Store cupboard challenge

Paulie'sGirl

Hiya,

Still thinking, but here's a few ideas to go on with:

Ratatouille with a tin of toms, the courgette, some of the carrots, the peppers, onion and garlic. Serve over pasta or with rice

For OH and kids lunches try a 5 cup cake

2 mugs flour, 1 mug sugar, 1 mug dried fruit, 1 mug milk. Add ground mix spice, ginger, nutmeg or cinnamon to taste. Bake at 160 til knife comes out clean.

Soak and then cook a good amount of dried mixed beans, then make Tuscan bean stew with tinned tomatoes and potatoes. Also wonderful reheated for lunch http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=813339

Use the frozen precooked chicken to make spicey pasta. Chop one of the tins of toms, sweat some minced garlic and chopped onion in olive oil. add the toms and herbs (oregano and thyme are good) add some chilli (flakes, fresh, powder all work fine). Add the defrosted chicken and heat through in the sauce. Toss in pasta (shapes or spagetti) and enjoy! (Taken from my fav restaurant in Newcastle)

Make stirfrys with loads of veg. If you use a lot of veg and mushrooms we don't always need chicken.

I would mix the turkey mince with the beef mince and make a big ragu. If you use enough tomatoes and herbs you can't tell (and I believe the original is made with a mix of beef and pork anyway). Use the ragu with spagetti, the pasta shapes, the lasagne sheets, or the pancakes (wrap ragu in pancakes like cannelloni, cover in cheese sauce or bechamel and bake)

Or.... make the mixed mince into chilli with the peppers and mixed beans to add bulk. Serve with rice and the salad to make it stretch. Freeze leftovers and reinvent it later in the month, perhaps with wraps.

I would either make a sausage casserole with the sausages (peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, a bit of potato, herbs and stock) or a toad in the hole served with gravy and veg.

That's a fair bit to go on with LOL. Hope some of it is useful.

Big hugs,

PGxx

Penelope_Penguin

loulou1612 wrote: »

thanku everyone;)
really appriciated...

Great - Old Stylers always amaze me with their suggestions :j

I'll add this to the existing storecupboard challenge thread to keep ideas together

Penny. x

crockpot

I need to join in too as cupboards and freezer are full and purse empty!

Have done well having my cash purse but have also been using my debit card, I know should have left it at home, had to go into town so popped into Iceland cause it was on the way home-save on petrol- spent £16 I had not planned on!

I am now not working so have more time to shop I mean cook from scratch,

But I have started slimming world as T only have 1 pair if jeans that will fit me, was going to have this noodle thing-cheap from iceland, but found out it was 28 syns and I am only allowed a max of 15 a day, so that will have to go to bottom of freezer or I will have to fed it to hubbie.

Will make a list of stuff I have over weekend and hope you can help me empty my frezeer and cut my waistline!

scattymam1

I was going to suggest stocking up on potatoes but seen you have a huge bag already- cheap, keeps for a while and you don't need many to add bulk to your meals.
If you keep your last few back why don't you try chitting them - http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/potatoes-chitting/
You don't need a garden I grow mine in an old dustbin. Won't help you this month but it's something you can do this month to help you later
I would see how many days I can get by - example...
1 10 fish fingers
2 10 fish fingers
3 10 sausages
4 10 sausages
5 gammon steaks
6 omelette with cheese and eggs
7 fry up with egg, veggie sausage and bacon
8 corned beef hash
9 stew with the braising steak
10 lamb knuckle
11 whole chicken
12 whole chicken
13 whole chicken
14 pasta with tomato sauce and bacon bits
15 big chunky soup with mix
16 pork chops
17 vegetable stir fry
18 tomato based pasta
19
20 18 days at a quick glance
21
22
23 Try and bulk out the pastas and stews with plenty veg or potatoes so you have enough portions to last two meals

I would keep the 30pound for milk and bread but also if it all gets too much have a tenner aside for a takeaway - when we're scrimping like this my husband gets very grumpy so I see how far I can drag it out for then sharing one chips, one rice, one naan and one curry (which is more than enough and comes to 9pounds at my local indians) seems like a huge treat and he's temporarily pleased.

mjburton

With regards to the cat with the damaged jaw - have you tried him/her with dry food that has been soaked with warm water? I do this for my elderly dog who has very bad teeth (he's not upto a GA for a dental) and he really enjoys his food again now it's soft. Also much cheaper than wet food.

retiredlady

mummytoash wrote: »

dh wont eat soup tho. i like the idea with the cabbage n the brekkies.

With the greatest respect, with the budget of £30 for the month which is needed for nappies and milk I would tell your dh to eat soup, find me some more money or go hungry!:rolleyes:

leiela

mjburton wrote: »

With regards to the cat with the damaged jaw - have you tried him/her with dry food that has been soaked with warm water? I do this for my elderly dog who has very bad teeth (he's not upto a GA for a dental) and he really enjoys his food again now it's soft. Also much cheaper than wet food.

Well the cat is abit of a long story really, she actually damaged her jaw 10 years ago, and up untill a about 2 months ago our vet told us she was fine. she's always been underweight but he said she was healthy so we didn't worry about it.

Various things happened in november we had a falling out with the old vet over some treatment she gave to our dog and we switched vets. We took the cat to the new vet because she wasn't well with something unrealated, and he was VERY concerned about her weight, unlike old vet who said she was fine.

Test where run various investigation and we discovered the old vet had wired up her jaw wrong after the accident, and it had healed in the wrong postion so it no-longer closes fully and her teeth don't meet, meaning she can't chew, so for years we where feeding her dry cat food which she struggled with because it was painful hence she only ate enough to survive.

since discovering this we've moved her to wet cat food which we mash into a pulp and add water too so its more like a soup haha, but she still has 10 years of fear of food behind her so getting her to eat can still be a pain in the bum, she still doesn't eat "normal cat amounts" if its not appealing she won't touch it... getting her to eat the wet involves heating it up so its smells nice. I can try adding water to dry but tbh i doubt she'll touch it, i sware i have the only anorexic cat on the planet.

I've got enough pouches for 1 per day so it's not too bad, she does eat a very little amount of dry food occasionally. The local fish munger sells bag's of fish scraps for £1 so i might get a couple of those, they are quite big and i can cook it and freeze it in portions, maybe mix it in with her meat, not great long term but it's not too bad for just a few weeks.

I gave the dog just half a tin of meat yesterday mixed in with some compleate dog food and the leftovers from dinner, some bits of veg mostly, im gonna go and buy 2 tins of meat later today for her but im not buying a big bag of food just yet.

I know it sounds awful but she's got a tumour and is dying, me and the vet decided last month it wasn't worth operating on her again (she had a huge one removed in november) and she's going for a check up on tuesday to see if it's time to put her to sleep (another expence i can't afford) i suspect she's still alright and will be sent home, as she still seems bouncy enough but i don't want to spend what little cash i have on dogfood if he's going to put her to sleep... which i know sounds awful.

leiela

Paulie'sGirl wrote: »

For OH and kids lunches try a 5 cup cake

2 mugs flour, 1 mug sugar, 1 mug dried fruit, 1 mug milk. Add ground mix spice, ginger, nutmeg or cinnamon to taste. Bake at 160 til knife comes out clean.

Soak and then cook a good amount of dried mixed beans, then make Tuscan bean stew with tinned tomatoes and potatoes. Also wonderful reheated for lunch http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=813339

Oh thanks for the cake recipe, would you make that in a big tin?? loaf tin?? I was thinking of making cakes since i've got all the ingredients and they will be good to fill out lunch box's etc.

The bean recipe looks great too those dried beans have been in my cuboard forever, i bought them and never quite worked out what to do with them, the others look good too thanks for some great idea's

tomterm8

Personally, if you're doing it for lunches I tend to get the very cheap cup cake liners from tesco's and use them... cup cakes are easier to pack than slices.

leiela

Ok todays plan, i've got a big tub of stock thanks to an overnight run with the slow cooker, which is currently in the fridge (wouldn't fit in the freeze) i'll make soup out of that tommorrow and i've put 4 tubs of chicken soup in the freezer this morning 2 with pasta, 2 without (with added white cabbage) which will do me and the hubby for work 2 days next week.

Oatmeal for breakies for me and kids, hubby had weetabix.

Lunch is gonig to be the planned Couscous salad, with bacon and avocado.

Dinner im going to make HUGE curry enough for 2 days with the leftover chicken and a ton of veg. i was going to freeze a portion but i don't think it's going to fit in the freezer so we'll have to eat it in the next couple of days.

Im also away the stirfry stuff needs eating but thats ok, it's was mostly only bought back end of last week so i still have a few days with it, and what i don't use i'll chop/freeze (if i can make space for it)