Help With Grocery Shopping On A Budget

maman

I think £50 a week isn't bad for three of you but you're right to focus more on eating healthily.

Just reading your Tesco list and am guessing most of that must be for breakfasts and packed lunches.

Mint1955 wrote: »

If I am using hot dogs I hold one back and freeze after a while I will have enough to chop up add to frozen left over bolognaise sauce and again a free meal.

I buy frankfurters from Lidl or Aldi. £1 for pack of 10 and every bit as good as expensive brands. I keep them in the freezer, they defrost quickly or can be pinged in microwave. Ideal for mixing into pasta with a basic tomato sauce or make a delicious sausage sandwich for lunch. Not the healthiest but OK now and again.

-MRS_T-

Sorry not been on here yesterday or today as I have been busy job hunting.

Thats a great help again Butterfly I wouldnt have the foggiest idea on how to make potato scones or tortilla chips. I dont normally by the latter I just thought they were cheap and it would be ok as a treat for me with cheese on top in the oven with some salsa.

My mum is going to show me how to make macaroni cheese hers is lovely but everytime I try and make something its rubbish lol

My hubby doesnt like it but me and my son do so if its cheap and relatively easy then I must give it a go.

The only reason I bought the chicken breast mini fillets was that they are in the asda 3 for £10 mix so I got 2 of those and 1 pack of mince which will give me 4 dinners as the mince will give me 2 portions.

Do you think buying frozen chicken is the same as fresh apart from cheaper?

sonastin

Easiest way to learn how to cook if you've never really mastered it is to go with pre-prepared ingredients and assemble them yourself, according to the instructions on the packet/jar/etc.

Once you've mastered that, save a bit of money by preparing the ingredients yourself - whole chicken breasts are cheaper than mini fillets but you have to slice them yourself.

When you're confident in preparing the ingredients yourself & using packets/jars for your sauces/flavourings, have a go at replicating the packet stuff yourself - use the ingredients on the old packet to give you an indication of the herbs/spices to buy and then have a bit of fun experimenting. You might have some disasters but you'll almost certainly not poison yourself! It's usually edible even if its not pleasurable but you'll learn a lot about how to cook & it will be cheaper and healthier to boot.

Just don't try stocking up on all the herbs and spices in one go - that certainly boosts the grocery bill. But one or two each week/month doesn't cost much.

Happyscrimper

-MRS_T- wrote: »

Hello

I have decided that I would like to try and save money on my grocery shops as we are struggling for money at the moment.

I reckon I spend about £50 per week at the moment but we dont eat very well its quite unhealthy food as I never cook its always microwave or pre pack or frozen. I would like to maybe start trying to cook simple things as we are plain eaters.

I do no have a stock cupboard of essentials as I am not sure what you should have if you start cooking. What are the basics?

There is me and my husband and my 5 year old.

I have looked at trying to cook things before but I always reckon its so much more expensive.

Could someone point me in the right direction of the meal plans for x amount of pounds each week challenge that I have heard people talking about I cannot seem to find it.

Also the recipes board if there is one.

I have a week off work and I am really trying to sort a lot of things out in my life right now and this is one of them.

Thanks in advance

My stock cupboard essentials are chopped tomatoes as they can be added to loads of things, packets of frozen veg as they are just as fresh as fresh ones and last longer, kidney beans, flour to thicken sauces that have become too runny, rice and a couple of different meats in the freezer.

If you have a couple different meats, you can do almost the same meal each night and it will taste different depending on what you use with it.

Lets say i have chicken, pork chops and turkey.
I do pork chops, with veg and rice one night
Next night maybe do chicken stir fry, (Still using meat rice and veg but differently)
Then the next night maybe do something without rice so we dont get sick of it. I try to always have either peas or sweetcorn on hand as they make good side dishes. Can be mixed in with the food or mixed in with rice to change it up.

I also try to have soemthing like a mixed vegetable as they can be used in stew, cottage pie, and things of that sort.

I always have potatoes, onions and garlic as they can be used in nearly everything.

Hope this helps!

mouseymousey99

Delia does a 'cheats' cookbook which uses some packages, I do think that it works out quite expensive though as it uses things like a tub of cheese sauce (which is much less to make). The paupers cookbook is good with basics, but really anything that takes your fancy. Don't be afraid to leave things out if you don't like them, or add things you do.

bbq_lady

I find our local market good for cheap fruit and veg .Mixed bowls of veg for a pound can help make good soup and apples plums can make lovely fillings for pies crumbles .Go later in the day and you can usually get 3 bowls for the price of 2.All helps when you're trying to save the pennies.

tessie_bear

bbq_lady wrote: »

I find our local market good for cheap fruit and veg .Mixed bowls of veg for a pound can help make good soup and apples plums can make lovely fillings for pies crumbles .Go later in the day and you can usually get 3 bowls for the price of 2.All helps when you're trying to save the pennies.

i find buying from the market is a real saver...mixed bowl of veg is a pound and is great for a veggie curry

-MRS_T-

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply it has been really helpfull. I was off my work all last week so was able to experiment a bit as I had more time. We are quite plain eaters well my hubby is quite fussy I am not so bad, and my son has actually been really great at eating the same meals as us as I am fed up with him eating fish fingers chicken nuggets and sausage rolls as I realise its not healthy.

We had a good range last week thanks to some tips posted on here and I was also happy that my son tried things for the first time.

I also was eating breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the first in a long time and I am trying to keep that up.

My son has also really enjoyed setting the table and he loves we all sit round together so that is something I am going to do as much as we can together as not always possible with me and hubby on shifts.

I added a few extras onto my shop to try and get a few things in my stock cupboard.

I dont have a local market here (well not that I know of) so not sure how I can get cheap veggies so I think I will have a small stock of frozen.

Will give a recipe from here a go at the weekend.

Thanks again :-)

Butterfly_Brain

-MRS_T- wrote: »

Sorry not been on here yesterday or today as I have been busy job hunting.

Thats a great help again Butterfly I wouldnt have the foggiest idea on how to make potato scones or tortilla chips. I dont normally by the latter I just thought they were cheap and it would be ok as a treat for me with cheese on top in the oven with some salsa.

My mum is going to show me how to make macaroni cheese hers is lovely but everytime I try and make something its rubbish lol

My hubby doesnt like it but me and my son do so if its cheap and relatively easy then I must give it a go.

The only reason I bought the chicken breast mini fillets was that they are in the asda 3 for £10 mix so I got 2 of those and 1 pack of mince which will give me 4 dinners as the mince will give me 2 portions.

Do you think buying frozen chicken is the same as fresh apart from cheaper?

Frozen chicken usually has water, sugar and salt added.
I prefer fresh, but it depends on whether my budget will allow it, that is why I look for reduced joints of meat and fill up the freezer when I see any.

Butterfly_Brain

Flour Tortillas
225g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt into a bowl
50g lard or oil (at room temperature)
150ml warm water

Place the flour and salt into a large bowl, rub in the lard.
Add the water in a steady stream, and combine, until the mixture becomes a stiff but pliable dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, leave in the bowl covered with some cling film or a damp tea towel to rest for 20 minutes

Divide the dough into 12 equal sized pieces and roll each piece out to form a 30cm circle. Roll them as thinly as you can. Again keep them covered to prevent them drying out.

Warm a heavy frying pan or griddle ( No oil just a dry pan) and cook each tortilla for 1 minute on each side, until the surface bubbles and has turned a light golden colour.

Wrap the tortillas in a clean tea towel to keep them warm and pliable until you have cooked them all and are ready to use them. Fill as desired. They will keep in an airtight zippy style bag for up to a week , or freeze separated with greaseproof paper or cling film, if I freeze mine I open freeze them first then stack and bag up