please help me

wigglebeena

if you type 'best chocolate cake recipe ever' into a search engine, there is a fantastic recipe that is all over the net, it is pretty much viral. You need one (1) bowl for the ingredients, everything goes in together, mix for 3 mins tops and bung it in the oven. Really fantastic, works fine with basics flour and marg, very cheap and yummy. I melt basics chocolate over it instead of icing.

Not good for dieters though - massively moreish.

mouseymousey99

Do you have a Chinese supermarket anywhere near you?
I ask because you can get huge bag of dried noodles very cheaply. You could also stock up on soy sauce and spices - make your own stir fry sauces? I appreciate it may cost more initially, but once you have them in the cupboard you don't have to buy so much other stuff & you always have the makings of a meal.
Wouldn't buy frozen carrots, buy them loose and you can wash them, I think that way they work out cheaper.
Fish Fingers mmmm I see you have children & I appreciate it looks a good buy - but - as said lot of processed stuff there. Making things in breadcrumbs is a doddle (wizz up all your old bread - pop it in the oven whenever you are cooking something else) - cover your chicken or fish with egg and voila!! If you cook a chicken you are bound to have some white bits left over.
Cakes - again its been said - baking is a breeze, get yourself a tin and we'll all help!!

wigglebeena

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is a bit pricey. If I'm not going to actually have butter I find supermarket own brand marg not much different in taste to 'fancy' marg (and I love own-brand olive spreads, v.nice. Though at the moment sticking with mega-cheap basics marg.)

Reverbe

Here are some suggestions

Stir fry sauce - chow mein 3£1.50 Make your own
Stir fry sauce - oyster 2£1.00 Make your own
Egg tagliatelle1£0.95
Baked beans 3£1.86 I get value beans from Sainsburys at 29p a large can almost as good as Heinz
Spaghetti loops2£0.28
Coco rice1£0.66
Cornflakes1£0.69
Muesli1£0.58
Baby wipes - fragrance free4£2.80 Ditch these. not eco friendly n very costly. use a huge roll of cotton wool, pull of only what you need and a bottle of cleanser. My old colleague used to use these at the same time as money saving.. I was gobbsmacked how much they cost her and personally I have used these on trial and find they dont get you clean.
Size 5 - Nappies1£1.47
Eggs - minimum net weight1£1.45 If you dont mind caged hens you can get value ones dirt cheap
Tiger complete with duck, rabbit and vegetable1£1.97
Litter1£1.16
Sandwich baps - white1£1.00
Fish fingers 40s1£3.008 sure these can be found much cheaper
Beef burgers1£1.00
Bananas1£1.25
Mushrooms2£2.92
Chow Mein noodles1£1.58
Stir fry - beef1£3.00 eat less meat, better for yourself and planet and cheaper
Irish recipe pork sausages - thick 8s 2£1.94
Mild white cheddar (price displayed is average price per pack)1£3.94
Cheese slices 10s4£2.00 slice your own from a block
Thin sliced Danish salami1£0.58
Cornish pasties 2£3.76 you must be able to find these cheaper. where are you shopping waitrose? £3.76 for TWO??
I can't believe it's not butter 2£2.28 cheaper one or flora is cheaper tastier and better for you.
French set yogurts - assorted1£1.11
Yogurt - strawberry and raspberry1£0.43 plain yoghurt in a huge tub and add your own fruit or other flavours
Cheeky Monkey cake1£6.98 ditch it. if you MUST have cake ie for someones birthday then make your own
Crumpets 6s 2£1.26
White loaf - medium3£1.14
Chicken breast - fillets1£3.20
Chicken goujons1£3.00 again eat less meat. you can fill up on meals with beans and pulses etc and they cost less too.
Curly Chips Oven Cook1£1.34
American style fries1£1.40 sorry cant help you here i dont eat chips.(not healthy)
Potato waffles1£0.98
Freshly Frozen Baby Carrots1£0.98
Freshly Frozen Garden Peas1£1.48
Crispy potatoes1£0.74
Southern Fried Potato Wedges1£0.52 your diet is very potato heavy. try to use alternatives
Giant Yorkshire pudding 3£1.23 make your own.

Like other posters Id say try not to rely so much on processed food , make your own from scratch - cheaper tastier and with less salt and additives. Try cooking - there are loads of money saving tasty ideas posted on mse.Cut back on meat and potatoes too - much healthier for you and cheaper.

mouseymousey99

Just another quick thought saw you had beef burgers there - do you have a local butcher? Mine charges £1.74 for 1lb of steak mince - you would be able to make your own and have enough left over for a pasta meal or something? Just add some onion & whatever you fancy (you know whats going into it - and it is cheaper). Maybe as you have a little one you could make meatballs? Pork mince here is £1.92. Sometimes you do better to spend a little bit more to stetch things further. I buy x12 FR eggs - use them for baking/omlettes etc etc
I love set French yougurt too, Tesco is 98p for x6. Maybe you could freecycle a yogurt maker & make some of your own to supplemement (you can easily add fruit & use plain in cooking etc)..Okey dokey really must go do stuff....Mx

wigglebeena

If you don't mind soya milk you could make yoghurt with it, it's ready sterilised so you don't have to go through all the palaver of boiling and cooling etc. Cheaper per pint than cow's milk. Must start doing it again myself.

Wonder if it would work with dried milk...

missm29

How about just getting a victoria sponge cake for your son? i find the kids cakes way too sweet and sickly and all the coloured icing can't be good. So wish i could make a decent cake, must start practicing. My son is 5 and he likes to help make his own chicken nuggetts, burgers, pizza, make extra and freeze. When i've run out of wipes, i use flannels and soapy water or cotton wool and water. Try to just use wipes for dirty nappies now. I used to use baby wipes for everything face, hands, bums, cleaning the sofa etc until my mum commented on how many i used now i wash my little ones sticky hands instead of reaching for the wipes.

Pooky

How many people is this feeding?

Have a look at going down a brand on everything and revise your menu to make it work for you.

I only had £32 for this weeks shop for 2 adults and 2 nearly teens...had to include cat food too and I worked around what I had in and what was going to give me best value for money per meal.....It came in at £31.95 and included a pack of school blouses for my daughter.

stressed_mother_of_one

can anyong show me an example of your list and meal ideas then plz?
the pasies are 2 packs of 5
the eggs are a 15 pack
my son picked the cake himself.

maggie111

I know that children *love* to decorate a cake themselves - get things like I said earlier, sweeties, chocolates, crumbled up biscuits or whatever and get him to make his own masterpiece! He'll love that a lot more than the chocolate monkey.