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

23rdspiral

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Have a soup and pudding night once a week, HM soup, HM bread and a nice sponge based pudding or a crumble is really filling.

i was just noodling around Old Style looking for a few hints... we're having to cut back again in the new year so i'm starting now!

anyway, this is a BRILLIANT idea!! i've not seen it mentioned before. i love soup, love pudding and could do with loosing a few pounds so dont often have an excuse for pudding. thanks so much!! :T:T:T

Cheapskate

Hi all
I'm in a similar position & things are getting worse! We're going to have a few odd meals this week to use up stuff, so I don't have to buy too much. DS is going out for a meal with GF on Saturday, so we don't have to have meat then, maybe cheese & onion tart or HM soup. Got 2 or 3 bread mixes (reduced) - can I add cheese etc to them like I could to my own bread dough?
Had a look at the site mentioned before - is this weezil's site someone mentioned ages ago? It's fantastic - really common sense, knew some of the ideas, but love new recipes & ways of using things.
When I do a pud, we rarely feel the need to 'pick' during the evening, so we probably consume fewer calories overall, so puds are good! Got lots of different tinned fruit to use, so it will be nice to have some puds on these cold, blustery nights.
A xo

janeawej

If you have an agricultural feed store near you buy big bags of working dog food they are about £7 for a 20k bag, very economical as they have no VAT on them!

patchwork_cat

Gusto or Autarky are working dog food and excellent quality - Autarky is better quality. Gusto is £12.98 for 20 Kg http://www.dodsonandhorrellonline.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=23 and Autarky is £30 or 30 Kg http://www.dodsonandhorrellonline.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=69&zenid=5nbgbthooac3q6hr4b996dud81 google it on some dog forums and you will see it is excellent quality. Our Golden Retriever has been on Gusto for a good few years and doing well (she is 10).

seasalt_2

Bella, have you claimed all the help you are entitled to eg. working tax credits and child tax credits?

Rowan9

You have had quite a bit of advice - people are so friendly and helpful in this lovely community:).
I agree with the dog food suggestions. We have 2 Golden Retrievers and the younger one is on Wagg, at just under £10 a large sack. I don't go for working dog mix for her because she can be a bit hyperactive and there is just too much protein (I think it's that) in the working dogfood for her. But she is an oddball! Our older dog is 11 and a half, with arthritis and she gets a senior food but i mix some Wagg into it.
Great ideas for stretching food on here! One thing I would do is look at fuel costs for cooking. So, if you were doing an oven based pud one night for soup and pud tea, I'd bake/ cook at least one other thing in there that could easily be heated or zapped in microwave for next night's tea. Maybe also look at getting your hands on a steamer (or would a metal sieve do?) so you could steam veg above boiling potatoes. Anything to keep gas/ electric costs down will free up a bit more cash.
Be adventurous with leftovers and odd tins in cupboards! We had a strange tea a few weeks ago of a little chicken leftovers, mixed with left over green veg and carrots (getting the idea:p), some cold sliced cooked potatoes - and added a tin of Scotch broth. Put into a dish and heated through in oven for crispy top - you could add breadcrumbs for crispier topping - I always save heel of bread, left over rolls etc for this - stick in feezer.
Stir fry is a great way to use up fridge odds and ends. I freeze left over rice in portions then boil up for a few mins in a pan and then it is ready (and safely reheated so not to cause upset tums) to add to stirfry. Add beaten eggs for protein. Or a handful of nuts if you have them left over from baking. But they are expensive, I know. I just add a slosh of soy sauce rather than any packet of stir fry sauce. if you have plenty of garlic and ginger chopped through it, it tastes nice and pricy .
Freeze portions of soup so you don't get fed up of the same soup for days (if this might happen). It takes the same amount of time and heat to cook up one massive pot. I have a huge soup pot as well as a more normal sized one. It would also take one of those little boiling hens if you still get them. I suppose they are chickens now!
Finally, A$da are doing 30 eggs (in 2 x 15 trays) of free range eggs for £3, or they still were a few days ago.
Really finally!!! On a Sat night DH and i have a plate of nibbles while we are watching TV. We used to have bought crisps and dips, expensive peanuts etc. Now we have carrot sticks, cucumber, Sains Basics peanuts and a home made dip or even some sweet chilli sauce at the side of the plate. We still feel it is a put your feet up time but it doesn't have to be so expensive.
Wishing you well with this.
W

Bella79

Hi all,

Wow, thankyou all for your replys some really good hints and tips in there, def gonna check out wheezels site for ideas, my mum has just turned up with a bag full of meat, turkey breast crown, 2 pkts beef mince.

Been invited out for a meal tommrow night at a friends house so thats another meal i dont have to plan for , tea tonight is fry-up from last nights dinner left-overs of mash potatoe,cabbage,carrotts and gonna have it with a slice of corned beef pie i made and brown sauce !

Going to make a batch of twinks hobnobs tonight and a quiche for my husbands pack-up, and for nibbles, i may nip to asda later see if i can bag myself some whoopsies !

Had a unexpected bill of £20 for the vets grrrrr, but its done now so at least its out of the way, our cars mot and service is due in 2 weeks luckily i have the money put by for this jst hoping and praying the car gets through the mot without any problems.

Also gonna have a look through my list od d/d and see if i can lower any of them, starting with pet insurance for both dogs at min i pay over £25.00 i can get a package for £3.56 a month for each dog huge saving but it only covers accidents, so not sure what to do ?

And also need to look at pet food costs and also lowering my bt phone line , ive got free mins with mobile which i cant cancel cos in contract so gonna have to use that as i never use my minuites so think its about time i started :@)

I think if i lower the pet ins and bt theres about a £30 saving to be made there a month which is huge to us at the min, im jst really worried about the pet insurance and i think that policy at £3.00 only covers upt0 £500 ? or should i have it at all , keep the money and jst rely on a c/c if anything does happen , iknow a few peeps do this ?

Right im off , gonna make my bread, nip to asda and have dinner

Once again a BIG THANKYOU x

janeawej

If you use working dog food, make sure you go for the maintenance food not the one for full on working sheepdogs or yes your dog may well go hyper! I feed my Labrador and Jack Russell on it and despite having 35 acres neither of them venture far from in front of the rayburn even in the summer!

Bella79

Morning all,


Well woke up this morning and realised we had run out of cereals for hb and dd breakfast, need to get some crunchy nut, i tried lidls own last time, but we didnt like the taste so gonna look around for another brand any suggestions ?

Only managed to make quiche last night for fridge, need to have a baking today stocks running low oh the oh so vital biscuit !

I was going to try for a nsd today but have to get those darn cereals and milk grrr, out for a meal tonight at friends so no worries there

Hope you all have a good day
x

curlytop12

skintbint wrote: »

Mr T's do 18 eggs for around £1.50. (remember your on a budget and some principles just have to go!) to make mince spin outcook as normal with bisto bulk out with veg for 1st night and for 2nd night add a tin of beans, cover with mash and throw in the microwave or oven -called po (as in tellytubbies) pie in our house as had to do this when not working and kids were little. or meatballs bulk out the mince with onion and breadccrumbs, spices and splurge of puree or sauce and serve with pasta - you'd be surprised how many you get and then if o/h takes sandwiches to work have the leftovers cold in a pitta bread with onion. (pork mince is cheaper and tastes great for these) . i would go to a local farm for potatoes if you buy too many cook, mash and season roll into little croquets and freeze that way you can just pull out what you need and zap in microwave, you can do this with turnip too. milk can vary but usually farmfoods is most consistant with their pricing at £1 a jug. burgers can be stewed with gravy and onion - a bit more filling than just a burger

sorry to butt in,but i love some of the ideas here-def gonna start getting pork mince instead of beef for one thing! also adding lentils and/or porrige oats stretches the mince btw. remember you can freeze milk too,if buying in bulk.
skintbint-the name is fab!