Need tips on switching the family from frivalous to frugal please!!

ALIBOBSY

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

Tx Ali xx
Wow I am literally gobsmacked you can feed six mouths for £60 for a week???Blushing here to admit we spend hundreds...been way better recently but can't imagine for one sec I could get it anywhere near that!!:T
Am planning a big cooking weekend with my mince and my freezer boxes.Thought if I batch cooked bolognaise/chilli/shepherds pie fillings and froze that'd come in really handy.What else could I pre make? xx

Some weeks its higher and this week I didn't need any nappies or wipes as got some on offer a few weeks ago and am using them.
I rely on my freezers alot. Another good tip is to aim for as little waste as possible. Bottom of the fridge ie those veggies on their last legs, soups are good and can be frozen. Stews/curries and soups are great to use stuff up and freeze for future use.
Brownies and traybaked cakes can be made, sliced and frozen in separate slices and defrosted as needed. pretty much all baked goods freeze. Muffins are fab-you can add fruit purees to use up old fruit and stuff you forage. Its amazing what you can find for free.

Very little cannot be preprepared and frozen. Make you own versions of "aunt bessies" yorkies or roasties. Homemade oven chips as well-I do mine skin on for chips/wedges/roasties saves time and money.

I quite often cook tea and do a double portion to freeze for another day. Fruit and veg look for offers, aldis super six is great and farm shops if you have them.

Pies or pastry and fillings to assemble later can also be frozen.

Pad out that meat with plenty of veg and if you can have 1 or 2 veggie meals a week-meat does cost.

Loads of threads over on old style boards on forageing, freezing mealplanning etc.

You will find your child ben and tax credits go up as there will be an extra child and reduced income so this will help you.

Step by step is the key,it can't happen overnight.

good luck

ali x

Bumpmakesfour

msb5262 wrote: »

Hello again,

A few ideas...I do these for the freezer:
meatballs (my favourite recipe uses equal weight of minced beef and good quality sausages with the skins removed, then finely chopped onion and red pepper, some ground black pepper and an egg - mix well and form into walnut sized balls ...or you could go for straight minced beef or lamb, maybe with some chilli and cumin)
tomato sauce (can be served with meatballs and rice/pasta or just as it is with pasta and grated cheese)
cheese sauce for macaroni cheese or a quick lasagne with frozen bolognese
fish pie (just the base, or the whole pie in a dish)
stews and casseroles
soup (eg. tomato & lentil soup - with toasted sandwiches, that's our dinner on Tuesday night this week)


HTH


MsB

Thankyou,all sounds fab A question that might sound daft...but how long do these freeze for?Baby is due end of december so need to time my batch cook so that the food isn't done too early and inedible once bump arrives I'm trying my very first batch of SW minestrone soup today but need to find a tomato soup recipe because we all love that.

Have to say I'm super impressed with hubbys first real contribution to money saving today!!He had to work this morning and took DS with him.He came home with stacks and stacks of colouring print outs and the kids grabbed their pencil cases and have been happily colouring for the past three hours!! Sad to say I'm impressed he thought of doing that..a whole afternooon that didn't cost us a penny..RESULT!! :T

msb5262

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

Thankyou,all sounds fab A question that might sound daft...but how long do these freeze for?Baby is due end of december so need to time my batch cook so that the food isn't done too early and inedible once bump arrives.

I looked on a couple of freezing websites and they suggest that around 4 months would be ok for all these things.

HTH

Shineyhappy

Regarding the lottery, why don't you suggest that he save the money in a lottery piggy and then buy Premium Bonds when you have enough and then there is a chance every month you would win a million or other cash prizes and you would have savings that can withdrawn if/when needed?

Sambucus_Nigra

Bumpmakesfour wrote: »

Thankyou,all sounds fab A question that might sound daft...but how long do these freeze for?

you can freeze food forever, it's just the longer it is frozen the more it deteriorates; so for soups, stews, etc - it can be in the freezer for years and still be ok when defrosting.

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

Bumpmakesfour

Thankyou everyone..I'm learning here,still all new to me so really appreciate the help
I have a stack of plums,apples(red and green),kiwis and pears here to use up so searching for recipes because normally I'd bin them ..how bad is that?:o:o:o:o

Thought hubby was on board..impressed with his freebie colouring.THEN as we sat meal planning last night discussing a budget we both felt we could stick too..he comes out with.."oh my tattoo design is nearly ready,should "only" be about £200" :eek:..gawd help me he hasn't "got it" at all :rotfl::rotfl:

Bumpmakesfour

Just made a lovely roast chicken,pots,veg etc.Usually we'd eat 90% in one meal between 5 of us then give the rest to the dog and cats for tea.Tx to MSE though I now have made two sw chicken pasta salads for mine and hubbys lunch tomorrow AND there's a bowl of stripped chicken to do a chicken/peas/mushrooms/egg fried rice for the kids dinner tomorrow.Everything for lunch and the kids dinner was in the fridge already and all I need to buy for dinner for DH and me tomorrow is a tin of tomatoes and not my usual "pop into tescos for dinner and spend £50":o

Kids decided they want packed lunches so have ham etc in fridge,refilled small bottles of evian with sugar free juice to go in lunch boxes so that's £5.55 per day saved on lunch alone plus the fiver DH would spend grabbing a pre packed sandwich!

Feeling SOOO motivated with this money saving malarky :T Hope it lasts

CH27

bumpmakesfour wrote: »

just made a lovely roast chicken,pots,veg etc.usually we'd eat 90% in one meal between 5 of us then give the rest to the dog and cats for tea.tx to mse though i now have made two sw chicken pasta salads for mine and hubbys lunch tomorrow and there's a bowl of stripped chicken to do a chicken/peas/mushrooms/egg fried rice for the kids dinner tomorrow.everything for lunch and the kids dinner was in the fridge already and all i need to buy for dinner for dh and me tomorrow is a tin of tomatoes and not my usual "pop into tescos for dinner and spend £50":o

kids decided they want packed lunches so have ham etc in fridge,refilled small bottles of evian with sugar free juice to go in lunch boxes so that's £5.55 per day saved on lunch alone plus the fiver dh would spend grabbing a pre packed sandwich!

Feeling sooo motivated with this money saving malarky :t hope it lasts

Go you. It does become addictive:D