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

Missus_Aka

Ended up going to mr t's after work today and just got:

Spinach x 2 packs £1.50 (price on shelf was 2 for £2.00 but they charged me £2.50 so got double the difference back)
Foil £1.49
Sweetcorn £2.20

So adding £5.19 to my total

I was really craving their spinach and ricotta canneloni ready meals (3 for £5) but i just managed to resist i was literally half way down the aisle and i turned around, might see if i can find a recipe to make it myself next month.

I have a voucher for £9 off a £60 spend at mr t, pm me if anyone wants it and i will post it out thursday, first come first served.......

Lookingtothefuture

Hello there,

I am reading your thread with interest!

I am not sure if this helps or not but we use frozen spinach (£1.00 for 1kg) instead of fresh as it is much cheaper and less gets wasted. Also it is cheap! I use this to fill out meals too, so one or two lumps in a bolognese/chilli/stew etc. No- one notices and they have had a boost of iron in their diet which makes me a happy Mummy!

The same goes for frozen sweetcorn (94p for 907g Smart Price from As*Da). We used to get tinned sweetcorn which would get wasted as would only use half a tin. Oh and frozen mixed peppers... good fillers all of these.

Also in regards to Dolmio jars, we use a tin of chopped tomatoes and a packet mix. These are on offer at As*Da at the mo 4 for £1. I think this is a bit of a luxury as you can save a little bit more by buying a tub of Spaghetti Bolgnese herb mix in a tub for about 95p however if I do this my OH thinks its a good idea to "use" it up, on sandwiches, in mayo, on meat (:eek: ). So the pack works out at 25p then the tin of chopped tomatoes is about 34p so just over half of what you are already paying. The Tes*co bolognese at 18p is tasty but I find it a bit greasy/oily and so my lot aren't big fans.

When I was weaning my little girl I used an Annabell Karmel recipe for a tomato pasta sauce. It is dead cheap and delicious! it is now a regular feature in our household. It is a tin of chopped tomatoes, a squib of tomatoe puree, 100 ml of stock, a teaspoon of sugar, onions and garlic. Just like this it is yummy, however if I have any veg looking a little droopy or whoopsied then I add this too. Courgettes are great! This freezes really well and is cheap to make. I would also put this in with a bolognese.

I also make a bacon pie every now and again as its cheap and we all love it. A packet of cooking bacon is 75p from As*da, I then trim most of the large bits of fat off, add onions, garlic, a tin of mushroom soup and peas. Once this is cool I add mashed potato on top and put it in the oven for 20 mins. Again if I have any mushrooms going a bit squiffy I add that in. I think I worked it out to be about £2 for the pie for three of us. I serve this with my fav carrots. Again carrots are great to bulk out a bolognese as they are filling and sweet.

I try to bulk out as much of our meat meals with veg. I try not to serve meat for every meal or even every day not only for financial reasons but also for health reasons.

Another meal we enjoy is jacket potatoes and beans or JP and tuna with sweetcorn.

I am not sure if you would have a riot on your hands but have you considered having your normal breakfast every other day and having cereal and toast on the other days. Like you say yourself it could save you a bit more money.

Sorry to have rambled- I have typed as things have come to my mind! Keep up the great work, I will be reading with great interest.

Bye for now! :money:

tylers_mum

a cheap pasta dish .. soften an onion &a few mushrooms in a little oil add a tin of plum tomatoes and a tin of tuna pour this mixture over cooked pasta and top with mozz cheese and bake in the oven for 20 mins x its quick easy and really filling ,it feeds 4 in our house and leftovers for lunch (i use t value tinned tom ,tuna chunks,mozz cheese & pasta whole dish works out at about £1.80) i usually serve this with sweetcorn or salad x good luck and best wishes

76rosie

just a few thoughts to help.

Have you tried passata or chopped tomatoes in the tetrapaks. i did stock up when they were 14p a pack.

Also does your turkish shop sell off older veg such as mushrooms cheaper, mine also sells bananas and peppers even the local fruit and veg guys in wood green sell 5 cucumbers for a pound.

Also have added a scoop of porridge to my mince when making bolognaise- nobody notices!!!

Also if you go to Mr T's there is the chance to womble some discount vouchers without spending.

Finally, homemade pizza can be made using many of the ingredients you have in your cupboards and kids love them.

Kazipoo

Missus_Aka wrote: »

I will have a few bits and pieces leftover from this month that i will be using including a few clementines, a few plums, a few apples, philadelphia cheese, dolmio sauce, 1/4 block of cheese, 18 eggs and 3 peppers

Jaredeva Thanks i will try your suggestion of making the sauce myself, hopefully i dont muck it up as spaghetti bol is oh's favourite meal

With your left overs why not make a lovely homemade quiche? Make some pastry from your value plain flour, lard and marg, mix 6 eggs with a small amount of milk and some mixed herbs (value ones are excellent) some of your hard cheese, some peppers for a nice flavour, maybe some paprika if you have it, and perhaps a slice of ham or two (plastic ham is fine), shove it all in a quiche dish (or two shallow cake tins) and bake at about 180. Once its cooled, slice it and put it in a freezer bag and shove it in the freezer. The hubby and kids take these as part of their packed lunches, put in frozen and by lunchtime they are nicely defrosted.

As for spag bol, I never use a cook in sauce. A carton of passata is about 25p, add italian seasoning, garlic, mixed herbs, onion, mushrooms or whatever else you fancy, its much cheaper and more delish.

Also, I now always make homemade wraps. Its a recipe I got from this site (I think its Piadines), we love them, they are far tastier than shop bought ones, I use value plain flour, value oil and warm water, must cost about 20/30p to make 12. Its time consuming because you have to cook each one seperately, but definitely worth it.

Good luck, I know you can do it. :T

Kazipoo

Just wanted to add, today (in my slow cooker) I am doing sausage and tomato casserole. 50 sausages (pork or cumberland) are currently £2 at morrisons, I will precook 18 (there are 6 of us) (72p), a carton of passata (25p) 1 onion, 1 carrot, 2 bell peppers (all left over from earlier in the week) 1 tablespoon worcester sauce (stockcupboard ingredient) 1/2 teaspoon of mixed herbs, mild chilli powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika, salt and pepper to taste and 1 beef stock cube dissolved in half cup boiling water (all stockcupboard ingredients). Shove it all in the slow cooker and cook all day on low. Serve it with my whoopsied spuds @ 19p from morrisons and you have a meal for 6 for £1.16.

Missus_Aka

I am so ecstatic today i know this will sound really sad but i got so many great whoopsied items from mr a

steak in peppercorn sauce x 4 10p each
kung po chicken x2 10p each
red thai chicken curry 10p
chicken breast fillets 315g 10p
Haddock Fillets 250g 20p

And i bought a tin of cheese for £3.20 as well, im normally not one for ready meals but at 10p each what more can you ask for they will come in handy for those late nights where i dont get home from work till 9.30 sometimes, have to make room in the freezer eeeeekkkk!!!!!! They didnt have any whoopsied fruit or veg today i think people had already cleared it all out. Got home at 8.30 and made chicken wraps for us with salad (the meal plan is a bit messed up this week because i didnt know i was working so many hours when i did it, will sort it out on monday when im off), doing 8 out of 9 days is exhausting especially with no air con or windows and you have to move boxes all day.
I want to make some fishcakes with the haddock (probably could divide into 2 portions), grated carrots, spring onion (will need to get some).
Chicken fillets got used tonight in the wrap.

76rosie i actually work in wood green, so will have to check out the stall, where is it? in the shopping city market? How do you make the base for your pizza i have never tried to do it and i womble tesco receipts as much as i can

kazipoo i will have a look how to make the wraps, are they ok to freeze so i could make them on my day off then make a quick dinner with them when i get home from work and the only sausages i eat are chicken and im not sure how your recipe would taste with the change but thankyou for your advice

tylers mum that sounds yummy, maybe will make it this month test it out on myself (whenever i make something for the 1st time i just make it myself just in case it goes wrong, and i have to be embarassed...its never been bad before but just in case) and maybe add it to my list of meals i can cook for dinner

lookingtothefuture frozen peppers/spinach is a good idea where do you buy yours from? as for the sweetcorn i only use it to add it to spag bol & to make tuna & swweetcorn im not sure how it would turn out in these would it be ok? i love jacket potatoes with cheese/coleslaw/sweetcorn my gran used to call me baked potato when i was little as i used to have it everyday. I probably would have a riot on my hands if i didnt make a proper breakfast as oh has to eat soooooo much to maintain a healthy weight, it has taken me 6 years to get him to reach 11 stone 8 pounds (he is about 5'11) he was about 10 stone 5 pounds before and i have to feed him huge plates (he just ate 5 tortilla wraps with chicken and salad). Maybe once a week if im at work he will have a bowl of crunchy nut but he doesnt do toast i dont think hes ever had toast before in his life

Thankyou for all your replies everyone its nice to share this with others and have a little chat

quintwins

a tin of cheese? i didn't know cheese came in a tin

your doing really well and i don't see anything wrong with the odd ready meal especially if it's gonna save you money

tesco sell frozen spinage, sweetcorn and peppers (altho iceland are slightly better value for me for sweetcorn and peppers at the mo as they ahve slightly more peppers and my stores stopped stocking value sweetcorn) i use frozen sweetcorn in tuna mayo, fishcakes, pasta salad aswell as in dinners i usually cook it for a wee minute first then run it under cold water if it's going in a cold dish

Missus_Aka

The cheese in the tin that i buy is sold in all turkish shops but now they have started selling it in asda as well, i make these spinach cheese and onion boreks they are scrummy, i will try the frozen peppers, spinach and sweetcorn next month and see how much it saves me. thanks for the advice on the sweetcorn

Am now up to £49.90 for the month, will whoopsy hunt tonight as well after work i think 8 is the magic hour. hopefully i can get some fruit otherwise i will have to go to the turkish shop as we only have clementines

Missus_Aka

Had to spend £6.35 at asda yesterday and bought:

grapes
apples
pears
chicken in chilli sauce x3
Chicken supremes with garlic sauce x2
spring onions

Couldnt get any whoopsied prices on the fruit, but the chicken meals were whoopsied. Homemade nandos chicken in the oven with homemade wedges and corn on the cob as i needed to make room in the freezer for the whoopsied items, it smells good!!!!!!! Cant believe its so late, i hate doing the late shift at work (10.30-7.30) as i still have to cook when i get home which is normally not till 8.45. Will relook at my mealplan on monday when im off and have some time to myself