family meal inspiration help please :-)

mhacon

hi, i'm giong to do my shopping this weekend for the rest of the month (will just top up fresh veggies, fruit, milk and bread weekly) and in need of inspiration!

we are on an incredibly small budget after me losing my job so need all the tricks in the book - have read on here already about padding meals with lentils etc, making full use of leftovers (especially for husbands and son's lunch the following day). Always like to have a big pot of soup on the go

We have a slow cooker and i'm not scared of baking/trying new things ;-)

Somehow we always end up eating the same meals week in, week out and it gets boring and expensive.

to make matters worse i'm 6 months pregnant and SO hungry, husband is always hungry and I have a 2 year old who eats whatever you give him!

so please share your family meal ideas and hopefully we will not be the only family to benefit :-)

THANK YOU!

SunnyGirl

Hi

Have a look on this weeks Meal Planning thread as there's always some good ideas and everyone is very willing to share recipes.

I tend to cook in quantity as I'm feeding 4 children and 3 of them are hungry boys who seem to have hollow legs :eek: I'll use, say, 500g of minced beef for Spaghetti Bolognaise and add 2 chopped onions, a couple of rashers of bacon, 4 or 5 grated carrots, 2 sticks of celery finely chopped along with the usual herbs & seasoning and some stock & 2 tins of tomatoes. This will feed all of us a good portion each plus some leftover for the following days lunch or on a baked potato. Is this the sort of thing you're after?

We have a soup night once a week - I serve it with homemade naan or flatbread and do a hot pudding & custard for afters. I also make the Sunday roast do two meals (i.e.) Roast Chicken on Sunday, chicken curry/sweet & sour/stir fry etc on Tuesday then I use the bones to make stock which I make into a broth affair with the remains of the chicken meat, onions, carrots, potatoes, pearl barley etc.

Hope some of this helps

mhacon

thats fab, thank you for the link! hollow legs....hahaha! yes that might sum up my husband!

meals that we normally have are:

spag bol padded with frozen mixed veg
cous cous with chicken or fresh tuna (off the menu now unless in discount section), tinned toms and random veg
pasta n sauce (jar), sometimes with sausages for protein
quiche and salad
baked potatoes, beans, cheese, salad, whatevers lying around
oven fish (battered/crumbed, whats on sale!) and chips
slow cooked beef stew

thanks again, Mx

esmf73

You could try adding more carbs - so do loads of potatoes, serve pasta with garlic bread (easier and cheaper to make your own). Perhaps do a stew with either a potato layer topping or dumplings as they're really filling and always have a pudding on - by this I mean a filling one such as crumble, pie, sponge pudding etc.

I'm just starting to have to do this with my boys (5 and 4) as they're just starting to eat me out of house and home. Unfortunately they're not particularly interested in Veg - but they like to make their own pizza!!

Of course you can save money by making all the things yourself, but having been on this board I'm sure you'll know that. Best of luck x

Butterfly_Brain

If you are out of work at the mo why not take the opportunity to pop to your local library and pick up some cook books they have budget cook books, student cook books (always good for cheap healthy recipes) Try and get a copy of Economy Gastronomy as well.
If you have an Amazon account you can pick up cheap books like the paupers cookbook by Jocasta Innes or Shirley Goode books the recipes are a bit old fashioned but tasty and filling

Little_miss_sunshine_2

I agree with all the previous posts-I do most of what's already been said, except soup as a main meal- I like that idea as we all love home made soup and it's really nutritious when you make your own. I haven't mastered home made naan but woul do garlic bread with it.

The other tip I would add is to try frozen veg- it's usually cheaper than fresh, in summer I grow my own which is cheaper and tastier still!

Good luck.