£7.00 per week - menu ideas

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Thanks for useful ideas on this thread lovely people as they're helping me and lots of others I'm sure, who are trying to keep budgets to a minimum through their circumstances or if they're trying to pay debts off .

joedenise

Soworried and BB you are both brilliant at seeing meals from a list of foods! I can work out meals from looking at what I have in my cupboard but doing it from a list just baffles me!

Denise

prepareathome

One of the healthiest meals I did when we went through a very bad time ( approx 30 years ago) was my pretend meat stew - but not sure if it works out so cheap now......children hated vegetables as did hubby ( if they could see them) but meat was something I could only dream about then so I bought buy fresh vegetables ( frozen would be cheaper nowadays I guess) boil them up with potatoes, mash and add a couple oxo cube and some salt and pepper to give it a 'meat' flavour. We had that a couple of nights a week and never once did the children complain it was vegetables.

It was easier to ensure fresh vegetables then as they were so much cheaper where as things like rice and pasta were expensive then. I loathe the taste of Oxo.

PennyGrabber

prepareathome wrote: »

One of the healthiest meals I did when we went through a very bad time ( approx 30 years ago) was my pretend meat stew - but not sure if it works out so cheap now......children hated vegetables as did hubby ( if they could see them) but meat was something I could only dream about then so I bought buy fresh vegetables ( frozen would be cheaper nowadays I guess) boil them up with potatoes, mash and add a couple oxo cube and some salt and pepper to give it a 'meat' flavour. We had that a couple of nights a week and never once did the children complain it was vegetables.

It was easier to ensure fresh vegetables then as they were so much cheaper where as things like rice and pasta were expensive then. I loathe the taste of Oxo.

Good idea - pretend meat stew!! We peeps on here are resourceful, aren't we!!

I have just paid off the last of my credit card yesterday, and really want to ensure that I don't fall into the trap of putting anything else onto it. I keep it for in case life gets too hard, as it does now and then, and I only ever have a few hundred, but I think my financial awareness now has improved to the point that I will be ok in the future. A decade ago or so, I was in the spend spend pay it off kind of situation, and I hated it. Anyway, this is a long rambling way of saying, I shall be using the recipes on here, and other frugal ideas, so that I don't have to use my cc again.

I definitely agree with people who say ys is the way to shop. Last Sunday evening, I was mooching round tesco, because I could(!), and I got 2kg of meat counter steak mince. Should have been £14, I paid £3.46!! That will do me and my two children a LOT of meals!! (Esp if I bulk out with red lentils)

newlywed

This sounds lovely..... how do you cook the burgers? Just grill?
Thanks

I have everything but the cheese

Soworried wrote: »

Here is another of our weekend treat meals, it feels like we have had a take out.:o

Falafal burger with garlic bread and cheese
4 x home made buns 12p
1 400g can of chickpeas 69p (MrT)*
pinch of garlic granuales, pepper, salt, chilli powder and cumin 3p*
2 tbs of plain flour 1p*
* wizz together in a processor.
Garlic bread with cheese
75g of warm water
125 g of bread flour 5p
Pinch of salt and sugar 1p
Yeast 1.75g 2p
Oil 1p
50g of margarine 9p (MrT 500g for 89p)
Mozarella 22p (44p at MrT and MrS)
2x cloves of garlic 6p (4pk at MrT £1.00)
Total meal cost=£1.31 or just under 33p a head

I think this would go nice with quintwins onion rings

Soworried

newlywed wrote: »

This sounds lovely..... how do you cook the burgers? Just grill?
Thanks

I have everything but the cheese

I have done them lots of different ways. I do tend to grill them more than fry as I don't need oil then.
You don't have to put cheese on your garlic bread.

newlywed

Soworried wrote: »

I have done them lots of different ways. I do tend to grill them more than fry as I don't need oil then.
You don't have to put cheese on your garlic bread.

thanks for that - generally grilling is my first option as I don't really need the extra fat added to my behind :rotfl:

Soworried

newlywed wrote: »

thanks for that - generally grilling is my first option as I don't really need the extra fat added to my behind :rotfl:

:rotfl: I can sympathise with that one :cool::rotfl:

Soworried

I thought I would post a few more as the pm's and thank you's I have had have been lovely and it does seem to be helping other people .

Vegetable cobbler
1 onion 8p
1k of potatoes 33p
1/2 swede 32p (64p each at MrT)
2 carrot 12p
100g of mushrooms 25p
Pinch of salt, mixed herbs and pepper 3p
1 pint of water made in to stock with 2 vegetable stock cubes 2p
1 tin mushy peas 4p
1 tsp flour to thicken stock 1p

For the cobbler top use the wonderful JJ's cheese and herb bread recipe 42p
Roll out to cover the top.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/52794577#Comment_52794577 Post 163
Total meal cost=£1.62 or 41p a head

WantToBeSE

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
i have recently been made redundant and this thread is coming in really handy!