Help! £40 to feed family for the month

lill

sounds to me like your lentils weren't cooked long enough - or possibly not enough to ratio of stuffing, you shouldn't really need eggs to bind as the cooked lentils should be sticky enough.

gailey_2

I think I might have overcooked the lentils as underestimated how much water they take and some stuck to bottom,they were on hob for 30mins as packet suggested. Used eggs because recipe said it needed themposiibly ration was wrong. They were ok tasting its just my poor executionbetter luck next time round I guess.

lill

ah right maybe i missed seeing them in the recipe, have to try them with an egg in and see what the result is

clairelouise100

We had them for tea last night and i really enjoyed them. I made them the night before, I didn't put the egg in the mixture but coated them in egg just before cooking them and they didn't fall apart at all. x

p.s Maybe it was because they were in the fridge for a while, thats why they didn't fall apart, not sure x

purpleivy

You could make a nice thick soup with the mushy peas. Maybe a stock cube or bit of frozen veg or onion if you have one.

sistercas

you could add your brocoli and peppers to the curry sauce and fill out with lentils and tinned toms maybe?

I am doing something similar with onion ,pepper , the leftovers in a bag of frozen veg and half a frozen chicken breast and a tin of curry sauce ( for 4 people lol)

gailey_2

Right might try huting recipie for mushy pea soup and brave doing frozen pepper faittas and brocolli curry who ever would have thourght about broccoli in curry? would it work?
Run out of lentils as used the last in making lentil and paxo burgershave no meatfish,eggs or chese gona try tuna pasta bake tonight as have that!
Should be able to go shopping tommorow! yay

ragstoricheswannabe

Hello! (slowly peeps head in)

have just spent what seems like an ice age reading through the whole thread (my god its sooooooooooo long!!!)

wanted to say thank you to everyone for posting their great ideas, am going to have to go back through it all with a pad and pen to write eveything down!!!!

i have just got myself organised trying to get mine and oh's finacial stuff reined in and this thread has actually helped me do a meal plan ( only for a week so far) and my task over the weekend is to write down everything in my freezers and cupboards and tape inside one of my cupboards.

i thought i did well to only spend £200 - £250 a month for me, oh, ds1 (nearly 4) and ds2 (3 mnths) but am now aiming to get that right down. on mat leave at the moment so can make all the meals but will struggle when go back to work as work 12 hr shifts, 8am till 8pm.
maybe a slow cooker is the way to go??

keep up the good work everyone and keep the suggestions coming. My oh cant eat cheese and hates pasta so cheap meals such as pasta bakes are out.

i tend to make:

• stews with tinned stewed steak (stretched out of course)
• a bake of sorts layering potatoes, carrots and onions in an oven proof dish and covering with chicken/veg stock and cooking in oven till all veg cooked,
• toad in the hole
• mashed potatoes that is 2/3rds potato and 1/3rd turnip (makes it sweet and no need for butter or cream)

really need to expand my menu and cooking skills............................

rags to riches wannabe
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gailey_2

Rags stories- would your oh eat rissoto as its actually quite cheap cheapest pack I found is sainsburys own for 500g but it makes loadsaccording to jaimie oliver feeds 6 but more like 4 in our house,hubby quite likes it and my daughter nearly 3 adores it! Nice change to pasta.

All you need is
abberito/rissoto rice about 85p sainsburys400g
cheap white wine again sainsburys basics about 2.25 per bottle is cheapest cooking wine I can find
1onion
garlic cloves1 or 2 finely chopped
butter
stock I just use cheap chicken cubes *2

1)chop onion and garlic and fry until brown in little olive oil/butter/spread
2)add rice and for for couple of mins until rice looks shiny
2)add2pints of stock-again cheat with cubes gradually so bit by bit when rice absorbed most of liquid keep topping up
3)
as soon as you add first bit of stock also add 2 large glasses white wine at same time.

Remember dont have it on too high a heat as rice will stick to bottomnon stock pan ideal. Keep adding stock gradually until none left and rice has absorbed all liquids white wine and stock and should look quite thick and creamy.

Now last but not least you chose what you wnat to add in with it good suggestions are

cooked chicken leftover from sunday roast as I got into habit of picking all teh small bits of meat off the bird which is perfect for rissoto.
Salmon often reduced in supermarket or on offer and can be cooked fast im microwave too is cooked as once cooked it can be easily mashed into tiny peices and great bunged in with rissoto as a little seems to go long way!
Or if you want to be more luxurious and bit lazier add shreadded smoked salmon yum!
stir it all in with rissoto on pan then serve on plates!

Im not done hubby prefers his plain with bit of pepper but me and daughter love either grated chese stired in as it just melts so hot or grated parmans nice roo as makes rissoto bit cheesy.

I guess this recipeies prob come sin at £5 but does feed 4-5 people

Another fab recipe for kids and adults and super cheap
so ar found iceland do chepest plain fish fillets was £4 for bag of frozen white fillets think it either had 4 or 6 fillets in each bag white fish cheaper but 4 salmon fillets were £5 too.

great for busy mum is you can cook from frozen

put however many fillets on baking tray in your case 2-3(still frozen)
pour one can of chopped tomatoes over top of fillets or smoother pasata which is sieved tomaotoes and comes in cartons abot 35p each great for sauces as got suace like texture.
then add grated chese on top I use quite a bit but its up to you.
sprinkle lighly with salt and pepper(none for kids)
add either dried basil or even better fresh basil is stunning and really makes diffrence.

put in oven on 200 for 30-40mins do kep an eye and then its done baked fish in tomato and basil chesy sauce.

Once cooked I either mash it with fork and serve with pasta or serve with new potaoes and frozen veg.
its very cheap prob comes up £1 per head for each fillet and daughter loves it

grimerking

gailey,

When I cook with risotto rice, I tend to bulk it out with loads of veg:

Chicken: 125g per person (less if you're trying to save cash)
Carrots: 2 medium per person (chopped)
Sweetcorn: 1/2 small tin per person
Onion: 1/2 medium onion per person (chopped)
Mushrooms: slice up a few 'value' mushrooms (same quantity as oinions)
Frozen peas: same quantity as sweetcorn
Chicken stock: roughly 1 mug per person
Risotto Rice: 75g per person

1) Place the chicken, onions, mushrooms and carrots in a large pan, add a little oil/butter and fry on a low heat for ten minutes with the lid on

2) Once oinions and mushrooms are cooked, add the risotto rice, stir and add the chicken stock. Don't add salt as chicken stock cubes tend to be very salty. Add pepper, some dried thyme (optional) and English/djon mustard (optional)

3) Replace the lid and simmer on a very low heat. Stir occasionally and add more water if required.

4) After ten minutes, add the sweetcorn.

5) Once rice is cooked, remove from the heat and add the peas. Risotto tends to be extremely hot. The peas will cook without any further heating and will help to cool the risotto to a safe serving temperature.

6) Serve with a little grated cheese.

I find that this makes a lot of food and there are usually seconds/leftovers. If things are tight, reduce the amount of chicken and add more veg.

These days, I try to bulk my meals out with veg rather than rice/pasta/potatoes. I never realised how many calories were in them. I still eat until I'm full but have slowly lost a couple of stone. Hopefully, by next summer, I should have that elusive six pack