Help! £40 to feed family for the month

mummysaver

Oh no, how cheap am I? I bulk out soya mince with lentils lol! You can buy it in Sainsbugs, if you can find the chunks rather than the mince they are great for currys, friend of mine thought they were beef and was astounded that I was eating it! Mind you the way lentils seem to have gone up in price I shall be using soya mince alone! Must find a weigh and save shop, they do soya mince and lentils cheaper than the supermarkets!

Got a big vat of blackberries and apples cooked and cooling at the mo, all free, berries from the lane where I walk the dog and apples from my mate's garden. OH is now wondering if we can manage to eat without spending any money - all grass recipes gratefully received lol!

mbaz

Went to my work summer party today and all food and drink included so we completely stuffed ourselves and ate for free! yippeee!!

Crumble was yummy! Will make some more tomorrow plus some other baking as cupboards are looking bare.

Next months shopping will include restocking on basic such as flour and lentils as I will have drained my cupboards by the 24th!! As soon as I have it all planned I'll post it on here so you can see the difference!


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 Beans on toast
12th Jacket spud
13th ate for free!!!
14th Egg and chips
15th Beans on toast
16th veggie burgers
17th pasta with cheese and tomatoe sauce
18th shepherds pie
19th risotto
20th Homemade soup
21th Chilli
22th Egg and chips chicken casserole
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!!

mbaz

Just realised we are passed halfway!!!

sadiedoll

mbaz wrote: »

Just realised we are passed halfway!!!

You're doing so well. You are my inspiration for cutting my food bills back, so thanks!

chardonnay_2

cornflour is great for thickening sauces - try adding some to your casserole and it will do wonders.

try your local freecycle www.freecycle.com for a free slow cooker

Toonie

Keep going mbaz, you are doing brilliantly. I made shepherds pie last weekend for my boyfriend and his friend who was staying with us. They are in a band together and had been rehearsing all day and were starving when they got back. But my shepherds pie (with added oats) and crumble (also with oats) to follow soon filled them up and got them 4 of their 5 a day!!! They were contentedly full for the rest of the evening.

EagerLearner

Tesco value stock cubes are £0.18p for 8 stock cubes I think.
Sainsburys do value noodles for £0.08p with a curry flavour which could be bulked out.
Don't forget to use stale bread for breadcrumbs which will also bulk out any meals like spagbol with lentils.
Buy value range potatoes.
Buy reduced items as suggested, you get some good deals later in the day before the shops shut say 7-9pm.

oystercatcher

This is an inspiring thread. Well done Mbaz.

I have been looking for the 4p tesco curry sauce and can't find it in my massive tesco's what stuff is stocked near it so I know where to look ? Is it a jar or dried ?

I made a delicious fruit cake this week out of stuff which was sat in the cupboard and mostly out of date (but still fine) as I'm still getting my head round this baking buisness. The flour was use by 2004 !! (told you I don't bake much...a friend bought it !!) I used icing sugar left from one of the childrens cookery lessons (they haven't had them for at least two years !) instead of granulated. The fruit was only a month over it's date, the baking powder ancient but still worked ! The cake was lovely . I shall make some more soon, I want the cupboard to be tidy and I can't bear chucking stuff out ....

Oystercatcher

sistercas

oystercatcher wrote: »

I have been looking for the 4p tesco curry sauce and can't find it in my massive tesco's what stuff is stocked near it so I know where to look ? Is it a jar or dried ?

Oystercatcher

its in a tin and in my tesco it is on the bottom shelf with the indian/ chinese sauces they also do a sweet and sour sauce for 26p

lil_me

mbaz well done for getting this far, inspiring

I fear that if I tried such a challenge it'd be classed as cheating as I am terrible for hording so much stuff. I have however been inspired after reading this to use my BM again after not using it for some time, I had oodles of flour to use and nearly went to the shop to buy some but I didn't, I used the BM and so pleased I did as DS2s been munching HM bread which he loves all day

PS after all that hard work I'd be tempted with a takeaway, then be put off by how much they cost and how disappointed I usually am with them.