Having trouble making groceries stretch

quintwins

sainburys feed your family for £50 is a rip off it's not even all the heathy, i saw one that had sausages twice in one week granted in diferent forms but even still, i would honestly struggle to spend £100 in one go now, mainly because i'd have no where to store it all and it's not like we have a small kitchen or small freezer but we buy so much reduced and on offer there all fit to burst

oh and i either buy value loo roll or i get it in makro i find it to be one of the most expensive things on my shopping list after meat, i got 2 24 packs of andrex for £8 last week which will hopefully last us 2 months, lidl do 10 loo rolls for £1.49 there not the best quality tho but good if your on a budget

Nicky2905

Again, without knowing how old your kids are it's hard to know what would work - but sometimes if I'm in a rush, or if hubby is going to be home late and so me and him are going to eat separately to the kids, I give my kids (6 and 2) a quick dinner of: a handful of pasta, handful of frozen veg and a couple of slices of ham (rolled into tubes so it looks nicer!) - it costs about 30p and they really enjoy it (my dd would have it every day if she could)
Also, if cooking a cheese sauce is daunting you can get away with cooking and draining some pasta then mixing in some cream cheese and a knob of marge for a really quick,cheaty mac cheese (my kids actually prefer it to "proper" macaroni cheese - weirdos!!)
Cobblers are great for making casserole type dishes more filling and therefore making the meat go further (scone mix on top of a casserole, the gravy soaks in to the scone topping - yummy! And v cheap!!)

Flibsey

I add oats to meatballs, burgers, koftas as well as breadcrumbs. nobody noticed yet lol.
also nobody noticed when we ran out of rolled oats and I used some coming-up-for-its-date generic readybrek...

[Deleted User]

I agree with lots of whats been said already 'bulk out 'with veggies even mince can be increased by around a third with a handful of porridge oats or lots of carrots and a chopped onion.I budget for myself at £25 per week and usually have cash left over but then again I was brought up by a very canny wee scot (my late Mum) during war-time rationing where every scrap of food had to be streeetched till it squeeked.Her way to fil her children up was HM soup for a starter (cheap as chips to make and not hard ) or a pudding of sorts instead for 'afters' never had both though pudding were usually rice,with a dab of jam (if we were lucky and we foraged for 'free' food during the autumn apples,blackberries ect.Still do even now almost 70 years later,today I was at the country park with my grandsons and we managed to get a good sized tuppaware box of blackberries that cost nothing (but a few scratches) and they will be washed in salt (in case of wriggly things ) and dried off and open frozen until I make them into a crumble or pie later on in the winter .This time of the year its great for blackberries(don't pick the low down ones in case a dog has marked its way :)) ask around and see if anyone has any 'fallers' from their apple trees.Peel,slice, stew gently (I do it with a little water and a dollop of honey )then either freeze when cold or use as a base for crumbles,pies, or even under a bit of sponge as 'eves pudding'cover with custard and voila a nice filling pud which will streeetch a meal

sharronej

schmucker wrote: »

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

Thanks for that site, some really tasty looking recipes on there:D

How about turning over a new leaf as a family? I'm assuming that your wife works at least one day over the weekend? Could you and the kids go to the market/butchers etc is she was working and then how about spending a couple of hours in the kitchen together as a family doing some batch cooking? Not sure how old your kids are but you should be able to involve them from being a couple of years old (stirring, measuring and counting out the veg etc) this would benefit you in a couple of ways firstly hopefully it would become a fun quality family time and it should (with perseverance) encourage your children to try new flavours and promote healthier eating.

You've had some really good ideas and really the only thing I could add is could you splash out on a slow cooker? They are amazing and you can throw your ingredients in before work and come home to a lovely fresh, home cooked meal and do you have a Farmfoods near you? They have some really good offers on both meat and veg. Home Bargains are very reasonable for cleaning products and toiletries.

Have you looked at the grocery challenge thread? There are hundreds of frugal meal recipes on there. :j Also check out You Tube for step by step cooking instructions.

BKAT_9

pigpen wrote: »

£40 is a small budget for 4 people for a week.. maybe you should look at rejigging your finances and spending more on food.. it is kind of important!!

I spend about £600 a month for 10 of us and we have meat, fresh fruit and veg most days.. granted a lot is value brands but hey.. a potato is a potato and an apple is an apple.

10!!! oh my word! that must be hectic!! My friend has 5 boys and she says that it is like army catering in her house! I can only imagine the size of your pans!! :rotfl:

BKAT_9

In reference to the OP - I know I will sound like a daft hippy but do not underestimate the power of the lentil! it is amazing at bulking out all manner of things, is super healthy and cheap! I find the supermarket own range is mostly cheaper than their 'foods of the world' section. Alternatively buy from a asian store. The red lentils are great at adding to spag bol etc. Also beans are equally as healthy and cheap at bulking things out (dried varierty cheaper)

babyshoes

People have mentioned adding oats to mince - I do it a lot and have found that if done right you don't notice them - I used them for months without my very fussy OH noticing. She only found out when she walked into the kitchen one day as I was adding them to the pan. If done wrong, you can see them as little white bits, though they don't alter the flavour.

To do it 'right', I first soften onions, then brown off the mince. Now add a couple of big handfuls (make it 3 if you have small hands) of oats per pack (approx 400g) of mince and stir it around in the fat and liquid from the mince. I have found that much more oats makes the finished bolognese a bit 'porridgey' which isn't great. Pour in some concentrated beef stock (I use 2 stock cubes in a big mug of hot water) or similar - bovril works too. The oats soak up all the beefy flavour and colour and are almost impossible to spot in the finished dish. Continue with your recipe as normal.

One pack of mince can stretch to about 8 meals (a couple of suppers for the 2 of us, and the rest packed lunches for work) with the addition of oats, onions, grated veg like carrots or courgettes, and 2 or 3 tins of cheap tomatoes.

tomhann187_2

Sorry I've not got time to real the whole thread but it seems you've had some good suggestions thrown your way.

We make our food shopping budget stretch by doing a fortnight or a month's shop in one go, and then topping up with fresh stuff in the week. We bulk-buy meat, tins, washing powder, toilet rolls etc and get all the offers which makes it last the month. Just because your partner works at Iceland I wouldn't shop there if it's not the cheapest. My partner works at Co-Op and even with the discount it's more expensive than the other supermarkets. We always buy household stuff from Home Bargains or Wilkinsons, rather than with our food.

Clear a cupboard out and save it for bulk-buying special offers and taking advantage of glitches found on the Grabbit section of this forum. I've just bought 5 boxes of Nestle Shreddies from Amazon for just under £5 which is less than £1 a box - even cheaper than the Tesco's own Shreddies I normally get.

Check out your local butchers, you may be suprised how cheap they are, especially if you get a month's worth of meat they could give you a bit of a discount. Our butcher just looks at the box he's filled for us and guesses a price!

If we need cheap meals, going veggie is always a good option. Or using chicken drumsticks and thighs, rather than breasts. Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans is always a winner and only about 30p a head. Pasta bakes are good too - use brown pasta to fill you up more. I make a bulk batch of Chilli once a month (use the BBC Good Food recipe and double it) and freeze in individual portions for quick meals. It's also a cheap meal as it's just mince, tomatoes, onions etc.

All of our fruit and veg is from the Farm Shop, and our herbs and spices are from the local health food shop (18p for 25g curry powder versus £1.50 in Tesco).

To give you an idea of meals, we're on a 'cheap' week due to car bills and have the following planned for lunch and dinner (total food bill including toothpaste and toilet roll £38):

Sat: Homemade pea and potato soup with bread, chicken fajitas (chicken found reduced to £2 in the week and put in freezer)
Sun: Roast chicken (chicken cost £4 from Tesco), beans on toast
Mon: Leftover chicken sandwiches, sausages (reduced to 30p and frozen) mash peas and gravy
Tues: Jacket pots with cheese and beans, chicken soup (from carcass) and sandwiches
Wed: Pasta bake (sauce jars stored from an old 'buy one get two free' offer and 17p a pack pasta with garlic bread, homemade pizzas
Thurs: Leftover pasta bake for lunches, chilli for tea out of the freezer with rice, bread and butter
Friday:Chicken curry (other half of reduced chicken pack from Saturday and spices from health food shop, bulked out with veg and lentils), sandwiches.

We also have bananas, apples, raisins and a pineapple for fruit. I got 8 yoghurts from Tesco for £1.50 and will be baking a chocolate cake and gingerbread men over the weekend for treats in the week. Puddings will be fruit, cake, jelly (17p for 4 portions), bananas and custard, or homemade rice pudding which costs about £1 to make 5-6 portions.

Breakfast is cereal (discounted Shreddies or Weetabix), porridge (mega cheap and ultra filling using value oats), yoghurt, fruit or toast.

Butterfly_Brain

Just found this old thread it may be of some use https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2116179