Need OldStyle Help! ...

Aril

Can I suggest using condensed soup rather than pasta sauce...there's a nice mediterranean tomato one. Substitute veggie mince in some of the mince based meals [very reasonably priced from Holland & Barratt]. If I'm needing a really cheap week I do tuna bake, egg & chips, liver in red wine [recipe in index], sardine burgers, HM beefburgers [I've got the brillant Lakeland Plastics burger maker and am soon to invest in the meatball maker as can't bear making mushy things by hand], veggie spag bol and various other pasta/rice dishes [risotto is a great dish for finishing up bits and pieces]
Likewise I do not live that close to Lidl so I do a mega shop there every 2 months or so and stock up on all the bits that either Tesco don't do or that are significantly cheaper/taste better. Like the others I also substitute turkey for chicken. I don't personally buy value meat but that's down to individual choice and I stick to the less exotic fruit eg apples, pears bananas except when things are in season so am currently stuffing my face with strawberries at every given opportunity! I always buy things like tuna when it's on offer and store stuff like that on a shelf in the garage. I've found it well worthwhile trying OB stuff where I automatically bought the named ones- sometimes with success [Tesco OB version of Marmite] sometimes not [Tesco OB syrup]
A lot of my savings have been made in that way...trial and error really!
Aril

greenpixey

moggins wrote:

jcr Iwill happily post my menu plans but I won't be able to do it until this evening I'm afraid as I have to go to see Mum in hospital in 15 minutes.

I'll also post some more cheap and easy recipes that I've written down which aren't in my menu plan.

I do alternate menus, I tend to use the same 4 weekly menu for about 4 months, then change them to take advantage of seasonal foods.

I have been following this thread with intrest since I'm in the same situation as piratess. I was wondering if you could post your menu plans moggins. They sound really good.

moggins

Okay, here we go.

Week one

Mon - Sausage, Mash, barbecue beans
Tue - Spaghetti Bolognese
Wed - Omlette and Chips
Thurs - Chunky Chicken and Rice
Fri - corned beef hash and mixed veg
Sat - Oven Fried chicken, chips, peas
Sun - Meat Loaf, Jacket Wedges, peas

Week two

Mon - Chicken Rice Salad
Tue - Sausage and bean casserole, mash
Wed - Chicken Curry, rice
Thur - Tuna and pasta salad
Fri - Chili and rice
Sat - Pork Chops, jacket wedges, peas
Sun - Onion, bacon and potato hotpot

Week Three

Mon - Pasta with chicken and broccoli sauce
Tue - Chicken and mushroom pie, Mash, peas
Wed - Pork ribs, chips, onion rings
Thurs - Fish Pie, peas, carrots
Fri - smoked sausage rissotto
Sat - Tagliatelle with basil and mushrooms
Sun - Roast lamb, roast potatoes, veg

Week Four

Mon - Lamb Biryani
Tue- Chicken and mushroom bake
Wed - Tagliatelle in spicy tomato sauce
Thurs - Egg and Onion Pie, mash, peas
Fri - Spiced Sausages, rice
Sat - Bacon Roly Poly, baked potatoes barbecue beans
Sun - Buttery Garlic chicken, chips, veg.

piratess

thanks moggins thats brilliant .. so roughly how much a month would you spend buying all the produce you would need to prepare these meals ??

and what do you do for dinners etc? ie. packed punches or weekend dinners?

thanks for posting its a lovely variety of food

moggins

I have a monthly food budget of £200, everyone takes packed lunches to school and work - DH eats nothing but cheese and pickle The kids generally have ham or cheese spread or egg, they all take a packet of crisps, a homemade cake and some fruit.

Weekend lunches might be soup, or something on toast. And we get through about 2 boxes of cereal per week, whatever is on special offer (Asda had all Nestle cereal at £1 per box last month so I stocked up on Cheerios) and a box of Weetabix.

We only drink organic milk and I buy free range eggs from Lidl. Last week I discovered that Tesco sell of cold meat trimmings which usually include nice thick slices so I bought 1lb and it cost me about £1.20 and did sandwiches for nearly a week.

It's really all about discovering what you can get where, I can stock my freezer up with meat from the market for about £40, that lasts about 2 months, I can also get fruit and veg from the market, sacks of onions are about £2, the menu isn't absolutely rigid. If I pop into Tesco and they have something really reduced then I'll swop a meal or two, but this way I know I am prepared for anything.

Actually that £200 food budget is not entirely true as it doesn't only cover food but cleaning products, laundry, cat food x 2, guinea pig food x 2.

piratess

wow id love to have the £200.00 cover everything! ... does that cover things like fresh fruit and veg? or do you buy that as needed for extra money? or is that everything ...

thankyou so much! im definatly going to give monthly shopping a go i just thought if i did that id run out of everything to quickly ... and worried i wont get everything in our little freezer

moggins

Nope that covers everything including fresh fruit and veg.

greenpixey

Wow, I will definently give it a go. Thanks for all the ideas and advise :T

moggins

What I do is a big monthly shop at Tesco that covers all bulky and long lasting things like tinned stuff, rice and pasta etc to last the whole month and fresh for one week, then what's left is divided by three to buy fresh stuff for each remaining week and what ever I have run out of.

moggins

I just remembered that I have forgotten to factor in puddings mainly because we tend to like yoghurt, ice cream or fresh fruit

So for those of you with a sweet tooth

Blackberry Pie

8oz shortcrust pastry
1pt ripe blackberries
2oz soft brown sugar
pinch nutmeg
1oz butter

Grease an 8" pie plate and line with half the pastry. Put a layer of blackberries over the base and sprinkle with sugar and nutmeg. Dot with butter. Cover with remaining pastry and bake at Gas Mark 5 for 30 - 40 minutes.


Caramelled Pears

3oz sugar
1/3 pt water
4 firm pears

Put 3 tablespoons of water and the sugar into pan and heat until sugar is dissolved then boil until dark brown. Add rest of water and bring to boil. Peel, core, and slice pears. Put into caramel and cook for 10 mins.

Honeyed Apple Packets

3 medium sized cooking apples
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
2 TBSP clear honey

Heat oven to gas mark 4. Peel, quarter and core the apples and cut them into thin lengthwise slices. Divide them between 4 sheets of foil. Sprinkle each with a pinch of cinnamon and spoon the honey over the top. Seal the edges of the foil together and fold the ends upwards. Lay the packets on a baking sheet and put them into the oven for 20 minutes.

Lemon Sorbet

8oz caster sugar
1 pt water
Rind and juice of 3 lemons
2 egg whites

Dissolve the sugar in the water over a low heat. Add lemon rind and boil gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and leave to cool. Strain the liquid into a shallow tray and freeze until mushy. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and mix thoroughly into the lemon mixture. Pour into a plastic lidded container and freeze for at least 12 hours.