£10 a week food budget

recovering_spendaholic

Aldi pasta is 49p but is far superior to the supermarket basics one. They also have bacon on offer for £.99p and their mince and chicken is good too. You can get a good sized chicken for £2.99 and that could make you loads of meals. - Roast chicken, then a curry, a chicken pie, chicken and barley soup (just chicken carcass boiled up with added chopped carrots and onions and pearl barley and a bit of seasoning and dried herbs if you have them),chicken hash (chicken, a bit of chopped bacon, a chopped onion and chopped boiled potatoes all mixed up and either fried until crisp or spread out on a baking sheet and baked until crisp.

you an also make alot of meals from a pack of mince: shepherds pie - I use sainsburys basics mash which is 19p for a 10 portion pack and which is lovely. I make a big pan of mince (500g pack cooked in oxo with onions and thickened with bisto) and then let it go cold. I make a shepherds pie with a quarter of it mixed with a tin of beans and a squirt of ketchup (makes a generous portion for 2 - 3), chilli with a quarter by mixing it with a half a tin of chopped tomatoes, squirt of ketchup, chilli flakes, bit of cumin and a tin of kidney beans (although if I'm not flush I will use baked, which the kids prefer), a quarter mixed with the other half a tin of tomatoes, oregano or italian seasoning, tomato ketchup and I have this with pasta, and the last quarter in what we call mince concoction - chopped carrots, boiled with onions, peas, sweetcorn and mince - it is lovely!

All of the above mince dishes serve 2 at least.

I didn't have any bread the other night so I made crumpets - they were sooooo easy - just 450g plain flour mixed with 10g easy blend yeast and 700ml warm milk and water mixed. Just mix together and then leave, covered, in a warm place for 2 hours. then beat in 10g salt and a tsp of baking powder and mix well. leave for about 20 minutes and then drop spoonfuls of the mixture into a medium heat greased frying pan and watch until little holes form and then flip over. This amount made 2 dozen crumpets/pikelets and you can freeze them or store for a couple of days. You need to toast them before you eat them and they were yummy!!!

Good luck - your attitude is boss and I really hope that you get another job very soon.

pineapple

Also - imo - a 'luxury' item worth keeping as basic stock is sesame oil. It's around £1 for a small bottle but just a dash can transform the taste of spuds, pasta, stews etc.

Bogof_Babe

Looks like the OP has lost interest as she hasn't been back. I hope she hasn't starved to death already!

revpeachy

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Looks like the OP has lost interest as she hasn't been back. I hope she hasn't starved to death already!

Maybe she went to her parents for a Sunday Roast

Mazcabs

You might find some good ideas on here - they even show you costs & nutritional values

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html?opt=p1m1

TeenyBash

Thank you all so much for your wonderful responses! I've got some brilliant ideas together now. I really appreciate you all taking time out with your suggestions.

Thank you, Cabbage! Yes, certainly. When the going gets tough, the tough get going! In a way, the challenge is quite exciting.

Also, thought I'd share with others in a similar situation a great YouTube channel I found. This lady is fantastic. Some dead cheap recipes her Mother made during the depression. I can't post a link, as I'm a newbie. But if you search for user 'DepressionCooking' on YouTube, you can find it.

Thanks again, everyone!

TeenyBash

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Looks like the OP has lost interest as she hasn't been back. I hope she hasn't starved to death already!

Ha-ha! No, no. I was off job hunting. Sorry for the delayed response!

ponymad_3

I think I should share my Mr T story with you... They don t close til 10 but reduce the food massively at 7pm... tonight I got 2 packs of broccoli for 40p / 3 packs of 1.50 cherries for 45p / crumpets for 7p and left the bread all going for 7p per loaf - I have no room in the freezer. I have to confess my treat was 3 magnums but at 1.22 and using a £1 off unilever voucher join on facebook I thought I did pretty well...

My other suggestion could help you Heron did 50p for Richmond sausages(6 pack) B2G2F yes all 4 packs for £1 - toad in the hole sausage stew here I come

PS I took redundancy 8th July - still enjoying new life without stress

TeenyBash

Excellent, ponymad! I must try the same at Asda, since it's closest to me and I don't drive.

castleton

I would just add that I always buy fruit and veg ( not apples as I find that they tend to be bruised quite often) from a local "Open Market".I only buy from supermarket if cheap and a really good deal.
I tend to buy and cook with what is in season and my husband is now used to this and never complains.