£100 for 5 weeks food - family of 4

millionaire_in_training

Satchmo. I always steep a gammon joint in water overnight and it helps remove a lot of the brine and that helps with the saltiness. I then cook it after that. Yum

satchmo1

Thanks MIT, I'll try that. I forgot to add that the joint was just £4.99 from Lidl, so very MSE

Satchmo x

Teg-Rem

Hi DebtFree2012
Why oh why do you buy waffles when a bag of frozen chips could be sooo much cheaper for you?? I buy frozen chips for a quid a bag and it will do 4 adults, with big appetites for 2 meals and some left over. your little family could easily last 3-4 meals on a bag.

patchwork_cat

Teg-Rem wrote: »

Hi DebtFree2012
Why oh why do you buy waffles when a bag of frozen chips could be sooo much cheaper for you?? I buy frozen chips for a quid a bag and it will do 4 adults, with big appetites for 2 meals and some left over. your little family could easily last 3-4 meals on a bag.

Why buy frozen chips? A bag of potatoes is 38p/kg as opposed to 54p/kg for frozen chips. That is not even buying a big bag from the farmshop/wholesaler/independent shop

Rainy-Days

We are currently running our freezer down for a clean out at the moment. The defrost will take place in September and we will then have a big stock up, but it means we are using up as much as we can in the meantime and then we will have a good idea of what is left and what we will need.

The sacks of potatoes from the farms we will buy in during September and store away in garage.

Spendless

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

This is SO true. I have noticed it myself. If there's been a limited amount of food to serve for tea I always do the kids and DH first and I have the amount that is left (talking small amount here) and DH will ask if I want some of his (I would never say yes, he has a physical job and needs his food) but I have found that what I have on my plate actually fills me even though I didn't expect it to.

Also since I have menu planned and made myself have breakfasts I have found it helps lose weight and that I get hungry midmorning (presumably breakkie is starting my metabolism?) whereas not eating breakfast I don't get hungry sometimes until lunch!

Thank you for this, totally agree.

Yes. That's where the name comes from. It breaks the fast that you've had whilst sleeping. Is it you that mentioned you have eggs from keeping chickens? Sorry, I'm dipping in and out of so many thread at the min, I can't remember who said what where.:o But, assumming it was, I find having an egg for breakfast in whatever form eg boiled, scrambled, poached fills me up till lunch-time. I love this thread btw.:)

Lifesapeach

I don't know whether this has already been mentioned but I bulk out roasts and meaty dishes etc by making stuffing balls. Stuffing can be bought relatively cheaply and the kids like the fact they are eating ball shaped food lol

ceridwen

Speaking of stuffing balls - I did buy a packet of readymade stuffing at one point to try out an MSE recipe for lentil and stuffing burgers and thought "Thats okay - would do that again". But - hit a snag - as the readymade stuffing mix I would buy (having read the list of ingredients on the other one) is WAY dearer than the conventional non-organic ones. I look at the packets there for pennies and then turn to pick up the organic equivalent of Sage and Onion stuffing and put them back down - as they are over well over £1 a packet.

Result = no stuffing then for me:(

Has anyone got a recipe that I can use to make my own equivalent of P*xo Sage & Onion packet stuffing? (I DO have a sage plant growing I can use).

Yep...I know...I know...its gonna be long-winded to:
- first make own stuffing
and then
- make those stuffing and lentil burgers

but thats how I want to play it - so I could do with a suitable stuffing recipe...

Spendless

ceridwen wrote: »

Speaking of stuffing balls - I did buy a packet of readymade stuffing at one point to try out an MSE recipe for lentil and stuffing burgers and thought "Thats okay - would do that again". But - hit a snag - as the readymade stuffing mix I would buy (having read the list of ingredients on the other one) is WAY dearer than the conventional non-organic ones. I look at the packets there for pennies and then turn to pick up the organic equivalent of Sage and Onion stuffing and put them back down - as they are over well over £1 a packet.

Result = no stuffing then for me:(

Has anyone got a recipe that I can use to make my own equivalent of P*xo Sage & Onion packet stuffing? (I DO have a sage plant growing I can use).

Yep...I know...I know...its gonna be long-winded to:
- first make own stuffing
and then
- make those stuffing and lentil burgers

but thats how I want to play it - so I could do with a suitable stuffing recipe...

All the ones I knew contained sausagemeat and assumming you wouldn't want that on a lentil burger, I had a quick google and found this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sageonionstuffing_3580

teaandcakeaddict

I just want to say Good luck! I have a similar family set up to you (other half works physical job, eats like a horse! Two kids aged 4 and 2, 2 y/o still in nappies) and at the moment we spend a shocking amount on food and household stuff. I admire what you are trying to do, and I'll be watching with interest for inspiration!