Having trouble making groceries stretch

ragz_2

schmucker wrote: »

Take tonights dinner, she has just done the shopping and we are having a couple of potatoes and a birds eye crispy chicken each, you eat it and your hungry 30 mins later as its not enough but then if you make more you miss out dinner somewhere along the line as we don't have enough food to stretch.
Any tips appreciated.

A couple of potatoes and a processed chicken thing? where's the veg? Even a cheap tin of beans would fill you up (fibre) but fresh veg would be better. You need to make veg a large part of most meals, it's cheap and filling (fibre!)
Aldi and Lidl are good for cheap veg, I don't shop at Iceland (it'd take more than a 10% discount to get me in there!) but imagine their range isn't great.

£40 isn't a lot for a week though. I spend £100 for the five of us, though that covers free range chicken and eggs (or at least co-op elmwood chicken) and we eat proper food.

patchwork_cat

Resourceful cook looks great thanks for that.

Flibsey

one of the best things to get is a student cookbook, they're usually for cheap, filling and most importantly simple meals.

Bella79

I spend about £60.00 pw on 3 of us, i cook from scratch everynight, eg of meals would be

beef stew with veggies adn maybe a large yorkshire pud (egg,milk easy)
one make do night ,maybe soup using up leftover veg and pussing, quick steam sponge
chicken fajhitas
Hm chicken sish kebabs with rice and salad
pork chop dinners
sausage and mash

AS you can see i do a lot of dinners, as i find them really filling. we also have sugar free jellys and cream, with maybe a brusided bannan sliced on top

RAS

schmucker wrote: »

A chicken would do the 4 of us for a Sunday dinner and usually the legs are still left over for sandwiches for my lunch the next day.

This is what a chicken did for us when I was growing up - 1 adult and three older teenagers so a bit more tummy space to fill than your family.

Day 1 - roast meat with yorkies (HM - 1 egg, milk and a tbsp flour), roast potatoes and seasonal veggies. The meat was a thigh or drumstick and wing plus a little breast meat.

Day 2 - the bulk to the remaining breast meat carved and served with baked potatoes and salad or veggies depending on the time of year. You can do the baked tats the previous day and just heat them up.

At the end of that, the carcass was stripped of the remaining meat, which was for day 3. Then the carcass was boiled to make stock.

Day 3 - Curry stirfry or fricasse and rice with the last of the meat.

boiled bones drained, last little bits of meat extracted and used to make soup.

Day 4 Main soup (with potatoes or rice or pasta as well as veggies) with a dessert.

There is a rubber chicken thread on here - you might find that useful.

You budget is rather too low; the recieved wisdom is £60 per person a month is doable, below that you struggle.

The problem with buying ready made nuggets and the like is that often they cost more than decent food even after the discount.

RAS

schmucker wrote: »

Well my wife can work the deepfat fryer and microwave if you call that cooking.

I presume between you, you can boil a pan. Buy cheap pasta, preferably short stuff like penne. Even if you buy a basic tomato sauce, it provides a better meal with some veggies added (grate them so the kids do not notice). Add a bit of cheese (25-50g) if you have it.

Another option: A basic bake. Take some sort of meat (if you want it) like chicken wings or drumsticks or sausages. take potatoes in their skins and cut to about the same size (whole for little ones, halves quarters of sixths for bigger ones). Do the same with a parsnip or two, a carrot or two and a bit of peeled swede. Add a little oil, toss the veggies and meat with you hands to cover them in oil and whack it in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Check the meat is cooked and the veggies are done.

Leave on one side for 10 minutes to cool. Eat on its own or with salads.

You can add some herbs before cooking, if you like, a tomato quartered and added for the last 15 minutes gives colour. And you can make it with whatever veggies you have.

valk_scot

I agree that £40 for four of you isn't much but it is do-able. However both of you are going to have to learn to cook a few things each and also to widen the range of foods you eat. Spending £20 on meat a week isn't the answer, quite the opposite. Even with a piece of meat on the plate you need more...potatoes or other carbohydrates like pasta or rice, then you also need at least one portion of veg. The division should be 1/4 of the meal as protein, 1/4 carbs and 1/2 vegetables. Thats for good health. And deep frying is not a great method of cooking..okay once in a while but not every day. So make an effort with the veg. Iceland is actually pretty good for frozen veg, I think!

Don't forget soup...home made soup can really fill you up, especially with some nice bread. Cheapest way to get good bread is to make it yourself. Get the wife to give you a breadmaking machine for Christmas? A bowl of soup or a hearty pudding such as rice pud or crumble can also fill up the gaps.

Vegetarian meals based on lentils, beans, eggs, cheese and vegetables are a lot cheaper than meat based ones, usually. A baked potato with beans and a sprinkle of cheese, wee bit of salad followed by fruit and yoghurt sounds a basic but it's a balanced meal, belive it or not, and will fill you up really well at low cost. And the cooking is absolutely minimal.

Bottom line is though that you have to get this sorted asap because it's not a good way to feed kids, with no veg on the plate and only a couple of spuds and deep fried processed chicken things. Really not good. Growing kids need a good varied diet for optimal health and growth...it's not just about not being hungry, it's about feeding them the right foods.

CH27

Jacket potatoes are cheap & filling.
Top them with cheese & baked beans or tuna mayo.

RAS

valk_scot wrote: »

So make an effort with the veg. Iceland is actually pretty good for frozen veg, I think!

Don't forget soup...home made soup can really fill you up, especially with some nice bread. Cheapest way to get good bread is to make it yourself. Get the wife to give you a breadmaking machine for Christmas? A bowl of soup or a hearty pudding such as rice pud or crumble can also fill up the gaps.

Agreed - fry a chopped onion, add the Iceland veggies and then some stock. A little dab of tomato puree make it look better (try Lidl - I think 29p a tube and lasts ages).

Either blitz it with a stick blender or cup blender, or if you have neither, pour the stock off the cooked veggies, mash them really well and pour the stock back over. Stir and re-heat then eat with bread and marg.

tinktinktinkerbell

lynzpower wrote: »

Maybe she shouldnt buy fruit and veg in Iceland, even with the discount their fresh stuff is pricey.

i love iceland but i agree that their fresh fruit is rubbish, far better with a fruit and veg shop for fruit

BUT

their frozen veg is brilliant, 1kg of broccoli/cauliflower/sprouts etc for £1

i dont find iceland that bad for food price wise, me and my OH spend anything from £60-100 a fortnight

dont know if they do this in all iceland stores but the my local one do 1kg of pasta twists for £1, add to that couple of tins of tuna and couple of tins of toms and you have yourself a pasta meal, me and OH make a pan full and it can last us all day