Meal Planned... From Scratch... But still £60?!?!

HappyMJ

notanewuser wrote: »

I gave her square crisps - they're not greasy. She managed a few each day, plus some crackers and amazingly a couple of pieces of fruit bread. Tried her with it since she's been better and she's back to not being interested. She also isn't interested in rice, pasta or potatoes (apart from the odd wedge or chip). I'm not bothered about it, to be honest. We don't need a huge amount of cereal or starch in our diets - certainly not 3 times a day. She's healthy eating what she wants to eat. She's never been near a chicken nugget or sausage roll!!

There is more fat/grease/oil in Discos (8.3grams) than Walkers(8.1grams) or Seabrook(7.8grams). Not by much but as around 8 grams is about 11-12% of the recommended daily fat allowance then it's quite a lot for a snack.

edit: A baked snack such as Walkers baked stars(1.8grams) would be much healthier..but more expensive @ £3.50 for 18.

edit: There's nothing wrong with chicken nuggets....excluding the ones that are made from unknown sources of minced and chopped chicken. The best chicken nuggets are the home made ones made from chicken breast and coated in either breadcrumbs or batter.

The chicken....you are paying £4 for 432 grams of chicken breast. At the very least you should buy two packs for £7 and freeze one. However, it's still expensive. Chicken breast is the most expensive part of the chicken. For not much more than £4 you could buy the whole chicken cut the breasts off and have a whole carcass to use in other recipes. Thigh meat can be used the same as the breast meat and the wings can be used for other recipes and there is still plenty of meat left over. Personally, I've found that most frozen chicken breast meat has water, dextrose and salt added and I object paying for extras I don't want.

ash28

Poppy9 wrote: »

I wouldn't give a 2 year old crisps or biscuits. If she is hungry some bread/toast.

Also anti squash - just don't like the "no added sugar" bit which means artificial sweetners! I'd rather give water, watered down fruit juice or cup of tea!!

I never used wipes as DD was allergic so it was always cotton wool and water. Not sure if it's cheaper.

For hand and face washing after meals I had a pile of flannels rather than kitchen roll or wipes.

No tea for young children and it isn't because of caffeine, you can buy caffeine free tea and lots of fizzies have caffeine too - but tea and coffee can reduce the amount of iron absorbed from other foods.

Squash or fruit juice should be at least 10 parts water to one part juice - fruit juice has natural sugars and acids and can cause tooth decay.

No fizzies, flavoured waters, flavoured milks, tea or coffee.

My own children are in their 30s and didn't start drinking tea or coffee until they were at work - I was the same.

As toddlers ours had water between meals and with meals they had squash or fruit juice or rather water that had been shown squash or fruit juice. A bottle of squash used to last us weeks.

Indypop

hereigoagain22 wrote: »

I have also tried value chopped tomatoes but I found them bitter and DD wouldn't eat any sauces made with them!

Add a sprinkle of sugar to tomatoe sauces to counter act the bitter - a lot of tomato sauces are better for this.

angeltreats

For all the people saying to downshift to value stock cubes, be aware that most of them contain MSG. Even many of the "better" brands do (including Oxo and Bovril). Some of them just list "flavourings" in the ingredients and these may or may not contain MSG.

Obviously some people aren't bothered about MSG but a lot of people prefer to avoid it, and some may find that it is a migraine trigger, so if you do want to avoid it it's best to pay a bit extra and stick to organic stock cubes or use Marigold powder.

Poppy9

ash28 wrote: »

No tea for young children and it isn't because of caffeine, you can buy caffeine free tea and lots of fizzies have caffeine too - but tea and coffee can reduce the amount of iron absorbed from other foods.

Squash or fruit juice should be at least 10 parts water to one part juice - fruit juice has natural sugars and acids and can cause tooth decay.

No fizzies, flavoured waters, flavoured milks, tea or coffee.

My own children are in their 30s and didn't start drinking tea or coffee until they were at work - I was the same.

As toddlers ours had water between meals and with meals they had squash or fruit juice or rather water that had been shown squash or fruit juice. A bottle of squash used to last us weeks.

I've drank tea from as young as I can remember - 3 cups a day, always after meals We were a family of tea drinkers, no one in my family drank coffee. I can remember finding it strange when I went to friends houses that they would drink tea/coffee for no reason.

When I started work I felt under pressure to have a cup of tea mid morning and afternoon as it was seen as anti social not too! After I found my feet though I left the tea fund and just drank a glass of water. Thirty years ago people thought I was strange drinking water during the day at my desk, now it's the done thing and lots of people have a bottle of water on their desk and we have a cooler/filter attached to our mains water in work!

I still feel I have to explain myself when people offer me a cup of coffee/tea when I visit friends/family or in the hairdressers and they keep asking me if I'm okay with my glass of water!

notanewuser

HappyMJ wrote: »

There is more fat/grease/oil in Discos (8.3grams) than Walkers(8.1grams) or Seabrook(7.8grams). Not by much but as around 8 grams is about 11-12% of the recommended daily fat allowance then it's quite a lot for a snack.

edit: A baked snack such as Walkers baked stars(1.8grams) would be much healthier..but more expensive @ £3.50 for 18.

edit: There's nothing wrong with chicken nuggets....excluding the ones that are made from unknown sources of minced and chopped chicken. The best chicken nuggets are the home made ones made from chicken breast and coated in either breadcrumbs or batter.

The chicken....you are paying £4 for 432 grams of chicken breast. At the very least you should buy two packs for £7 and freeze one. However, it's still expensive. Chicken breast is the most expensive part of the chicken. For not much more than £4 you could buy the whole chicken cut the breasts off and have a whole carcass to use in other recipes. Thigh meat can be used the same as the breast meat and the wings can be used for other recipes and there is still plenty of meat left over. Personally, I've found that most frozen chicken breast meat has water, dextrose and salt added and I object paying for extras I don't want.

I think you're mixing up me and the OP.

Square crisps have 4.5g of fat per bag.

I only buy free range chicken.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I wouldnt beat yourself up too much, it takes time and practice to get it right. I hear of people feeding a family of four for £100 a month but there have to be some serious compromises for this. I applaud people for doing this if they have no choice but if you do have a bit more money its all about finding the right level for you.

I have two older kids and I find that about £300 a month is right for us. Hubby and kids like their meat and we eat a lot of fruit and veg, although rarely have things like blueberries any more unless they are on offer.

I am surprised that anyone could taste the difference between value tomatoes and branded ones once they are in a sauce. This was one of the first changes I made, along with things like pasta, flour and other cooking ingredients. I cant believe that I used to pay so much for things like lasagne sheets!

As for organic or free range, I cant afford it any more so I dont worry about it.

I also agree that getting the kids to drink enough and not giving them unhealthy drinks is difficult. I was never able to get mine to just drink water, they would simply go without. They are 12 and 14 now though and we get one bottle of lemonade a month as a treat. The rest of the time its squash, milk, fruit juice or milky tea. Getting them to drink plenty at meal times is a good idea then they need less in between so their teeth are not constantly coming into contact with any sugar in the drinks.

Good luck, just keep experimenting and trying different products.

Oh and shop less often, I do mine fortnightly as the more often I shop the more I spend!

HappyMJ

notanewuser wrote: »

I think you're mixing up me and the OP.

Square crisps have 4.5g of fat per bag.

I only buy free range chicken.

Probably...sorry. Square's then are a little better at 4.5grams.

There is no such thing as a caged chicken raised for meat. So in my opinion free range labelling on chicken is a con.

All chickens for meat in the UK are raised in large barns. They can be called free range even if they are indoors their entire lives...which is only 42-45 days. All chickens are raised indoors until they are old enough to go outdoors then they are only given access to outdoors during the day for a few hours. Most chickens choose to stay indoors especially at this time of year when it's cold and wet outside.

Bird densities are lower for chickens labelled as free range but that density is only reached for a few days just before slaughter as they grow so quickly and as soon as they reach full growth they are slaughtered.

Almost all chickens sold in supermarkets are raised on a commercial scale in the UK and that means around 70,000 chickens raised in barns with access to the outside during a few hours of the day for a few weeks of their life to be called free range.

If you want a truly free range bird then raise them yourself.

VanyaHargreeves

Just to reiterate what everyone else is saying, chicken breasts are ridiculously expensive and no way near the tastiest/best part of the chicken. I always buy chicken thigh fillets, which are much cheaper and taste better (imo) too - not as dry when cooked.

rising_from_the_ashes

I know you've said you're errrr "not good" at shopping in store as you spend too much but if you've an Al*di or Li*dl near you, it may be worth trying it for the odd thing - you can take a list & cash so you can't overspend.

Their meat in particular can be fantastic value & they often have weekend specials when these are ridiculously priced (in a good way;)) and you could then stock up on things like chicken & mince for the rest of the month.

They also do really good value tinned tomatoes & other veg.

Again, if you've an Ice*land or Farm*foods near you, might be worth having a look (again cash only!) at their frozen fruit & veg as this is so much better value than fresh - and can't go off & be wasted!