Help! £40 to feed family for the month

tattoed_bum

i made a huge vegi lasagne in the week so i suppose you can adapt this .

i just boil some veggies up with some lentils ,when the veg are done add a jar of passata sauce ,tin of tomatoes and some garlic ,let it simmer till it thickens ,
i layered this between lasagne sheets with home made white sauce then topped it with some gratted cheese it was lovely easily fed 8 and cost less than £1.60 to make .
you could just do the veggies with lentils sauce mix and use it with spaghetti

mbaz

Hi guys.

I am babysitting for a friend tonight so should get lots of peace. will take a big notepad and get on with next months budget and shopping list.

Had to buy some more milk today. hopin to eerk it out til Thursday. Am going to have to buy some more sugar too for bread and for my coffees! Never mind!

Hope everyone is having a good day. Going to venture onto greenfingered board later for tips on growing own veg.

Mx

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 curry (bulked out with lentils!)
16th veggie sausages and chips
17th left-over-bulked-out-curry
18th 4p curry sauce and chips
19th chicken risotto abd syrup sponge and custard
20th cheap asda jacket spuds and value beans
21th Egg n chips
22th Gruel pie
23th Shezza's pasta sauce
24th - Chicken risotto

outrageous_monkey

So, I bought red lentils today, all ready got oats in cos we like Twinks Hobnobs and a can of kidney beans..

... is it wrong to be excited about making spag bol???:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I dont think I have to pre-cook my lentils, they are Asda organic ones, but I will have to was them as they may contain mineral stones. Now, I dont mind padding the meat out with vegs, lentils and oats, but I think my OH would draw the line at stones.

Not long to go now mbaz, cant wait to see what your next budget and meal plan will be.

mummysaver

fallenangelshelley - I make veg spag bol using beanfeast and padding it out with lots of veg and yes, lentils, and I use a can of toms as part of the liquid needed. You can also use realeat vege mince if you want it to resemble a real meat bolognese sauce, this stuff makes loads from a pack as it absorbs water and swells up! Or you can just make a veg based one, with plenty of toms, onions, and some stock cubes for a bit more depth of flavour plus whatever veg you prefer, we use sweetcorn, peas, courgettes, aubergenes, whatever is around really.

OM - enjoy making your spag bol, hope dh and the kids enjoy it - you're prob right about the stones, not good for dentist bills! Assume the kidney beans are for when you make a chilli? Go stretch that mince!

chardonnay_2

the red lentils you are all using should be rinsed. put in pot with cold water swish around and you'll see all the sediment/ dirt rise to the top, drain with sieve and repeat until clear.

fudgecat

Mbaz and others, just wanted to say what a brilliant and inspirational thread. I too have discovered the joys of bulking out, batch cooking and slow cookers and it has made a huge difference to our food bills. One thing that I do buy quite a lot of to compensate for cheap tinned tomatoes and less meat is oxo cubes and tomato puree,also garlic and chillis. I used to make chill with a packet mix, but since discovering that the missing taste in homemade was hot chocolate powder, we have never looked back!

crazyaboutsaving

Hello,
Just want to agree with fudgecat, this thread is inspiring and motivating! It's good to know there are others trying to figure out ways of getting through the month on a tight budget. I've learned so much reading this thread!

buxtonrabbitgreen

When I make veg spaghitti i just make a sauce of tomatoes onion and garlic,(and pesto optional) I also fry some breadcrumbs and mix them with grated cheese to put on top of the sauce. My ds seems to like this and very cheap.

bargainbetty

I've just nominated this for thread of the month too. Absolutely ace!

I've got the notepad out to do a store cupboard inventory,just to see how much I can save next week/month too....

mbaz

Why do things never go to plan?

Yesterday afternoon my little boy (3) was running around and fell and hit his head on the coffee tables so once again we spent hours at A&E getting him patched up. Had to cancel babysitting for my friend which I felt awful about (and also gutted as I was secretly hoping she would have some yummy food in as my cupboards are depressingly bare now!) and, yep you guessed it! didnt get my menu plan for next month done!

Ah well. Start my new job at a hotel today and lunch is provided. I am going to completely stuff my face!!!

Have a good day all

Mx