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Help me cope?
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Two tins of spaghetti plus half a pack of sausages, assuming they're fat ones, made into meatballs, fried off and added breadcrumbs, cheese or herbs if you have any, otherwise just as is. A nice supper of home made meatballs and spaghetti.
The second half of the pack could be made into a meatloaf with half of your mince. Tinned potatoes are about 15p from the basics range and are so much better than before, they roast up beautifully, so that's a go-with.
If you then use the last half of your mince (I'm assuming a small pack here) with some lentils added, half your passata, kidney beans... you're following where I'm going here I'm sure. Basic's range rice is about £0.45p per kg.
Basics range spaghetti is about £0.50p and will do 2-3 meals easily.
Your chicken could then be used to make chicken pasta with the other half of the passata (if you're not too fed up with tomato based suppers by now). Or, if you have flour and marg you could make your own pasta, it's easy but you have two littlies so may be too busy.
Add frozen sweetcorn, peas, spinach and buy those from the value/basics ranges too, they're all good to eat.
Just a few ideas. Have a look at my homepage, there may be a couple of ideas for you on my blog.
Good luck xx:money:0 -
we've got a Greggs seconds shop in Newcastle that sells stuff dead cheap, bread - three loaves for a pound - you could do ravioli on toast - i could just eat some now....your info says you live in North East....0
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I also have -
Ham
Cheese
Eggs
Margarine
1 portion of spaghetti bolognaise (frozen)
Pizza
Fish fingers
Meatballs
Fish dippers
Skinny sausages (kids)
Chow mein stir fry sauce
Maggi baliti sachet
Rice pudding tin
2 x custard tin
Tin peachesOff tge top of my head this is some of what I have I already in,
Breakfast cereals
Porridge
3 x tins spaghetti
4 x tins ravioli
Tin beans
Tin tomatoes
3 x pasata
2 x kidney beans
Dried pasta
Dried rice
Gravy granules
2 x frozen diced chicken breast
1 pack sausages
1 pack mince
Frozen veg
The freezer is where I've ran right down as meat is our main cost
Old school dinners spaghetti pie
Line a tin with shortcrust pastry, bake blind for 10 minutes then put in a tin of spaghetti, mashed potato and top with grated cheese, serve with green veggies
Cheese and onion pie is easy
1 onion, grated cheese, pastry, s&p milk and an egg
Line a pie dish with pastry then in a bowl mix the onion and cheese together, mix an egg with a little milk and pour over the cheese and onion, plus a good season with some pepper, then spoon into the pie plate and top with a pastry lid, seal and crimp bake for 30 mins at 180c/fan 170c/Gas 4 serve with chips, new potatoes or mash and baked beans.
You could look on the £7 a week thread it has lots of cheap ideas on there.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones that let in the light
C.R.A.P R.O.L.L.Z. Member #35 Butterfly Brain + OH - Foraging Fixers
Not Buying it 2015!0 -
Do you have any potatoes, flour, sugar, bread, oven chips,
coffee or tea?
Have you a local market or greengrocer close to you?Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones that let in the light
C.R.A.P R.O.L.L.Z. Member #35 Butterfly Brain + OH - Foraging Fixers
Not Buying it 2015!0 -
Bag pasta and add the 1 x pasata for a met free dinner.
Pasta, pasata and the sausages sliced through.
Mince, kidney beans and rice add a few spices if you have them.
1 x spaghetti bol (frozen) = 2 x childrens dinners
Cut the chicken breasts into smaller pieces and add chow mein sauce boil some dried rice so it feeds all of you.
Cheese omelettes. Ham omelettes.
Buy loaf of bread and you can make French toast, beans on toast,.
Give the kids a treat after dinner with peaches and custard, rice pudding.
Buy a bottle of cheap dilute juice.
You have a lot of basic cupboard produce just make it stretch and write down your meal plans for the week, and stick to it.0 -
Yorkshire puddings are cheap. Milk, flour, eggs. Even the 15p "own brand" packets are good (just add an egg and water, not milk).
Fill with heaps of cheap/seasonal veggies, mashed potatoes and lashings of gravy .... if you need meat, lob in any meat, or a sausage.0 -
The pack of mince can be cooked up with a tin of kidney beans, the tin of tomatoes, a passatta and lots of frozen veg so that it stretches to 2 dinners for all of you, then serve with rice or pasta
The diced chicken breast (I take it to mean that they are bags of diced breasts), you were a bit unclear about that.
split the meat into 4 portions
1. chicken balti
2. chicken chow mein
3. chicken and veg pie
4.chicken italienne with a jar of passata, a tin of kidney beans, herbs and peas serve with rice
Cook half of the skinny sausages, slice and add a jar of passata with lots of veg serve with pasta
Sausage toad........ use the other half of the pack of skinny sausages sliced and scattered in a batter mix with sliced onion if you have any.
Meatballs and pasta or meatballs and gravy
Sausage bake
Use half of the other pack of sausages cooked and sliced. Put sausages and a tin of baked beans in an ovenproof dish (add some sliced onion if you have one or mushrooms, peppers etc just use what you have) whisk 2 eggs in 300ml milk season with salt and pepper and pour over the beans and sausage mix
bake in the oven at 180c/170fan/gas 5 for 20 to 30 minutes until golden and just set.
Mix the peaches in with the rice, sprinkle with sugar and grill until the sugar turns to caramel or make a peach crumble
Cheese omelettes
HM vegetable quicheBlessed are the cracked for they are the ones that let in the light
C.R.A.P R.O.L.L.Z. Member #35 Butterfly Brain + OH - Foraging Fixers
Not Buying it 2015!0 -
Those square sausage in FarmFoods are only £1, you can make them into little meatballs and do with some pasta. Someone posted the another day tinned tomatoes are 20p in Poundstretcher or 4 for £1 in Asda. For a stirfry you can get bacon for 81p in Tesco.
Add lentils to things, dried red lentils and mashed up chick peas can go into when you're making meatballs.Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
What it may grow to in time, I know not what.
Daniel Defoe: 1725.
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Didn't want to read and run, jack Monroe's spicy bean burgers are dead cheap and filling.
Iirc pound stretcher have some tinned toms in for 20p at minute, read it on another thread this week.
Soup from anything hanging round. Anything fresh get it blanched and frozen now.
Look at a basic tomato sauce recipe, you can jazz it up into pasta, chilli, stews and soups. It's basically a huge bulk sauce that you doctor with a few bits each day.
Consider making your own bread, I can get 3 loaves for price of the one I was buying in tesco. Obviously don't if you already buy cheaper loaves.
Check out yellow sticker reductions, hang around your local market at closing too you will find some good bargains on fruit and veg.
Don't be afraid to try the basic tea and coffee, people seem to especially rave about sainsburys version. It'll tide you through.
Genuinely is more than do-able especially as you know there is an end in sight! Consider making things like jam tarts if you want something a little sweet. I wouldn't recommend the very cheapest jam for that, I tried it once and it just didn't melt down, very strange.
If you have any milton sterilising fluid, get your veggies and fruit sterilised. Milton is 30ml cap to 5 litres, put in produce for one and a half to two minutes, rinse and dry thoroughly. It will extend the shelf life. A similar effect can be done with white vinegar.
Look into reusable veg. A bundle of spring onions will grow in water for example giving you a steady supply. Any potted herbs should be split down, you'll find they're lots of plants in one but once split will have a better chance of surviving.
Xxx0 -
Thanks everyone - just realised the title says 3 weeks when in fact it's only 2 weeks! Fat fingers haha! There is some great ideas here for the things I have in, I've been making lists for the shopping - another big expense for us is fruit - i try to get frozen veg so it's cheaper but we all eat a lot of fruit.
My DH takes a packed lunch to work which is usually sandwiches (hence the ham & cheese) & the kids sometimes have leftovers for lunch (DD4 is in nursery so home for lunch) I've made a meal plan with what I've got and some great ideas I've been given:
•Chicken baliti with rice
•Chill (can make double & freeze half for next week)
•Tomatoe pasta with chopped up sausages (1/2 pack left)
• cowboy hotpot (beans, kidney beans, chopped up sausages) will need to get potatoes for this
•found a tin of tuna so tuna pasta with boiled eggs
•Chicken chow mein (I have a green pepper in & some dried noodles)
For the kids lunches I've got
• scrambled egg & toast
• egg bread
• spaghetti & toast
• pizza
• spaghetti bolognaise
This should see me ok for this week coming just working on a shopping list
•milk
•bread
•eggs
•potatoes
•ham & cheese
• fruit (bananas, apples & what ever else is cheap)
•cucumber & tomatoes
Thanks for the great help so far I really appreciate it, we had a great plan but have just been hit hard with a few bills & my wage dropping to maternity pay then to nothing is a struggle. I'm back to work in Aug so just trying to make it through the last bit without resorting to using our over draft to buy food.
Thanks again - TinkLiving the simple life0
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