Breadline Families - Make Stuff Go Further Tips

paddy's_mum

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

bargainacious

Wordsmith!

onlyroz

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Anyone interested in reading Weezls rock-bottom-budget website should visit the site she helped create:

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

There are some truly delicious and very bargainacious recipes on there. And no shop-bought pasta sauces, Bisto, gravy granules or any of that carp. Just honest-to-goodness wholesome food cooked from scratch, the way it should be.

Someone referred to this site on the discussion time forum and questioned the quoted calorie counts for some of the recipes (I think it was the chilli recipe which contains a tiny portion of mince and kidney beans per person, and a whole sack of onions...)

alleycat`

Memory_Girl wrote: »

A pound a day per person is just about what me and my two boys live on - so I will play along.

See your ready made bolognese and raise you a home made version - made with green and red lentils instead of mince - 15p per person per portion.

The secret I find is to build slowly a very good storecupboard.

MG

I won't pretend i'm on the breadline but using lentils instead of mince is something we do and is an excellent suggestion.

Ditto, a good store cupboard is a big winner.

[Deleted User]

I've seen dried lentils in packets in the supermarket, but never bought them as dont know what to do with them. I think you may have to presoak them and sometimes I don't know what i'm making until i make it, so therefore wouldn't be able to use them. Is that right?

I do use soya mince a lot, on its own and to bulk out a packet of normal mince.

TheConways

Whilst not on the breadline, I hate seeing food waste.

My tips

- Stale baguette cubed with a dash of olive oil & herbs makes lovely croutons in the oven to go on your salad/HM soup
- Past-it tomatoes make a lovely tomato sauce for pasta
- Half-price chickens from the rotisserie at the end of the day make a great dinner, save you using your oven, and then you can make stock from the leftovers for risotto, soups, or stews
- Don't buy expensive dips - a squishy avocado with garlic, lemon, olive oil, chili, corriander makes lovely guacamole
- Grow your own herbs! You can either start from scratch, or buy a small plant. These will make all sorts of meals fabulous. Thyme, rosemary and mint are the most hardy.
- Visit your local chinese/asian food store for excellent value rice, spices, lentils, gram flour etc etc.


However, I do think some things are a false economy. Bread making - unless you have a bread maker, takes a lot of time. In the time it takes you, you should think about how much you could have earnt with that time!

There are lots of things mums-at-home can do to make money.. I feel really strongly about this. We scrimp and save pennies, without thinking about how to make more money, how to use our entrepreneurial side to make the pie bigger. What can you sell? What service could you provide locally to earn money? Maybe you make crafts to sell online, or maybe you can daytrade stocks and shares from your computer.

Think carefully about the time you spend saving, when it could be also time earning/making money - it's about finding the balance.

SailorSam

I can't see why he's bothering to start a blog about it, he's only doing for 5 days. There must be people who have had to manage for 5 years.

Penny-Pincher!!

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Anyone interested in reading Weezls rock-bottom-budget website should visit the site she helped create:

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

There are some truly delicious and very bargainacious recipes on there. And no shop-bought pasta sauces, Bisto, gravy granules or any of that carp. Just honest-to-goodness wholesome food cooked from scratch, the way it should be.

Ive just looked at the toad in hole recipe on there and it states to use self-raising flour:eek::eek::eek::eek::rotfl:

Also, are the protein amounts per portion or per whole meal?

BitterAndTwisted

Deleted_User wrote: »

I've seen dried lentils in packets in the supermarket, but never bought them as don't know what to do with them. I think you may have to pre-soak them and sometimes I don't know what I'm making until I make it, so therefore wouldn't be able to use them. Is that right?

I do use soya mince a lot, on its own and to bulk out a packet of normal mince.

Split red lentils don't need to be pre-soaked, so you could just chuck a handful into most dishes you can think of adn they'll break down during cooking. Lots of posters over on the OS part of the forum do this regularly to s - t - r - e - t - c - h mince ion whatever mince-based meals they are cooking. Lentils are a good source of protein and pretty high in iron, so healthy any way you want to look at it.

Those who appear to be focusing on and critical of calorie and protein content of specific recipes are missing the point in my opinion. The site can be used as a base-line for much less expensive menu ideas and not necessarily taken up wholesale as a strict diet-regime. Take what you want, leave what you don't and save a packet while you're doing it.

Chakani

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Ive just looked at the toad in hole recipe on there and it states to use self-raising flour:eek::eek::eek::eek::rotfl:

I've made that, it works perfectly well with SR flour
And, if posters are genuinely on the breadline, I would certainly rather feed my kids this stuff than ready-meal pasta and Bisto. In my opinion it's carefully researched and thought out to meet a particular target - to feed a family of 4 for £100 a month. If you can afford more, then great, do your own thing, adapt the recipes, or as the authors suggest, use it when it suits you, whether that's part time, or just for ideas and inspiration. But if your family is genuinely struggling, there are worse ideas out there

tea_lover

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Ive just looked at the toad in hole recipe on there and it states to use self-raising flour:eek::eek::eek::eek::rotfl:

I always make toad in the hole with SR flour, have done for years.