£50 left for food shopping till the end of the month help!!

Jesthar

loobylee wrote: »

I did have a water filter but the kids & OH still moaned the water tasted foul - it really is horrid here so we went back on bottled water. I have tried cooking the same meal but the kids just leave half then spend the rest of the evening moaning about how hungry they are!

I sympathise with the water thing - I can really taste differences in water, and have just spent a week on holiday in a little place where the water really does taste peculiar, so it's been hot drinks only all week...

The kids not eating their meals and then whinging, however, is something you should try to do something about - I'm not particularly old, but if me or my brother refused to eat our tea, we 1) got no pudding but weren't allowed to leave the table until everyone else had finished theirs, and 2) complaints of hunger were steadfastly ignored for the rest of the evening. Can't have been easy for my parents sometimes, but it was certainly effective

Not sure if it would work on your OH, though! Shame he won't eat veg mixed in things, as my slow cooker spag bol does eight portions for 350 - 400g mince, padded out with two finely diced onions, a few thinly sliced sticks of celery, grated carrot (try and find THAT after eight hours in the slow cooker , and sliced mushrooms - plus a tin of Value chopped tomatoes, of course. I freeze it in portions, and then when I get in from work just put the pasta on to cook whilst reheating the bolgnese in the micro. Ta-daa - 10 minute home cooked ready meal

Oh, and with rice you should wash it before you cook it to get rid of the stuff that makes it go sticky. I use a fine mesh metal flour sieve, put the rice in it, wet it under the tap and shake it, then rinse and repeat a few times (until the rinsing water is mainly clear) before I boil it - only takes a couple of minute, I do it whilst the kettle is boiling the water to cook it with. Works well for me

Anyway, you can definitely do this. There's a thread I remember reading in here a couple of years ago where a woman fed her family (her, OH and two children, I think) on about £20 for the whole month.

patchwork_cat

Are the pork chops 2 x 4? If so then that is 2 meals sorted with some potato and veg, or 3 to 4 if you cut them up and use them in meals like sweet and sour. Mince, is that 800g, if so then look at this http://frugal-cooking.co.uk/recipe/193/batch-bake-minced-beef-recipe Personally I wouldn't do it quite the same, but I could make a chilli with 1/3 mince and kidney beans, a bolognaise with 1/3 and lentils and shepherd's pie with lentils with 1/3 and cheese on top.If that is just a bit too dramatic after 800g then go down to 400g - hide veg in tomato sauce, pureed and add veg they do like perhaps peas or corn? to shepherd's pie.

If you reduce your protein portions you have enough for about 10 meals with just the addition of veg and a carb and pulses to bulk. Do you eat puddings, as you could fill them up with homemade rice pudding - although it would require more milk it is a good bulker and provider of extra protein and the essential calcium. Also chocolate pudding made from milk, cocoa, cornflour and sugar, yummy.

loobylee

Thanks Jesthar I'm reading through that thread now!!! Thanks so much for the rice tip, I'm going to have to get some and try that, express rice costs a fortune!

loobylee

Thanks patchwork cat some good ideas there, yes the pork chops are 2x4 trouble I have is getting the OH to eat veg he's ok with frozen and tinned but not good with fresh!

Butterfly_Brain

loobylee wrote: »

Ok
In the fridge:
bag of boiling potaotes = jacket potatoes, roasts, HM wedges, mash for cottage pie
4 2 litre bottles of milk - cravendale cos it last longer and tastes better
800g cheddar cheese = grate and use in macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, HM pizza, quiche, jacket potatoes
1 ball mozzarella = HM pizza
1 cuecumber
3 pots philidelphia = cheesecake
small pack chicken slices = sandwiches
chocolate mousse

In the freezer:
2 packs pork chops = take off the meat and make into a stew, curry, pie or stir fry with ahoney and mustard glaze
4 chicken breasts= slice up and you can easily get a stew or pie out of them
1 pack mince = Bulk out with lentils and make shepherds pie, chilli, spag bol, meatballs, meatloaf or a pie
i pack potato waffles
1 pack puff pastry = use for pies
Big box of fish fingers = fishfingers peas and wedges
peas
sweetcorn
broad beans

In the Cupboard:
Tinned tomatoes = spag bol, chilli etc
Gravy
dolmio sauce = spag bol
1 pack express rice
pack of pearl barley = can be used as a rice or potato substitute
lentils
olive oil
garlic

I have a slow cooker, microwave & bread maker but I only use the microwave, feeling very ashamed writing that down!

Make jacket potatoes just start them in the microwave and finish them off in the oven to crisp up and add filling of your choice

Tesco have a special offer on chickens £4 BOGOF so that is 2 chickens for £4 so you could have a roast one day, stew or curry the next day and soup from the carcass so that is at least 6 meals for £4.

Aldi also have some good offers this week as well
cauliflower, cabbage, 1kg carrots, 1kg onions, broccoli, and celery all for 49p
Apples, black grapes, melons and bananas are 99p

Make savoury pancakes and fill with chicken, sweetcorn and mushrooms roll up and put in a dish, cover with a white sauce and sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs then pop in the oven for 25 mins or you can use baked beans with bacon and mushrooms and use a cheese sauce with some grated cheese on top.

couscous is cheap and quick to make, just boil a kettle and add flavourings etc of choice and it is ready in a couple of minutes.

If you are scared of making soup try the packet variety instead of tins it goes a lot further and you can bulk it out with veggies/meat of choice.

Sunflower1227

Hi

Check out the discount and coupon thread, there are a lot of coupons on there that you can use to save money, free soup, breakfast cereal and pasta sauce at the moment, plus lots more that can help you.

loobylee

Thanks some really good ideas there, some stuff I would never have thought of!! I really appreciate everyones help, gonna go to tesco tomorrow and get a couple of chickens then head over to aldi for some veg, have got a few coupons printed out too!!!!

Sunflower1227

loobylee wrote: »

Thanks some really good ideas there, some stuff I would never have thought of!! I really appreciate everyones help, gonna go to tesco tomorrow and get a couple of chickens then head over to aldi for some veg, have got a few coupons printed out too!!!!

Not sure if it's still on offer, tesco had wholemeal pasta at 22p a bag

valk_scot

loobylee wrote: »

I have tried cooking the same meal but the kids just leave half then spend the rest of the evening moaning about how hungry they are!

I really need to get a grip I spend far to much on food and a lot gets wasted.

If they eat half then it can't be that bad, can it? Put some cling film over each plate and if they start saying they're hungry later, offer to heat up the rest of their meal for them. If they don't want it they can't be that hungry, can they?

This works for husbands too btw.

recovering_spendaholic

If you are doing a Tesco online shop there are a few things which are nice and also cheap:

The Value Pizza is £1 - I used to think it would be vile, but one day when I had virtually no money I bought one and tarted it up with a stuff out of the fridge (sweetcorn, extra grated cheese, bit of ham, mushrooms and stuff) and it was really nice. I have to say that it is as nice, if not nicer than some of the more expensive ones. One pizza does three of us (me and two teenagers who can eat for Britain) for a dinner with salad with leftovers for lunch the next day. They do New York style burgers which are lovely and £2.99 for big box of 12 - they are really nice - very like the burgers in McD's.

If you print off the free Campbells soup vouchers you can make lovely pasta bakes with the soup as the sauce base. 350g pasta (dry weight) boiled until done and then thrown into a casserole dish with a tin of mushroom or celery soup, 3/4 pint of milk, salt and pepper, 2 tbs flour and a tin of drained tuna and then all mixed together, with breadcrumbs and grated cheese or crushed TUC (only 50p at Tesco ATM) with grated cheese on the top and baked for 30 - 40 minutes is really really lovely!

I couldn't see the BOGOF chickens online so you might not be able to get them.

Can you get to an Aldi? They do loads of stuff cheap as others have said.

Have you looked on the approved foods website? They tend only to do dry goods but there are some amazing bargains (20 Knorr chicken stock cubes for 49p) to be had there.

Good luck!