Skint January - meal ideas needed please!

Lois_and_CK

Flipping big car repair bill, so I'm having to cut back everywhere else for January until pay day on the 25th. So that's 26 days, and I have about £20 to spend on food. Fortunately I have decent freezer and cupboard contents so I reckon I can get away with just using that £20 on milk, fruit and bread for the next few weeks, and use up the cupboard and freezer contents. There's two of us to feed, including lunches.

Here's what I have:

Cupboard:
Lots of dried herbs and spices
5 tins of chopped tomatoes
21 tins of tuna
3 tins of chickpeas
5 tins of beans
2 bags of pasta
1 bag of rice
Dried kidney beans
3 tins of soup
Flour
Bisto gravy granules
Parlsey white sauce packet mix
Soy sauce
Balsamic vinegar
New potatoes
Onions
Potatoes
Green beans

Freezer:
Mackerel, salmon, cod
3 packs of mincemeat
6 chicken breast fillets
4 large portions of turkey (post-xmas turkey sale!)
Chicken goujons
Various frozen veg (peas, sweetcorn, peppers, brocolli)
1 portion of chilli


I'm thinking the mackerel, salmon and cod can make a fish pie, along with the parsley sauce mix and some potatoes. That's two meals.

And I could make a batch of bolognaise using the mincemeat, tinned tomatoes and herbs. And also a batch of chilli with the mincemeat, kidney beans and spices. They would probably do about six meals.

And I could have a few roast dinners out of the turkey, frozen veg, new potatoes and bisto.

So I reckon I have about 12 evening meals sorted with the above. I can take leftovers to work as I have access to a microwave, but CK doesn't, so he's going to have to take sandwiches. I guess the tuna and leftover turkey will do for the month.

Has anyone any creative ideas for loads of tinned tuna?? Apart from sandwiches and a filling for jacket potatoes, I'm a bit stuck for ideas.

SavvyStudent_2

Ideas for tuna:

1) Tuna pasta bake made with a HM white sauce, a little cheese if you have any, some of the frozen veg / or made with a tomato based sauce

2) Tuna fishcakes made with a bit of mashed potato

3) You could use some to try and stretch your other fish over 2 fish pies, maybe one salmon & mackerel, one cod and tuna? Maybe put in a bit of the frozen broccoli for a bit of veg / bulk!

4) Tuna on a HM pizza or 2 (yum!)

5) Tuna quiche

6) Tuna melt for lunch?

7) Seafood (or rather in this case 'tuna') risotto

8) Chowder

9) Edit: Tuna noodles with veg / soy sauce?

You might be a little sick of tuna by the end of that lot, but at least you have plenty of it to keep you going

spike7451

Make a big pot of curry with the Turkey,Chickpeas & tinned Tomatoes & freeze portions.(Get the spices from a asian hop,much cheaper.)
Sainsbury's do a decent 'basics curry sauce' about 12p a jar. Asda do a good basics coffee for 48p a jar

Lois_and_CK

SavvyStudent wrote: »

Ideas for tuna:

1) Tuna pasta bake made with a HM white sauce, a little cheese if you have any, some of the frozen veg / or made with a tomato based sauce

2) Tuna fishcakes made with a bit of mashed potato

3) You could use some to try and stretch your other fish over 2 fish pies, maybe one salmon & mackerel, one cod and tuna? Maybe put in a bit of the frozen broccoli for a bit of veg / bulk!

4) Tuna on a HM pizza or 2 (yum!)

5) Tuna quiche

6) Tuna melt for lunch?

7) Seafood (or rather in this case 'tuna') risotto

8) Chowder

9) Edit: Tuna noodles with veg / soy sauce?

You might be a little sick of tuna by the end of that lot, but at least you have plenty of it to keep you going

Wow :T I'm well impressed. Thank you!

I also just thought of shepherd pies too with the mince and potatoes.

SavvyStudent_2

Lol you're welcome, I learnt in my student days you can vary tuna quite a bit!

P.s. Don't forget home made soups with your other bits and pieces! Cheap and tasty and if you had some eggs, good old fried egg on chips is a cheap one the odd night. If you got in some value baking supplies to go with your flour (fat, sugar, milk, egg) you can make some nice scones / scotch pancakes / little cakes really easily too to go in packed lunches? Or meringues?

msb5262

Tuna ideas -
a) Cook some pasta twists, drain, add tuna and grated cheese, mix well, eat.
b) Make a sauce with onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs. Divide in half. Add tuna to one half, then you have the tomato sauce for pasta - meal #1 - and tomato/tuna sauce for pasta - meal #2.
c) Fish pie - make a white sauce, add a little cheese, combine with tuna and a ouple of quartered hard-boiled eggs. Add sliced gherkins if you like. Either wrap the whole thing in pastry or put mashed potato on top.
HTH
MsB

Butterfly_Brain

Lois_and_CK wrote: »

Flipping big car repair bill, so I'm having to cut back everywhere else for January until pay day on the 25th. So that's 26 days, and I have about £20 to spend on food. Fortunately I have decent freezer and cupboard contents so I reckon I can get away with just using that £20 on milk, fruit and bread for the next few weeks, and use up the cupboard and freezer contents. There's two of us to feed, including lunches.

Here's what I have:

Cupboard:
Lots of dried herbs and spices
5 tins of chopped tomatoes
21 tins of tuna = Tuna pasta, Tuna Fishcakes, Tuna pancakes with a white or cheese sauce, Tuna and sweetcorn and mayo in Pitta bread for lunch box, Tuna fish pie, Tuna pasties for main meal or lunch box
3 tins of chickpeas
5 tins of beans
2 bags of pasta
1 bag of rice
Dried kidney beans
3 tins of soup
Flour
Bisto gravy granules
Parlsey white sauce packet mix
Soy sauce
Balsamic vinegar
New potatoes
Onions
Potatoes
Green beans

Freezer:
Mackerel, salmon, cod = Salmon with parsley sauce, Battered Cod
3 packs of mincemeat = Bolognaise, Mince and veg pie/pasties, Chilli, Meatballs,
6 chicken breast fillets= slice and make chicken chilli, chicken stew, chicken pie, Inside out kiev (top breast with breadcrumbs and garlic butter) Make a vegetable rice and serve with sliced chicken
4 large portions of turkey (post-xmas turkey sale!)= use as a roast dinner or chicken as above
Chicken goujons
Various frozen veg (peas, sweetcorn, peppers, brocolli)
1 portion of chilli

We are in the same boat this month due to the Gas and Electric bills coming in the same week:eek:
Buy some eggs they are cheap and are a good source of protein and so versatile

That's all I can think of for now if there are two of you you should easily make it. Try cutting down on portion sizes the meat will go a long way stretched out with plenty of veggies.
And check out the mbaz thread on feeding a family for £20 for a month - Inspirational!
HTH - let us know how you are doing and Good luck x x

Gingham_Ribbon

We make a cheap'n'cheerful pasta bake with tuna that is surprisingly delicious (in my opinion!)

Cooked pasta
1 tin tuna
1/2 tin of baked beans (we use asda value ones)
handful grated cheddar
teaspoon herbs (basil/parsley/mixed Italian herbs - anything!)
splash of oil if the tuna was in brine

Mix it all together, bung it in the oven at about 180 with some extra grated cheddar on top till it's piping hot (about 15 minutes.)

We usually make this instead of a 'fancier' tuna bake. It's the only thing I like to add baked beans in the sauce to.

applemella

Tuna pasta salad?
Mix some cold cooked pasta with a can of drained tuna and some sweetcorn.A pinch of black pepper and mix with some mayo or salad cream.
Makes a good lunch box filler.

Lois_and_CK

Thanks everyone - there's some great ideas there and I think it might be pretty easy to get to the 25th now with all those suggestions. And maybe it will be a good lesson in reducing grocery spend too, which has crept up over the past few months.

This morning I made a big batch of bolognese sauce for the freezer, now in the slow cooker, and for tea I'm trying tuna pasta bake (thanks savvystudent and gingham ribbon!)

Not dipped into my £20 yet - I'm going to see how long I can go without touching it

Beki

this is a fab thread! i think i'll be watching this closely as i'm in a similar situation this month.. 2x M.O.T's and 2x car tax's!!! eeek!