A £15 Challenge?

skylight

Crikey - Best of luck with this. £15 is very low and a real challenge. My budget is no where that low (fortunately for me) but I make good use of some threads here -

£1.62 for a family of 5 - Corned Beef hash is a popular choice in our family
Black-Saturn has a thread of £40 (approx) for a months shopping

You are obviously using the vlaue ranges of food at the moment - and the idea of using lentils as opposed to meat in some dishes is something we have just taken on board.

Asda do large 3kg bags of pasta for a £1 and this lasts us a month (family of 6)

thriftlady_2

Potatoes need to be kept in the dark to stop them sprouting. If you buy a big sack (which I strongly recommend as they really are excellent value ) keep the open sack top rolled down and pegged to keep out light and preferably store somewhere cool and dark like a garage.

And don't forget to eat them !, they are so cheap bought this way eat them every day and you'll soon use them up and save money. Build a meal round a large baked spud. Top with; baked beans and cheese, broccoli,cheese sauce and bacon bits, tomato sauce, mushrooms and cheese, sweetcorn, tuna and mayo, smoked mackerel and leeks.....

Trow

thriftlady wrote:

Potatoes need to be kept in the dark to stop them sprouting. If you buy a big sack (which I strongly recommend as they really are excellent value ) keep the open sack top rolled down and pegged to keep out light and preferably store somewhere cool and dark like a garage.

My potatoes sprout whether or not they are in the dark - it's natures way of them reproducing, and as they would sprout underground I can't think that the dark makes a difference - but they don't go green if they are kept in the dark.

thriftlady_2

But when you want seed potatoes to sprout for planting don't you leave them somewhere sunny ? I'm now:)

SuiDreams

Buy Tesco Value or Boots Basic toiletries are good for a tight budget 3 bars of Tesco Value soap is either 21 or 27p. Have you got any loyalty points that you can use to buy toiletries with (e.g. Boots advantage, Tesco, Nectar etc.). Join Pigsback.com if not already a member you can get boots vouchers etc from there (see the freebies board). Also chek out the freebies board for other freebies that you can send off for like free samples of washing powder etc. Good luck hope everything works out for you.

SuiDreams

Forgot to say Stews are excellent in Winter months really healthy, filling and warming. I have a huge stew pot and we get loads of meals out of a stew for very little money, you can use cheaper cuts of meat and cook it slowly over a long time at loads of cheap veggies like potatoes, carrots, onions etc. Whenwe do a stew we have it for lunch and dinner for 2 days and have loads left over to freeze (last time I made one we were eating it for a month) and if you have bread with it it goes even further.

Quickbrew_2

Thanks so much - I will buy a sack of spuds - I always thougt that once they start sprouting they were bad for you - don't know where I got that from :rolleyes:

I will be doing alot of baked spuds and will definitely try the stews. I have some nectar points (from buying petrol) and also my mum has said she will let me have any spare stuff or extras in the way of toiletries that she has - that's going to help loads as that stuff is more expensive than food!

I think I will try not to plan too far, and get whatever is good value at the time combine it with store cupboard stuff I have and then try and eek it

Thanks guys xx

flufff

I buy french sticks of bread end of day at tescos when they are reduced.normally around 10p bargain.Slice each baton into 3 then down middle put tomato puree on and top with cheapest cheese there is....2 batons would easily feed 6 people heartily.Forgot to add pop in oven for instant pizza.
Tescos do value porridge oats...poridge is cheap especially if you water whole milk down by half as recommended in another thread.Oats could also be used to make flapjack as mentioned above.
Buy a bag of value flour...can be used to make pastry..eggs are cheap to make quiche,egg sandwiches.....or left over cheese from pizza turn into a cheese pie with onion and potatoes creamed as filling.Value tinned peas and carrots sweetcorn are cheap veg from tescos.
Tescos often reduce veg early evening.
Nothing wrong with beans on toast either as long as its not everyday.
Value pasta....blend some tinned tomatoes with onions and garlic and mix together......baguette again could be sliced n grilled with bit of butter n sprinkle of garlic powder for instant garlic bread
Tuna is cheap can go with pasta in a bake or jacket spud

sashacat

I always use soap instead of shower gel
And I have just packed up my spuds forthe winter. I store them in sacks or paper potato bags that I scrounge from the supermarkets , close them loosely and put them in the dark in the celler ( but the garage will do fine). They are kept in the dark because exposure to light makes them go green, it has no effect on them sprouting as they will do that anyway. They need checking regularly as if you have one bad one all of them will go off. Also the big ones keep for longer so use the small ones first. I boil a large quanity in the pressure cooker and then use them all week for potato salad, fried with onions, or just as boiled when I first cook them. This makes it much cheaper to cook them in the first place.

**purpleprincess**

Regarding toiletries, have you got stuff tucked away in a cupboard or drawer somewhere that you can use up? From birthdays, christmas etc? When I looked I had loads of bottles with bits still left in the bottom -pre MSE i just went out and bought another! You could eke these out a bit.