£7.00 per week - menu ideas

Boodle

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

Hi Boodle

I used to do this many many years ago, but have completley forgotten the quantities of vinegar, can you enlighten me?

Hi Lesley I have found that anywhere between a tsp and tbsp does the job without tainting the end flavour. A good tbsp of balsamic vinegar seems to add a nice depth to chocolate cakes, though it could just be in my mind!

Butterfly_Brain

Got some apples and mushrooms but they had sold out of satsumas
I noticed in Asda that their smart price tea bags are now 37p for 80 so I went into farmfoods and bought a box of 100 typhoo one cup for 89p that is cheaper than poundland are doing them for, I prefer these because I can easily get 2 cups of tea out of one bag, not like the weak smart price ones.
My little man on the market was just packing up when I went to get some veg for tonight but he is an angel and he served me plus he bunged a few extra potatoes, carrots and Brussels into the bag it is worth being friendly to the stall holders.

tessie_bear

jackel so glad you found a copy hope others who want it are lucky...agree about 89p for super 6 wonder if we will see 39p again ??

Lesley_Gaye

Boodle wrote: »

Hi Lesley I have found that anywhere between a tsp and tbsp does the job without tainting the end flavour. A good tbsp of balsamic vinegar seems to add a nice depth to chocolate cakes, though it could just be in my mind!

thank you, I'll have a go and let you know how I get on

tessie_bear

our aldi have the 1 kg chicken portions for £1.69...versatile i think we have them
in a marinade roasted
skinned and kfc style
plain roast
roasted and meat removed and used in a pie

hth

Soworried

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Super six at aldi from Thursday the 7th for two weeks will be;

Royal gala apples
Large flat mushrooms
Cocktail vine tomatoes
Persimmon
Ramiro peppers
Conference pears
All priced at 89 p

Don't think that I will bother at those prices :eek: I will get seasonal stuff from the market instead

:eek: I hope it won't stay at that price. I rely on the super 6. I will just have to hope that the ys are good on veg this week.

Lesley_Gaye

gailey wrote: »

Is it even possible do for £7 these days?

yes, it still is. I have written 4 (so far) meal plans that will feed 2 adults for a week for £1 a day each. PM me and I'll send them to you, not allowed to post
I hope I'm not breaching anything by posting this

the more plans I do, the more I am surprised at just how many lovely meals can be had for the price
This recipe for instance is 24p a head

The recipe is one I have had in my recipe book for a very long time, and I can't now remember where I got it from to give the author due credit. As is the case with many curries, it is very variable. You can change the vegetables around pretty much to whatever you want
for 4 servings, you will need
175g dried butter beans, 500g/£1.09, 38p
3 tblsp veg oil, £1.25/litre, 6p
1 onion, (100g) peeled and chopped, 2kg/98p, 5p
1 clove garlic, crushed, 25p/bulb, 5p
350g potatoes, cut into chunky cubes, (if you are following meal plan 4, try and use them unpeeled), £1.18/2.5kg, 17p
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves if you have them
125g frozen peas £1/kg, 13p
20g tomato puree 35p/142g, 5p
20g KTC mild curry powder 49p a pot, 10p (if you are following meal plan 4, you can use more if you like, there is plenty left over)
or, if you have them and want to use them
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
pinch of dried chilli
1tsp garam masala
soak the dried butter beans for several hours, or overnight. Drain, rinse, cover with water and cook until tender, about 1.5 hours. You can reduce the fuel use by bringing them to the boil and covering tightly, then turning off the heat. You may need to do this more than once. Or you can use a pressure cooker, I tend to do all my beans in that. It takes 45 minutes from dry in the packet to cooked. Or I have also soaked beans well, then put them in the Remoska with some water, covered with foil. Or you can cook them in a slow cooker, make sure you boil them fast for 10 minutes first tho.
Once they are cooked, (they need to be nice and soft) drain them, but keep some of the cooking water
Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until transparent. Add the spices (except the garam masala, if using) and let them cook out for a minute or two to release the oils. They soak up the oil, hence the 3 tblsps. Watch them carefully, they burn easily and will taste bitter
Now add everything else except the peas, adding enough of the cooking water to make the gravy. Simmer gently until the potatoes are nearly cooked, then add the peas and cook for a couple of minutes.
If using garam masala, stir it through now.
On meal plan 4, we serve this as it is
If you have any, and want to use it, you could serve with rice, or make some nan or flatbreads. Mango chutney would be good as a side, or any other chutney you want to use
You can change the butter beans to any other dried bean or pulse you have, and of course the vegetables can be anything you want to use. You could experiment with the spices, using more of those you like. I have a whacking great 2kg jar of Pataks Tikka paste that I got from Approved Foods for £2.49, and some sachets of Tandoori paste, either of those would be an ideal replacement for instance

Butterfly_Brain

That is very good Lesley Gaye. The original challenge was without anything in the cupboards The OP had literally only £7 to feed her, her husband and her son with nothing in the house

Lesley_Gaye

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

That is very good Lesley Gaye. The original challenge was without anything in the cupboards The OP had literally only £7 to feed her, her husband and her son with nothing in the house

really tough! I do the meal plans assuming an empty cupboard other than salt and pepper, and don't include tea/coffee. Was checking a price today and a litre of oil had gone from £1.25 to £1.50, which makes a lot of difference at this level. You can still get it cheaper by buying more, but of course you have to have the funds to be able to do it

I've noticed prices have shifted quite a lot recently

meg72

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

yes, it still is. I have written 4 (so far) meal plans that will feed 2 adults for a week for £1 a day each. PM me and I'll send them to you, not allowed to post
I hope I'm not breaching anything by posting this

the more plans I do, the more I am surprised at just how many lovely meals can be had for the price
This recipe for instance is 24p a head

The recipe is one I have had in my recipe book for a very long time, and I can't now remember where I got it from to give the author due credit. As is the case with many curries, it is very variable. You can change the vegetables around pretty much to whatever you want
for 4 servings, you will need
175g dried butter beans, 500g/£1.09, 38p
3 tblsp veg oil, £1.25/litre, 6p
1 onion, (100g) peeled and chopped, 2kg/98p, 5p
1 clove garlic, crushed, 25p/bulb, 5p
350g potatoes, cut into chunky cubes, (if you are following meal plan 4, try and use them unpeeled), £1.18/2.5kg, 17p
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves if you have them
125g frozen peas £1/kg, 13p
20g tomato puree 35p/142g, 5p
20g KTC mild curry powder 49p a pot, 10p (if you are following meal plan 4, you can use more if you like, there is plenty left over)
or, if you have them and want to use them
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
pinch of dried chilli
1tsp garam masala
soak the dried butter beans for several hours, or overnight. Drain, rinse, cover with water and cook until tender, about 1.5 hours. You can reduce the fuel use by bringing them to the boil and covering tightly, then turning off the heat. You may need to do this more than once. Or you can use a pressure cooker, I tend to do all my beans in that. It takes 45 minutes from dry in the packet to cooked. Or I have also soaked beans well, then put them in the Remoska with some water, covered with foil. Or you can cook them in a slow cooker, make sure you boil them fast for 10 minutes first tho.
Once they are cooked, (they need to be nice and soft) drain them, but keep some of the cooking water
Heat the oil and saute the onion and garlic until transparent. Add the spices (except the garam masala, if using) and let them cook out for a minute or two to release the oils. They soak up the oil, hence the 3 tblsps. Watch them carefully, they burn easily and will taste bitter
Now add everything else except the peas, adding enough of the cooking water to make the gravy. Simmer gently until the potatoes are nearly cooked, then add the peas and cook for a couple of minutes.
If using garam masala, stir it through now.
On meal plan 4, we serve this as it is
If you have any, and want to use it, you could serve with rice, or make some nan or flatbreads. Mango chutney would be good as a side, or any other chutney you want to use
You can change the butter beans to any other dried bean or pulse you have, and of course the vegetables can be anything you want to use. You could experiment with the spices, using more of those you like. I have a whacking great 2kg jar of Pataks Tikka paste that I got from Approved Foods for £2.49, and some sachets of Tandoori paste, either of those would be an ideal replacement for instance

Would love to see the meals plans, sorry cant PM for some reason,
curious as to why you are not allowed to post them on here.