Help! £40 to feed family for the month

patentgirl

what a great thread Mbaz you are doing so well after just going through DDs wedding last week and a short break away with visitors need all the help and advice going already taken plenty of recipes down and will use up that bag of red lentils I know is in the back of the cupboard imediately! going to be a hard couple of months ahead so will be watching your updates with interest

good luck I know you will do it

GrillMonkey

How about some food for free?

Blackberries are in season, as are apples, pears etc.

mbaz

Must admit there is an apple tree by the side of the road on my walk to town. it is fenced off next to some allotments and there are loads of them on the ground but behind the fence. I'm going to wander down later to see if i can get any nice ones if no-one is looking! Then I can make more crumbles so hopefully OH wont notice how small his main courses are getting! There are some blackberry bushes (??!) over the road too so will have a look there are same time.

mbaz

Hi all, well I've cooked my chicken and got all the meat off. Enough for tonight and 2 casseroles. Currently boiling up what's left to make a stock (how long for? Read 6 hours somewhere??!!!) Havent made a crumble as low on sugar. Think I'll have to buy some more as will be needing it for a few other things too. Will go to Aldi tomorrow to see if I can get it cheap. Also running low of milk. Will try Asda again for £1 cravendale but it had sold out last time.

Got hubbie to do himself an omlette last night as I was working overtime...he only went and used 4 eggs!!!! :shocked: May have to replace my "egg and chips" with something else now!

1st - carbonara (just found a jar in back of cupboard)
2nd Lasagne (with added lentils )
3rd chicken and rice
4th jacket spuds with smartprice beans
5th defrost a curry
6th lasagne
7th omlette
8th chicken dinner
9th casserole in giant yorkshire
10th canelloni
11th Bolognaise
12th shepherds pie (make 2 and freeze 1)
13th veggie sausages and mash
14th Beans on toast (gotta crop up somewhere)!!
15th chicken curry with 4p sauce
16th veggie burgers
17th pasta with cheese and tomatoe sauce
18th shepherds pie from 12th
19th risotto
20th Homemade soup
21th Chilli
22th Egg and chips chicken casserole (just noticed I dont have my 2nd one I made today included anywhere - yay!)
23th Shezza's sauce and pasta (I'll always call it that now!)
24th - Go to take away in middle of night when OH's salary goes in!!

Winky,_The_House_Elf

Wow you are really doing so well!

Give yourself a big pat on the back, you are truly an inspiration!

Have you got a slow cooker? They're fab for doing stock in, I haven't tried to do it any other way yet.

Looking forward to see how you get on!

Winky x x x

mbaz

Hi Winky. No I dont have one but I'm getting one as soon as I can afford one as they sound fab!! I've boiled the bones for about 2 hours leave. Just leaving them in the pan to cool now and then I'll drain and I'm going to try and turn it into soup!

culpepper

someone probably already said this but..
Flour .Free fresh yeast from asda .A block of lard or marg .Eggs.
these give you the makings for bread,pasta,pastry .
cheese sauce is just flour,marg,milk and cheese
Stronger cheese is more flavour for less cheese.
Bacon bits can be a stew,quiche,pizza or go with pasta.
Good stand bys are...
Tinned tomatoes. baked beans . Sausages. Sardines or pilchards.
Its possible buy fruit and veg loose and plan specifically (eg 4 tomatoes for sandwiches,an onion for tonights tea.
You can sweeten puds or breakfast with syrup,honey,any colour sugar,jam.
Oats are a good breakfast with bits of fruit or jam,hot or cold.
Drink tea or water from the tap.
If you have chicken, use the meat to add to something rather than as a roast,it will go further.

Soubrette

Not sure if it is still current but one of Martin's articles HERE links to a free litre of milk from Sainsburys or Somerfield.

Good luck with the rest of the month.

Sou

suec

I dont usually even look at this forum but i was browsing the site , and now I cant stop reading it .
When it comes to Cheese sauce if u add a bit of mustard (whichever one you have) it brings the taste of the cheese sauce out and u can use less cheese.

Also If u want to make the most of the potatoes another way i do it is a bake a few potatoes in the microwave then scoop out the middles and make mash potatoes with them scoop as much as u can out but dont tear the skins , then cut the skins into 1/4's and leave until the next day sprinkle a little oil and salt on then and bake in oven for crispy potaote skins.

If u want to make a savoury sauce with any of the stocks u have been making . Make a roux (melted marg and flour) then add stock makes a traditional sauce without using milk.

Dont forget Bread Pudding if anyone has any old bread or cake crumbs left over.

I used to be restaurant manager I am trying to remember any other use up recipes we used to make.

debbiemc_2

Hi :wave:

I picked up my slow cooker from Asda a few weeks ago, its an "Onn" one, it cost £9 and works a treat.

HTH.

Debbie.