£5 a day food challenge

elljay20

Hi everyone,
I've been reading through a few threads on here and decided to sort our food sitch out. At the moment we're wasting so much money on take aways as we have been doing up our house and with working full time it's been either a take away or frozen chips with beans and crispy pancakes etc. Also my mothering law is coming to stay for quite a while so i want to get the freezer stocked with meals i have frozen and can be added to pasta etc. Problem is i'm having a mental block on things to cook up. i would like to freeze up some lasagnas but i'm not really sure how to make them for freezing although i can make them from fresh.
If anyone has any recipes for me to try i would be very grateful. we like chicken, veg, pasta (not a big beef fan but do it occasionaly). We like pork, rice and i would like to maybe do some different soups and freeze them up.
Can stir frys be done in advance and then frozen? Sorry if this is a bit long but reading through all the threads and trying to find recepies suitable for us is giving me headache. eg salmon and dill fishcakes and pittabreads and hummous are not really our sorts of food.
I just want to give my family some variety in their diets. plus my mothering law eats her main meal in the daytime when we're at work so having something in the freezer for her to defrost and reheat on an aft would be great, but i think she would be bored of lasagne and bolognaise after a few days!!!
All this is also on a £35 per week budget and i don't know where to start!!
Any ideas/recepies will be very greatfully recieved and would hopefully help others like me too!!!:j

frosty

How many people does the £5 have to feed and is this for everything eg.Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

elljay20

Hi frosty, the £35 is at the moment to feed 2 adults and one two year old. it is for an evening meal for 2 adults every night and for a child 3 nights a week but to be honest she would just have our frozen leftovers for her dinner. i have loads of cereal so breakfast is not an issue and my dd has lunch at home 3 days a week as the rest of the time she eats at nursery

frosty

One of our favourites is shepherds pie,I buy a pack of pork mince from Tesco I think it is about 500g,dice a large onion and fry until soft,add mince and lightly cook then add enough water to cover,crumble a couple of stock cubes in,I use a veg one and a chicken one,mix together then when cooked thicken with cornflour or gravy granules.I take out a couple of ladels of the mince and then I make some pastry and use the mince to make a pie for dinner the next day.place the mince in an ovenproof dish and top with mashed potato.
(2 meals for the price of one)
I also buy 2 chickens for £ 5.00 at Tesco and with these I cut off the legs and wings and marinade them in a sauce and serve them with rice.(I cut each leg into 2)
And serve with fried onion rings.

2 of the breasts I thinly slice and use this in a stir fry with peppers,onions and any other veg I have in the fridge,I also sprout mung beans and add these as well,this is served with egg noodles and soy sauce.

The other 2 breasts are chopped up with 1 large onion and some grated carrot and added to 2 large jars of curry sauce(i only buy when on bogof)and served with rice.

I buy sacks of potatoes from a farm shop 56lb for £4.50 (we are a family of 5 adults and these last us about a month)

I pick out the biggest and use these for baking and then make a selection of fillings
I micro the potatoes and when soft,scoop out the potato and place in a bowl with grated cheese, chopped onion,mix well then refill the skins,sprinkle grated cheese ontop then grill until bubbly and crisp,serve with salad.

We like baked potatoes with tuna and salad cream,served with salad.
If there is any curry and rice left this can be used as a fillingfor baked potatoes aswell.

I boil up the carcasses and use these to make soups and stews.

My shopping budget is £50.00 for 5 adults,the cat and 2 dogs.
I am sure you will be able to manage on £5.00 aday.Good luck.

Lots of people will be along soon to help you.

black-saturn

Look at these threads. They are my meal planners and I spend £42 every 6 weeks on grocery shopping:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2340412&posted=1#post2340412

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526&highlight=black-saturns+menu

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=236481&highlight=shave+soa

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=237050&highlight=shopping+list

elljay20

frosty and black saturn this is excellent thankyou so much i have just had a quick look at the first link black saturn and have got loads of ideas. the potato skins sound fantastic too. am i right in thinking that i can oven bake my potatoes so the skin is all lovely and crispy and then freeze them and do the potato skin thing whenever i fancy? also frosty i love the idea of the shepherds pie. my other half will love that thankyou for the recepie. just one question though does the mash potato freeze and reheat well? my boyfriend loves my mash and i wouldn't want to freeze it if it would alter its composition at all! Cheers guys (or girls)!!

elljay20

sorry frosty one last question, the idea of making a pie also with the mince is great but if i buy some ready made puff pastry and put it on top of the pie do i cook it before i freeze it or just freeeze it and cook it when i defrost it.
thanks

esthomizzy

In terms of lasagne the ready made lasagne sauce from Ragu freezes well unlike homemade bechamel. If say it was ever on BOGOF it might be worth stocking up, I can often only find it in big supermarkets though so that might be a forlorn hope.

foreverskint

I always make extra bechamel to freeze. I sometimes need to give it a good beating when defrosted but it's always ok.

davodedthomas

The Ragu pots are on BOGOF at the moment, and also are mispriced in some Tesco stores. If you see a sign that says £1.07, then you're lucky. They go through at £1.13, so go to customer services afterwards and they will refund your money and you get to keep the products. I got 6 jars of this the day before yesterday. The whole Ragu range is included in this offer, I sugest the red wine and herbs one! Yummy.

frosty

elljay20 wrote:

sorry frosty one last question, the idea of making a pie also with the mince is great but if i buy some ready made puff pastry and put it on top of the pie do i cook it before i freeze it or just freeeze it and cook it when i defrost it.
thanks

Hi elljay20,
I usually bake the shepherds pie in the oven and if we have any left I just freeze it and then reheat it when needed.
As for the pie I would freeze the filling then defrost it when needed,then just add the pastry then bake.