Help! £40 to feed family for the month

clairelouise100

A friend of mine makes 'burgers' out of corned beef, mash potato and some onion and herbs. Gonna give those a go this week, the children enjoyed the stuffing and lentil ones i made last week and hopefully these will go down well too. x

bing0

very inspirational I am definetaly a subscriber to this thread now !

Thankyou all.

LoopyLinz

Wow this thread is great!!! Has given me so many ideas!

Ok some questions however..........when you say add lentils, do you just chuck them in or do I need to do something with them first? Im not the best of cooks but hey I try! Also can they be added to anything I make with mince? Like for example if I am making lasagne can I put them in? Also when do I add them?

Just know DH would freak if I gave him his dinner and there were a whole pile of hard lentils staring back at him!

L xoxox

Horasio

patchwork_cat wrote: »

My first thought was - you can't do it! Having read other posts if you like pulses then that is the way to go. Weezle's threa would be a good stopping off point - lots of Dahl's. Try dried chickpea's soaked as per packet - would prob make nice burgers (I use tinned for these, but don't know why dried and soaked wouldn't work)

Bacon and lentil soap is nice, not sure of extra cost, but cooking bacon is reasonable and could just add a bit for some added flavour.

Sounds yummy but soup would be better:p

Some excellent ideas here:)

I look for reduced items too and batch cook items to freeze later.

The 8p noodles are brilliant for a quick snack meal. If you add peanuts or cashews, if your budget allows, sweetcorn, chilli flakes and Chinese seasoning, you have a home made Pot Noodle.

sexykellylovespink

hi i am new and love this thread

Kiwisaver_2

Gosh I stayed up half the night reading this thread with no idea how many more pages there were to go and dashed to PC this morning to finish it off. :eek:
Mbaz you are a legend! Well done I was at the beginning thinking, no way, how the hell is she going to do that for £20? By heck you made it and I'm very proud of you for sticking with it in such a controlled and dignified manner.

I got the hugest bill yesterday that I had way underestimated and was feeling right sorry for myself because January is going to be so tough. I'm feeling better now and already eyeing up the contents of the larder and freezer to see what I can rustle up from the existing stock and eat for 'free' and only buying minimal stuff from the supermarket.

Also in awe of Tesco value and the the likes of the 4p and 9p products - I so miss them, not being in the UK anymore, it's much harder to eat for next to nothing. I am so inspired, I promise I will give it my absolute best shot in January.

miggy

LoopyLinz wrote: »

Wow this thread is great!!! Has given me so many ideas!

Ok some questions however..........when you say add lentils, do you just chuck them in or do I need to do something with them first? Im not the best of cooks but hey I try! Also can they be added to anything I make with mince? Like for example if I am making lasagne can I put them in? Also when do I add them?

Just know DH would freak if I gave him his dinner and there were a whole pile of hard lentils staring back at him!

L xoxox

I'm no expert but I think so long as they have cooked for however long it says on the packet, they should be all right. Green lentils take longer than red.
I think you can add them wherever you'd have mince - perhaps start with a small handful and gradually make things more lentilly as time goes on, so people get a chance to get used to them. Don't forget there are some fab lentil soups to be made as well: no need for mince in those.
I would add them so they cook as long as it says on the packet, so for red lentils 30-40 minutes, I haven't got any others right now to check how long they take but it's longer.
HTH.

Sylvan

miggy wrote: »

I would add them so they cook as long as it says on the packet, so for red lentils 30-40 minutes, I haven't got any others right now to check how long they take but it's longer.
HTH.

Are you talking about split red lentils here or is there another sort? As far as split red lentils are concerned it's only ever taken us 20 minutes to cook them to a consistency babies will accept.

EDIT: Hmm, I've just had a thought (doesn't often happen:rotfl:). I seem to remember reading somewhere that if you add tomato to lentils it takes them longer to cook and I know my rice always takes twice as long if I add chinese five spice or pineapple in the early stages, so perhaps it depends on what you cook them with.

2nd EDIT: Aha!

Salt added to the cooking water will toughen the lentils. Don't add salt until they are completely cooked.

Acidic ingredients such as wine or tomatoes can lengthen cooking time. It's best to add these ingredients after the lentils have become tender.

Older lentils will take longer to cook because they have lost more moisture. Don't mix new lentils with old ones. They will cook unevenly. (That explains a lot - I've had that happen a couple of times:o)

This looks as though it might be useful: http://hubpages.com/hub/driedpulses

angie_baby

I love this thread.

Have made a full list off the frezzer and cupboards and rekon i can really wait to do a big shop until the 29th - payday. Im setting myself a target of £20 to get me through until then for veg, milk, fruit, eggs etc. My budget should be up to £34.51 leaving enough for DS sleepover (any ideas ) and a cake, well two, one for sleepover, one for thursday (again any ideas) I usually just buy one, i do like baking but not sure my decorating skills are any good.

Anyway heres my meal plan until then,

Wed - HM Veggie Burgers, chips and beans
Thurs - Out at Dads
Fri - Meatballs & Tom pasta / garlic bread
Sat - Macaroni Cheese (make one for frezzer)
Sun - Gammon, mash, veg, onion sauce
Mon - Toad in Hole, mash, veg, onion gravy
Tues - Pork & Prawn Stirfry
Weds - Sausage, egg and chips
Thurs - Spag Bol, (slow cooker all day, make 2 lasanas, 2 extra portions for f)
Fri - H/M Veggie Burgers, chips and beans
Sat - HM Pizzas (make extra 2 for frezzer)
Sun - Pork Chops, mash, yorkies, veg and gravy
Mon - Lasana
Tues - Roast Turkey Dinner
Weds - Something on Toast Night
Thurs -Sausage, mash, veg and onion gravy
Fri - Something on Toast Night
Sat - Cottage Pie (make one for frezzer)
Sun - Toad in Hole, Mash, veg & Gravy
Mon - Lasana
Tues - HM Pizzas
Weds - Spag Bol
Thurs - 22nd - DS Birthday
Fri - DS Sleepover
Sat - HM Veggie Sausages, mash, veg and gravy
Sun - Cottage Pie, Veg
Mon - Spag Bol
Tues - Macaroni Cheese
Weds - Burgers, Chips and Beans
Thurs - HM Soup and Bread

Lunches will be sarnies (need to get that breadmaker going) or HM soups for DS I have 6 portions of Leek and Pot, 8 Pea & Ham, 6 Brocolli & Silton and 2 Lentil Curry.

I have a couple of bags of flour - SR / P / Bread etc and sugar, not alot of oats, may need more as i want to make DS some for lunches for next week.
Also about a box of cereal.

Think i can do this then i will be ahead of my 4k challenge and save the rest for my biggish shop next month.

onetomany

donnajt wrote: »

am so fed up just typed huge reply and it's disappeared - ARGH

mbaz - hope your little un is ok, enjoy your first day and i truly hope they serve you a huge yummy lunch! Just don't eat so much that you fall asleep afterwards on the job lol!

i know i keep saying it but this thread has inspired me to really look at my shopping habits and relationship with food - i confess i am an overspending, overhoarding food-freak!

i have made a few discreet little changes, OH and DD haven't noticed, ie using veg/oats/lentils to bulk out, changing brands (refilling expensive empties with cheaper alternatives), halved the amount of washing liquid/softener (this has impressed me most as cleanliness, softness, smell etc has not been compromised in the least), stopped using tumble dryer (from at least x1 per day to only 6 times in 2 weeks!), cheaper cuts of meat (breast of lamb), these small changes alone have probably saved me approx £12 per week! amazing, if anybody has any other ideas please post...

With OH's help I have already menu-planned for the coming week, shopping list is very small as i will be using fridge/freezer/heaving cupboard stores

BACK TO LENTILS:
If anybody is interested in any of these, i will post for you, this selection is taken from Delia's Frugal Food, i am sure that most of these could be tweaked and items subbed for those you have in your cupboards
* Lentil & Veg Curry
* Haricot & Lentil Chilli
* Lentil and Split Pea Loaf
* Curried Egg and Lentil Patties
* Lentil, Bean and Anchovy Salad
* Dahl Curry
* Boston Baked Beaks
* Chilladas

Am off to Mr T (hoping to pick up a couple of breast of lamb on RTC or YS (thank you to whoever explained these abbreviations!)

enjoy what is left of your weekends :beer:

i would love the dahl curry please