Good cheap meals - any ideas?

Jewel_2

Hi all. 60k in debt but thankfully both partner and myself have well paid jobs and can afford to pay off circa £2000 per month.

Our BIGGEST HUGEST problem is food and food shopping. We spend an absolute fortune. We only have one child - can anyone advise on how little we could spend on food a week? How much do you spend?

Also, advice on: Good cheap washing powder
Good cheap cleaning products
Good cheap everything else that comes with the food
shopping? (find myself spending loads on toothpaste etc)

Also, any advice on really cheap family holidays and entertaining children cheaply at weekends.

Thanks xxxxx

sophiesmum_2

go look on the moneysaving oldstyle board, you will find all the info you need on there to answer all your questions, and more besides.
good luck with th reductions and you WILL be amazed at how cheaply you can eat healthily and well.

sophiesmum:D

Kazonline

As Sophiesmum says do check out the Old Style board on here. You might find it quiet on there at the moment as the forums favourite programme is currently on (I'm recording it!)
Do make sure you find out about microfiber cloths, Stardrops, vinegar and bicarb - I swear you'll not need much else in your cleaning cupboard ;-)

chevalier

The main thing to do is
1) have a freezer and storecupboard challenge. This is to really look in your freezer/cupboards and make up meals (as much as possible) ONLY from them. So often we just automatically buy the same old same old every week, and things get tucked away. I reckon you could live on this challenge for a week (and only get vegetables, milk, fruit)
2) Meal plan. It might be worth starting this in the new year, as we all eat a bit weird at Christmas/New Year. Start by planning 7 days of meals (and what you are going to take to work/school for packed lunches). If you have done 1) above then you may not have much in, but check what you have before making the shopping list. And then only buy what you need for that set of meals. I save a fortune doing this. And leave your child at home if she/he makes you susceptible to pester power!
3) 2) above you combine with cooking from scratch. Don't groan!!! For a lot of the sauce dishes, I make a pressure cooker full and then will have maybe 2 portions left over to freeze, so it gets easier over time. The one thing I don't do is compromise on meat. I get really good stuff from my local butcher. It means that the stew/casseroles/meat sauces stay together much better.

Cheap meals? Erm
Bolognese sauce with any pasta - I make it with 1lb of mince, 2 onions, 1lb of mushrooms, 1 pepper, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, garlic and herbs. This will make me at least 2 portions (and we are a family of 4)
Tuna sauce - 2 tins of tuna, 1 onion, 1 tin of tomatoes, herbs to taste (fry onion and the tuna, then add the tomatoes) plus rice. This will feed the 4 of us comfortably.
lasagne - big dish can freeze individual portions.
can't think of any more at the moment.
ps I would agree about the star drops they are amazing. I am also a vinegar convert - had limescale that would not shift 17p bottle of vinegar shifted it no problem!
Hope this helps
chev

chevalier

another cheap meal is corn beef hash, big tin of corn beef two onions and 1.5lbs of potatoes. fry corn beef and onions, whilst boiling the potatoes, mash them and then add the two things together and refry. very comforting

michael1983l

a very cheap and extremly nutricious meal

mixed vegatbles bought from iceland frozen by the bag £0.75

Tinned potatoes icland own brand x 3 - £0.60

Iceland frozen sausage £1 by the bag

iceland frozen corn on the cobs £1 by the bag

Total £3.35

Feeds 4-5 servings cant go wrong, plenty of vitamins small amount of fat and low in salt. and whats more probably 2 to 3 portions of fruit and veg reccomendation for the day.

bride2be2006

Tuna Pie - my mums recipe is very cheap and lovely on a cold winters eve!

Serves 3/4

2 tins tuna
Asda smartsave tinned or frozen sweetcorn
Asda smartsave frozen peas
Mashed potatoes or Asda smartsave instant mash if you are feeling lazy!
Homemade white sauce using brine from one of tins of tuna and one veg or chicken stockcube for extra flavour

Put peas and sweetcorn in a casserole dish (no need to defrost if frozen)
Put tuna on top and then cover with sauce, leave to cool slightly so sauce is firmer

Cover with seasoned mashed potato and fork over top to make a pretty pattern!!

Bake in a medium hot oven for approx 45 mins or untill top is browned and crispy.

Eat it all up!!!! YUM

Also adaptable to make a seafood pie for a bit more sophisticated meal - I use frozen seafood mix from Asda and a couple of small salmon fillets flaked up and use peppers and baby sweetcorn instead of the peas and add a dash of white wine.

hypno06

Frittata - basically a chunky omelette that you can chuck any leftovers from the fridge in - bits of veg, smoked salmon trimmings for a treat (ask the fishmonger for them, cost about 30p!) grate some cheese on top, whack it under the grill to melt the cheese, then cut into wedges and serve with salad, potatoes, chips - anything really!

This has saved me on many an occasion!

Go up to the meat counter at the supermarket and ask for offcuts of bacon. Again they cost next to nothing and make a really good filling for omelettes or to chuck in with pasta sauces!

Once you start experimenting you will find loads to make!

Planning menus for the week certainly helps me. Also helps keep me focussed on my other challenge (to be thin!!)

Good luck and enjoy!

angelavdavis

All good advice so far.

Ask for a slow cooker for Christmas (plenty of threads giving cheap recommendations and recipes). As you work fulltime, you can prep ingredients the night before and kick off meals in the morning and let it bubble away while you are at work - it stops you being tempted to dial out for a takeaway or buying ready meals which are more pricey and the cost of using is equivalent to a lightbulb.

Make your own lunches if you don't already - soup and HM rolls (bake on Sunday and freeze then take them out of hte freezer in the morning) or sandwiches. I saved an astonishing £70 per month taking my own lunches into work!

There is a 50p for 2 meal challenge thread on OS at the moment.

Post your SOA up on the board for everyone here to help out if you haven't already done so.

Get yourself a washing-it laundry ball from Lakeland - up to 100 washes from the ball costing approx £5, the ball contains soap and it comes with a stain stick. There are also recipes for making cheaper soap powder too on OS board.

I dont' know how old your child is, but get the kids tuned into money saving - encourage them to use a pea sized squeeze of the toothpaste, read the meters and keep records then turn off lights if they are not in the room, etc - they can become real money saving champs!

I am not in the tight money situation a lot of people are. I also earn a decent salary, but its still not an excuse not to tighten up where really necessary - why pay more for the same lifestyle? I made a note a while ago of what I saved by following tips from :money: and the wonderful on this site - you might like to read:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=240264

Good luck!

climbgirl

Can this thread please be moved to the Old Style board?

I don't mean to be harsh but the DFW board gets so much traffic on it that threads with debt issues and queries slip down too easily and don't get the answers they need. And off-board threads don't really help...