Help! £40 to feed family for the month

goodgodthatonesevenbigger

Wow Great thread. I'm Wondering now if i can do something similar. I live on my own most of the time( i have my kids everyother weekend) so in theory i could freeze portions of suggest recipes and i would have months worth of food, would just need to buy replacement cupboard items and fresh fruit.

jasperconran

Hi all,

I feel like I really need some help in the ole food/meal planning department. I have falllen off the wagon as it were just lately and we have had far too many takeaways ok some of have been the curry takeaways from asdas, but even so.......its not good.

I feel as if I am always going to the shops and yet in my freezer i have got 3 small gammon joints, 3 chickens and sausages and some other bits and pieces. store cupboard is not too bad either. The thing is, my oh is allergic to cheese and with regards to fish, he will only eat prawns. now, he said to me the other day, he is fed up with having potatoes all the time. My reaction was, well cook your own food then:rotfl: but.....it did cause a bit of an argument:(

the amount of bread i buy is absolutely ridiculous and i am worried as I dont buy any fruit whatsoever! I am so ashamed and I am made to feel like a really bad person/mother as well. please please help me someone with meal planning etc. I would love to be able to feed my family (there is only 3 of us!!!!) for as little money as is physically possible. any ideas anyone??? thanks JC xxxxx

miggy

Hi JC,
Don't go beating yourself up over it - being a parent is hard work and you are feeding your family and even have supplies against a rainy day - how is that being a bad mum?
I sympathise about the difficulties of feeding a family, and I'm the one who gets fed up of potatoes round here, so here are a few ideas. Hope something helps!
I think I started meal planning by just recording what we ate for a couple of weeks, tweaking it a bit when I had time then settling it up as a rolling rota. Easier than writing something out and hoping it works.
Some people chose a different basis for each day of the week, so Monday - rice, Tuesday - chips, Wednesday - pasta, Thursday - pancakes, Friday - potatoes, Saturday - cous cous, Sunday - Roast.
Alternatively, Sunday - Beef, Monday - chicken, Tuesday - white fish, Wednesday - vegetarian, Thursday - mince, Friday - oily fish, Saturday - takeaway. You could even use different national cuisines for themes - Italian, Mexican, English etc.
My DH is lactose intolerant though not to the extent that he can't have any dairy, we just have to be careful. It does mean lots of onion/tomato based sauces instead of milk based, but there are plenty of variations to those - add peppers, garlic, sliced sausage, olives, etc. We usually have them with pasta, either just mixed with a tin of tuna, or quorn pieces, or with something like chicken pices in a pasta bake. Would that be an acceptable alternative to potatoes (when your DH takes over the cooking, lol!)?
If potatoes are something you find quick and easy, perhaps just find one or two different ways to cook them. If you bake them, find a different filling, or mash them with corned beef and fried onions (corned beef hash).
Do you ever make pancakes? Cheap and quick, and you can vary fillings or get the family to compete for the title of pancake chef . Using the same batter, but a bit thicker, make Yorkshire puds - not just with roast beef, either. Turn them into Toad in the Hole, or even have them for pudding with golden syrup!
Most of your freezer foods would be good with cous cous if your family likes that. I'd suggest using a site like Approved Food or Bargain Foods or Big Brands for Less where you can buy flavoured cous cous very cheaply and it's great when you haven't the energy to cook as you just rehydrate it for a few minutes and serve. (There is a thread discussing Approved Food if you search the forum).
You could also try savoury crumbles - if you make a batch of crumble topping, sweet or savoury, it can be fridged or frozen till needed.
Also, think about making puddings sometimes - a good way to get fruit into the family , and it can be tinned, dried or frozen, it doesn't always have to be fresh. My family loves crumble on whatever tinned or cheap fruit I have to hand, or rice pudding, bread and butter pudding, or, thought his is more expensive, fresh fruit salad. All yummy and all useful for keeping the wolf from the door. You can throw a handful of raisins into any of the above and feel virtuous because they're nutricious as well as tasty.
I know these sound like extra expense but you don't need pudding every day - maybe just for a treat - and it adds variety as well as fruit!
Also - have a look at what you actually like in the way of fruit, and plan it into just one or two meals to start with: banana on cereal or an apple with lunch perhaps. If you like baking I have a recipe for banana bread I can send you - it freezes well and is great for using up overripe bananas! Also it's fruit but doesn't feel like fruit, if you see what I mean.
Sorry this is so long! I'm not sure I've solved your problem but I hope you find something you think you could try. You won't get it perfect all at once but it's worth making a start and doing what you can. Do post again and let us know how it goes!

jasperconran

thank you Miggy! thats a great help and its really appreciated:) you have given me some fab ideas to stop the ole moaning one:rotfl:

Will keep posting to see how i get on, I know I have been terrible lately with takeways n stuff, been feeling a bit low so need a good kick up the backside!!!!!!

Will start fresh this week, thanks again for the ideas.

JC x

firesidemaid

a couple of ideas jasper....

if OH likes prawns then a prawn omlette with herbs and lemon juice is lovely and nutricious (we keep value frozen prawns in freezer).

also, take some time to read, buy (from charity shops) or loan (from library) cook books and note the quick, easy and yummy recipes.

flapjacks - you can add any type of dried fruit/nut/choc chips etc - recently made some nigella banana muffins from over-ripe bananas, took no time (and no sugar only the bananas and some honey).

have made several courgette cakes (sweet, yummy fuit cakes) from good food mag, now abou to try alys fowler's (thrify gardener) courgette muffins, which she adapted from her mum's banana cake recipe - 10-12 mins only.

sometimes, its trial and error - i like the recipes that are cheap, easy and yummy!

pasta bakes - just use whatever you have in fridge. make a beef/chicken/veg stew with loads of cheap veg (pots, carrots, parsnips, celery), pearl barley or lentils with dumplings and/or mash - freezes well too x

Toomuchdebt

Used lentils for the first time today Love this thread!!

craftygranny

Hope you don't mind me poking my nose in but like jc we too have been having too many takeaways and spending far too much on shopping and even worse we seem to throw so much away.
Miggy you certainly gave me lots to think about with your post above thank you.

jasperconran

yes thanks Miggy. My OH does not learn and I am sick of having takeways at the weekends, he wants to go out and eat all the time it drives me :mad:

Its not even the 1st Nov yet and I have worked out that I need to a monthly shop and ive only £44 :eek: I will try some of your ideas plus I am gonna post up the contents of my freezer/store cupboards shortly and hopefully some of you could give me some meal ideas to get me through november? I would be most grateful thanks

miggy

jasperconran wrote: »

yes thanks Miggy. My OH does not learn and I am sick of having takeways at the weekends, he wants to go out and eat all the time it drives me :mad:

Its not even the 1st Nov yet and I have worked out that I need to a monthly shop and ive only £44 :eek:

Hi again! Well, you are just a little better off than MBaz was at the beginning of the thread and there are lots of people more than willing to suggest things and cheer you on!
So many people mention the difficulties of getting their 'other half' on board... the best I can come up with (hopefully someone with more expertise will chip in!) is to have something he is keen on, ready in the fridge or freezer so that when he mentions takeaways, you can say 'Oh, can it wait a day or so? I've made a ...(insert name of fab meal here).'
This of course requires monumental self discipline on your part and if it were me I think something would slip up somewhere, but if you cut down the takeaways even by one or two, look how much you save! Don't beat yourself up if you don't get it 100%, just give yourself credit for what you do acheive. As Flylady says, you didn't get into debt overnight, and you won't fix it overnight either. Well okay, maybe she said 'your house didn't get messy overnight and you won't get it tidy overnight either', but the idea is hers.
By the way, do have a look at Pound shops / Lidl / Netto etc. if you have any near you, or on the discount sites I mentioned before. Just don't fall for all the cheapy junk food because I can tell you it will start calling your name. :rotfl:
Good luck and I shall look forward to the store cupboard lists!

firesidemaid

a cheap yummy dish my other half makes is pan heggarty/haggarty (he uses the hairy bikers recipe).

thinly slice carrots, onions and potatoes, layer in a large frying pan - onion at the bottom, followed by potatoes, bacon and carrots - finiah with a layer of potatoes. add a litre of hot stock and bring to boil. add grated cheese and put in oven/under grill for 20 mins.

it is soooo yummy and mooreish you won't believe - and it's totally cheap and storecupboard. serve with bread to soak up those juices!