so a stir fry will contain something red green and yellow, a fruit salad the same. When visiting the states I took inspiration from their salads - always two forms of protein (just less of each), and always lots of different veggies - you can even add fruit! Also consider the texture - try to have something soft/ juicy/ crunchy whatever.

Meal Ideas
Spanish omelette
Savoury bread and butter pudding (no butter needed!)
Slimming world 'quiche' (rice, eggs, cottage cheese, veg)
Meatloaf/ meatballs
Mixed bean/ lentil curry
Chicken and barley casserole
Turkey thigh and apple stewed in cider and French mustard
Mexican spiced mince and peppers as fajitas
Leek and potato soup
'Cream' of brocolli soup (use powdered milk)
Minestrone soup

TrulyMadly

What about sausages!
Split a 8 pack into 4 and freeze.
Try a couple of sausages with a dollop of mash (vary your mash by adding a carrot/swede/shredded cabbage/ spring onion etc). Maybe a little onion gravy.

I love braised red cabbage too with red wine vinegar/apples/brown sugar. Cook a pot full and freeze into little containers.