£30 a week, family of 3 and am stuck on meals help!

RosiePuddingPaws

It might be worthwhile looking at the grocery challenge thread. A couple of posts into the thread is a series of recipes. Well worth checking out.

RPP

PLRFD

Biryani is a a cheap filling meal,mince or chicken thighs mushrooms peas onion and a few spices with a cup of rice,your meals listed above look fine but if you could stretch to better mince it may improve them a bit. You're well pregnant and cooking for your family not everybody is like that these days so well done to you.

squeakysue

I would agree about the value mince, if you could stretch to shops own brand or maybe see what deal the butcher can do for you it will be much better for you. I tried to cut corners buying value mince and was shocked how much fat came out of it.

Fresh chicken thighs are really cheap and don't take too long in the oven so you could save some money there buying them fresh rather than cooked.

I cook for 4, 2 adults, one hungry 11 year old and a picky 8 year old. I try to stretch leftovers as much as possible and serve plenty of veg with each meal. I buy lots of frozen veg, farmfoods is great for veg.

Our regular meals are, roast dinners with chicken/gammon/lamb, spaghetti bolognese, pasta bake with salad and garlic bread, curry, chilli, sausages and mash, chicken veg stir fry noodles, jacket potatoes, omelettes, cheesy beans on toast. I would definitely recommend using your slow cooker more often, it takes minutes to throw stuff in and let the cooker do the magic. It will be a godsend for you when the new baby comes

pigpen

stretch the mince by adding lentils to cottage pie.etc

Savoury mince (mince, mixed veg and a bit of gravy) and mash with leafy or root veg

potato wedges/roasties take no more time than any other spud.
Jackets? We have a mix of cheese, beans, tuna mayo with ours
Pasta, jar of sauce and garlic bread or naans with a topping of grated cheese.. my favourite speedy meal.

potato bake

ooh.. tagliatelle.. couple of chinken breasts cooked and chopped into chunks, 1 slice of bacon per person cooked and cut into strips mushrooms and carbonara sauce (I use the packet mix but you can get jars) .. cook pasta.. heat sauce fling evertthing in a pan for 10 minutes.. I add salad or garlic bread/dough balls/tomato bread with ours.

SC.. corned beef hash is my fave.. gravy, 2 tins corned dog, few carrots and potato.. turn on and ignore.
I just throw a lump of mean or a chicken in and ignore it until dinner time and throw potato/veg/salad together.

I absolutely hate cooking, I get no enjoyment from it at all so everything is superquick. I never spend more than about 10 minutes doing prep.

DollyDabbler

Bacon pasta - Bacon offcuts or packet of bacon chopped and fried off with an onion. Mixed herbs to taste, stir in a tin of chopped tomato's, serve like Spag bol

Lamb shank - done in the slow cooker, served with pitta brea and veg

Make your own Italian meatballs - you can pad these out with grated carrot and breadcrumb

Frittata - great for using up bits and stretching the last of a bag of potatoes as they are cut up into small cubes and always seem more than there are, served with salad and crusty bread.

I don't pre cook meat or veg before it gets chucked in the slow cooker. I tend to just wash and chop the veg and not peel root veg apart from onion and beetroot.

trailingspouse

Buy a big chicken, and cook it on a night when you have time (eg Sunday). Have it hot with potatoes and vegetables. Then Monday, have it cold with potatoes and vegetables. There might even be enough for lunchtime sandwiches too. The next night, strip the rest of the meat off the chicken, and use it in a curry or with pasta. That evening, you can make a stock from the bones, so that the following night you can make soup (stock, onion, potatoes, carrot, swede, lentils, pretty much anything really!). That's 4 evening meals and one lunch out of a chicken. I did this every week when my two kids were young, and it works a treat - we made the Sunday meal a proper family meal (table set properly, gravy in the gravy boat, vegetables in serving dishes, carving the chicken at the table), and you can ring the changes mid week - use the chicken scraps to make a chicken pie, or chicken curry, or chicken with pasta and sauce, or chicken salad. And you can make different soups too - loads of onion and some Marmite makes onion soup, loads of root vegetables makes winter vegetable, beetroot is surprisingly nice.

flyingmamma

flydragonfly i totally hear u i,m 37 wks pregnant too and fed up cooking.. cant stand for long bump even makes washing dishes a pain as can hardly reach into sink! i make a pasta bake once a week ,..it was an adapted j oliver receipe v well adapted....i use 2 tinned chopped tom, 1 can tuna,pastatwists... 3 mug full. good dash of pepper and mixed herbs.i also add i can of water.give it a good mix and cook for 50 mins at 180.i add chilli flakes to mine when serving and if i have any cheese i grate some on top for last 5 mins but u dont need to.my 2 and 3 yrs old love this and i do too...hubby just grateful to get something hot! this is a basic cook meal ujust open cans! v tasty! only one casserole dish to wash up too!

JayneC

Agree about the mince. I get a pound of good mince from butchers and can make it do 4 meals for at least 4 people
Spag bol
Sloppy joes (in a pitta or sometimes tortillas)_
cottage pie
Meat and pot pie
I usually fry mince n onion sprinkle over a couple of oxos then separate into 2 portions, one half in water to cover with carrots, maybe beetroot, other half with at least 2 tins of toms, carrots/corgettes/whatever and add a handful of oats to each to bulk, herbs, spices etc.

The tom based mix will do spag bol and sloppy joes
plain mince i scoop out just under half and put in container to later add cooked potatoes nad then thicken the other half with gravy granules or powder and top with mash for cottage pie. Serve with plenty of veg or salad to bulk. For the meat and pot pie just mix cooked roughly mashed spuds with the mince and cook in a short crust pastry on a plate. You can use frozen pastry but I make mine - it's dead easy and make jam tarts with the leftovers!!

Chicken - a whole chicken , cut ofF legs and wings and cook breast and carcass for Sunday roast. then boil up carcass and make a thick soup with dumplings for next day- very filling a meal in itself. I usually have a few slices of chicken for sandwiches too or make a curry with lots of veg/chickpeas. Then with the legs cut into thighs and drumstix and coat them and the wings in a herb and flour mix, fry to brown for a few mins and then cook in oven , very like KFC 2 pieces each for 3 of you (I did this every other week as more people!) I serve with chunky wedges and salad.

welshmoneylover

Hmm.. no mention of the dog!

Skint_yet_Again

These are 2 of our favorites

Pasta bake - chicken or sausage & leftover veg with garlic bread

cook chicken or sausages add cooked pasta with chopped onion and veg, mushrooms brocolli peppers butternut squash carrots whatever you have in, tin of tomato soup & tin of baked beans small grating of cheese & bake in oven about 10 mins until bubbling and cheese melts/goes golden. Makes enough for several meals or pack up & freeze for lunches at work

Tandoori chicken thighs

Mix natural yoghurt with 2 tablespoons of tandoori powder to make a paste. Remove skin from thighs and score the meat. cover with paste & cook in oven in a covered pan (lid or tin foil) we serve with home made potato wedges & salad