Less meat more cake?

crockpot

With the price of meat on the increase need to find a way to keep my growing boys full.

One will not eat mince however I cook it!

The other would eat a cow a day if I let him!

Have already increased carbs and veg but no filling them. So think pudding is the way. Time and money are short.

Have made the tea loaf, but need something that bakes quick or microwave? Need to save on fuel too.

Any ideas?

VJW87

I remember making a microwaved chocolate sponge cake at school - only a few ingredients that everyone usually has around the house somewhere. I remember it tasting just as good as any other chocolate sponge. Light and fluffy but filling!

I'm sure bread and butter pudding is a quick one? I've never tried it. Would your kids be interested in helping you bake the puddings?

Ooh just had a look for quick crumbles - thinking it would suggest biscuits or ready made crumble mix. A quick google search gave me a recipe which doesn't suggest either but the recipe can be microwaved, yum!

(Really sorry, had written all this out with links but because I'm a Newbie no links were allowed - I'm sure others will help you out too. Making me hungry!!)

hot.chick

could you offer soup too?? v cheap to make and could be portioned up??

torbrex

My mum had 4 growing laddies to feed plus my sister
We got a varied diet with generaly meat and two veg for main course with a pudding to follow ranging from ice cream & jelly or fruit to crumble or baked fruit sponge cake and there was alway plenty of bread on the table to fill the gaps.
She was also a great baker of cakes and the extent of ability to put on a spread of different ones never ceased to impress me.

Nobody left the table still hungry in our house

Sunnyday

This one taken from the grocery challenge index is good

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=523656&postcount=134

I mixed it up in a large bowl, tipped it to one side to add jam and then covered the jam with the mixture after tipping the bowl back straight.

All done in a couple of minutes and very cheap and tasty, it does look a bit pale due to the microwave but once its covered with custard its great.

SD

taxsaver

When my kids were growing up we felt that we didn't pander to their faddy eating whims but inevitably found there were some things they simply wouldn't eat.

However, to our great surprise, when they came back from time away at university 'suddenly' they WOULD eat things that were previously no, no's with them!!!! :mad:

It's amazing what having to buy their own food on a limited budget taught them to 'like'!!! :rotfl:

So it might be worth persevering a bit more with cheaper cuts of meat and mince!

fuddle

You could alternate nightly between starters and puddings. Maybe concentrate on vegetarian based starters as not to incur further meat costs. You could have cold starters etc that don't need much cooking and look for no-bake cakes and biscuits - things that set and go hard in the fridge.

Also things like a huge sweet tart that can be cooked once, split and frozen, served with a dollop of ice cream.

Smoothies would be healthy and filling if you already have a fair bit of fruit in, mix with porridge oats to make it thicker and more sustaining.

Some ideas to help your imagination

babyshoes

There is a similar micro sponge pud that someone posted on the 'quick puddings' thread (sorry, can't remember who) that I have converted into tablespoon measurements for speed, and ease of remembering.

4 tblsp SR flour
4 tblsp sugar
4 tblsp butter/marg (this is approximate. I do it by eye!)
1 egg
1 tblsp-ish milk

Mix together sugar and marg (doesn't need creaming, just combine it all with a spoon) then add in flour. Mix until it is all incorporated, then mix in egg and enough milk to get it to a thick pouring consistency. Put into a pudding or microwave bowl on top of something like syrup, choc spread, jam, fruit etc and nuke on high for a couple of mins until it is just set in the middle. The top tends to be a little sticky - don't worry about it! Turn out and serve with cream or custard - for convenience the 'value' instant custard is my favourite. This does large portions for 2 greedy people but could serve 3 easily.

This is really nice with apples stewed quickly in the microwave with honey and cinnamon! Particularly good if the apples were free - there are still a few on the trees now, you can stew and freeze these for the winter if you like.

Also, a simple rice pud can be made in the microwave with leftover cooked rice (plain, of course), milk, sugar and an egg. Stir in the egg (2 if you have lots of rice) and enough milk to just cover the cooked rice, and add a little sugar. (you can always add more later.) Nuke for a few mins at a time, stirring regularly until it has thickened. You need to watch that the milk doesn't boil over. You can add whatever flavourings take your fancy, I like a bit of cinnamon or chocolate spread, jam or dried fruit is ok too.

My mum sometimes makes a quick micro pudding using the rice pud technique but with cereal instead of rice - they don't usually plan pudding, but sometimes she just gets cravings an hour or two after supper, then finds she doesn't have much in. Sometimes it's nice (cornflakes), sometimes a bit dodgy (muesli), but generally satisfies that craving!

I must say this is definitely a policy I could get behind, though when I am making a meal with less or no meat, I tend to over-compensate on the portions so we are often both stuffed by the end!

fuddle

Another one, quickly, steamed puddings done in the slow cooker as to save on electricity costs.

Cheapskate

Sunnyday wrote: »

This one taken from the grocery challenge index is good

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=523656&postcount=134

I mixed it up in a large bowl, tipped it to one side to add jam and then covered the jam with the mixture after tipping the bowl back straight.

All done in a couple of minutes and very cheap and tasty, it does look a bit pale due to the microwave but once its covered with custard its great.

SD

Never seen this recipe before - going to try it after tea today! As it gets more autumnal/wintery we all seem to need/want puds after tea! This would be a godsend in a hurry - thanks for the link x.

A xo

Butterfly_Brain

If your DS eats burgers then he is eating a mince based meal.

• Have you shopped in Aldi ? They have 4 frozen pork chops for £1.99 and a chicken for £2.99 to name just a few products, their tuna is cheaper than any where else and 15 medium eggs are £1.25
• Chicken thighs are cheap and tasty.
• Bulk out stews with lentils
• Porridge for breakfast will keep them going all day or try American pancakes
• I do HM soups for Lunch in the Winter with HM bread or we have a soup and pudding night which is HM soup with HM bread followed by a fruit crumble/apple sponge/chocolate sponge/etc
• Jacket potatoes are a cheap and filling meal
• Egg based dishes will give them cheap protein, things like quiche, frittatas etc
• Tuna pasta is anothere cheap alternative
• Macaroni Cheese is cheap and filling
• Risottos are great for filling hungry tums too
• Buy a joint and slice it up, this way you will get more than one meal from one joint.

2 pieces of kitchen equipment that I couldn't be without now are my food slicer and slow cooker.

Check out http://thirty-quid.blogspot.com/ for cheap healthy meals or weezles http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html