6000 meals under 50p in 2010; feeding your family on a low budget

dktreesea

Have you got a sandwich maker? I'm not into tuna, but, amazingly, tuna and cheese sandwiches made in a sandwich maker - those kinds which seal the edges so get the filling nice and hot, are delicious. Cheese and tomato was a nice combination too.

The other thing I liked recently was something a friend made which she called Tuna Surprise. This just seemed to be that curly short pasta (fusilli?) cooked and drained, then mixed with flaked tuna and finally tossed in a bit of olive oil with a few spinach leaves thrown into the mix. I must say, I was skeptical, but it was actually really nice. And took her all of five minutes to prepared.

The other thing I have been having with meals, talking of veggies, is beetroot. This tastes better from a jar than a tin. And for some reason which totally escapes me, beetroot is incredibly cheap. 59p for a whole jar in Sainsburys. And a branded jar at that.

Plain yoghurt mixed with a bag of mixed dried fruit/raisings in nice. I don't like yoghurt thats too weet, and this is quite cheap (if you buy one of those big plain tubs of yoghurt) to make up and lasts two or three visits to the fridge. Well, maybe not for a family of six, but it is healthy....:-)

I wish you luck with this challenge. I have worked out I can't join in, because the strawberries budget in our household would sink the ship. When I was little we only used to eat strawberries in season. Nowadays the depth of winter doesn't deter my two - one goes for the clementines and the other the strawberries.

Kimitatsu

miss_holly01 wrote: »

Im a student at university, I get a full loan, maintenance grant bursary ect. I have £10.52 per week for food that's it, there are no jobs, I have a budget and have to stick with it, not everyone has £25! There is no money in my budget spare, seriously I am limited, but by buying most of my food reduced at the end of the day (fruit and veg especially, as I love fruit!), buying value own brands and making a plan for meals every day I can do it easily and be healthy. To be fair I usually spend over my £10.52 a week as many recipes for one person obviously, for example don't need a whole 4 pack of chicken breasts but that's the cheapest way to buy them so that's what I buy. I manage to have a balanced diet, I snack less and make do with what I have and I don't eat out. I can tell you one thing for sure, many of my friends funded by parents spend about £30 a week, and eat terribly, buying 36 packs of crisps, 7 ready meals, loads of snacks, cheap sausages, and pot noodles. I have the biggest dinners im quite a tiny person and everybody cant understand how I seem to eat so much, yet after their tiny microwave meal they always snack where as I don't.

It can be done, I think this thread is great

Miss Holly

If you read my post you would see that for the purposes of a financial statement if you were paying off the debt then you are allowed an allowance of £25 a week for food.

As has been said before £10.52 is YOUR budget not what would be allowed if you were putting together a statement to show a financial institution how much you were able to pay. :rolleyes:

Obviously you are able to eat more cheaply than that if you are clever but not everyone has the skills nor the information to be able to budget preoperly nor be able to cook. These are skills which only now are being realised as being lacking and that financial capability has now been introduced to the curriculum.

Just wanted to clear that up.................

mark55man

dktreesea wrote: »

Have you got a sandwich maker? I'm not into tuna, but, amazingly, tuna and cheese sandwiches made in a sandwich maker - those kinds which seal the edges so get the filling nice and hot, are delicious. Cheese and tomato was a nice combination too.

The other thing I liked recently was something a friend made which she called Tuna Surprise. This just seemed to be that curly short pasta (fusilli?) cooked and drained, then mixed with flaked tuna and finally tossed in a bit of olive oil with a few spinach leaves thrown into the mix. I must say, I was skeptical, but it was actually really nice. And took her all of five minutes to prepared.

The other thing I have been having with meals, talking of veggies, is beetroot. This tastes better from a jar than a tin. And for some reason which totally escapes me, beetroot is incredibly cheap. 59p for a whole jar in Sainsburys. And a branded jar at that.

Plain yoghurt mixed with a bag of mixed dried fruit/raisings in nice. I don't like yoghurt thats too weet, and this is quite cheap (if you buy one of those big plain tubs of yoghurt) to make up and lasts two or three visits to the fridge. Well, maybe not for a family of six, but it is healthy....:-)

I wish you luck with this challenge. I have worked out I can't join in, because the strawberries budget in our household would sink the ship. When I was little we only used to eat strawberries in season. Nowadays the depth of winter doesn't deter my two - one goes for the clementines and the other the strawberries.

great idea, but erm :o we did have a sandwich maker, and it was very useful, until I melted it - not out of malice - more clumsiness.

so I will replace it, but not for a while - we are decluttering the kitchen, and I can't quite say that its useful enough for a new one just now

we do the tuna dish quite a lot - we have a slight problem with pasta in that we usually end up doing different sauces for different kids - crazy but that's where we are

off to the shops soon to stock up will try the beetroot as well (thanks) as OH and I like it even if noone else does

phizzimum

you can still make toasted sandwiches without a gadget - we make them in a frying pan. it doesn't seal the edges or get the filling piping hot but it we don't mind that. worth a try - there's no point buying extra gadgets if you don't need them. great for making quesadillas with tortillas too (must check out that thread JillD!)

mark55man

Thanks phizzimum

And JillD we have just replaced our broken breadmaker using our xmas argos vouchers, so definitely up for some cheap pizza with veggies on top. is there a special recipe for BM pizza dough?

(PS Not sure that the BM< is cheaper as we seem to be eating 2 loaves a day now - its always on!!) - whats the cheapest way to do the yeast 10p a sachet is not much (with Value flour) but add up)

EDIT

JillD wrote: »

Loving this thread Mark, thanks

Have you tried making your own tortilla wraps - see this thread
I use Asda Smart Price flour, they are so so so much nicer than shop bought wraps, and can be frozen successfully. Bit fiddly but worth the effort

Jill they look gorgeous and no yeast so cheaper!!

mandragora_2

MK~ wrote: »

Apologies if anyone has already posted about this but:

QUORN MINCE is 88p in morrisons (500g bag in freezers)


So bag of quorn = 63p
its quite nice in tasty chilli con carne (chill con quorn?!), bolognese, pasta bake etc

Chilli sans carne perhaps a better name....



or Chilli non carne?

boredofbeingathome

JillD wrote: »

Loving this thread Mark, thanks

Have you tried making your own tortilla wraps - see this thread
I use Asda Smart Price flour, they are so so so much nicer than shop bought wraps, and can be frozen successfully. Bit fiddly but worth the effort

Can also make fajita seasoning to add to veggies or quorn/chicken to put in the wraps:
2 teasp chilli powder
1 teasp salt
1 teasp paprika
¾ teasp stock powder
¼ teasp cayenne pepper
¼ teasp cumin
Large splash lime juice

Also do your children like pasta ? We do a nice veggie pasta bake - Asda SP pasta cooked as per instructions. Fry up some onion, and any other veg of choice - I do peppers, carrots, courgettes (SP of course) and tinned sweetcorn - Asda normal is marginally cheaper than SP when buying 3 tins. Pour on (SP!) Passata and spirnkle in dried herd. Mix in cooked pasta and sprinkle with cheese. Bake til golden brown.
DH and children have SP cheddar. I have cottage cheese on top as I am on a permanent diet LOL

Oh yeah and HM pizza. Admittedly we do the dough in the BM. We use Asda bolognaise sauce as the tomatoey sauce but SP passata with a blob of tomato puree to thicken is just as nice. SP cheese and whatever veg etc lying around. Much much nicer than bought pizza and a lot cheaper.

If I think of anything else I will add it. I look forward to seeing how you get on. Very inspiring, good luck!

Great - i can use some of the wraps for dinners.:D

debsthe1

mark88man wrote: »

Thanks phizzimum

And JillD we have just replaced our broken breadmaker using our xmas argos vouchers, so definitely up for some cheap pizza with veggies on top. is there a special recipe for BM pizza dough?

(PS Not sure that the BM< is cheaper as we seem to be eating 2 loaves a day now - its always on!!) - whats the cheapest way to do the yeast 10p a sachet is not much (with Value flour) but add up)

EDIT
Jill they look gorgeous and no yeast so cheaper!!

240ml water
460-500ml bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
sachet dried yeast
2 tbsp olive oil

Add water first, and then rest of ingredients. Use dough setting on BM (will normally be for 1 1/2 hours)

Then take out and roll to shape etc.

Hope this helps

mark55man

Bob if you read the thread in Jill's link - it looks like a 100% success rate mmmmm

LINKYPIE2009

JackieO wrote: »

If anyone want a copy just pm me your email address and I can send it to you no probs
Just stuff I have collected over the past year and stuck together online in my Microsoft Office Word
Cheers JackieO

PM sent your way Jackie....

Haven't had tme to read this thread properly yet......will sit down at work and have a good trawl through!