£57 for food for the rest of the month

losingpatience

Ok so as the title says I have £57 left to spend on food for the rest of the month. From this I have to feed my 5 guinea pigs which costs about £6 per week so that leaves £45 to feed me and OH for the rest of the month which we were hoping would include work lunches as well. Not sure if this is going to be do-able so I need ideas please!

Off the top of my head we have the following in the house already:

Rice
Potatoes ( which are a bit past there best )
1 pack of mince ( possibly 2 )
1 pack of stir fry beef
1 pack of stewing steak
2 whole mackerel ( though not sure if they'll be any good )
2 whole bream ( again not sure if they'll be any good )
1 pack of venison sausages
1 beef joint ( though its been in the freezer a while so unsure whether it'll be edible )
Peppers ( about 3 )
Plenty of baking things ( bread flour, plain flour, SR flour, yeast, sugar etc as I make alot of cakes )
A few jars of curry sauce
2 Large tubs of stork
1 and a half pats of unsalted butter
1 courgette
13 eggs
I think I also have a few half empty boxes of things like fish fingers, burgers etc but will check when I get home

kymbogs

Hiya,
don't panic, you can buy quite a lot for that if you make a good list first and stick to it!

The fish that you say might not be useable, why is that, what do you think is wrong with it? Cos that's a good few meals there.

Uniscots97

I was wondering the same, why might the fish not be useable? Add some veggies to your list and you could have risottos, stews, casseroles, kedgeree, soups. Loads really for the rest of the month.

losingpatience

kymbogs wrote: »

Hiya,
don't panic, you can buy quite a lot for that if you make a good list first and stick to it!

The fish that you say might not be useable, why is that, what do you think is wrong with it? Cos that's a good few meals there.

It's been in the freezer for 2 - 3 months I think and I thought fresh fish only kept in the freezer for a month?

I'm trying to make a list, I've ran out of pasta and normally get the big bags as they work out cheaper but then that's £3.20 already gone. Also going to need onions, mushroom, milk, cheese, more peppers, tinned/cartons of tomatoes, some frozen veg and garlic

Oh also I have garlic, worcester sauce, gravy granules, lasagne sheets, noodles and dried herbs like oregano, mixed italian, paprika and chilli.

Outdoorlass

Where do you usually shop?

You have quite a few meals there already, I think its completely doable.

losingpatience

Outdoorlass wrote: »

Where do you usually shop?

You have quite a few meals there already, I think its completely doable.

I shop at sainsburys. In the past I've used Tescos and Asda but I don't think the food quality is very good ( veg going off very quickly, meat was grisly and inedible etc )

Uniscots97

losingpatience wrote: »

It's been in the freezer for 2 - 3 months I think and I thought fresh fish only kept in the freezer for a month?

I'm trying to make a list, I've ran out of pasta and normally get the big bags as they work out cheaper but then that's £3.20 already gone. Also going to need onions, mushroom, milk, cheese, more peppers, tinned/cartons of tomatoes, some frozen veg and garlic

Oh also I have garlic, worcester sauce, gravy granules, lasagne sheets, noodles and dried herbs like oregano, mixed italian, paprika and chilli.

count to ten.... please you sound quite stressed. Meal plan is the way to go.

i.e.

tomorrow is Thursday so:

Thursday

breakfast: porridge or toast or cereal
lunch: sandwiches (pick filling from something you already have if you can)
dinner: cottage pie

so out of that if you chose porridge you would need to get that and then you could use a handful of the oats to bulk out the mince. Making 2 large dinner portions and a few lunch ones as well. Bread (not sure if that you already have) and for the cottage pie you already have mince, worcester sauce and potatoes.

Repeat this for 7 days and write it all down and work out ONLY what you need to buy.

Outdoorlass

losingpatience wrote: »

I shop at sainsburys. In the past I've used Tescos and Asda but I don't think the food quality is very good ( veg going off very quickly, meat was grisly and inedible etc )

Do you have an Aldi locally to you?

Outdoorlass

Could you use the leftover beef, with a jar of the curry you have, to make another main meal? Serve with rice, or HM chips from the potatoes.

Good luck.

Usagi_2

Is the £6 a week for the guinea pigs fresh food? This seems quite a lot.

I have a bunny who gets some fresh, at the moment I am giving him the leaves we don't eat from the allotment, eg extra brocolli or cauli leaves from the plants which you usually strip off. In fact I have just taken a huge bag to our local rabbit / guinea shelter.

I know when we had guinea pigs as a child, the greengrocer would save these kind of bits up for us, as they couldn't sell them and just chucked them away. It might be worth asking locally, or even nip down to your local allotments and see if anyone has bits they are throwing away/ composting?

A couple of carrots/ apples to go with this wouldn't be £6.

elf06

I was going to suggest a courgette frittata but I realised omlette was already on your list - what about a veg curry with one of the jars of sauce and using pots, corgettes and peppers - this could be served with rice??