please help

pinksuedeshoes

hello everyone,
I have been a lurker for many years. I have laughed and cried at some threads and i think this forum is a fantastic place for help and advice. So now i have come for your advice.
I am very overweight and my confidence is -100% i need someones help anybody. I have lived on a diet of junk as our family of 4 food budget was £20 ish a week. Now after paying off some debts it is £40 a week please,please if anyone has any healthy eating meal plans, shopping lists, ideas for a £40 a week budget please let me know because i am desperate. Please if anyone has anything please let me know i am desperate for my family to eat healthy they are all skinny things but i need to know they are ok cause this is killing me

pinksuedeshoes

please anyone ?

Gillyx

If my budget was £20 a week I couldn't afford to buy junk.

The key is to cook most things from scratch, if you do that you should be able to keep within your budget.

Things like home made soup, are very cheap to make and very good if you're dieting, loads of woopsied veg and some stock and you've got yourself some tasty, thick soup, you can freeze it too. Can be used for lunch or even dinner with some nice chunky bread.

You'd be better off posting on the Old Style board, I think they'd help, they have loads of things about feeding a family of 4 for £100 a month. You have a good bit over that Good Luck.

pinksuedeshoes

thank you gillyx

January20

Completely disagree with the post above. It is actually more expensive to buy fresh fruit and vegetable and cook certain things from scratch! ie 46p for a tin of Asda soup (I've just had a look - I don't buy tinned soup). It costs me a lot more to make a pot of soup. Junk food on the other hand is very cheap.

I would suggest OP that you go on the Oldstyle board with your question and they will be able to give you lots of tips. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

pinksuedeshoes

thank you so much i have posted on old style and hopefully will be on my way

Gillyx

I think it depends what type of soup you make, the soup my dad makes costs alot as he uses ham hocks, loads of stock cubes, and premium veg.

I made a massive pot of soup today, enough to freeze 14 portions and it cost about £3ish. I couldn't have got 6 tins of good soup for that. Not to say I don't have some tins of Baxters tucked away at the back of the cupboard for can't be bothered days

pinksuedeshoes

hi could you send ne recipe for soup you have done with 14 portions please thanks x

Gillyx

no recipe as such, just stock left over from a roast chicken, with water added and a few stock cubes thrown in. I stuck carrots, celery (I got this woopsied) swede, ( got a massive one from OH's work for 80p) onions and some potatoes that were abit past there best. I tend to use my food processor to chop the veg down into a pulp before putting into the soup but if you prefer it chunky you can just throw it in roughly chopped. I also fry a little garlic in the pot to start with as a base flavour.

You can use any veg you want, anything you have lying about or can get woopsied at the supermarket I tend to mix and match with things, you'l find what suits your tastes better through trial and error.

January20

Oh, I'll tell you what I do. I look out for cheap veg to freeze. For instance, I can't stand raw celery but I love to put it in soups, so when it's on offer, I buy 2 or 3, wash them, cut them up in little cubes and just freeze them. If I cook too much pasta or rice or even potato, I freeze that too. Nothing gets wasted here. Over ripe bananas get mashed up and frozen until I have enough to make a banana cake. I tell you I'm the queen of freezing stuff lol


You can really experiment with soups and just put in the veg that you like and be as inventive as you like!

Gillyx

January20 wrote: »

Oh, I'll tell you what I do. I look out for cheap veg to freeze. For instance, I can't stand raw celery but I love to put it in soups, so when it's on offer, I buy 2 or 3, wash them, cut them up in little cubes and just freeze them. If I cook too much pasta or rice or even potato, I freeze that too. Nothing gets wasted here. Over ripe bananas get mashed up and frozen until I have enough to make a banana cake. I tell you I'm the queen of freezing stuff lol


You can really experiment with soups and just put in the veg that you like and be as inventive as you like!

I didn't even think about this, such a good idea, I could wait until all my veg was on offer then make soup. Not sure why I haven't thought about freezing fresh veg before.