Menu Plan advice please!

debtmuncher

chicken stock link plus recipes

clairebear16

Hey,

thanks for all your tips - i like the idea of freezing meat and bread in portions according to what i need, convinient and will probably take less time to defrost!

Msgnomey - do you have the recipe i could use for that please?

A good point about meat free dishes, I have wanted to try out a veggie burger recipe for some time now, does anyone have any suggestions?

Have been reading through weezls thread, and the £20 to feed a family of four for a month thread:eek: - fascinating stuff, I will definately be aiming at reducing my shopping budget over the course of uni! :T

xx

dollydaydream07

on the feed a family for £20 thread there is a recipe somewhere for veggie burgers made from a packet of stuffing mix and lentils - they are really tasty and made quite a few that you can probably freeze!
and i 2nd twinks hobnobs they are very tasty!:D

clairebear16

have just calculated that if i made my own tomato sauce and used cheddar cheese on the pizza bases, that cuts the cost of each pizza by two-thirds!!:j

Maitane

Hi Clairebear, I just put this up on the meal planning site. You don't really have to use cheese but I reckon it will be nice with it.

Cheesy lentil burgers

I haven't made these yet but y'know, I'll be making them in advance so I'll tell you how it goes. I'm hoping enough cheese will make Mr Maitane eat them!

1. Cook however many lentils in water at a ratio of 1(lentils):2 and a half (water) until they are soft and cooked.
2. Fry off onions, carrot, whatever else you fancy chucking in, garlic and seasoning. (I'm adding half a tonne of chilli at this point)
3. Put it all in a bowl with half as much grated cheese as you had lentils, the same quantity of oats, the same again of breadcrumbs and one egg.
4. Form into burgers and either flour or breadcrumb, whatever you fancy.
5. Fry or bake, add cheese, a roll with some salad and in Mr Maitane's case, a load of hot sauce

Cat72

Hiya, I am similar position to yourself as starting uni and have a very,very tight budget .

I think your menu seems a bit repetitive ( sorry ! ) but I know if it was me I would get sick of bannanas and cheese.Its so difficult when your budgetting and single to have variety- something im struggling with.
I check lidls & aldis and buy their fruit specals every week- maybe instead of bannanas everyday.

Pasties - could have these for lunch or dinner.Just fill some pastry with leftovers or chopped veg.
Flapjacks or Muffins -just fill with what u want, and can be used for snacks of brekkie on the move.
TOFU - great alternative to meat & you can buy a large packet in the chinese supermarket for about £2 that will last ages.Can be make into burgers, stir fry, etc.
EGGS -versatile for breakfast,lunch dinner. Try egg frittata ( can be eat cold for lunch ),French eggy toast ,Omellete, egg sandwiches .
Chickpeas -very versatile, use for currys ,stews, burgers,hummus etc .Just a tin of cheap tomatoes (35p ) and some veg and u have a great combination.

CHICKPEA BURGERS -
2 CANS CHICKPEAS
1 ONION
2 COOKED POTATOES
2 TBSP SOYA SAUCE
1 DTSP LEMON JUICE
1 GARLIC (OR GARLIC POWDER )
PEPPER
FLOUR for hands/dusting

Mix chickpeas in bowl and mash well.
Add onion,potato,soya sauce,lemon & PEPPER.
Flour hands shape into small burgers and coat with flour. Refrigerate for an hour ( or freeze if you want to use later )
Fry each burger until golden in frying pan .( you can also freeze them at this point ).
This recipe makes 6 burgers and they store really well in freezer- also add any spices you feel like.

msgnomey

From memory it's
8oz marg
8oz sugar
1 tbspn golden syrup
melt these in a saucepan, then add
8oz porridge oats
8 oz SR flour
1 tbspn hot water
1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda
mix well (I usually add a good tbspn mixed spice 'tho it's not in the original recipe)
roll into small balls place onto greased baking tray flatten slightly with a fork
bake 180c for 12-15 mins, they don't need to be too brown as taste much better if slightly 'chewy' remove from tray and cool (eat yum yum yum)
I usually make 1/2 that amount and they last us a couple of days then i make some more

domesticgoddess789

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

on the feed a family for £20 thread there is a recipe somewhere for veggie burgers made from a packet of stuffing mix and lentils - they are really tasty and made quite a few that you can probably freeze!
and i 2nd twinks hobnobs they are very tasty!:D

I second this- made these last wkend and they were super easy, fun to make and really delicious. and very cheap too! xx

clairebear16

those veggie burgers sound yummy, let me know how they turn out!

hi Cat72, nice to know there's someone here in the same position as me! What is your weekly food budget? It'd be great to know how you plan to do it. Unfortunately us students don't have the luxury of space when it comes to storing food, so we have to be a bit more creative.

Yeah I did notice that my snacks and lunches weren't that adventurous. I like the pasties idea, that would be easy to take onto campus too. Thing is, i don't think there is a lidl or aldi in Guildford, which would have been ideal for different fruits on the cheap. there is a weekly fruit and veg market that comes onto campus called "uni fruit" (don't know if your uni is the same?) but i've never been sure if these are any better value for money, and they seem to go off quicker.

I'll try and include soups and fritatta's in my lunch plans a few times a week to vary it a bit. As someone else suggested, maybe with a few dishes each week, i could cook 2 portions and freeze the second one, which i could use for lunch if im sick of the sight of cheese and bread, lol.

i have been reading up about bulking out spag bols/ other mince dishes. Quick question though, i tried this a year and a half ago - boiled the lentils for 30 mins then added them to the mince dish and cooked a bit more, but the dish turned out to have a really grainy texture - did I do something wrong? Would oats be a safer choice do you think?

xx

Cat72

My budget is going to be only £15 a week and im trying to get it lower :eek:.
Still havent worked it out exactily yet and this board is certainily helping with the 50p a day thread and all the other great info.
There are so many helpful people on here with great info they willingily share .:A
However once I have I will post back. Any help appreciated

I have a slow cooker and have been cooking in bulk on that and freezing some by.Tesco sell one at £8.97 at the moment or next cheapest seems to argos crock pot.
If you are organised you can just chuck some thing in the morning in it and when u come home at night it will be cooked.

Sometime local fruit and veg can be a hit or miss.As I have had some awful items from fresh fruit/veg places and agree with you not sure some are the greatest.
I have a genuine farmers market near me but again I feel it goes off quickily, but this seems to be a problem with me in general and I think its down to me not storing it right.
So I am changing how I store them.
I have the bags from lakeland that I put the veg in and it helps it store longer.Same with lettuces,salad mixes and spinach. This is helping, and sometimes I just take an extra few mins to chop it up.
Also use the lock and lock boxes- there is an article on here about them somewhere.Worth looking into how to store items for longer- especailly if you dont have a lot of room and freezer space.

Tescos I find is one of the dearest places to shop, I checked and the nearest aldi to you is here and here is lidls search for stores near you.
I heard lidl are selling cheap risotto rice so am going to check this out soon.
I dont have a lidl near me- but have huge matierla bags from primark that I put over my shoulder and carry tons.So once a week I pop to lidls about ten miles away and get what I need from them, get the bus home looking like a bag woman !
Apart from that I find asda are ok priced ,however it seems I have to shop at a few places to get the items I need at a good price.
Strangely Sainsburys budget range is really good value and their is a thread on here about the best buys from it- not a place normally I would go to.
Sainsburys and asda both do home delivery which might be an option for you.

Also cheap herbs help tons to make cheap food taste better., I again find lidl & aldi are the best price for these.

Im fortunate that im a mature student so have my own house and dont need to share ,but it is really difficult and means more bills,and travel costs- boo hoo.