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Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

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  • hi all

    am dealing with my debts :( and have been mostly sticking to the debts boards - however i discovered this thread tonight and its a real eye opener!!!

    i have 5 children aged 10 - 18 so with my husband that makes 7 of us. i only have £60 a week to feed us (that includes 30 packed lunches a week!) - although im working on OH for an extra tenner to help with these!

    i try to plan ahead, spend about £50 on a saturday then find we are out of food by tuesday....

    i would be forever grateful for any ideas - i love using the slow cooker as i work and am also a carer for my disabled son so this helps .

    thanks everyone. you are all so kind and community minded :j
    Outstanding Debt in September = £18082.33 Outstanding Debt in October = £17902.33

    Debt Free Date = October 2014
  • misskool
    misskool Posts: 12,832 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What a great thread!
    I never normally post on here, but thought I would share this.

    I batch cook this so it's probably less than 50p a portion.

    1 large onion, finely chopped
    Bag of butter beans/lentil
    a few rashers of bacon
    a tin of tomatoes
    salt and pepper to taste

    fry bacon and onion, then add beans, fry it in bacon fat for a few minutes. then add canned tomatoes, 1-2 pints of water and simmer for ages (actually could make in slow cooker, never thought of it until now!) until beans are soft as you like them. you can add whatever herbs are left in the cupboard, a dash of basil or oregano works wonders.


    eat them as is, or serve with rice

    if really stretching it, add more water, puree for bean and tomato soup.
  • LJM wrote:
    beans on toast doesnt sound much of a meal but i find it quite filling
    Cheese on toast with baked beans on the top add a dash of wostershire sauce , yummm
  • lynzpower
    lynzpower Posts: 25,311 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    That's fine... there are ALWAYS honourable exceptions ... but let's not close our eyes to the 'unhealthy' revolution that's going on out there. SOMEBODY is buying all those frozen ready meals which the supermarkets are piling high on the shelves. Those queues outside the takeaways aren't tricks of the light.

    I think you might just be preaching to the converted in this section of MSE :rolleyes:
    :beer: Well aint funny how its the little things in life that mean the most? Not where you live, the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes.
    Theres no dollar sign on piece of mind
    This Ive come to know...
    So if you agree have a drink with me, raise your glasses for a toast :beer:
  • tawnyowls
    tawnyowls Posts: 1,784 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What IS involved is a bit of food preparation - cooking. Increasingly, people don't seem to be capable of lifting a finger in this regard, so they pay the price in both obesity/health problems and their bank balance.

    Agreed. However, I think people have been brainwashed into believing (a) that food cannot take longer than 10 mins to cook (per person) and (b) that cooking real food takes hours.

    I mentioned recently a programme about a family of 4 who were filmed doing the week's shopping (4 of every kind of chilled meal, plus bread, cereal and milk). The wife whinged like anything when asked to do a proper lasagne, and OK, it does take an hour or so to cook in the oven, but as for the actual prep, that takes about 20 mins (or about the length of time it took her to cook those 4 ready-meal lasagnes in the microwave). Once you've shoved it in the oven, you can ignore it for an hour. Similarly, preparing other ovenbakes (shepherd's pie, moussaka, chicken pie, steak & kidney pie) should take very little longer than that. A stirfry (including meat) should take no more than 20 mins from start to finish. A stew could be prepared in 15-20 mins and slung in the slow cooker to be eaten the next day. Meals could be frozen for those days when you really don't have time/don't feel like cooking.

    It's all marketing - people have been conned into believing that preparation and cooking takes hours, and yes, it used to, before slow cookers, pressure cookers, microwaves, mixers, food processors and the like. Even if you push this up to 30 mins, what exactly would people be doing with those 10 or so mins they've saved? I'll tell you - slobbing out in front of the TV, being told that cooking is hard work and they should buy more ready meals.:rolleyes:
  • tawnyowls
    tawnyowls Posts: 1,784 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Bogof_Babe wrote:
    Neither had I until it became ridiculous, but now I always avoid using the oven if there is an alternative. Pity, we often used to do jacket spuds, and they are not the same in the microwave. :(

    That's why I bought a combi - does food in half the time, but with the proper baked flavour.
  • carolt
    carolt Posts: 8,531 Forumite
    Are the £50/£400 a week figures quoted just for food or for all household shopping/weekly shop? I spend loads on nappies for baby (with sensitive bottom!), nighttime nappies for 4 year old, loo roll, tissues, odd items for cleaning/medications/stationery etc? Whilst £400 a week must surely mean just lots of eating out in swish restaurants, we certainly never get under £50 for 5 of us in a weekly shop and can't imagine doing so. Are others including everything or just food?
  • By the way, anybody got a cheap recipe for fishcakes? I'm sure that would come in close to the 50p.

    How about this one?:

    Small onion - finely chopped
    3 Tblspns oil
    Tin tuna drained
    2 Potatoes, boiled and mashed (could be leftover)
    HM breadcrumbs from crust of loaf
    Dried parsley
    egg - whisk and split into two - half to bind the mix, half to dip the fishcakes in
    Salt and pepper

    Cook onion until translucent in 1 tablespoon of oil to soften
    Add onion into potato and add tuna, half egg mix, parsley, season
    Shape cakes into patties with hands
    Dip patties into egg mix and then into breadcrumbs
    Place in fridge to chill

    Fry fishcakes in remaining oil until golden brown.

    Tuna can be replaced with a salmon fillet or small white fish fillet if anyone is feeling flush or some chopped leftover turkey/chicken/ham to make meat patties.
    :D Thanks to MSE, I am mortgage free!:D
  • Bogof_Babe wrote:
    It's not as easy to feed two for 50p as it is to feed four for £1 or six for £1.50, unless you don't mind using bits of this and bits of that and having leftovers to work around the next day. Here's my contribution...

    1/4 pack red lentils 18p
    medium onion 10p
    couple of medium potatoes 20p
    2 large carrots 20p
    2 heaped tsp bouillon powder 25p
    splash soy sauce 5p

    Peel & chop all veg, plus any greens you have spare, e.g. couple of brocolli stalks, the dark green top of a leek (well cleaned) or a few sprouts. Make stock with boiling water and make up to about 3 pints in a large stove-top casserole dish or saucepan. Add all other ingredients and simmer for about half an hour. Liquidize. Makes 7-8 good sized bowls of soup for around £1.

    Serve with a 44p French stick spread with whatever you usually use, or make into garlic bread.

    However if I tried to reduce this to two servings I'd be messing around with the leftover bits of things for days. I know the soup can be frozen but what about the crusty bread? Anyway you would have paid out the £1.50 up front, which defeats the objective.

    I make this too :) the same recipie as yours but I add a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of tomato puree ( I also use a stock cube instead of boullion ). It makes 6 servings so we have it for lunch for 2 days and freeze 2 lots for later or I send a couple of frozen ones over to my Nana's house - she bakes cakes, I make soup..... a good swap if you ask me :p
    :cool: Official DFW Nerd Club Member #37 Debt free Feb 07 :cool:
  • VERMONT RAREBIT
    25g (1oz) butter
    2tbs cream
    2tbs creamed potatoes
    100g (4oz) cheese, grated
    1/2 tsp mustard
    2 eggs beaten
    salt and pepper

    melt the butter in a saucepan, add the cream, potatoe and cheese, mix with eggs and seasoning, spread the mixture onto slices of hot buttered toast, browned under the grill.

    lovely and if you've got all these in like I usually do then who care's what it cost probably not much as I get everything I can at tesco value, even the cream.:xmastree:



    Pls be nice to all MSer's
    There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
    Tomorrow never come's as today is yesterday and tomorrow is today:confused:

    MERRY CHRISTMAS FELLOW MSer's:xmastree:
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