Food Budget

FunBrum

I eek out mince with a tin of baked beans. Goes miles!:D

Also, I think chicken's are a Godsend. I'll do a roast dinner,
take off the leftover breast for sarnies. The dark meat goes
into a curry, and then boil the carcass to make a soup. There
are always bits of chicken left on the bones to add to the soup.
You'd be surprised how far a medium chicken goes!:T

champys

I eek out mince with a tin of baked beans. Goes miles!


Yes, I do this too in cottage pie, and call it 'american style cottage pie' (also add a little brown sugar or maple syrup).

I actually prefer it to the classic version.

recovering_spendaholic

Tuna is great and very cheap. I make cheesy tuna bake which is basically a cheese sauce thrown over pasta with a tin of tuna thrown in, put into a casserole dish, sprinkled with cheese and grilled until bubbling. My two will eat this. It doesn't have veg in it though, although you could try serving it with peas or carrots (though mine wouldn't eat them).

I make meatloaf with mince. I use turkey mince, but you can use any kind. Just make up a small packet of paxo with cold water, leave to swell up and then mix with 1lb sausagemeat and 1lb mince and an egg, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of thyme (I add onion salt but you don't need to) and put in a 2lb loaf tin and cook at 180 for about an hour and a quarter. It is lovely hot with gravy and veg and is also lovely cold with salad or on sandwiches.

DianaMattos

The way I do my shop is this: I have a budget of £150 a month for food and £50 a month for 'sundries' i.e. all those little expenses that just add up eg stamps, lightbulbs, batteries, loo roll etc etc etc. There are only 2 of us at the moment.

I plan for 4 weeks (or 5 if there are 5 'shopping days' between pay days) worth of meals, and do a big shop in Aldi and Sainsburys for all the dried and non-perishable stuff, plus week 1's meat, veg and milk. The rest I do on a weekly basis in the village. And so far, I am coming in well under budget, which is going to prove useful as we are renovating our house at the mo!

Hope this helps,

Love Di x

nicola1982_2

Cheesy potato pie is always a winner in my house!

Uniscots97

newlywed wrote: »

Mince bake italienne

Fry onion, add beef mince and fry together. Add tomato sauce (mum uses dolmio, I use passata and herbs).

Put into casserole dish.

Pour white sauce over the top (either HM or from a jar )

Butter 3 pieces of white bread. Cut each slice into 9 squares. Place squares on the top of the white sauce.

Bake in oven for 20 mins until bread starts to brown on top.


Kinda cross between lasagna (with no pasta) and moussaka

Is the bread placed in the dish butter side up?

newlywed

unixgirluk wrote: »

Is the bread placed in the dish butter side up?

Sorry been away, yes

mouseymousey99

meatloaf?? V easy about 1lb (beef) mince, some sausagemeat (I use a couple of premium sausages - squeeze out the meat) an egg, s&p, herbs, breadcrumbs, an onion, you need to fiddle about with it to your own taste. Bake for about 1/4 hours and you can serve with gravy (I can squeeze 2 or 3 meals out of one). Lots of versions around.
Also the mega bags of pasta you can get in Tesco and other supermarkets for about £2?
May help to start building up a storecupboard of herbs you use and tins so that you have things to hand - kidney beans toms,mushrooms etc etc B. uy one or two extra when you shop or when they are on special offer, Lidl recently had tins of toms for 15p I think they've now gone back up but you get the idea...
best Mx

PasturesNew

My tip is: every time you eat/cook anything, know the cost of all the ingredients. Then think:

A) How much did that dish cost you?

Can you miss out any pricey ingredients and still have the same dish? (e.g. wine/peppers in a chilli)

Look at the cost of each item in the supermarket - can you buy the same thing, in a different brand, but cheaper? e.g. instead of Heinz beans, try the supermarket's own brand. instead of best, best mince, just buy best mince.

Know the cost of all your dishes.
Then cook more of the cheaper ones.

Chilli costing 60p/portion?
Cheese/potato pie costing 25p/portion?
Cook the cheese/potato pie more often and leave the chilli as a treat.

It all adds up.

kimbo1982

Hi there

how about

mince, chopped onion, boil in water, let it simmer for about 10 mins, add tin chopped tomatoes then thicken wiv gravy.
I use this 2 ways, either serve with potatoes and veg or
macaroni pasta. It is nice and my kids enjoy it, filling as well.