Newbie Menu Planning/Recipe Advice needed!

yummymummy85

Hi everyone

I've been browsing this forum for a while now and have decided to take the plunge!

I'm after some advice to try and cut our food bill without going down the route of eating cheap [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL]!

I'm currently expecting our second child who is due in December so really want to get our eating habits sorted out once and for all before he comes along. I already have one son who is 16 months old.

At the moment it seems like everything we eat is mince based i.e. spaghetti bolognase, lasagne, cottage pie...... and I want to try and make it more varied but just don't have any ideas! My main problem is that my DH likes simple food eg tonight we had sausage mash and beans for dinner and while I don't mind this at all it can't be healthy too have this sort of food all the time! DH isn't keen on to much onion or cheese (and by too much I mean he'd rather not have it in a meal if it's not entirely necessary!) and I'm not a huge fan of anything spicy - I will eat spicy food but I will make a milder version for me eg. we had chili the other night and I made it to my taste first, took some out of the pan for me then added more spice for DH and DS. I'm yet to find anything that DS won't eat!!!

I've been watching the Economy Gastronomy programme (which is how I found this site) and am eager to start doing the Bedrock/Tumbledown thing but don't really know where to start! In an ideal world I'd love Paul and Allegra to come to my house for a week to get me started! I do love cooking and baking but just feel like I'm stuck in a rut a bit!

I'm determined to get myself organised so starting from 1 September I want to start meal planning and only buying what we're going to eat but need a little help to get started!

At the moment I don't really know how much exactly we spend on food but at the beginning of the month I spent £60 online at Asda but since then we've had to 'pop' to the shops for odds and ends. For next month, I want to aim to spend no more than £180 in total for food (including the 'popping' to the shops if we need to but I'd rather not need to!).

I have recently discovered that I'm able to make bread myself so I want to limit the amount of shop brought bread we have (home made bread is sooooo much nicer!!)

Any help or advice and in particular meal ideas would be very greatfully appreciated!! And sorry for the really really long post!!!

ClaireLR

Hello

What I try to do with meals that I like that aren't particularly healthy is to find a way to make them more healthy - i.e. your sausage, mash and beans could become low fat sausages, jackets potatoes and beans. Or mashed potato with no butter in them.

Do you have a large freezer? Are you able to bulk cook meals and freeze them??

Other than that what I have done is to physically draw the money out of the bank at the start of each month for shopping - we used to spend around £300-400 a month for the two of us :o:o I don't even know how I'd spend that much now! This month I got it down to £60 online for cleaning/cat litter and food/tins/freezer top up (basically any food etc that doesn't go off) and then allow around £20 a week for fresh meat, fruit, veg etc. I only take however much I have to spend to the supermarket with me and that way thats all I can spend (I have no willpower when it comes to bogofs - even if it's something we don't really use!)

Try not to do to much at once otherwise it all becomes a bit much and your likely to not do any of it!

yummymummy85

We do have a freezer but it's not particularly big - we have one of those american style fridge freezers so have a huge fridge and tiny freezer in comparison. I do keep left overs already (at the moment we have left over components for fish pie in the freezer, two small fish pies for DS and a pot of left over chilli). The only problem I can see with batch cooking is finding the time to do it, I'm a SAHM with a 16 month old who's into everything at the moment (like most boys are!) so I'm limited duringt he day to how much time I can spend in the kitchen by how long he decides to have a nap for. By the time that bedtime comes I'm normally shattered and would rather spend time with DH than in the kitchen. At the weekends I do tend to spend more time in the kitchen as DH is generally here to keep DS occupied! Obviously once DS2 makes his arrival I'm going to have less time during the day although we are toying with the idea of putting DS1 into nursery a couple of mornings a week after Christmas to give him some mummy-free time and the opportunity to socialise and to give mummy a bit of a break (i.e. only having one little monkey to look after for a couple of hours!!).

Forgot to mention in my first post that we do have a slow cooker but the only thing I've ever cooked in it is joints on a sunday i.e. beef or lamb - I get the impression that other meals in the slow cooker are more winter warmer type meals??

Olliebeak

Do you have a travel cot/playpen for your toddler during the day? - great place [STRIKE]to lock em up in [/STRIKE]- oooops, sorry :rolleyes: - allow them to play safely , while you get on with something in the kitchen. Could even put it in view of the kitchen so he can actually see you there .

Is there a relative/really good friend who could entertain/mind your toddler for a couple of hours at weekends? Nanas, aunties, godmothers - I'm sure there's somebody who would just LOVE to 'borrow him' for a short while to give you a break. I seem 'to borrow' at least ONE (sometimes TWO) grandchildren every weekend. Got one here now - in the travel cot in front of CBeebies - while I gather my sanity on here after a rather sleepless night :rolleyes:. Luckily his Auntie Lisa will be here in 2 hours to take him for the rest of the day and then his 'other Nana and Grandad' will have him tonight. DS2, g/f and older brother (8yrs) are on a camping trip this weekend with the intention of climbing Snowdon :eek:.

It might be a good idea to get your toddler used to nursery/playgroup BEFORE his little brother arrives. They can feel quite pushed out afterwards when the new baby gets all the attention.

There's only 13mths between my DS2 and DD - but I'll never forget his little face the first time he saw me pick her up to show him - fortunately at the time she and I were behind a pane of glass in the Special Care Baby Unit, because he launched himself at the window - from my OH's arms - shouting 'Mine mummy - mine!' Thinking back, I should have been the one holding him and showing him the new baby lying in her cot instead - what a wonderful thing hindsight is .

Good Luck with your OS-ing/money-saving and enjoy your growing family - these are wonderful times that fly by so quickly .

Chell

Re: your toddler, how about letting him raid the saucepan cupboard while you cook? A few saucepans and wooden spoons, whisks, etc are far more entertaining than toys especially if he thinks he isn't allowed to do it. :rotfl:

Does your OH eat vegetables? Rather than sausage, mash and beans could you make a sausage casserole bulked with veg? If the sausages are chopped into chunks they appear to go further than whole sausages.

What about homemade burgers?

It will be getting cooler soon so soups, stews and casseroles will be good.

ubamother

I'm not a good meal planner as the minute I see a meal on a planned list I no longer fancy eating it! However I do keep what I call menu blocks frozen - food that can form the basis of various different meals. So my mainstays are:

1. cooked mince/onion/tomato/garlic type base which doesn't have herbs or spices added so can be defrosted and turned into chilli or ragu or cottage pie base.
2. Mashed pots - often with carrot/sweet potato in - for toppings, fishcake base, soup thickener, croquettes and, well, mash!
3. Veg starter pack - chopped onion, garlic, carrot, celery sauteed off and frozen in casserole/soup portions.
4. Cooked beans - I buy dried beans/chick peas as cheaper than canned - soak and cook a load off and freeze in portions.
5. Mix of par-boiled, par-roasted veg - like carrots/swede/parsnips/onion, or summer equivalents like squash/courgette/onion - can be shoved in the oven from frozen as side dish
This way I can design a meal with half the work already done. I work full-time and have a left side that doesn't want to work most days so getting all this done over the weekend means I'm not trying to chop onions on a bad weekday after work with one hand!

rosieben

check out Thriftlady's thread on Meal building blocks which are great time and money savers.

I suspect those 'pop to the local shop' trips are where your money is leaking; meal planning and shopping lists are the way to go; check through cupboards and freezer, make up your meal list, and then make your shopping list. No need to have a rigid meal plan, maybe just a list of meals that you all enjoy and the ingredients in the cupboard/freezer to make them. Stick to the list when you shop unless you see a really good bargain on something you know you will use.

check out the weekly meal planning threads for ideas - here's the current thread

you'll find loads of recipes on the Complete Cooking Collection and you'll find another list of recipes on the front page of the monthly Grocery Challenge

Old Style isnt about 'eating cheap', its about getting the best value for your money; some people choose basic ranges, some people choose organic, there's no right or wrong way, just whatever suits you and your family.

Lause

Hi! I have a simple recipe and cheap recipie for a meat and potato pie- serve with gravy and veg,
Basically just enough potatoes for everyone, around 2 large per adult and 1 for children. Boil and mash with lumps left in- dont put too much milk/butter/ as it makes it too runny.
Add a tin or 2 of prime steak chunks in gravy into the mash- there is nice tinned steak avaliable from supermarkets, and if you want to be extra healthy you can take some of the settled fat off from round the edges
- put mash and meat mix into a oven proof dish, then make around 8oz of short crust pastry for the top(depending on the size of your dish!), use self rasing flour as it makes it a bit better.
-Cook in the oven 180 degrees ish until pastry is golden- about 30min
- its lovely, and cheap! got me through uni and a massive hit with my little sisters who are 8, 5 and 4 years old.

no.1swimmum

I have just started meal planning, thought I would do it now and get organised before I go back to work when the term begina. I make a list of 7 meals - not set in stone which day we will have what just a weeks worth of meals, then I make a list of all the ingredients that I need for these meals, but will double the ingredients for at least 2 meals so that I cook twice the amount and half is frozen - I then go through cupboards/fridge etc and highlight all the ingredients that we already have - voila my shopping list.

I really could not live without my slow cooker - in fact I now have 2 as one was reduced to £11 and sometimes at the weekend I will have both going with 2 different things for freezing - really have to juggle as our freezer isn't huge either. At the moment I have hunters chicken in one for dinner tonight. Really easy pre-heat slo cooker - heat a tablespoon oil in pan and fry 2 sliced onions, add 2 cloves garlic finely chopped (optional) cook on low for 5 - 10 mins. Now add 1 tin chopped tomatoes, 150ml red wine, 1 tablespoon tomato puree, season - I also added some chopped parsley and torn basil leaves (fromt he garden), bring to the boil. Put the chicken in slo cooker pour over sauce and cook on low 4-5 hours it specials yummy.
Now the wine I bought in lidl and obviously 150ml is not a full bottle so I have frozen the rest in ice cube trays then transfer to food bag to add to other meals/casseroles etc as needed.
Other things that I cook in my slow cooker - sausages in red wine, coq au vin (wine features alot!!!) garlic chicken, pork chops in apple juice, Garlic Chicken I also cook desserts yummy fudgy chocolate pudding, eve pudding and so on

Fire_Fox

yummymummy85 wrote: »

We do have a freezer but it's not particularly big - we have one of those american style fridge freezers so have a huge fridge and tiny freezer in comparison. I do keep left overs already (at the moment we have left over components for fish pie in the freezer, two small fish pies for DS and a pot of left over chilli). The only problem I can see with batch cooking is finding the time to do it, I'm a SAHM with a 16 month old who's into everything at the moment (like most boys are!) so I'm limited duringt he day to how much time I can spend in the kitchen by how long he decides to have a nap for. By the time that bedtime comes I'm normally shattered and would rather spend time with DH than in the kitchen. At the weekends I do tend to spend more time in the kitchen as DH is generally here to keep DS occupied! Obviously once DS2 makes his arrival I'm going to have less time during the day although we are toying with the idea of putting DS1 into nursery a couple of mornings a week after Christmas to give him some mummy-free time and the opportunity to socialise and to give mummy a bit of a break (i.e. only having one little monkey to look after for a couple of hours!!).

Forgot to mention in my first post that we do have a slow cooker but the only thing I've ever cooked in it is joints on a sunday i.e. beef or lamb - I get the impression that other meals in the slow cooker are more winter warmer type meals??

Spanish omelette is cheap, quick and healthy and can be eaten hot or cold. Eggs in general are good - scrambled on toast with mushrooms and tomatoes dry fried together in a separate pan, steam fried eggs with jacket potato and baked beans, huevos rancheros (tomato, peppers and eggs all in one pan), boiled or poached ...

Also homemade soup in your slow cooker with your fresh baked bread - soup can be as filling or as light as you fancy, it needs no attention and can't really be overcooked. Brocolli and stilton or cream of cauliflower can be made with frozen veg which is cheaper and doesn't need chopping. :T

Once DS1 is a little older perhaps he could 'help' you in the kitchen sometimes which means he'd still get one-to-one time with you and feels important.

debtmuncher

put the high chair in the kitchen and he could sit in that whilst you talk/cook. give him the pan and a spoon to bang (i wouldnt let him raid the pan cupboard in case you tripped over him then you have the extra work of tidying up after him lol)

what time is your dh home? you could make two dishes in one night ie tonights would be something you find really quick to cook then at the same time start the next days meal of a dish that takes longer preparation if you know what i mean?