Help! £40 to feed family for the month

AlwaysHappy

donnajt - I would love the lentil & veg curry recipe pleeeease, many thanks.

ffion

would love any of the lentil receipies thank you

furball

Mbaz fantastic thread read it from start to finish, can't thank you enough have been meal planning for a while but the recipes and hints and tips on this thread are fantastic. Thankyou again and a belated Happy New Year.

Damzel_In_Distress

ive been reading this for two days !! lol have only just finished-prehaps you should get it published-it would be a best seller in no time

im terrible with this sort of thing,and im not a very good cook either:embarasse unfotunatly and i no i spend money of food sometimes that i dont need but after reading this im ashamed! lol ...im clearly crap with the food shopping if someone can get away with this for a family of four,and ive only got me and a toddler (although toddler is a beast who is size of a 5 yr old )

but it has inspired me to look at what im buying and ive decided im not going shopping for anything except milk and juice and the dogs food until everything else has gone!! and in the mean time ill spend my time making a list of things to get that are actually useful for cooking and doing a meal plan for me and the beastly baby!! :T

financially_gaga

Hi all,

Am trying (discreetly) to read this thread while at work but have no chance of getting through ALL the pages before soemone sees so i'm posting this without checking that someone else has first...

Do you guys have any 'indian' food shops around where you live? I usually do a monthly shop at my local place, get some real bargains. Once you've tried a few of the brands, you find them so much better than Mr T's value ones etc and at similar prices...

10kg bags of white onions £1 (split between me, my MIL and SIL)
24 tin case of chick peas in water for £2.99 (12.4p per can)
24 tin case of kidney beans in water for £2.99 (12.4p per can)
Big bags of garlic/ginger that you can blitz in your food processer and freeze in ice cubes trays, ready for use, 1 cube at a time,
Instant Noodles, 6 for £1 Maggi brand which are lovely
Flour, often cheaper in 5 or 10kg bags
Loose lentils/mung beans etc far cheaper than Mr T's.

Lots more as well, well worth a trip. Avoid weekends if you can!

Hope that helps someone!

BingoPacman

Good luck with everything I find that baked beans adds fullness to a mince-dish and adds flavours. Similar to the lentils concept. I also noticed that we were eating far too much meat in a meal! Just becuas eit is a packet doesn't mean you have to use it all. Feel a lot better and saving a few pennies too. Buy cheaper mince, fry it off, possibly frozen mince as cheaper and then drain fat off. Works a treat.

Triggles

Lots of times when we're making something like spag bol or chili - I only put half the pack of beef mince in and save the other half for another meal, bulking it out with other things like mushrooms, peppers, and onions (and beans in the chili).

We also make our homemade chicken soup with no chicken - just the chicken stock (made from the roast chicken carcass from the day before) and vegs and dumplings. That way we can use all the leftover meat for other meals. It was DH's suggestion, as we dump a bunch of veg in there anyway, so we don't really notice there's no chicken.:rotfl:

SiannieLaz

Hey All,
Just discovered this thread and think you're all amazing!!!
I'm already doing the 'live on £4k a year' challenge, and reading through this thread has given me shedloads of ideas - There's only me and OH, with his 2 kids every other weekend (he buys they're food as they're so fussy), so I should easy be able to feed us both on £10 per week. Will start planning tonite.
Final thoughts - ta loads to mbaz - you're a star!!

blueguppie

Has any body got any recipes using harricot beans, found a pack for 30p but can't think of anything nice to do with them!

miggy

blueguppie wrote: »

Has any body got any recipes using harricot beans, found a pack for 30p but can't think of anything nice to do with them!

I would soak/cook the whole pack in one go - saves fuel & hassle - then freeze in small portions and add to casseroles. I have also been known to add a few at a time to stretch tinned beans, as these are just haricot beans in sauce.
I don't have any specific recipes, sorry, but I expect there are baked bean recipes online somewhere.