£7.00 per week - menu ideas

alec_eiffel

Hi Chameleon (and everyone),

I agree with both views on the menu, I agree with you that healthy is good even if boring and I can understand why people would like to go for a little more variety and accounting for taste over health as it is only for a short time so I'm sure other people are finding your views interesting too.

As I've mentioned before here I once lived for a while on a diet of brown rice, popcorn and tea. It kept body and soul together but only just, to have fruit, veg and grains afterwards was a joy. If it's a short term thing then a less than healthy diet will be ok for most folk. It's all about doing what we can to get by.

Softstuff

Save_Dosh wrote: »

p.s. softstuff, love the meatball suggestion, i have tons of ainsley harriet stuffing cous cous, wonder if it would work with that.

I'd be inclined to serve them on the couscous, rather than try making them with it. Couscous wouldn't really bind that well, the bread in cheap stuffing mix holds it all together.

That said, couscous, flavoured especially is great for stuffing vegetables - tomatoes, courgettes, peppers. Fill them with prepared couscous, top with a little cheese if you have any or even an egg lightly beaten. You can add in any leftover meat if you have any, or a bit of tuna.

I'm at the stage of "end of the month using up what's in" here at the moment. Something else I made a while back was pea falafel, they work quite well and might be on the menu for us on wednesday. It was originally a jamie oliver recipe, but I amended it:

Pea Falafel
Makes 8


250g frozen green peas, blanched for a minute in water
4 heaped tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp mint
a big pinch of salt
1/2 a small onion
1 clove garlic
oil to fry (or even ghee)


Whizz up all of the above until it forms a soft dough (I used my stick blender). Form patties 1cm high, 6cm diameter and fry on a medium heat until golden brown on each side.

I originally served these in wraps with salad, but they'd be fine on rice or even with pasta. I realise that a lot of people don't have all the seasonings, but I'd say you can be free to experiment with these things. If I had mixed herbs I'd use that and call them "italian style", if I had some curry powder I'd use that and call them "indian style". I always tend to have seasonings in, once you've built them up you can really make something out of nothing.

Softstuff

debbym wrote: »

I have done this too Softstuff, you can also substitute sausagemeat or minced chicken or turkey for the mince

Sure, any mince will do it. I was brave enough once to try mincing a cows heart I got cheaply. That is something that won't be repeated. Though it tasted fine the image is still firmly embedded in my mind.

Soworried

I like the sound of the pea falafel, I will try that one. Thankyou.

quintwins

i've never found the os board any less than welcoming and have never heard anything other than good things about it, lots of other forums send people in rouble this way.

anyway back to the task in hand

this is avery unhealthy one but....

cheats fish and chips

value fish in batter 69p
1/3 bag value frozen chips 43p
tin mushy pea's 4p

toatl £1.16 per person 29p

we had this fish a few weeks back as i have very very busy days on a thur and wanted something quick and easy, it was really nice hubby acually said i should buy it again (this is the man that grew up on m&s and branded food) we don't like mushy peas so we had beans with ours, and value frozen chips at £1.30 a bag feature in our freezer often as a back up (read that as avoid chinese tool) we use around 1/3 of a bag for 5 of us and a split 2 fish between the 3 kids they really liked it.

Just for the recorded this has more fish in it that the youngs chip shop fish.

Butterfly_Brain

Baked Bean Lasagne
Baked beans from a can 26p
A tin of tomatoes 31p
A diced onion 10p
1 Clove of Garlic, (Easy garlic, garlic paste or even garlic granules whatever you have of these will work)
Milk, flour, butter (for the white sauce or buy a packet of instant 29p Asda)
Lasagne sheets 39p
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheese to top or not if you have no cheese

Finely dice the onion and add to a pan and cook for a few minutes
Chop the garlic and add to the onions
in a few minutes add the tinned tomatoes cook on low for about 10 minutes, then add the baked beans.
to make the white sauce melt butter in a pan and add an equal amount of flour and stir slowly and warm milk to the butter and flour mix and stir ( until it looks like white sauce), or use an instant sauce, all you have to do then is just boil the kettle and whisk.
In a dish make layers of baked beans, lasagne sheets, then white sauce, carry on until all the mix is used up then top for with grated cheese and cook 180C or gas 4 until golden
It is lovely with a few slices of bacon, fried, chopped and added to the mix.
If you don't like garlic then just leave it out

debbym

Re menu plans and meal ideas
Dear all,

Please feel free to disagree with, confute, contradict or correct anything I post. They are not intended to be taken word for word and I see this as a valuable part of the discussion process that gives people helpful ideas.
I do however have a couple of requests. Can you please justify what you are suggesting with hard facts and also can you state any assumptions (like how you cost things for example) so other readers can see if they are comparing like for like. This way people can make their own informed choices on a level playing field.

Butterfly_Brain

Save_Dosh wrote: »

no your not nit picking, i haven't used it for a while and thought you just added water, so it would work out more pricey and making £7 last, every penny counts.

To make up the batter you would need 200ml water and one egg ( Just looked )

quintwins

i do this flour is the way to go you can make yorkshires and pancakes, aswell as scones and buns and biccys and cakes, crumbles and sauces, ok so it's 52p but it will last for ages.

debbym

Found this site the other day and it might prove useful
http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/money/cheap-food
they highlight current offers and do a weekly feature called "7 dinners for under £1 a head" - meals are all to feed 4 and to quote the site "We assume you have storecupboard basics e.g. oil, flour, butter, milk, condiments, dried herbs, stock cubes" so doesn't fit in strictly with this thread but could give some inspiration!