any ideas

Bogof_Babe

Well I can't see how that meal regime can possibly cost anywhere near £159 a week :eek: , so either you are being robbed on the Mars bars or you have overlooked other expenditure out of that sum.

Are you including things like petrol or clothing, or wine etc.?

Heth_2

Another idea (am bored tonight obviously), why don't you borrow some simple cook books from the library? Perhaps something aimed at students, or simple everyday meals. That would give you some ideas, as well as helping with things you/your wife don't feel confident about doing like cooking fish. Then as someone suggested you could perhaps try a new thing once a week to get you started.

dazzanator

Bogof_Babe wrote:

Well I can't see how that meal regime can possibly cost anywhere near £159 a week :eek: , so either you are being robbed on the Mars bars or you have overlooked other expenditure out of that sum.

Are you including things like petrol or clothing, or wine etc.?[/QUOT

no realy if you look in at dfw under my spending dairy you will see what i spent last week and what i brought i hadnt eaten every thing brought as some is in frezzer and somethings what we ate last week was not brought last week they come from the week before so honestly i did spend that much that why i am here to try and sort it out no petrol inculed or wine fags about 30 worth mybe 10 non food items the rest is food:eek:

Queenie

Thanks for posting that dazzanator.

Ok, my immediate observation is that in the past week you have consumed (between four of you) 3 take away meals, Chinese, Mc's burger and Kebabs and in addition you daily have penguin, mars, chocolate biscuit and muffins.
4 choco treats per day x 4 people x 7 days per week = 112 snacks per week?

I'm not up to date with how much a chinese, mc's or kebab cost for 4 but if they average say £15 = £45 just for those three meals?
Homemade curries, pilau's, tandoori recipes can be found here.

As big meat eaters, you could still continue eating meaty meals but simply change the type of meats you are eating. Meat in sauce meals, such as bolognaise, chilli, can prove more economical and so can stir fries.
You don't need to buy rump steak to make a beef casserole, you should be buying a cheaper cut of meat. Or, change it to savoury mince and bulk out the mince with veggies. Both are basically meat in gravy, and the change wouldn't be a huge shock to the system.

Pork chops are delicious, but, yet again, not the cheapest of choices - replace those with some tasty pork sausages and you will have halved the expense on that one meal alone.

You could slash your food bill *and* begin to improve your health simply by bulking out your meals with plenty of fresh vegetables and reducing meat portions sizes.

I've seen bread machines in Asda for around the £20 mark. With one of those you can make your own bread which will be more filling and healthy than bought bread, plus you can make chelsea buns, hot X buns and doughnuts in it, to satisfy your sweet tooth. Don't view it as an expense, but an investment. Speculate to accumulate. Some machines can even be used to make cakes.

Do you make your own muffins? They are cheaper than shop bought. I keep a batch of "Every Day Biscuits" in my fridge or freezer and just slice enough and cook enough as and when needed. Recipe in the thread: Easy Homemade Biscuits

Substitute your Mars Bars with some HM flapjacks?
Other cake, muffins and bakes can be found here:-

Perhaps tweaking your main meal menu a bit, you could have something like this example:-

Sun: Roast Chicken with trimmings (reserve some of the meat for Tues)

Mon: Tuna Pasta Bake ( Recipe ) with side salad and garlic bread

Tues: Chicken Curry - recipes - use up leftover chicken from Sunday

Wednesday: HM burger with jacket potato and veggies

Thursday: Sausage Casserole (Recipe )

Friday: Fish Pie (Recipe ) Or perhaps, fish fingers?

Saturday: Week 1 - have a take-away, if you've come this far, you deserve a night off! Next week, you can think of the sort of meal which makes Saturday fun but cheaper, say, a pizza night? Homemade of course :laugh:

Lunch Ideas:- sandwich, piece of hm cake (Isn't there even one fruit your family eat? Banana? Grapes? )

Snacks: homemade biscuits, flapjacks, hm muffins. (really, really, truly, no fruit at all you like? Strawberries? Melon? )

Often in the daily thread Old Styler's will post what they are having for breakfast, lunch and dinner so you may want to read through and take some inspiration from there, too?

Hope that is of some help to you.

dazzanator

hi thankyou no there is no fruit liked apart from rasins do they count