Store cupboard challenge

sammy_kaye18

Hi hun

how have you only got £33?? has there been any overspending?? is this just a one off?? sorry fro the nosey questions just trying to see if its a one off thing or if you were better to look at a longer spending/meal plan.

Can i suggest twinks hobnobs to shut hubby up???? they are sugar, self raising flour, porridge oats, golden syrup and butter with a pinch of bicarb (although its not essential.) they are very yummy, very easy to make and filling but beware the twinks curse in that if you eat one your waistline will double because you cant just have one twink hobnob (im sure others will vouch for that).

anyway off to get a few meal plan ideas for you that are cheap, cheerful adn freezablwe

Soubrette

If the bananas are on the turn, how about banana bread/cake?

Def read maz's thread though

Sou

leiela

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Hi hun

how have you only got £33?? has there been any overspending?? is this just a one off?? sorry fro the nosey questions just trying to see if its a one off thing or if you were better to look at a longer spending/meal plan.

Can i suggest twinks hobnobs to shut hubby up???? they are sugar, self raising flour, porridge oats, golden syrup and butter with a pinch of bicarb (although its not essential.) they are very yummy, very easy to make and filling but beware the twinks curse in that if you eat one your waistline will double because you cant just have one twink hobnob (im sure others will vouch for that).

anyway off to get a few meal plan ideas for you that are cheap, cheerful adn freezablwe

It's just a one off *hopefully* this month things just fell apart .. ugh... abit a few unseen things have just thrown us off track, we normally spend about £250 ish a month on food.

We we've already spent £62 of with months budget, which is why there is food in the cuboards, unfortunatly the unforseen things need to be paid for and the food budget is the only place we have any room to manuver... anyway with £62 spent, unforseen things paid we have £33 left.

Im just rubbish at planning, i know i have plenty of food but its using it in the right combinations so i can make the best of it i suck at.

If left to my own devices food will be great for the first week .. but by week 4 i will have eaten all the good stuff and i'll be eating weird combinations of stuff that really doens't go together.

Im also aware i have alot of "fresh veg/salad meat" etc and i know all that needs eating first.. i just lack planning and organisation skills, i do tend to freeze veg etc when it starts to turn but the freeze is kinda full atm (it's only small) there is alittle space in it so i can fit a couple more things in there.. but i need to do something with the rest throwing away veg when your short on cash is not a good plan.

I've got a chicken in the slow cooker atm, cooking plain... i havn't got as far as planing what to do with it yet though so any idea's for tonights tea would be great. It's a good size so i can make 2 maybe 3 meals out of it .. then stock/soup. was thinking potato's / veg and gravy for tonight, maybe a chicken/veg curry tommorrow... but i'm stressing it's so stupid.. i try and think what to do with it then i panic that im not making the best use of what i have!!!

Im just having one of *THOSE* weeks... ugh.

FairyElephant_2

leiela wrote: »

Leftovers are made for seconds as far as he's concerned, saving food till the next day is alien, i work around it though .. i hide the leftovers till it's cool enough to freeze haha.

I just need to make sure he's had decent meals otherwise he'll raid the cuboards and last thing i need is him using up half the ingredients cause he was peckish.

I was gonna suggest taking out a portion BEFORE you serve up and hiding it - LOL! That's what I have to do as my DH always goes looking for 2nds too!

What I've done sometimes when the SK's are over (they used to be in the habit of raiding the fridge/cupboards whenever my back was turned :eek: but I have almost 'cured' them of it now) is stick post-it notes to stuff with messages like "don't touch - needed for Monday supper - or you will starve!" it seems to have got the message across!

You seem to be doing great with bulking out your mince with lentils etc (grated carrot is another good one for this - and it is healthy too!) and have a good range of stuff, so if you can apply the bulking out idea to other stuff then I reckon you can make it - no problem!

I'd definintely get some more pasta, as it is filling & versatile (Asda have it 2 for £1 at the moment - the smartprice one is only 43p for the same size, but the one on offer is much, much nicer for an extra 7p!).

If you don't use websites like mysupermarket.com, maybe have a look there to check out the special offers, and see which one is cheapest for your needs? I use this and print off my list to take with me, if I don't have a free delivery code that is!

I agree with MissB and/or Lynzpower - can you either have a serious chat with your DH re the situation and get him to toe the line, or get the card away from him? Harsh I know, but he really should be supporting you in this Hun, not sabotaging your efforts and giving you stress.

Good luck - YOU CAN DO IT!

leiela

Yes DH does need talking too ... *sigh* he's such a pain, i love him but he's a pain.

DH spent £25 of the budget this month, on a DVD and photo's for the kids passports .. ok so the passports i can handle, but he got the DVD so he could get cashback at asda and get £1 coin's for the machine, so in the end £25 vanished NOT going on food and im sure there where better ways of getting the £8 he needed for the photo's....

ARGH... i had SERIOUS words!!!

tessie_bear

hi.....u mention not having much left at the end of the month...food wise so would it be useful to adapt a little and often approach to shopping ?if u had less in but got it on a demand basis noone could whip it prior to u cooking it...i liked the idea of leaving postits on things saying dont touch etc
do u do meal planning ? perhaps try a few days at a time because it can be daunting if u try and do a month or whatever imo
do u want suggestions of what to cook with all that food or have u got that sorted ?
good luck

leiela

Ok having got home from work i've re-checked the list, im pretty proud of how much i got right this morning, i had EVERYthing i said i had and only missed a few bits.



Tins / Cuboards

5 tins of plum tomatos (was supposed to get chopped but asda sent the wrong ones.. grr)
1 tin of beans
3 tins of tuna (me and DS1 are the only ones that will eat it)
2 john west tuna filets in sauce
½ small bag of pasta (maybe enough for 1 meal)
1 packet of spaghetti
Nuts/seeds - various (salted peanuts, pecans, walnuts, pumkin, pinenuts etc etc the list go’s on)
Raisins – ½ big bag
Dried Apricots – ½ bag
Dried mixed Fruit – ½ bag
1 bag SR flour
1 med bag brown rice
22 eggs
5 wholemeal wraps (for kids sandwiches ds1 eats 1 per day, ds2 eats 2 (don’t ask haha))
1 bag sugar
1 bag oatmeal
2 packs jelly crystals
Gravy granules chicken/small amount of beef
Oxo – various
Red Lentils – half bag
Barley – full bag
Dried mixed beans – full bag
Herbs + spices – enough to drown a battleship
1 packet desert whip - strawberry
1 tin bamboo shoots
½ packet of lasagne sheets
Golden syrup
1 bottle of squash
1 carton of longlife apple juice
1 tub dried milk
Toffee sauce
Custard powder
Lemon juice
Tea – green/normal and fruit
Coffee
Drinking Chocolate
½ pack ritz crackers
6 bags of crisps
Woustshire sauce
3 tins of kidney beans
2 christmas puddings
1 small choc pudding
1 pk egg noodles
1 tin pie filling (blackberry)
1 pk of flavored couscous
1 bag plain wholewheat couscous
1 and 1/4 bag soup mix
balsamic vinagar
rice vinagar
Texan chicken cooking sauce - 10 jars (don't ask!!)
1 bag chickpeas
hot and spicey marinade
Peppercorn marinade
various cup a soups no-one likes but can't bring myself to throw away.
2 tins coconut milk
peanut butter
mustard
baking powder
Popcorn - unpopped
cornflour
dried breadcrumbs
demerara suger
icing suger
pudding rice
36 weetbix - for kids breakfast
rice cakes - 1/2 pk
Cornflakes - 1/2 pk
all bran - 1/4 pk
cracker breads - 1pk

Veg

8 small potato’s
5 leeks
1 celeriac
1kg carrots
Sack of onions
4 medium sweet potato’s.
1 savoy cabbage
1 bag spinach
½ iceburg lettuce
1 round lettuce
4.5 peppers (2 green, 1 yellow, 1 and ½ red)
3 courgettes
1 bag bean sprouts
1 cucumber
1 packet of mange tout
1 white cabbage
2 avocado
4 sticks celery

Fruit

4 banana’s (on the turn)
1 punnet of grapes (bought for ds1’s packed lunches)
3 apples
3 sticks of rhubarb
2 grapefruit
2 cartons of Fruit juice – 1 mango/orange 1 pineapple

Meat - fresh

5 slices of ham
½ packet sliced chicken (maybe 8 slices)
1 small gammon joint
1 pack bacon
8 steak mince burgers – quite big
1 chicken (currently in the slow cooker for tonight/tomorrow)

Meat - Frozen

1 pack turkey mince
1 small pack – beef mince
1 small chicken
1 packet sausages
2 large chicken breast
4 beef steaks (very small)
1 packet of chicken strips in batter
4 fish fingers
1 packed diced chicken breast
1 small portion of plain cod
4 very small chicken breasts
1 pk bacon

Fridge

2pts full fat milk for kids
1 pts skimmed milk
1 large tub of stork for baking
¼ tub marg
¼ block of cheese
1 packet cheese strings – (8)
1 packet of frubes – (9) + 3 loose
½ pack of cocktail sausages – about 15 sausages
14 mini savoury eggs
3 strawberry jellys made up
7 yogurts
2 large pots of natural yogurt
2 blocks of salad cheese (cheap feta sort of thing)


Frozen – Pre-prepared meals

Lentil and Lamb – Casserole (1 person portion)
Chicken Soup - (1 person portion)
Sandwiches/filled wraps – 8 sets.

Frozen Veg

Green beans – ½ pack
Broccolli – 1 pack
Onions (home - frozen) – 4 small bags 1 chopped onion in each
Mushrooms (home - frozen) – maybe 200g
Peppers (home - frozen) – 200g
Stirfry Veg (home - frozen) – 400g ish
Casserole veg – precooked (home - frozen) – 400g ish
Cauliflower – ½ pack
Spinach – 1 pack
Sprouts – 1 bag (im the only one who will eat them)
1 bag chopped 1 whole white cabbage (home – frozen)
Asparagus - 1 pk

Frozen other –

Frubes – 1 pack (9)
HM flapjacks – 8
HM chocolate fairy cakes – 4
HM Banana Cake – ½ loaf
HM Chocolate Cake – ½ loaf
Small HM Rhubarb Crumble
HM Frozen pancakes (leftover from pancake day) – plain – 8 large
20 mini sausage rolls
1 large cheese and tom pizza for kids
1 punet of rasberry's
4 donuts

Dogfood

2 tins
Enough dry for 4 days

Catfood

30 foil packets
Enough dry for 3 days
Cat litter – 1 weeks’ worth (and even thats leaving them abit stinky)

Other

Loo rolls – 8
Stardrops – 2 bottles
Various other cleaners
1 bottle white vinegar
½ small box of soap powder
1/3 bottle of fabric conditioner
Washing up liquid – ½ bottle

leiela

I still need help organising this into something useable mostly because ill just randomly make meals till i run out of stuff and i'll end up with a load of inedable stuff at the end of the month otherwise ... eeek...

It's just knowing how to sort it all out to make the most of everything you know??

liney

Id do a proper roast dinner tonight and use any veg which will turn first

Get a stirfry done asap before your bean sprouts etc go off - use some left over chicken?

Salad with your feta cheese etc before it turns.

Id keep the gammon for next week and stretch it a few meals - with mash and veg - gammon chips/egg

Make a quiche next week with your eggs and some bacon.

If you get really stuck make French Onion Soup

To be honest, i think you will struggle to use what you have. You will need a sack of spuds and some veggies, but you can be very well fed with that lot.

zippychick

SOrry to hear your dilemma. Not sure how much advice i can offer , but as everyone here says, just dont panic. Meal plan is definitely a good idea, and if you can do the months - even better as then you know exactly what needs to go towards what IYKWIM

I would suggest starting with dinners. Left overs can be part of the next days lunch if you are able to bulk up enough.

I would get some Lentil soup on the go - you have all the stuff you need. Hearty, nutritious and filling. Lentil curry is good for using up old remains of veg - its a very simple recipe I can put up if you want it.

Could you have two nights a week of no meat? I think people make their diets revokve around meat far too much! You could do the meal so you get your protein from other sources? Just an idea. I only eat meat a few times a week and see it as a real treat

I would invest in more chopped tomatoes as well.

Meals with chopped toms could be - HM pasta sauce (good for leftover veg), HM spag bol, HM chilli, HM gammon curry (dunno if that sounds good lol) etc. All these would be great for work in a baked potato - you can nuke them at work . You can also do a batch of them at a time as they will keep a couple of days

Could you have one night a week of a toast based meal? Eggs beans and toast or something? or toasties? I loved toasties as a kid!

I think before you go shopping, you really need to have an idea what you need and what meals you have planned. Otherwise youll end up with non useful things.

If it was me, i would try and keep what money you do have as long as possible and live off what you have in - just buying essentials - then in the back of your mind you have the safefty net of money and its not like you arent able to buy anything . I think my brain would panic more if i spent all the budget and then had nothing left!

Definitely read mbaz thread, its amazing and inspiring. And be thankful you have quite a good store there to start with ( i mean that in a nice way)

Baked potatoes beans and cheese is a great cheap dinner too. Yum.

Oh, your nuts and seeds - as you will know are very filling. Maybe experiment with adding to meals? You could try grinding some down and adding in - just a thought.

I have a really nice spiced rice with pumpkin seed recipe if you want it.

Just relax, be thankful yuo have a lot of support here and remember, this is totally possible!

Oh, and get some banana muffins on the go for hubbys lunch , I have made Thrift ladys and they were amazing.

I know it might sound silly but what i do is try and ration. I got a big massive bag of Mccoys for eg, and its so i can have a packed each day to take to work (rather than spending 55p on them in work :mad:). I bagged up 4 weeks supply - so i put 4 packs in each bag which i put out of the way. If i left them all in the crisp cupboard, they would all be eaten in no time by myself and visitors, but this way, i ration them . I hope that makes sense . I also did the same with little biscuit packets. SO if you make muffins for eg you tell hubby there is 5 - one for lunch each day., If he eats them in two days, tough luck im afraid!

Edit - did i mention quorn ? Dirt cheap. What would happen if you mixed mince with quorn mince i wonder. Hmmmmmmm