Help with food budget, 8 days left and only £20

sweetpeas_2

Thats a great idea Valli, it would help people like me that arent as clued up and not fantastic cooks

I do try and stock up on basics like pasta/tinned toms etc but this month ive ended up using most of it already which is why my list of current food looks so dismal

JBD

Having that amount of rice and pasta is a great start, because at least you know you won't actually go hungry!
One thing I have started to do lately is looking in the pound shop [well, ours is a 99p shop] for things like stock cubes, soy sauce, grated ginger, olive oil. These come in much bigger bottles and work out much cheaper than the supermarket. A lot of people buy their spices in Asian shops, again it works out much cheaper. It is always a good idea to have things like this put away in the store cupboard.
One more thing, you mentioned that your car is off the road. Some supermarkets run free bus services [my local Tesco runs free buses 3 days a week, only weekdays though], it is always worth checking the website of your local supermarket to see if there is anything like that in your area

squeaky

Valli wrote: »

actually this thread has made me wonder - is there a store cupboard essentials thread/list anywhere?

Wot? A store cupboards essentials list? On Old Style...?


Storecupboard Essentials

Essential herbs and spices

;p

And these are worth a browse...

Store cupboard - in case of emergency

Dithering - shall I keep a store cupboard?

diluvsdiscounts

sweetpeas wrote: »

Thanks



We do live near a supermarket - only problem is we're car-less until 1st March, and bus fairs to get to and from the supermarkets is £4 each way (2 buses). It's actually only about 10 minutes each way in the car, but this is something I'll definitely start doing when we get the new car.

:T

If it's ten minutes by car is it about a half hour walk? On sunday about 3pm get wrapped up and have a lovely walk to the supermarket,stock up on cheap whoopsies and carry them home not only will you be saving money on your shopping but it will have cost you nothing to get there as well.
If you could get to a farm shop(or maybe they would deliver if you rang them) I would definitely buy a sack of potatoes.We always have one through the winter and costs £4 for Maris Pipers.You could make a meatless roast,very filling and I'm sure you will be able to buy lots of veg for next to nothing.Last night we had sliced potatoes layered with onions and bacon pieces(cost about £1.40 and there is enough left for my lunch today)
With your spaghetti you could make carbonara,if you have flour make a roux for the sauce and at the end of the day if there's no meat add plenty of stock,salt&pepper and at least it would be tasty.You can usually find a bag of sliced mushrooms for about 14p in our Morrisons and sacks of onions are £1 in Asda and £1.99 in Lidl depending on which your nearest supermarket is.
The motto in our house is if you have a sack of spuds you won't starve,jackets,chips,roasties,wedges for a snack for the kids on Saturday night the list is endless.
Good luck it will be payday quicker than you think.

ragz_2

OP mentioned packed lunched for the kids, I imagine that will take quite a lot of the budget. They can survive on cheap peanut butter (healthier than jam as it has protein) sandwiches and value yogurts/fromage frais. Definitely worth a walk to the supermarket to get cheap bread or that will really eat up the budget.
Value noodles for you and DH for lunch, if you can make them at work.

Mortmain_Dreamer

When we are completely skint, I make a veggie version of poor man's mince which I picked up somewhere a few years ago.

Fry a diced onion, add 3 cups of brown rice, 3 cups of green lentils and 5 cups of stock. Boil and then simmer for 45 minutes or until rice and lentils are cooked.

I use this instead of mince, and it lasts the four of us for days. The first night we would have it as spaghetti/pasta bolognaise, the second add chilli powder, cheapest tin of kidney beans and serve with rice for chilli non carne. The third day I tend to make a batch of tortilla wraps and add a can of tinned tomatoes to the 'mince' and a bit of fajita spice and we have a mexican style meal served with bit of cheese, more rice and whatever toppings I can rustle up out of the fridge. It's suprisingly yummy, people always seem amazed that lentils and rice can be appetizing!

Just grabbed the following prices of Mr A.
Green lentils £1.09
Brown rice £1.69 (the lentils and rice last for ages!)
3 tins tomatoes £1.28
Kidney beans 19p
Cheapest dried spaghetti 25p

I'm no expert like some of the amazing people on here but I hope this helps!

tessie_bear

hi....eggs can make cheap meals....omelette/quiche/scrambled/with mayo on sarnies....mince can make a few different dishes chilli/savoury/spag bol/sheps pie....could u make some scones or biscuits to have with packups ?
fried rice is useful for making a bit of cooked chicken go a bit further...i wouldnt do a big shop and spend all the money at once...keep a bit in reserve good luck tess

phizzimum

I would recommend checking out the cheap-family-recipes website. There's a menu planner (3 meals a day plus snacks) that aims to feed 4 for £100 a month. It's written by 'real' people from this site!