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

mark55man

Hi Weezl - you feel free to do as you please - treat this thread as your own.

Happy to be part of any beta testing - although any gammon testing would be welcomed

hi team - thanks for ongoing support - will promise to try the weetabix cake this weekend - could be a healthy-ish lunchbox extra

have been doing OK on frugality and woopsies this week - as you will see soon - but not quite at the expert level like weezl and Lesley

did I say - the piadine went down very well - but were a bit of a faff logistically - will deffo try them again

weezl74

mark88man wrote: »

Hi Weezl - you feel free to do as you please - treat this thread as your own.

Happy to be part of any beta testing - although any gammon testing would be welcomed

or eta (eater) or Pi (pie) presumably :rotfl:

Now I have permission from the big man himself (that's you Mark )

Sunnygirl, lesley, any other willing testers, I'm trying to frugalise this recipe

using asda smart price beetroot
one of these:



smartprice potato and onions

some of this and the requisite amount of it's vinegar


a knob of this:



and ideally nowt else apart from salt and pepper

I'd like to know what portions would be good for a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers as a lunchtime option with bread, and if it's nice!

thanks in advance for any feedback

mark55man

not quite as big as I used to be - this frugality is benefitting my waistline, which like my budget also needed some fining down.

may give the borscht a miss though - I like a nice pickle (especially herring), but looks like too much stuff I haven't got already - and we will be needing to empty the kitchen in the next 2 weeks

SunnyGirl

Weezl I shall get some beetroot & red cabbage tomorrow to give this a go. I don't like beetroot when it's pickled so am interested to see if cooked this way is nicer. DH loves it so the soup will go down well with him regardless :rotfl: Do you want the costings as they are to me? I shop at Netto for a lot of stuff and top up at Asda or do you just want impressions of portion size etc? Also are the beetroot fresh or the shrink wrapped cooked type? Or doesn't it matter? Sorry for all the questions

Mark The weetabix cake is brilliant. I always make 2 at a time and freeze one. I add extra cinnamon as we love it and I've experimented with different dried fruit, the best being dried apricots when I found them on offer at Home Bargains

weezl74

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Weezl I shall get some beetroot & red cabbage tomorrow to give this a go. I don't like beetroot when it's pickled so am interested to see if cooked this way is nicer. DH loves it so the soup will go down well with him regardless :rotfl: Do you want the costings as they are to me? I shop at Netto for a lot of stuff and top up at Asda or do you just want impressions of portion size etc? Also are the beetroot fresh or the shrink wrapped cooked type? Or doesn't it matter? Sorry for all the questions

the beetroot would be ideally the shrink wraped kind, cos I'm trying to compile it using the cheapest ingredients and assuming I'm building a resource for people who can only get to one supermarket, so I've based all my costings so far from asda, does that make sense? Hope the pickledness of the cabbage doesn't revolt you or DH :D

Thanks so much :A

SunnyGirl

Weezl I've just mentioned it to DH and he's chuffed to bits at the thought of me making him something with BOTH red cabbage & beetroot in it so don't worry at all We have soup for tea most Saturday's as it's generally just the 2 of us who are in so I'll make it for then with some HM soda bread with a lovely frugal recipe from the Grocery Challenge :money:

Lesley_Gaye

Weezl, I haven't actually made Borscht before as OH doesn't like beetroot much. I do however, so it will be a good excuse to try it just for me

The recipe doesn't say if it will freeze or not, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't. I won't be near an Asda for a while, so is it ok if I get the jar of red cabbage elsewhere? I am assuming it is pickled.

weezl74

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

Weezl, I haven't actually made Borscht before as OH doesn't like beetroot much. I do however, so it will be a good excuse to try it just for me

The recipe doesn't say if it will freeze or not, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't. I won't be near an Asda for a while, so is it ok if I get the jar of red cabbage elsewhere? I am assuming it is pickled.

hi lesley I'm sure it would freeze very well, yes the cabbage is pickled... in malt vinegar with some sweetness added (in case that helps you choose a type which is most similar IYSWIM?)

Many thanks for being willing to try it :A

Fire_Fox

weezl74 wrote: »

Fire fox, I wondered too if you might be willing to cast an expert eye over the nutritional analysis? But I completely understand if you are too busy/don't fancy it

Much love,

Weezl x

Will happily volunteer and I am distinctly UNbusy being unemployed as of last Monday! It's a looooong time since I have done the maths tho. I'm more used to going through an overview of a client's diet, healthy swaps, a general feel for if there is too much sat fat or not enough protein IYSWIM. But I am game all the same!

minjara

hey Weezl, love your posts and can testt away for you too!

Loz x