Store cupboard challenge

highland_fling_2

hi everyone
sorry about you losing your job freakyogre.
Don't forget you can pick up some bargains in the discount and pound stores such as teabags, tinned soups etc.
Worth having a browse before you go to supermarket.

jackieglasgow

Hi, we are a family of four, me DH and 2 x DS (10 & 7). Only meat eaten in the house is chicken by the 3 boys, I am completely veggie, and am trying to manage this month on £150 all in. Did my first shop of the month and restocked as I was doing a great impression of mother hubbard, and we have the following:

bread flour x 2 (1whitw 1 wholemeal)
plain flour
s/r flour
caster sugar
condensed milk
golden syrup
bicarb etc. (do most of my own cakes biscuits bread etc.)
Couscous (plain)
tortilla wraps
sachet flavoured couscous
rice (basmati, risotto and long grain)
fusilli
spaghetti
chick peas
lentils
broth mix
tinned spahgetti in sauce(smartprice, first time ever bought for cheap snack)
beans
noodles
raisins
assorted nuts and seeds

fridge

passata
tomato puree
milk
cheese
eggs
butter and spread
puff pastry
veggie haggis (earmarked)
I/ cabbage
onions
carrots
peppers
garlic
grapes
nectarines
ginger

freezer

6 veggie sausages
quorn pieces
3 veggie hot dogs
soya mince
six turkey fillets
broccoli
cauliflower
french beans
peas
mini corn on the cob
ice cream
frozen bananas
crumble topping
chickpeas

I have about £90 left in my budget for the month, and would like to eke out the shopping for as long as possible, my younger DS isn't overl keen on veggies, and I usually diguise them, and only give him one "visible" veg on his plate at a time, to get him eating them, please don't judge |'m slowly but surely getting there with him!! Husband doen't like cheese or white sauces, and has a manual job, so is usually ravenous when he gets in!

Really, I've never really meal planned before more than a a day or two in advance, and am willing to give rubber chicken a try if you all think that would work.

I am grateful for any ideas and advice you wish to bestow upon me, and am a competent cook, just stuck in a rut, so please don't be shy with your ideas!!

Jackie. X

LilacPixie

Would you OH have soup for tea with some bits of HM bread??. My OH has a manual job and is happy with a soup if it had some thick bits of fresh bread on the side. I fully understand the veg issue I tend to get around it my making lots of tomato based pasta sauced with onion, pepper, sometimes grated carrot of some celery too. Basicaly the tomato disguises the veg.

jackieglasgow

Thanks, we already have soup twice or three times a week. We love it and it's the best thing for the anti veggie boy. anyone else?

angelavdavis

jackieglasgow wrote: »

bread flour x 2 (1whitw 1 wholemeal)
plain flour
s/r flour
caster sugar
condensed milk
golden syrup
bicarb etc. (do most of my own cakes biscuits bread etc.)
Couscous (plain)
tortilla wraps
sachet flavoured couscous - see below
rice (basmati, risotto and long grain) - see below
fusilli - see below
spaghetti - as well as serving normally, add to soups for minestrone
chick peas - can be used for more felafel
lentils - great for bulking up other dishes as well as soup
broth mix - soups
tinned spahgetti in sauce(smartprice, first time ever bought for cheap snack) - good served with fried bubble and squeak
beans - see below
noodles - see below
raisins
assorted nuts and seeds

fridge

passata
tomato puree
milk
cheese
eggs - as well as recipes below, what about fried or scrambled egg with bubble and squeak?
butter and spread
puff pastry
veggie haggis (earmarked)
I/ cabbage
onions
carrots
peppers
garlic
grapes
nectarines
ginger

freezer

6 veggie sausages - chop up and add to onion, garlic, passata, sliced half green/red pepper plus a little lentils and cook as a casserole, serve with bubble and squeak or pasta
quorn pieces - fry onions and garlic in a little oil, add sliced quorn, add risotto rice, stock, carrots and peas. Cover and cook until rice is cooked. Serve with a little salsa on the side.
3 veggie hot dogs - hot dogs, cut up with beans topped in cheese and served with mash
soya mince - make some bolognaise with passata, with some lentils to bulk out then split into three. 1/3 as bolognaise with pasta, 1/3 x 2 add half a tin of kidney beans in each plus a little chilli. Serve 1/3 with rice and sweetcorn, 1/3 in wraps with some salad.
six turkey fillets - Slice 3 fillets into pieces and marinate in lime juice, coriander, garlic and cumin then fry, adding sliced half peppers and serve in wraps with salsa.
- Use other 3 fillets, sliced into pieces and marinated in a little sesame oil and soy sauce, fry, then add presoaked noodles, broccoli and mini corn with a dash of water.
broccoli - as above
cauliflower - egg fried rice with cauli, fr beans as accompaniment or even a main dish
french beans
peas - see above
mini corn on the cob - as above
ice cream
frozen bananas
crumble topping
chickpeas - Make felafel with half using coriander, cumin and garlic and serve with humous made with rest of chickpeas and sesame oil instead of tahini. Serve with flavoured couscous and HM pitta bread. Any leftover humous can be put into sandwiches for lunches.

I also add vegetables and nuts to rice for interest and more nutrients/flavour

Definitely make some bread, I personally tend to make rolls as there is less waste, use some mixed grain to add different toppings

Based on the above, you will need to buy the following from your £90:
- More passata if needed
- Tinned kidney beans
- Jar of salsa
- small sesame oil
- soy sauce
- coriander and cumin
- 1 lime
- Potatoes

I make that ten meals without soups so hope that helps!

I'm not great with desserts, but I am sure more ideas will be forthcoming from other OSers!

mama67

I have been using things from the pantry and freezer rather than buying anything just because it is grocery shop day.

I am still getting my organic veg box weekly (only veggies bought), and my milk from the milkman and eggs from the farmgate.

I have already managed one week of planning/cooking like this and am now about to start the second.

It is surprising when even though you may meal plan etc what you can find lurking when you defrost a freezer.

Fire_Fox

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Thanks, we already have soup twice or three times a week. We love it and it's the best thing for the anti veggie boy. anyone else?

I notice you have plenty of beans and lentils in your store cupboard - these count as one towards your DS's five a day! :j Also they should help fill your hungry hubby up and are very cheap so I'd be inclined to try to feed your men pulses on a daily basis. Red lentils hide beautifully in anything sauce-y cooked long and slow; Mr. Fire Fox is a chef and I've even got them past him!

ragz_2

Hi all, have just done an inventory of my freezer in the hope of being able to eat some things to make space for all the Plums we have! Have discovered an awful lot of meat that I didn't know we had and to me it looks like we could eat for at least a week from the stuff in there. Only prob is I need some help/inspiration for meals so that I can plan ahead and buy any veg etc to go with things. Was hoping if I listed what I have then you helpful people could give me some ideas?
(To make meals for 2 adults - DH eats big portions and likes his meat - and 2 toddlers who don't eat much at all)

500G Beef mince
500G Pork mince (not keen on this so need something to disguise the flavour)
600g diced beef (this is a bit poor quality, which is why I bunged it in the freezer, big chunks and very fatty)
700g diced lamb
8 X minced lamb kebabs (no idea what to do with these, bought them reduced!)
2 X pork chops and 1 pork steak
6 X sausages
500g chicken thighs/parcels (OH won these at meat raffle!)

I also have an abundance of frozen plums and apple sauce!
Oh, and a lot of chips!

Any ideas gratefully received.

esmf73

Without thinking - Sausage and chips! Alternatively make the fatty beef cubes into a casserole - skim the cooked fat off and cut off what you can prior to making it.

CCP

Pork mince makes really nice burgers - you can add a blob of curry paste if you need to hide the flavour (Thai's particularly good -a mild one if the kids are going to eat it!). Or mix it 50/50 with beef mince for making meatballs or meat sauce for lasagne - in both cases I personally prefer this to using all beef.

Casserole / stew does seem like the best way to go with the diced beef - if you cook it long enough most of the fat will come out, particularly if you chill it in the fridge overnight - then you can just scrape excess fat off the top.