Help! £40 to feed family for the month

outrageous_monkey

This is a great thread!! Well done mbaz!!

I'm still back on page 4 so I think I might be some time...:D

I do stick loads of veggies into spag bol, but never tried the lentils and oats. I usually get another 4 portions out of it which we have with a jacket spuds, so I'm hoping by adding the lentils,oats and tin of kidney beans I can get another meal out of it:j

mummysaver

Oh jacket spuds, quite fancy those, will do some tomorrow I think, will stop kids moaning all afternoon about being hungry, and no effort for me!

Kandipandi - I do my bol in the slow cooker so just put my lentils and oats straight in with all the other ingredients, as they have plenty of time to cook, if you are doing it on the hob you might prefer to soak or cook them before adding as this will reduce the overall cooking time, which obviously doesn't matter in a slow cooker! Don't forget extra liquid tho as they both absorb quite a lot. Lentils will turn to mush and won't be noticed, but the oats do make the sauce a bit thicker, and not gloopy like porridge, but def not runny, it's not enough for anyone to notice though, well nobody has every noticed it here, and whilst I'd like to think everyone I know is far too polite to say anything, they aren't! lol!

Try just adding a small amount at first and see how you get on.

Kandipandi

Thanks ill give it a go, mince is so expensive now and the cheap stuff is awful once you have drained all the fat off there is nothing left!
Excited to try it now, thanks.

phizzimum

mummysaver wrote: »

Hi OM! It really is amazing how far you can stretch mince when you keep diluting it!

its a bit like homeopathy - where it's diluted, then re-diluted, then re-diluted so many times there's no actual mince left in the dish - somehow it works but nobody understands how!

blue_monkey_2

Adsa have 4 decent sized baking pots for 50p at the mo, I got 3 packs the other day. Oh and I buy STRONG cheese and mix it with the potato cos then it goes further. I started doing this when I went to Weight Watchers but carried on when I become a Penny Watcher!! It's really surprising to see how much you can get out of a pack of really strong cheese when you have always been used to mild.

And my favouriet is jacket potato with cheese topped with spaghetti hoops. Yummy and very filling.

evie451

This thread is a real inspiration, i thought i was doing well feeding four of us for £200 a month never mind £20!

I am off to get a slow cooker as soon as possible

one thing that has saved me this year is growing my own veg, i have never done anything like it before but you would be surprised how easy it is and i don't have a lot of room either. Its saved me money, but also i don't waste anything if i need potatoes i go and pull one up or i decide what to cook if something or other is ripening. The herbs i got have also been a real boon too and i am doing some preserving as we speak!:j

mbaz

A slow cooker is going to be one of my first purchases with OH's salary! I think it will pay for itself virtually straight away - especially if I can get one for £9! In fact I may even include it in my grocery budget next month!

Ooops just checked my menu plan - better get some chicken out for freezer for tonight!

mbaz

ps. We are def going to start growing some veg we have a small patch we can use but I assume we cant really start now until next spring (or am I being dumb?) also whats nice and easy to start with? The most useful things I think we could grow would be potatoes and carrots as we get through a lot and I thought I could do some strawberries in pots too.

mbaz

blue_monkey wrote: »

Adsa have 4 decent sized baking pots for 50p at the mo, I got 3 packs the other day. Oh and I buy STRONG cheese and mix it with the potato cos then it goes further. I started doing this when I went to Weight Watchers but carried on when I become a Penny Watcher!! It's really surprising to see how much you can get out of a pack of really strong cheese when you have always been used to mild.

.

I picked up a pack of those the other day and some 50p carrots. Thats a good diea about strong cheese plus save a few calories too which I certainly need!

DianneB

Mbaz you really should try freecycle for a slow cooker before you go out and buy one, there must be loads of people with one stuck in the back of the cupboard they never use. The freecyclers in my group are a great bunch it is surprising what is on offer! Just ask it's worth a try, word of warning though once you are on freecycle your mail box will never be empty again!