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

phizzimum

hi mark - hope you're not too downhearted about yesterday's costings. the fish pie sounded scrummy - no wonder they all wanted seconds! sometimes I add a couple of hardboiled eggs to fish pie to make it go further too. looking back,you've been under 50p for quite a lot of meals - particularly breakfasts - so maybe if you averaged the cost over the whole day it wouldn't be too bad.

elliesmum - sorry to suggest being sneaky it sounds like your OH has come a long way when it comes to food so I can see it's best not to push him too far. well done on helping him to make so many changes.

shaz - forget to say that the quiche was lovely! I would never have thought of adding spuds - but I should have followed your example and made a bigger one!

Elliesmum

phizzimum - ooo no offense taken honest. Sneaky is the way forward, there are a couple of things I have done that I wouldn't dare tell him :whistle:

EM xx

boredofbeingathome

The fish pie sounds great Mark- My family are all like that- as in anything which may be classed as food for another day, is fair game for seconds.
Yesterday i made sausage rolls- there must have been 25 in total ( they weren't big) In theory i thought- Mr.B's lunch and lunch for Hungry teenagers- err nope- supper and snacks, plus the pud all went.

I have a few mashed potatoes and veg left which will be whizzed up for potato cakes instead.

I also have fish- scuttles off to make fish pie and quiche

mark55man

boredofbeingathome wrote: »

The fish pie sounds great Mark- My family are all like that- as in anything which may be classed as food for another day, is fair game for seconds.
Yesterday i made sausage rolls- there must have been 25 in total ( they weren't big) In theory i thought- Mr.B's lunch and lunch for Hungry teenagers- err nope- supper and snacks, plus the pud all went.

I have a few mashed potatoes and veg left which will be whizzed up for potato cakes instead.

I also have fish- scuttles off to make fish pie and quiche

Thanks All

Bob - I forgot to say - keep a bit of the cheese back and spinkle it on top to crisp it up under the grill. mmmmm

Phizzimum - I know what you mean about averaging over the day, but I kind of see the GC challenge as keeping me honest on the big picture, but my main focus is trying to keep the cost down individually. I could have a separate challenge for the day, but hard enough keeping track at the moment so I probably won't

Queen-Bee - Yes I am sure I can get fish pie on target - cheaper cheese, less attractive fish and above all - don't leave it out after !!

Q & Q (that's Quorn and Quiche) - thanks for hints and tips will be looking at those ideas for my next big shop

boredofbeingathome

ooh will do- but have decided to make pizza tonight.

I have just been to market and they were getting rid of bags of courgettes, i have 8 for 50p large tomatoes about 10 big ones for 50p. 12 large bananas for a £1...i would have picked up a large bag of carrots for £2 but i have a bad knee and was already loaded down- time for a trolley i think ( although the kids would disown me if i bought one)

Lots of meals to be made out of bargainous veg

I didn't make pizza in the end- see my thread, but i was very frugal and managed to fill up 4 hungry teenagers plus myself and Mr.B off last nights leftovers and the lovely weetabix cake, which the pigs have demolished having declared it the best ever!

Mr_Falling_Star

Can I join in?

I was given a recipie for "Army stew" by a korean friend the other day, I have tried it and its really nice

You need (for three people)

2 packets of value noodles (9p each)
1 packets of instant vegatable soup (70p Knorrs florida sprig is the best)
Spam or hot dogs
Chilli and Garlic to taste
Soy sauce if liked


Simmer the noodles in the soup mix for 5 mins and add the spam/hot dogs for the last two mins, drain and serve

Probably not the most nutritious meal but very warm and filling

mark55man

Mr Falling Star - more than welcome - I tend to use veggie gravy or court boullion for flavour and add frozen veggies for veg content. soy sauce is a must - and warm and filling works for me

mark55man

Reporting back for Saturday 16th January

Weekend - hurrah

Today's Summary - 18/18 :A meals 50p or under
Summary Total - 259/288 = 89.9%

Breakfast: 50p or under (6/6)
OP - Sainsbury's value Fruit & Fibre
OH - Lidl Crunchie Oats
DD1, DD2, DS1, DS2 - Cereal + OJ

Lunch: 50p or under (6/6)
OP+OH+DS1 : Thirds Tomato & Basil Half price soup + Chunk HM Bread
DD2, DS2 - Noodles Sweetcorn & Ham (not DD2)
DD1 - Out

Supper: 50p or under (6/6)
OP+OH : 2 portions (of 6) from Chicken & Vegetable Curry, 44p each
DD1, DD2, DS1, DS2 : HM Pizza + Sauce + Sweetcorn = 40p (for dough) 50p for tomota sauce + 33p sweetcorn + 50p cheeses = £1.73 = 43p each

Chicken & Vegetable Curry - 1lb spuds - 20p : 1/2 lb carrots - 15p : 3 Lidl part boned chicken pieces £1.99, 1/2 Jar pataks rogan josh curry sauce 37p, 2 lidl onions 5p, = £2.76 = 44p a portion

weezl74

mark88man wrote: »

Fish Pie - 1kilo spuds - 50p, 1/2 pack tesco value prawns 77p, 1 piece frozen salmon 66p, 2 pieces frozen pollock £1.20 (Not quite sure of price but about 60p each it was half price), cheese, milk and flour 75p : Total 50 + 77 + 66 + 120 + 75 + 55 = £4.46 for 6 portions = 74p portion.

This is everyone's favorite. I had put about a third of it away to reheat tomorrow but seconds were required by all so my first 0/6 complete blank

Hiya mark, Like others I agree that this wasn't a failure, cos you're making so many savings overall and it sounds amazing

But I have been wracking my brains to think of ways of bringing it within budget for the future.

My thought was to wait a little bit, make one frugalising tweak, see if anyone notices/complains, if not proceed to frugalising tweak no. 2 and so on. As soon as anyone goes 'Dad this tastes wrong!' reverse previous step... IYSWIM?

Off the top of my head possible frugalising tweaks. To get a pinkish colour and a delicious sweet smokey flavour through half the fish, but without using salmon, try frying some of the white fish first in a little oil and smoked paprika:



this stuff is on offer at the mo and you'd need 9p's worth for a double batch.

If you used this 1 kilo bag split into paprika and non-paprika I think it would make 2 enormous meals worth, and it's £4 at the mo:


reduce cheese content by adding mustard powder to the white sauce...

These prawns seeem quite a bit cheaper than Mr T:



at £1.17 for a double amount of what you put in your pie.

Finally, I wonder about topping it with instant mash? I know some people worry if it's not fresh, but I don't personally feel this impairs the vitamin content, and dried foods are accepted by the NHS as part of the 5 a day. (but I don't mean to relaunch that debate at all)

Even done that way it would still be 53p a head but for a much larger portion, but I'll carry on pondering! (or you can just say 'butt out weezl, and stop writing essays about fish pie on my thread!')

I think all of these together would make the pie a lot bigger, and hopefully just as tasty. I'd be inclined to use the whole bag of the fish and the prawns and 3 packets of mash and make 2 pies, but pop the other one in the freezer before serving up tonight's, or be really clear that that whole other one is for another day.

My DH would always have seconds if it was there. I did an experiment when we were first married, where I just made more and more of certain dishes, and left the dish on the table for him to help himself to more after. I was looking for when his natural 'stop' message would be.

By the time he had consumed 3900 calories of pasta carbonara one night I realised that the 'stop' message wasn't going to kick in (that's more than his body needs for his entire day, and he had 2 other meals and a pudding :rotfl:) He's not a fat man or greedy, I just think people really struggle with portion control and will often just have seconds, because it was really nice, rather than that they needed it IYSWIM?

Now what I do is make a batch of something, decide what a portion of it is, serve up two of those and the rest into same sized portions in lidded tupperwares ready for the freezer. If stuff's hanging around in a pan or dish, he will kindly offer to tidy it away, but if it's clearly another meal, he's usually happy to fill up on pudding instead

If fulness is an issue, what about a slice of HM bread to mop up the cheesy sauce on the plate after eating? At a penny a slice that's gotta be cheaper than seconds

I'll stop now.

And I genuinely hope some of these ideas are useful, I am not meaning at all to criticise your original dish

Weezl x

Intergalactic_Floozie

<drooling> i want to make fish pie for my tea too!!! </end of drooling>