Updated October Shopping, Whoopsies & Meal Planning For £100 Per Month For 3&Visitors

recovering_spendaholic

I wish I had had some of your foresight and determination when I was your age!

I knwo that you like Dolmio sauce but have you tried the Tesco's own - the value one? IT is much cheaper at 18p a jar and really quite nice - I tart it up by adding a bit of balsamic vinegar, tsp of sugar, some herbs. - The ingredients don't have any nasties or e-numbers and I know that I can't make it for that much.

patchwork_cat

My recipe for tomato sauce is onions, tomatoes, tomato puree, carrots, butternut squash, cooked in a large batch then pureed and frozen in batches this is then teh base for chill and bolognaise and anything else that calls for tomato sauce. I do sometimes add a small amount of courgette and I have tried peppers, but found they overpowered a bit., It is loosely based on Jamie Olivers veg pasta sauce http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61404&p=1.

Mazcabs

Missus Aka, you may want to have a look on here. Have tried quite a few recipes off here (as have friends) and always found them quite good.

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

hermum

Firstly, well done you are certainly going for it. You seem to be doing remarkably well already.
Bread making I would say is a great one to do. Cheaper & so much nicer than shop bought, you can also add different things to it for variety, which is great if you take sandwiches for lunch.
If time's an issue for you, our freecycle often has breadmakers on offer & charity shops, car boot sales also tend to have them.
Do you ever buy a whole chicken instead of pieces, you can then use the carcass for stock to make lovely soups. Add lots of beans or lentils or dried broth mix & either whoopsied veg or frozen pack of stew veg, a bag's generally around £1, I like dumplings so throw in some potatoes & dumplings, you can make a huge vat for a couple of quid maximum. I usually get about 12 huge greedy persons servings out of that.
Chicken thighs are cheaper than breasts & I think have far more flavour, they may work out cheaper than wings as there's so much more meat on them.
Do you have anyone who you can buy with to take advantage of offers?
Eat vegetarian at least once a week.

shopndrop

Have a look at the coupons thread here, I have saved lots of money using these and now work my shopping around what I have coupons for. I will change brands if it is cheaper with a coupon so sometimes you can get branded goods for less than supermarket own brand, so I stock up then. I know the coupons thread is long, but make sure you read the first page as there is lots of useful advice, then jump to the more recent posts.

Missus_Aka

Took my tesco basket down to £35.68 as i took out an item as i didnt really need it, but i will update the total when i actually receive it tomorrow as it tends to vary from what it says online.

I will detail properly what i have to use up in the fridge tomorrow so you can all see what my starting base is for the month.

Im really itching to get started i love a good challenge, am going to write out my meal properly (as i have just done a rough draft and my proper copy i made myself in microsoft word its like a calendar spread over 2pages and i just fill it in) so i can put a copy in my homeplanner (i know its kinda sad but i love my homeplanner it has all my recipes, routines, to do lists, shopping lists, calendar etc it keeps everything running smoothly in my house)

Patchwork Cat & Recovering Spendaholic I will make my own sauce for the first bolognaise i make and then for the second i will try using tesco, i was interested in using own brand instead of dolmio but i didnt know which one would be ok so thanks for your recommendation

Mazcabs thanks for the link i have had a quick peek and bookmarked it, will carry on looking when i finish typing but there looks like there are new recipes i can try and add to next months meal planner

Hermum i never buy a whole chicken (apart from xmas) as i have a phobia of eating chicken on the bone so the rest would just get wasted or given to the dogs, i will only eat the breast of the chicken and it has to be cooked a certain way for a long time (im very funny with how chicken and meat is cooked) i dont know what it is but i really cant bring myself to get over it and i cant have any fatty bits on chicken or meat because just thinking about it makes me feel ill. It probably sounds really strange and fussy but i havent been able to overcome that one thing, oh is fine with chicken on the bone and i will give to ds as well as i dont want to pass it to him as well as i have also have some ocd tendencies with cleaning etc but im really careful of the behaviours i show him so he doesnt exhibit them in later life as i believe he will predisposed to it genetically as my dad has ocd with cleaning but he was never in my life till recently so i didnt pick it up of him and my half sister who wasnt in mine or my dad life until recently has ocd but more with things to do with numbers like the volume being on an uneven number. (slightly off point sorry)

I do make soup but i make it with stock cubes and i will try chicken thighs for oh next month instead of chicken wings as i dont have it in the budget this month, to be honest i dont think he would know the difference

Nobody really to go halves with me on offers my mum has far to much money to worry about those little things, full price half price it doesnt make any difference to her though i told her the amount she could be saving. but most of the offers i can buy myself like this month i bought 3 x4 pints of milk for £3.00 one will go in the fridge and the rest will go in the freezer as really only ds has milk in the house so will probably only use 1 and a half to 2 of these

Shopndrop i have bookmarked the coupons page thanks for the link to it i have had a flick through it i dont think i will be using any this month as i have done all my supermarket shopping but i will def be looking at it when doing my shopping next month, i dont mind changing brands for offers or if there is a coupon either it keeps costs down

Missus_Aka

Tesco's Shopping came in at £35.09, all the chicken breasts have been divided into portions, the chicken breasts made into 10 bags & frozen (one bag used to make 4 meals each of chicken and potato pie for me and ds only as oh works nights 2days a week they are going in the freezer for tuesdays) chicken wings made into 4 portions ( 3 x 3wings & 1 x4wings) the 800g mince got divided up into 3 (2 will be used this month 1 for next month). Need to chop and freeze the mushrooms and grate the cheese to make it last longer but i will do this tomorrow after work.

I also spent £2.00 on whoopsied beef which i also need to cut up into portions and freeze, will probably make 4 portions, 2 to use this month, 2 for next month to add to the green beans i make

Cleaned out the freezer to fit everything in from the tescos shop i have loads in there it is packed but im not going to use any freezer contents apart from what was bought this month

But my starting base this month is:
3 peppers
6 chicken sausages
1/4 salam (big chicken sausage)
15 Clementines
1/4 Cucumber
Dolmio Sauce
Lloyd Grossman Sauce
Parsley
1 Small Can of Sweetcorn

As well as the basics like rice, spices, tomato puree etc.

I will need to stock up at the turkish shop either tomorrow or Sunday but so far my total is £37.09

Missus_Aka

Adding a small amount to my total, with a small spend at my local turkish shop:

Pitta Bread x 4 £1.00
Tomatoes x8 £0.94
Turkish Peppers 1/4 bag £0.99
Cucumber £0.59

Total: £3.52

Running Total: £40.61

Meal Plans For Week 1 Beginning 01/08/11

Monday:

Breakfast: Tuna & Sweetcorn with sliced bread
Lunch: Chicken Sausages with pitta bread
Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Fried Salam, Egg and turkish Green Peppers with pitta bread
Lunch: Last nights leftovers
Dinner: Chicken & Potato Pie with Carrots

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Salam & Cheese Toasties
Lunch: Beans on toast
Dinner: Green Beans, Beef, Rice & Salad

Thursday:

Breakfast: Boiled Egg, Sliced Cucumber sprinkled with red pepper flakes with pitta bread and philadelphia cheese
Lunch:Chicken Nuggets & Homemade Chips
Dinner: Prawn Stir Fry (makes 4 portions, freeze 3) with pilau

Friday:

Breakfast: Sliced Salam, Sliced Cucumber, Sliced Green Turkish Peppers with pitta bread & philadelphia cheese
Lunch: Baked Potato, Cheese, Sweetcorn & Coleslaw
Dinner: Chicken Wrap & Salad

Saturday:

Breakfast: Cheese & Salam Toasties
Lunch: Left Overs
Dinner: Bulgur Wheat & Salad

Sunday:

Breakfast: Cheese & Salam Toasties
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Chicken Dopiaza with Fried Potatoes

Ds as well as these meals always has a bowl of crunchy nut with milk and a bowl of fresh fruit every morning when he wakes up as we dont normally have our breakfast till about 10, we do eat loads for breakfast (no tea & toast or cereal) its a turkish thing to eat big meals for breakfast, if not for our breakfasts i think the total would be around £15 less a month.

Most of our 5 a days come from whoopsied fruit (im going on the hunt tomorrow after work as i only have clementines)

ETA: Just found out my sister (22) will be coming to stay for 4 days this month as well.......

igaveupnowimback

Hi Missus Aka,
Years ago when kids were young I read Shirley Goode's article in Womans Own and was inspired to shop/cook frugally but well. (She still has a blog, The Goode Life)

Like many others on MSE it became a way of life. Combining that with the skills you pick up and the inventiveness and clever shopping/discounts etc helps make the most of everything and I know I can make good meals out of practically nothing. :j

We eat far better if I'm being creative and I enjoy the challenge of turning a few ingredients into something tasty. Or tarting up value basics like the pasta sauce mentioned above, by adding worcester sauce/onion/veg/herbs etc, although I also make it from scratch.

Best advice ever: Build up a store cupboard of staple ingredients, lots advice on here. :T

Many think that low budget means value burgers, but it just ain't so. I'm amazed at what people think they HAVE to spend on food every month. You sound like you've started on your frugal adventure - bon appetit!!

Missus_Aka

No more spending on this front just yet as i didnt finish work till late last night so no time to whoopsy hunt, will try thursday night i think, meal plan for last night has been swapped around so we are having spag bol tonight instead.

Apart from my whoopsied fruit i dont think & a salam i dont think i will be needing anything else till next week but we will see how that goes.....

Thanks for all your advice everyone

Igaveupnowimback i do have quite a big cupboard of food (tins etc.) but i save it just in case i ever have a really bad financial month just so we dont ever have to starve