Help for the Desperate

seraphina

What everyone said about getting your family on board.

I would be expecting your teenage children to be cooking one meal a week to help out - you're clearly run off your feet and teenagers are more than capable of rustling something up - even if it's only jacket spud with something. Give them a budget, allocate them a day and expect them to do it. FOr the first few weeks you may have to grin and bear some wonderful creations (but DON'T tell them it's anything other than absolutely delicious to get them on board) but they'll soon get into the swing of it. And you have the added ammunition that if one of them doesn't pull their finger out, the rest of the family will have it in for them!

I can't stand slow cookers so if I were you I would borrow one if possible first before shelling out on one - as a vegetarian they're pretty useless and only really work IMO if you have time in the morning to sort things out.

How about big chunky soups with crusty bread? You can sell them to teenage daughter on the basis that they're full of healthy veg etc.

angelaf_3

I so sympathise for you. Although my situation is completely different to yours I can understand how you feel when you say that you know all the theory but feel like you are in a forein country. I live alone and a period of ill health which left me exhausted and unable to lift a saucepan has removed all confidence from me. I like you would have binned the stuff because all this constant talk of food poisoning, additives etc has left me too terified to cook for anyone because I'm terrified of poisoning them and like you I'm terrified to cook anything because of wasting the ingredients so waste them anyway.

My friends think I'm even more barking than usual and either don't believe me or think it's hysterically funny. So I wish you all the best with your visit to this country and hope that before long you can't be distinguished from a native. Also easy for me to say as I don't have kids but if the kids have to learn to cook budget etc what fab life skills you are giving them and shouldn't feel guilty about asking them to help.

LeeSouthEast

My dad had unearthed a tin of curry last year, purchased circa 1980. We had it for a laugh. Tasted fine, albeit bland, and I'm still alive. Tinned goods assuming the tin is in good condition, will last for decades.

mum26

I make pasta sauce for 8 and never use bigger than a 500g pack! It is better to buy the extra lean if you can as you will lose far less as fat. I always add loads of tomatoes (1 jar passata, 3 cans plum tomatoes whizzed up at least and if flush a can of chery tomatoes) and let it cook away for a couple of hours (sainsbury's organic passata is cheaper than all their other passatas, I get my tinned toms from the Italian shop round the corner mostly though). This will usually do 1 evening meal of pasta and sauce, extra for dp to take to work that evening, small portion to freeze and a lasagne or cannelloni.

What about internet shopping? Would save you time once you got into swing of it and you'll still have access to bargains.

As for brands, if they are paying they can buy them quite frankly! I'd perhaps offer the choice between continuing to recieve pocket money (if they do) or continuing to have certain brands

Good luck

ruthber

try Approved Foods (Google it). they sell foods close to sell by date or just slightly out of date very cheaply. i have just had a delivery today, including: cous-cous, packet rice, juices, fruit in jelly, nuts, flapjacks, chicken soup, cakes, chocolate all for about £20 and that includes £.25 delivery. the quality is absolutely fine just had some peaches in jelly best before Nov 2009 and they were delicious. it is definitely worth it and I am sure they will deliver to you.
good luck

Butterfly_Brain

We have always been tight with our budget but have managed to have cheap and healthy meals.
And only one meal cooked for all !!!!!!
When the kids were younger they had to eat what was served or go hungry
My DD is vegetarian but I only give her the same as we are having minus the meat I get a big bag of TVP for her and that is it.

Does elderly mother contribute to the food budget?

Do the older children help by cooking a meal?

Honestly if you are working such long hours you shouldn't have to do all of the cooking.

After all a recipe is just a list of instructions and if you follow them carefully you will soon learn to cook cheaply and healthily.

Here are a few links to sites that have helped me over the years

http://www.schoolrecipes.co.uk/

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/258920/Meals-for-under-a-fiver

http://www.ukhomefront.co.uk/6.html

http://thriftykitchenblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.slowcookerrecipes.org.uk/

http://www.whitworths.co.uk/recipes

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/favourites/cheap-eat/

wssla00

Hi

I know it's difficult but there are loads of ways to cut costs.

- Best befores are just that- best before. I have eaten stuff way past it and it has been fine. I have even heard of a very posh knightsbridge shop buying out of best before biccies, adding some choccy and repackaging them! Take a look on approved food for some really good branded end of date stuff

-Take a look at cheaper cuts of meat and see what you can make from those. A piece of pork neck is about £4 and would easily make a lovely slow roast, a pack of ribs will make the most wicked barbeque ribs and the kids won't complaint

-Pizzas are great- you can even buy a pizza base mix in tesco for 30p if you only want to give it a try- very good and the kids can get involved

- Can't you just tell the kids they are eating/washing in/drinking branded stuff? If you put the stuff in plastic containers or the like they'll never know the difference and once they like it then you can tell them

-Why not try giving the kids a budget once a month for one meal that they have to cook? Say £5 for everyone? Make it fun and offer a prize of something little for the best one- a bit like come dine with me, and you may find that they like cooking, will gladly do it (so taking the pressure off of you) and will learn about budgeting and hopefully will buy into the new shopping budget. I have done this with kids before and they LOVE cooking as it's instant results- something which kids aren't used to at school

Good luck you will be fine!

ascot64

2lbs of mince for one meal!!

If you expect something you have just cooked to last two meals it is better to halve and keep aside half of it before dishing up the other half onto the plates. Otherwise it is so easy to be too generous with the servings.

Another tip for batch cooking mince - cook with just onions and tinned tomatoes and then divide up into portions. It is then easier to turn the basic mince in different things eg add peas, sweetcorn, gravy granules and top with mash for cottage pie; add more tinned toms, chilli, cumin, garlic, cocoa and kidney beans for a chilli con carne; add peppers, mushrooms, garlic and more toms for a spag bol. Just helps make it less boring.

Suffol

Again, many thanks for all of the good advice - I know I need to get tough with my kids, but it's hard because the boys are both working hard for school exams just now, and I feel guilty already because I've ruthlessly stripped out all of the 'treat' foods from my shopping lists - no crisps, chocolate biscuits or cakes for us any more. I will look at slow cookers, but the point about mornings is well-made. My mother might be pressed into service to hobble around the kitchen and toss some ingredients in as she tears herself away from Jeremy Kyle to make her mid-morning cuppa ;-).

What I'm also interested in is what is a reasonable monthly budget - £400? The boys are both growing rapidly and active, and no-one is fat in the house, so we aren't overeating at all. We seem to spend an awful lot on what I regard as non-negotiable staples - milk (£50 / month alone), bread, tea coffee, bananas, potatoes etc. For me there's a trade-off between the time available to save money, and the amount possible for saving - e.g. for me it's better sense to earn £50 a month by doing four hours' overtime than to spend eight hours cooking to save the same amount. I'd rather be at home than at work, but maybe not at home cooking (ducks to avoid missiles from you admirable keen cooks) or at home harranguing my reluctant family to get back into the kitchen to cook my tea oh-and-you'd-better-tidy-up-too! But if it was e.g. £100 saving from four hours' directed effort at home, that would be much better. I'm completely sold on getting the rest of the family to help out, but realistically I'll still have to be the 'controlling mind'.

Please keep the advice coming - I'm open to all suggestions, and have started a list of things to do this weekend

bugbabe1970

Just wanted to say, my hubby went back to uni 9 years ago, and we really struggled for the 5years he was there. I was working full time and we had 3 children to look after, but hang on in there. It really is worth it. Hubby now has a good job and life is on the up.

Good luck to you x