Help! £40 to feed family for the month

mbaz

Great idea! Think I'll do that my boys love pizza

OK so I've got my lentils and am about to bulk out my bol to try to stretch it to two lasanges and a bol and possibly a chilli too. Question is do I boil them first or just dump them in as they are??!! Sorry if this is a silly question!!! Also, what sort of ratio sauce to lentils do you recommend?

mummysaver

For a 500g pack of mince I use a couple of handfuls of lentils and a couple of handfuls of oats, 2 cans of toms (or water and tom puree), onions, carrots (grated), couple of stock cubes and some garlic. I cook mine in the slow cooker so just chuck the lentils straight in and they cook in it - you will need some extra water for the lentils, the tom juice won't be enough.

I can usually stretch this to a bolognese, a couple of lasagnes (add more toms to stretch it further), and just about to a chilli with the addition of some more veg (mushrooms, sweetcorn, courgettes, basically softish stuff) and kidney beans - if there is not enough for a proper chilli I serve it in wraps (see Mrs M's recipe at the beginning of the grocery challenge for soft wraps, or just make v basic ones with plain flour, water and bit of oil, so long as you cook them just before you eat them they will stay soft if done this way).

Good luck!

elona

My DDs will eat almost anything that is wrappped in a tortilla or a thin pancake.

A huge yorkshire puddng made from scratch filled with gravy and onions is a good way of filling people up cheaply too!

mbaz

Great idea! Why cant I think of these things myself!! Do you know my monthly food budget before this month was around £200 a month! I cant believe it now! what did I spend it on?? ....who said wine????

shed35

How about making pancakes with the milk, egg, flour and a pinch of salt.

You can even add half water/half milk as it will make even lighter pancakes.

I started doing this last year when I was short of money and it really goes along way and you can freeze them. You can make it sweet or savoury depending how you feel.

Hope this helps

mbaz

oo yes they will go down well.

Well I've just eeerked out what would have been 2 portions of bol into 2 lasagnes and 2 more bols (1 I'll turn into chilli for a bit of variety).using oats and lentils. Tasted the sauce and it is lush!! I'll always put lentils in from now on. I'm really chuffed.

Been to Aldi and Tesco and got pretty mucheverything except the milk and the total is £13.65!!! Going to go to Asda tonight for Cravendale milk. My boys are 3 and 1 so do get through a lot but I think if we get 12 pints of whole and I water it down it'll hopefully last. There's enough in the budget to get more milk anyway. Also forgot a lady was coming today to pick up my hairchair that I sold on ebay so that was another £6 I hadnt budgeted for! yippee!

mummysaver

Sounds like it's going well mbaz! It's amazing how far you can stretch mince!

patchwork_cat

Ok 3 and 1 is a different field of eating to 11 and 15! Was wondering if it would be enough! Do be careful long term about watering down milk for such littlies ( or are you still feeding the baby?). I don't think 3 weeks would do any harm, but long term they should be on full milk until 2 preferably 5. I am starting to sound like I have a milk obsession now!

Seriously pop over to Weezl's thread the latest one is 70 pages long now! but is a serious mine of info and recipes. She is feeding herself and DH for 50p a day until Xmas healthily. That would equate to £24 for yourself.

mackidee

Another recipe you might like to try which you can change according to what you have in is a crunchy pasta bake. Boil up a bit of spaghetti,sweat off a bit of onion and some grated carrot or whatever veg you have around (a smart price tin of sweetcorn and peas works well if you have no fresh) and put them in a baking dish either on their own or with bits of leftover cooked chicken or ham if you have any.Make a simple white sauce with milk,cornflour and seasoning,pour onto dish and top with a mix of oats and grated cheese.Bake it for about 20 minutes till the topping goes golden and crunchy.
Cheap,easy,filling and popular with kids!

mbaz

2 days gone 22 left and counting!

Lasagne was a resounding success!! Think I'll stick to the lentils all the time now! :money:

1st - carbonara (just found a jar in back of cupboard)
2nd Lasagne (with added lentils )
3rd Bolognaise
4th Veggie burgers with homemade chips
5th defrost a curry
6th lentil soup
7th chicken dinner
8th chicken casserole with yorkshires (leftovers)
9th Defrost a curry
10th lasagne (hoping to bulk out sauce enough with lentils to s-t-r-e-t-c-h to two)
11th chicken and rice
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 chicken casserole (hopefully made enough on 8th to s-t-r-e-t-c-h )
17th pasta with cheese and tomatoe sauce
18th shepherds pie from 12th
19th risotto
20th Homemade soup
21th Chilli
22th Egg and chips
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!!