Where do we go from basics?

susyrosy

There was a post earlier which recommended using up leftovers in a lasagne. I'd absolutely second that! When my four children were young, it was the best thing to feed them (not all the time ...) as they loved it, it was easy, cheap but tasted expensive - and it was so delicious. I'd use a tin of beans (kidney for colour) and whatever vegetables were lurking, those bags of frozen mixed veg, tins of tomatoes and cheap lasagne sheets - anything hanging around really. But the best thing I used to put in it was some curry powder - not too much, but to give it a lift. And cheese just on the top (not sauce, too fiddly). Serve with salad or whatever else you fancy or just by itself. It's also a great party dish.

Pry the fresh vegetables, inc onions and garlic (or garlic powder), and curry powder in a huge saucepan or wok. Add frozen veg and tinned toms to make a nice wettish sauce, and tomato puree if you've got it. Layer the veg and lasagne sheets, top off with grated cheese. Cook till brown on top - nah, not burnt! It was and still is my all-time best dish, along with my (cheap, cheerful and mmmm) scone cake.

taplady

am finding this thread very interesting thankyou:T

I too am finding charity shops far to expensive - can get brand new stuff cheaper - its annoying when all their stock is given to them.

We are growing our own veg. Luckily we have a 10% off card for Morrisons as our DS works there plus we go in late evening to get lots of reduced items.

Am digging my breadmaker back out to make some HM pizzas and bread.

I use my slow cooker.

I make biscuits and cakes - not all the time though as they are too moorish:D

make good use of bogof deals

Have several veggie meals in a week(I'm veggie but the others are not but they dont mind veg curry etc)

Freeze leftover portions for another day so you dont get tempted to have seconds.

Try and not waste any food at all! eg bread and butter pud or breadcrubs from old bread. Soup from veg thats a bit past it. Be inventive!

Like others we always take a flask and snacks out with us.

Havent finished reading the thread yet but thanks to those who've shared their ideas!

mama67

I was in Tescos Extra last night at approx 7pm, now it used to be horrendous in there at this time queues down the aisles all the tills open etc.

well last night you would have thought it was either very early morning or very very late night (open 24hrs) as it was actually quite nice to shop in there; so this shows that people are not spending like they used to.There also seemed to be loads of readymade sandwiches in the RTC section.

But again I have noticed that a few value items have disappeared since I last went in there, no more 6p jelly to make a cheap pudd now it is 36p branded (I know still cheap but!)

mama67

donnajt wrote: »

quintwins could you briefly explain (if u don't mind) do you mean you plant the sprouting potatoes or just the skins ??? i want to try this

thank u x

if it helps I also plant just the sprouted bit when i have peeled some for using for dinners etc.
I did this last year as well and we got some lovely potatoes, in fact my sprouted peelings did better than my bought seed potatoes.

life_in_termoil

At the secondary school my children attend they have a cookery evening once a week where you can go with your children to learn to cook. All ingredients are provided and you only need to take in casserole dishes or something to bring the items home in. So far this year we have made....spag bol, lasagne, macaroni cheese, vegi burgers, meat balls, pizza, chicken casserole, beef stew, fish cakes, chicken curry, apple crumble, double chocolate cookies, rhubarb pie, eves pudding, bread and butter pudding...the list goes on. If your a family of 2 u cook for 2, if your a family of 4 u cook for 4, their is even a family of 9 who attend each week and some of the kids are only 5 or 6. Its great fun and its saving you money!

life_in_termoil

if any of my bought spuds start sprouting I just pop them in a bag for life and cover with compost. After they have flowered just empty them out and use as required. I dont buy specialist seed potatoes as it means you have to spend money,

Toonie

Unfortunately food comes third on our list after rent and bills are paid and most months we only just have enough for the essentials. I have found a couple of ways to stretch the housekeeping though.

As people have mentioned, you need to shop around. I'm lucky that there is a Turkish supermarket close by which has lovely and cheap fruit and veggies. You can get four peppers for £1 (Sainsbury's 80p each) a massive bag of apples for £1, a huge chunk of watermelon for £1, the list goes on. It also has cheap pasta, pulses, spices and herbs. Bread is also cheap there, 4 packs of pitta (5 per pack) for £1. It's fantastic and I do a lot of shopping there.

Otherwise, I've started growing some sweet basil, rosemary and lettuce on my windowsill. I live in a flat so can't do much, but I'm doing what I can to make my cheaper meals taste good with extras like the herbs. The seeds were 70p each, but 3 for 2 and you get so many seeds that I will have a supply right through the year. The pots and compost came to around £2.50, so for less than £5 I'll have a good salad selection and lots of herbs for my slow-cooked dinners.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a big cooking day as my partner has some work next week (he is self employed) so I'll send him off with food for the day on Monday and I'll take some to work as well. My plan is tea loaf, muffins and pasties for the lunch box and then cottage pie for dinner and soup or stew for the slow cooker for Monday night.

TudorRose

mama67 wrote: »

I was in Tescos Extra last night at approx 7pm, now it used to be horrendous in there at this time queues down the aisles all the tills open etc.

well last night you would have thought it was either very early morning or very very late night (open 24hrs) as it was actually quite nice to shop in there; so this shows that people are not spending like they used to.There also seemed to be loads of readymade sandwiches in the RTC section.

But again I have noticed that a few value items have disappeared since I last went in there, no more 6p jelly to make a cheap pudd now it is 36p branded (I know still cheap but!)

Think you are right. I called in our Tesco about 5.30 yeaterday & there was masses of stuff reduced - much more than I've seen for ages. Varied as well. Lots of meat & fruit. Meat reductions were ok but the fruit was still expensive because it was overpriced to start with.

[Deleted User]

I have never cooked loads of meat but I`m going to make it stretch even more but in nice recipes. I made 6 large, delicious cornish pasties today and they took 200g of beef skirt. Now I haven`t made them for decades but they were really wonderful so two eaten and four are now frozen. I am concentrating on using my own veg like cabbages and I found a recipe for cabbage pasta bake in green cuisine so that is on the list for tomorrow.

I have dozens of almost mature onions on my half allotment and also garlic, so I am doing roasted garlic and onion soup in a couple of days. That and a cheese sandwich will be a meal fit for a king

I lifted 2 small beetroot yesterday, complete with large leaves, so the whole plant (chopped) went into a chunky veg soup, I added a handful of whole lentils and used the pressure cooker. We had that with a chunk of hm bread

I feel for those who weren`t brought up to be frugal, it is very very hard if you don`t know what to do and sometimes it is best to think outside the box ie if it is in fancy packaging then it will be pricey for what it is

saveabobortwo

I find keeping to the budgeting rules tough think its because it gets boring but then get cross with myself when iv come out of the supermarket having spent 50 quid and feel i v got nothing to show for it.when i can stick to like everyone else is trying to on here home cooking and freeze , buy largest sack of spuds for the lowest price ,stock up on lowest price offers , use coupons etc , i have a delivery from tesco so know what im spending cost me 3 quid petrol to get there anyway .have usual shop value range as a base use same base everyweek just adding few new items so bill is pretty much the same and try to get the absolute most products for the money spent , dont mind washing underwear through using bit of washing up liquid as think its all smells nice and cleans, hang washing out save on energy, boot fayres forclothes and a treat .have thoughtabout what to do if prices keep going up but you never know they may get better . do try and grow some foods but very much a novice.have gone fishing and caught fish to eat and can make a very basic loaf of bread if had bigger garden would definitely keep chickens for food and eggs have thought about finding an allottment to grow food hope this helps some people