How to survive on what’s in the store cupboard (plus a little money)

Penelope_Penguin

We often get threads from posters who, for whatever reason, have a limited amount of cash to last them until payday. We're asked how to best use that cash, with the contents of the cupboard, fridge and freezer, until the end of the month.

I thought it might be useful to start a new thread to give posters some pointers on how to do it :T

When I plan a meal, I try to combine protein (fish, meat, beans, eggs, lentils, etc), carbohydrate (bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, grains, etc) and fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, tinned and dried).

My first tip, therefore, would be, rather than to list the contents of each cupboard, freezer and fridge, rather to list your food under those 3 categories. You might then add baking ingredients (flour, butter, chocolate, etc) and snacks (crisps, chocolate, biscuits, etc). That way, you’ll be able to pick one (or more) item from each of the main categories to make a meal.

For instance, meals from the storecupboard might be:

Fish fingers, baked potato, peas and carrots

Sausages, lentils and tinned tomatoes, lots of vegetables made into a sauce, with pasta

Chicken, rice, broccoli

We'll now add threads asking for help with budgeting until payday to this thread.


HTH, Penny. x

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Penelope_Penguin

Other threads you might like to take a look at include:

Tips for Starting Out Old Style - links on the basics of OS, and tips from other posters

Cheapest meals

What to do with leftovers

Mealplan thread - check out what other old Stylers are eating this week (new thread started each week, usually on a Thursday)

Grocery Challenge thread - help from other Old Stylers on how to set a realistic groceries budget, and then stick to it :j (Sticky on page 1 - new thread each month)


There's also the Food Shopping and Groceries Board for tips on shopping bargains :j

............. back soon with some links

Penelope_Penguin

What are your tips for suriving until payday on very little?

Would you like to ask any questions?

soappie

Be creative with leftovers.

I had some flylady friends for dinner last Saturday. Because one was veggie, I decided we should all be for the evening so I cooked up cauliflower cheese, rattatouille and some cubed potatoes and a plum and apple crumble. There was a bit of everything left.

So, Sunday morning, I put the cauliflower cheese in the bottom of a dish, laid a couple rashers of bacon on the top of it then sprinkled the remaining potatoes on the top of that and bunged it in the oven for half an hour. Eaten with a couple of slice of bread, it made a fantastic brunch...

Oh and the rest of the rattatouille has gone on some jacket potatoes for tonight's tea.

It never harms to be veggie once or twice a week.

greenbee

soappie wrote: »

I had some flylady friends for dinner last Saturday. Because one was veggie, I decided we should all be for the evening so I cooked up cauliflower cheese, rattatouille and some cubed potatoes and a plum and apple crumble.

And it was delicious :D:D

It's worth remembering that the protein element of a meal is often the most expensive, but that we also usually overestimate the amount of it that we need. Between 10 and 15 percent of our calories should come from protein, and that although portion sizes vary (one sausage is considered to be a portion... remember it probably contains a lot of fat too!) approximately 85g of meat is sufficient. It is also now understood that it is not necessary to eat meat protein - and in fact that if you don't eat any protein, you body can recycle 90% of the damaged proteins to provide what you need.

Lots of vegetables and pulses make for cheap, nutricious filling meals and stocks of dried beans, lentils, rice, pasta etc are an investment that will see you through the days when your budget is tight.

emilyka

I always try to have a good few weeks worth of my favourite and most versatile store foods. The absolute essentials for me are:

-Onions (I buy the cheap market value onions from morrissons- usually around 50p for a large bag and then chop and freeze in freezer bags so theres always some ready to go and they dont get a chance to go off)
-Tinned tomatoes (cheapest ones I can find- often savers!)
-Tinned tuna
-Tinned beans
-Cheap bacon
-Potatoes
-Dried lentils and beans
-Pasta!!
-Basmati rice
-Arborio rice
-Stock cubes
-Frozen veg (brocolli and peas are my fave- always the cheapest I can find)
-Dried chilli (flakes with do but I grow my own chillies on my patio and dry them hanging up)
-strong bread flour and yeast (for breadmaking!)
-chilli powder, garam masala, herbs
-balsamic vinegar (cheapest- do you see a pattern emerging?!!)

I find I can get enough of the above for myself and OH for a month for £25 so I often treat us to some treats too!

The above for me are the essentials and if I have a little extra money to spare I will buy a chicken (to stretch over 3 meals), gammon joint (over 3 meals), whole salmon (to stretch over as many as 10 meals!) 1kg of frozen beef mince (up to 10 meals) 500g frozen diced lamb (up to 3 meals) and extra fresh fruit and bread.

Out of the basics I can make:
-chilli pasta with brocoli
-Tomato pasta
-tuna pasta
-bacon and tomato pasta
-jacket potato with baked beans
-jacket potato with tuna
-Jacket potato with a tomato and bacon sauce
-Lentil and bean curry with rice
-bacon and brocoli rissotto
-Potato, tuna and tomato bake
-homemade chips with salsa
-tuna fishcakes
-bean burgers
-Tomato and basil soup with home made bread
-vegetable curry and rice
-tuna sandwiches
-bacon sandwiches

And that's without the extras and not too many meal duplications, and all can be kept in cupboards or the freezer :j

lizziebabe

Hi - from time to time I try to make meals using the stock cupboard - to save money and use up stuff. I always have canned tuna or salmon and with pasta makes a lovely pasta bake.

Also trying to 'train' son in MS ways - When he is home from Uni we choose a night that he is going to cook and I say - just use up what we have. Usually he comes up trumps and is very inventive - and learning

Made a WW moussaka today and added red lentils - something I haven't done before. The mince and lentil mixture was delicious and had a lovely 'nutty' texture - and it padded out the mince and in the end made more of the mixture. I will be using lentils much more from now on and agree that it is good to be 'veggie' and I do that several times a week and don't miss the meat. :T

Trinny

Hi There

I tend to look at MBAZ and Weezl's threads - great for feeding the family on very little money until payday.

Otherwise - posting a list of ingredients and asking for menu suggestions can be really helpful, as other OS'ers can see the menu combinations better than the op at times

Trin

Butterfly_Brain

I would advise always having a good basic store cupboard and freezer with about a month of supplies just in case.

So I would have
Tomatoes, Baked Beans, Condensed soups, Tuna, Pilchards, a couple of FB pies, mince, chicken in white sauce, Corned Beef, Mixed vegetables, carrots, sweetcorn, Kidney Beans, Butter beans, Tinned fruit, Evaporated milk and Condensed milk, custard powder, tomato puree, jar pasta sauce, jar of curry sauce

Cooking oils, herbs and spices, vinegar, ketchup, stock cubes, tabasco, worcester sauce
Pasta such as Spaghetti, Lasagne sheets, Fuselli
Long grain Rice and short grain rice
Lentils, Broth Mix, Dried Mushrooms, Dried onions, Dried veg, Instant mash, cous cous, TVP

Plain Flour, Bread Flour, SR flour, Brown sugar, caster sugar, granulated sugar, icing sugar
Mixed Fruit, Sultanas, currants, raisins, yeast, bicarbonate of soda, Baking powder, suet, at least 2 bags of Porridge

Tea, coffee, cocoa, dried milk

Syrup, treacle, honey, jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread, marmalade

In the freezer

Mince, a couple of chickens, stewing steak, sausages, joint beef, smoked haddock, prawns
bacon pieces, lots of different veg and fruit, butter, lard, bread, oven chips

Plus in the pantry lots of potatoes and eggs

[Deleted User]

I will watch this thread with interest as although I can live quite frugally when I want to its always interesting to see what other folk come up with for 'frugal' meals .I made 5 potions of lamb stew a few weeks ago from some yellow stickered lamb stewing bones that cost just over £2.00.with veggies that were starting to wilt a bit in the fridge I think the 5 meals cost me around 50 each which I think is fairly good .Thank goodness for a slow cooker ,an essential I think for making things streeetch a bit.I can also with some herbs and oats make 5 portions of sheppards pie for the freezer out of 250gms of mince

slowandsteady_2

I always have pretty much the same as everyone else has mentioned, and thats only because of the ideas i have picked up off OS!

I always have

tinned beans/spaghetti/tomatoes/kidney beans (baked beans can count as one of five a day)
corned beef
tinned tuna/sardines/pilchards/salmon- if on offer i get it
red lentils/pearl barley/variety of beans-adzuki, black eyed, pinto
condensed soups
stock cubes
big 3kg bags of pasta
loads of rice
5p curry sauce

in the freezer

smartprice/value frozen veg, a variety about £1 for a bag
mince
chicken or two
bread
marge
basically whatever i can get whoopsied very cheap when i go shopping i store in the freezer for tough times

i get fruit and veg from the market which have great value buys, or Al"i.

I think we would go along the same lines as spag bol, pasta bake, tuna and rice and veg, sc stew, bean stew

Plus the usual flour, yeast, oils, herbs

Interesting thread