Help! Need budget meal ideas for family with very different tastes!

oopsadaisydoddle

Hi there,

As the title says, I'm looking for some help with meal tips and ideas for my family. I'm trying to get rid of cc debt so have been meal planning but I'm struggling for meal ideas for me!!!

My family will eat most things and have been making a lot of mince based dinners including spag Bol, lasagne and cottage pie. I can't stand mince and am only funny with other meats too. I can eat chicken although I'm going off this at the moment...in makes me feel queezy(sp). The only thing I'm ok with is dinners where we have roast meat and veg but it has to have not a scrap of fat on!

I suffer from IBS (although this could actually be gluten related) and I find that pasta bloats me as do lentils, beans etc!! I do love these but my stomach doesn't!

Can anyone off any advice at all please? I'm getting a bit down with it all because I feel like my tummy rules my life sometimes!

Thanks in advance.

Oops.xx

mrsjanebanbury2009

I have the same problem, sort of, as my DH and I don't eat meat but the kids do, DD only likes raw veg and DS prefers cooked; he likes hot (chilli) food but she doesn't etc etc. And I don't like eating too much bread or rice etc.
So, I do things like:

Quiche with half and half different fillings (the fillings only get a bit mixed at the edges)

Omelettes (easy to do two, one with cheese filling, one without)

Sausages/Veggie sausages plus mash and two veg (one cooked & salad)

Home made pizzas (easy to do a mix of toppings)

Veg curry - then drop in some meat for those who want it - plus extra chillies for those who prefer it hot. With naan for those who want it.

Baked potatoes - again, easy to do a choice of toppings

Ramen Miso soup - plain stock, miso paste, few random chopped veg then noodles for those who want them plus either some fish or tofu or chicken or sausages or any other left-over protein I have in the fridge!

One thing everyone likes is fish pie made with plain salmon (not too expensive frozen at Tesco) plus plain (cooked, sliced) potato on top - just with a small cup of veg stock thrown over the top before cooking. No "icky" sauce.

And tuna balls made with tinned tuna, breadcrumbs, egg and fried in a shallow pan, served with pasta (or not!) & tomato pasta sauce.

HTH!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Get gluten free pasta. Don't tell anybody else and just try it.

It's a little more delicate (no overcooking it) but to me, it tastes lighter.


Do you actually need mince in everything? I've forgotten on a couple of occasions to add it to a tomato/onion/broccoli/courgette pasta sauce and, as long as there has been some cheese on top, nobody has noticed any difference.


And there's no reason why you can't cook stuff that everybody likes, but do it so there's a separate portion without meat for you.

oopsadaisydoddle

Thanks for replying!

I don't need to put mince in but have been using this as is a relatively cheap meal for the rest of them!

I think I might try the gluten free stuff...my sis has just been diagnosed with coeliac disease and I have a lot of the same symptoms as her although mine was just assumed by my GP to be IBS.

I am hoping to lose weight as well although I have just decided to give up my Cambridge Weight Plan because it is so expensive and I always said it would go if we ever needed it to.

Feeling a bit at 6's and 7's at the moment because I need to lose more weight, I need to save money and I need to feed a family of 5 with differing tastes!

Am always up for a challenge!!