The Feed 2 for As Little As Poss Challenge!

Kylie

I need help.... I just calculated our monthly spend on groceries: Jan £337.20, Feb £318.71, Mar. £445.01 and Apr. £445.88.

I blame my partner completely ;( I try to meal plan but then something will happen and it all falls apart...

Kylie

Everything is fine until he comes shopping with me... I must ban him!

Queen.Bess

What a good thread! DH and I are useless at meal planning and whilst we've got better at not wasting food, we still end up panicking just before we leave the house for work each morning, wondering what to have for tea! We are also very lucky in that MIL gives us lots of food to live on and so at the moment we only require the basics, such as bread and potatoes.

But if this thread can give me some inspiration, that would be great!

EagerLearner

Welcome guys!

That is the reason I started the thread - Mr EL and I are so tired at the end of a work day that we USED to spend a fortune and be too tired to think about the plan for the week...

Now, we think ahead one week at a time (I still can't do 2 weeks) and this works well for us.

I try to go shopping on my own as Mr EL is naughty and put treats in, and I always let him. I just came back from Sainsburys 30 mins ago as have a day off, and literally bought only what was on my shopping list.

A good cheap meal to have for two, is mixed omelette - you could have veg and cheese, just cheese, cheese and ham etc. Add to it a salad and there you go! Quick and tasty, especially in the summer months.

I get loads of veggies from LIDL cheap (I buy the bags of veggies) and roast a huge tray. Then I split it into freezer bags, normally does 4 bags. Then each bag will make fillings for 2 sandwiches and I also add red pepper hummus. Or one bag will make 2 x portions of pasta (one dinner for us) with roasted veg.

EagerLearner

Hi all, just to show you the savings I have made comparing in shopping the last 4 months to the same period in 2006:

Food Shopping
2007 / 2006
Jan £110 / £176
Feb £110 / £141
Mar £139 / £217
Apr £142 / £171

DenBo_4

EagerLearner, your recipe for tomato pasta bake sounds lovely, I shall give it a go tomorrow for my tea. I have just bought a breadmaker to make gluten free bread for me, my first loaf has come out looking good so its leftover chicken sandwhich for tea! woohoo!!

DenBo_4

And if its not rude, whats the "Evil Landlady Deposit Saga"?? also how do u manage to make so much on pigsback, I only manage about 40p a week! I bought my breadmaker on Ebay and didnt go through pigsback :mad: :mad: , are there any other ways to make money on there without actually spending any (dont have any!)

redsquirrel80

Some great ideas on here - I'm normally only cooking for one but tend to make twice as much and have one portion for lunch the next day so will definitely be trying out some of these, can always use some inspiration. Never really thought about figuring out how much each meal costs - I reckon tonight's extremely basic "two days before payday" tuna & tomato pasta works out about 50-55p for two portions... though thank goodness for a little leftover splash of wine and home grown herbs.

Penny-Pincher!!

Here are a few recipes I wrote down last year. Not sure if they will help and costings may have changed slightly.

Chilli Con Carne-6 portions (chilli not rice)
500g Mince Lamb-0.66p
2 x tins kidney beans (Aldi) 0.26p
2 x tins of chopped toms (Aldi) 0.28p
2 x onions 0.10p
Chilli powder
Tin of sweetcorn-0.18p
½ bag of value boiled rice-0.20p

Total £1.68= 0.28p per serving

Toad In Hole, Mash & Onion Gravy-4 large servings
8 decent sausages-£1.00
Onions x 2-0.10p
Plain Flour-0.10p
Milk-0.10p
2 Eggs-0.15p
Spuds to mash-15p
Carrots-0.15p (about 6 large market)
Cabbage-0.15p (market)
Gravy-0.10p

Total £2.00 = £0.50p per serving

Shepards Pie, Cabbage & Sweetcorn-4 servings
500g minced lamb-0.66p
Onion-0.05p
2 x baked beans-0.26p (Aldi)
Spuds to mash-0.25p (bag of large spuds)
Cabbage-0.15p (market)
Tin of sweetcorn (aldi)-0.18p

Total £1.55 = £0.39p per serving

Roast Chicken, Roasties, Yorkies, Stuffing, carrots, parsnips, cabbage & gravy-4 servings
Large Chicken-£2.00 (reduced or frozen-not super quality though)
Spuds to roast-0.35p
Plain Flour, eggs and milk for yorkies-0.30p
Value Stuffing-0.16p
Carrots-0.15p
Cabbage-0.15p
Parsnips-0.20p

Total £3.31 = £0.83p per serving

Lamb stew & dumplings 5 portions
500g diced lamb-£1.69 (Tesco frozen)
Spuds-0.25p
Carrots-0.15p
Swede-0.15p frozen 1/3 bag
Peas-0.10p frozen
Tin of baked beans x 2-0.26p
Onion x 2-0.10p
Sachet Mix-0.18p
Suet, flour dumpling-0.20p

Total £3.08 = £0.62p per serving

SpagBol-5 servings
500g minced lamb-0.66p
2 x tins of toms-0.26p
Onions x 2-0.10p
Pack of value spaggetti-0.18p

Total £1.20 = £0.30p per serving

HM Chicken Pie, Mash & Veg
(Left over chicken from the roast (leg/thigh meat good for this), tin of mushroom soup 20p, stuff for pasty 25p, Spuds 40p, Veg 30p=£1.15)Should be enough for 3 meals, again freezeable


The minced lamb is from Aldi and is £1.95 for 1.5kg.

HTH

PP
xx

CAFCGirl

I am definitely in!!!

Theres only one of me, but as RedSquirrel said, the second portion is good for lunches at work for me...

Tonight dinner is jacket spuds.
I confess to spending too much money at Tesco

So 2 spuds 37p
Red leicester cheese 28p

And thats all for me so total cost 65p...