£50 to feed two adults till Sept 27th

bramble1

Thank you

Just did some sums and i'm worried we may be in the same boat again next month!!! will this cycle never end!!!!! ARGHHHHH oh well, i know we can cope, and we'll have more than £50 next tiem, just going to need to plan and be sensible my magical massive food shop is going out window!!

Aesop

bramble, I know how hard it is. This is the second time we are going through such hard times. But there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And you have done sooooooooooooooooooooo well!

Mind you, the way things are going for us, I can see December being a very hard month.

You inspired me anyway! Tonight I made Shepherd pie with homemade mash, forgot the peas, and didn't boil enough potatoes for mash, but made potatoe wedges which were yummy! And bulked out shepherds pie with carrot, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower and courgette. DH won't eat courgettes but he did tonight because he didn't know they were in there!

And I made boodle biscuits last night. First batch I left in too long, but second batch were perfect. I used Tesco value dried mixed fruit as didn't have raisins. It was yummy but don't think recipe was quite right the way I made it. DS was so excited when he saw biscuits this morning but when I offered him one, took a bite, and gave it back saying no thank you mummy. Think it was the fruit, he doesn't like raisins, etc. Thought I might con him, but it didn't work. DH took a bite and said hmmm nice, and he is not a sweet kind of guy.

DS loves my banana bread though. I take a little tupperware box of it when we are out and about and he sits on a chair with his box on his lap and munches away happily.

Thanks to you I am rediscovering making things the old fashioned way.

I was going to throw some stuff out of the fridge today and DH went....nooooooooo, don't waste it, make something with it tomorrow, otherwise give it to me in Sandwiches.

Aesop

bramble1 wrote: »

T
and....we have a cheque!!! his employer and OH's banks are the same, will this speed up the clearing time?

depending who you bank with, you may find, you can draw on the cheque while it is "clearing".

kerrypn

Well done Bramble!

Best bit is you KNOW yo can do it this time, and you have time to plan in advance

I know how tough it can be, but it can be so satisfying knowing you will be able to manage x

Lesley_Gaye

well done bramble, what a ride you've had this month

I've found meal planning the best thing to help me get the bills down, breakfasts, lunches and any snacks included, and only, crucially, buying strictly what we need for those meals

also, I've found whilst helping with costings for Weezl's planner, when I cost my own meals, things I thought would be cheap as chips, sometimes haven't been. While other things, that I thought wouldn't be esp cheap, have been. So that is a worthwhile exercise if you have time.

can't remember if I posted this, I do the chicken and onion steamed pudding as a pie, baked in the oven. I add either sweetcorn or mushrooms, and serve it with mash, peas and carrots, and it works out to 45p each. I love pies!

I'm going to have a go with a tin of corned beef that's been in the cupboard for a while. I reckon I could get away with using a third of a tin per pie, otherwise with the same ingreds as the chicken pie, with mushrooms

hope you keep your thread going for next month, I'd love to hear how you are getting on

Tibbie's_mum

bramble1 wrote: »

Very much so! just gave the dog the 'gooey' bits (skin etc) from the chicken when i was stripping the meat off the carcass and got promptly told off ' I thought we were making this chicken go further, stop giving it to the dog!!' - i have a thing about food textures and would not have been able to use them no matter how i disguised them!

He just ate 5 boodles, and informed me i am allowed to bake them again! so they were an all round success! I think i may have to make another batch before the week is out!

Bramble, I'm the same about chicken skin, but I saw a tip from the chinese lady who does the cookery show on Five and now I always lay out the stripped off skin onto a baking sheet and put it in a high oven. It goes all crispy and I cut it up finely and sprinkle it on salads or on the top of pasta bakes, it's really yummy, just thought I'd share.

BTW, well done you've done really well, I'm in the same boat as you this month and we've been having weird and wacky concoction from whatever I can unearth from the freezer, storecupboard and garden, and it seems set to continue for a while yet.

bramble1

thanks for all your support guys!! I spent much of last night looking through our River Cottage cook books as Hugh is a big fan of the cheaper cuts of meat, so i've got some new recipes to try next week that will hopefully satisfy OH and let me give the slow cooker some use!

Got left over risotto for lunch today and not sure what to do for dinner - we have mince and sausages in the fridge, but i don't know what i could make with the mince thats not spag bol, meatballs or cottage pie!

OH wants to make homemade sausage rolls when we've got the money, I'm going to try bake some cakes and savory scones for snacks over the weekend if the cheque has cleared. - OH has informed me that when the cheque clears he wants to go to mc donalds!! I suppose it's alot cheaper than wanting to go out for dinner to our local curry house at least!!

Winged_one

Mince and onion gravy with some spuds (mash or boiled) and veg on the side?

Butterfly_Brain

Well done so far bramble:T
Sorry to hear you have the same problems next month

Moussaka
Mince and potato pie
Mince cobbler
Meatball curry
Meatball toad
HM Burgers
Pizza with mince topping
Chilli
Pasta Bake
Rissoles
Stuffed Cabbage leaves
Meatloaf
Use to fill pittas

Here is a brilliant site that deals with mince

http://www.cookitsimply.com/category-0020-0i50.html

And why not pop to the library and get some cheap eats cookbooks out

misscousinitt

Well done Bramble! I think you have done tremendously.

As far as mince goes, could you make a mince, pot & pea curry? You can also ring the changes with meatballs by using different sauces to go on them - Make a Veg Tagine Sauce and serve with cous cous for a North African feel, or serve with mash, onion gravy and veg (Turkey meatballs with a pack of sage & onion stuffing mix added in are great for this - but any kind of meatball is nice with mash).

Keep us up to date - there have been some great tips on here and I'm sure there will be many more.

Take care.