Help! £40 to feed family for the month

mummysaver

Well done mbaz - you've done it almost! Enjoy those rusks lol!

Thanks for all the info from people who've used the sweet and sour, will give it a go in the slow cooker I think, or perhaps the remoska and see what happens, will try it at the end of the week when I'm not working.

For whoever said about cooking the right amount of rice, I always seem to have this problem, now I just bag up the extra and freeze - well rice has gone up a lot in price lol! It's handy for a quick lunch of egg fried rice, or to defrost to go with a portion of curry or chilli.

Donna - finally made it to Somerfield today to get some of the half price cheese, and found gammon was half price too, so bought a nice one for £5 and have it in the slow cooker at the mo, will slice it when it's cool and freeze in portions for sarnies, my dd's all love ham sarnies and ham is far more expensive if bought pre sliced! Just have to remember to throw a bag in the fridge to defrost overnight, cos it's a pain to seperate otherwise says she speaking with a lot of experience of forgetting lol!

My oh loves muligatawny soup, I usually just chuck a spoonful of curry paste into some tomato soup with some rice and a few veg, even a bit of beef if he's very lucky, but will have a go with the tinned sauce, hadn't thought of trying it for soup, so thanks everyone.

We have only just got the 4p cans of curry sauce in our big Tesco, so perhaps they aren't everywhere yet?

Macaroni cheese for tea here tonight, cheap and cheerful and ds and dd3's fave!

mummysaver

mbaz wrote: »

Thanks! To be honest I've only got through it because I didnt have a choice. If I'd have had more money I would've bought more food. There's been times when I've been starving and had nothing in I could snack on etc but I also realise now that I do normally buy a lot of things I dont need. I'm always going to chec cupboards before I shop now to see what I can make from there and do meal plans. I'm also going to try and go shopping later in the day for RTCs and YS (hey I know what that means now!) :j

I try and build into my budget some "spare" money for ys and rtc stuff, that way I can chuck it in the freezer and use it in future meal plans. It sort of equals out in the end, as you save money in future weeks and months! I also make sure that unless it fits in with my meal plans it must be able to be frozen or won't go off (cans and packs).

trinity_bleu

just to say this thread is really inspiring ... have chuckled loudly at the lentils on ebay and lentils to reduce global warming comments !

red lentils sat on my Tesco order ready for next week, off to find the star drops cleaning stuff (or whatever it was called - back to page 1 to find it !)

lollyfin

Hi mbaz am so glad for you that you made it to the end of the month but will miss this thread soooooooooooo much, everyone has been lovely and I have got so many ideas and recipes from here that have already made a difference to my budget.
ps I know what you mean about rusks yummm! shame my kids are to old for me to buy rusks for now

Pitlanepiglet

Hi Mbaz, you've done really well, well done! :T Have you fessed up to Hubby?

I think what was impressive for me was how you tacked this, you didn't wallow in the problems, you recognised the problem, worked out your finances and then put your head down and dealt with it. That's really inspiring!

vixtress

mbaz wrote: »

Asda do curry sauce in a jar for 4p!!! It says its 27p on the jar but on the shelf it says 4p and when you scan it it is 4p!

i bought some of that last night after reading this thread! is it nice?

i was amazed it doesnt have additives in (well just sulphur but thats what makes dried apricots orange and they still seem to be good for you )

donnajt

mbaz mbaz we thought you were mad,
when you asked for help to feed your family of 4,
we all screeched "£20 only! gee this is bad..."
but your thread has left us gasping for more!

You have inspired so many with your grit determination,
your sense of humour and newfound love of the lentil!
Our huge grocery bills have met with extermination,
sales of YS, RTC and lentils has left Mr T mental!

So here we are, your challenge is almost over,
a bittersweet day following a month of support and laughter!
You did it! Well done! Celebrate in style!
You deserve to win "post of the month" by a mile!

:T :beer: :j :T :beer: :j :T :beer: :j :T :beer: :j

donnajt

hear hear Pitlanepiglet!!

Well Mr T has delivered and I was feeling quite miserable thinking I'd only have 2 bags of shopping to unpack (I love unpacking food) - I am overjoyed to say you can't really notice the difference between a £30 shop and a £50 one

tea tonight was stew but am def going to make Mr T 4p curry sauce soup tomorrow! Will post recipe if it's good...

Caterina

mummysaver wrote: »

There is a new thread about lentils getting more expensive, due a a shortage of supply.

Did I ever notice that!

I shop in bulk through my business, buying wholefoods from a wholesale supplier. Last year a 5kg bag of brown lentils was around £6. The last catalogue I had (September) the same item priced at £9 something.

I ordered anyway as we all love lentils and they are still reasonably cheap as a source of protein. When I asked the order person on the phone she told me that due to shortages, since the catalogue was printed, they went up to £12!!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I bought them anyway and did not quibble the fact that they should honour the catalogue price, because I want to keep a good relationship with this supplier, but I might increase my intake of navy beans for proteins instead, next time!

Caterina

donnajt

My dear friend dropped by with her latest homemade cake...have to share the recipe (forgive me if somebody has posted it elsewhere)...

Boiled Fruit Cake
Main Ingredients
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 lb ‘well washed’ Mixed Fruit
4oz Butter
2 Cups Self Raising Flour
2 Medium Eggs
Optional Extras
1 tsp Mixed Spice (she had included this)
Glazed Cherries (she hadn't included cherries or walnuts or alcohol)
Chopped Walnuts
Alcohol of your choice

Put water, sugar, fruit & butter in a saucepan and heat slowly. When butter has melted, mix and leave to cool for half hour.

Preheat oven to gas mark 3 / 170*.

Blend in S R flour and eggs. (and any optional extras). Mix Well. Pour into a 6” baking dish and cook for approx one and a half hours.

Enjoy with a nice cuppa Tea!!!
*********************************************************

Apparently the key is washing the dried fruit thoroughly/heating the fruit in butter makes them swell and soften so that the fruitcake is really moist

I've worked out that the ingredients she used would cost approx £1.86 for the cake (these are approx costs and i have probably over-guestimated) including the cherries and walnuts would take the cost up to about £2.30 (again probably over-guestimated)

I am off to get some dried fruit...

EDIT: HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO MY FRIEND AND SHE USES A MUG TO MEASURE OUT THE INGREDIENTS AND THEN IF NECESSARY (IE MIXTURE IS TOO WET SHE ADDS EXTRA FLOUR)