Can you do a full monthly shop and Aldi and Lidl

UnderPressure

littlechezza wrote: »

I also need to plan, got mince out of freezer this morning to make cottage pie and a lasagne and forgot carrots, onions etc., so now have to pop back out to shop and having jacket tatties for tea again!!! I don't mind but the kids are bored of them.

Kids love burger so why not make them some home made ones? Few breadcrumbs, onion ideally but dont worry if not, s&p, egg or even bit of mily to bind together form into burger bung in over voila

or meatballs in a homemade tomoato sauce with sketty? or kofta kebabs in pitta with salad and home made raita (mint, yoghurt, cucumber bit of garlic if you want ) loads of stuff to do with mince great versatile ingredient.

This is my problem though everytime I buy mice I always end up with finding a lump of grissle, make me want to puke instantly so ideally will buy some frying steak or rump if it is on offer anywehre an mice it myself, I have found that MR T's organic steak mince at 29.5 or 2 for a fiver is very good as well.

Be carfeul with cheap mince 9 times out of 10 it contains more fat than meat eeeeewwwwwww

theladsmum

UnderPressure wrote: »

This is my problem though everytime I buy mice I always end up with finding a lump of grissle, make me want to puke instantly so ideally will buy some frying steak or rump if it is on offer anywehre an mice it myself, I have found that MR T's organic steak mince at 29.5 or 2 for a fiver is very good as well.

Be carfeul with cheap mince 9 times out of 10 it contains more fat than meat eeeeewwwwwww

I absolutely agree - we always buy frying mince and put it through the food processor.

I find beef much better than mice aswell!!!

UnderPressure

theladsmum wrote: »

I absolutely agree - we always buy frying mince and put it through the food processor.

I find beef much better than mice aswell!!!

That is exactly what we do throw it in the Magimix the texture is loads better as well after it has been cooked it actually feels like it is meat your eating lol.

Optimisticpair

littlechezza wrote: »

I know what you mean with the meal planning, I know what I should be doing it just never seems to happen.

Nah, you are just a busy woman. Same as you I have cupboards and drawers of essentials. I don't have a plan for the month either just a selection of meal portions in the fridge or freezer I can pull out that go with them.

I get the bulk in once a month-ish. I go to Ald! first then whip round into Tesc0 as it's two mins from there. Whatever meat I have bought and don't have time to batch cook that day or the next I freeze.

A big timesaver is the Economy Gastronomy mince batch - a kilo of mince cooked with onions and whole plum tinned tomatoes from Aldi (I squish them up as it's cheaper than buying chopped toms) and split it up to make a spaghetti bolognese (add more onions and tomatoes), cottage pie (ditto plus frozen peas), chilli con carne (add kidney beans) and / or a 'shepherds' pie mix (carrots in). Those go in the freezer in portions ready to wheel out and zap in the microwave. All I have to do is cook the potatoes, rice, spaghetti or pasta.

I also save time and money by doing as few shopping expeditions as possible. It depends how much you can freeze and store but my capacity is a 3 - 4 weekly trip to Ald! plus Tesc0 or Tesc0/Morrisonz plus Wilkinsons. I buy fresh veg, milk and bread in the village as needed.

My bill would be much more if I used the local supermarkets.

lightisfading

The biggest tip I can offer is that meat is not an essential part of the diet. Every vegetarian I know spends less on groceries than my meat-eating friends. Meat is a luxury, and while you may not like the idea, you can go without it and still eat tasty, nutritious meals.

(current budget £120 p/m for 2 people, veggie diet w/ menu planning!)

TUS

lightisfading wrote: »

The biggest tip I can offer is that meat is not an essential part of the diet. Every vegetarian I know spends less on groceries than my meat-eating friends. Meat is a luxury, and while you may not like the idea, you can go without it and still eat tasty, nutritious meals.

(current budget £120 p/m for 2 people, veggie diet w/ menu planning!)

Good point ... and I do love veggies :-) Veg lasange is my fav meal.

Good spending as well btw!

geordie_joe

lightisfading wrote: »

The biggest tip I can offer is that meat is not an essential part of the diet.

You may not think so, and may know many people who think the same way. But nature gave us meat eaters teeth and an instinct to hunt and eat animals. Put any toddler in the garden and they will ignore the plants and hunt bug/worms etc. And if you don't stop them, very often they will eat them. As they get older they refuse to eat carrots, cabbage, swede etc. but never turn their noses up at chicken nuggets, burgers and fish fingers.

The way I see it, nature want's us to eat meat, and if you try to fight nature you'll find your self coming a long way second in a two horse race.

lightisfading wrote: »

Every vegetarian I know spends less on groceries than my meat-eating friends. Meat is a luxury, and while you may not like the idea, you can go without it and still eat tasty, nutritious meals.

Yes but money saving isn't about spending as little money as possible, it's about getting things you want at the best price.

And I want meat.

adouglasmhor

geordie_joe wrote: »

You may not think so, and may know many people who think the same way. But nature gave us meat eaters teeth and an instinct to hunt and eat animals. Put any toddler in the garden and they will ignore the plants and hunt bug/worms etc. And if you don't stop them, very often they will eat them. As they get older they refuse to eat carrots, cabbage, swede etc. but never turn their noses up at chicken nuggets, burgers and fish fingers.

The way I see it, nature want's us to eat meat, and if you try to fight nature you'll find your self coming a long way second in a two horse race.




Yes but money saving isn't about spending as little money as possible, it's about getting things you want at the best price.

And I want meat.

They never turn noses up at proccesed over sugared over seasoned crap but don't like veggies? So that proves we need to eat meat - you jest sir

Todlers not only will bug hunt they will crawl into cat litter trays if you let them and put ti near their faces or in their mouths

jimbms

This argument will go on forever more, veggies v meat eaters, I look at it in a fairly neutral way due to the fact I regard arguments such as this with each side taking a holier than thou attitude a little pathetic., but from a scientific point of view it cannot be argued by any means that the human race is designed as being an omnivour, both by it's dental arrangement, the types of digestive enzimes it produces and the deteriation of semi organs designed to facilitate a high plant diet. In saying that there is no reason this species cannot live on plant material alone and it has been proven that vegetarians do after a number of years start to produce different enzimes and certain parts of the digestive system alters to accomodate a high plant diet, but this is an adaptive process and not a genetic one. Mankind is a natural omnivour but although he can survive on plants alone he cannot survive on animal products alone. This is scientific fact, you cannot argue this. What does annoy me is when vegetarians force children to be like them and do not give them freedom of choice, this even more so with teenagers who are capable of knowing what they want to eat. Also why do vegetarian expect people to bend over backwards to accomodate their diet when they refuse to cook meat for friends who eat it? Now what really make me laugh is if they don't want to eat meat than why do they make a lot of the dishes resemble and taste like meat products i.e. quorn, soya mince, veggie bacon & sausages, burgers etc. So please cut the holier than thou attitude and accept people will eat how they wish and you have to respect this and do not have the right to try and dictate how others live.

geordie_joe

adouglasmhor wrote: »

They never turn noses up at proccesed over sugared over seasoned crap but don't like veggies? So that proves we need to eat meat - you jest sir

I didn't say we need to eat meat, I said nature intended us to eat meat. And the fact that kids would rather eat "over seasoned crap" that has some meat in it over vegetables goes some way to prove that.

adouglasmhor wrote: »

Todlers not only will bug hunt they will crawl into cat litter trays if you let them and put ti near their faces or in their mouths

That's because cat litter smell of animals. Put shredded cabbage among the cat litter and they will ignore it.