Learning to be frugal with food

crispycreme_2

I'm on a mission to be as frugal as possible. We have a lot of debt to pay off & have finally come around and realised we need to face this head on.

Part of this is to be more savvy with our food. We were just sitting discussing about going to the supermarket and picking up some food for dinner today. However, we have a freezer full of veg & I also have 4 lamb loin chops. Not enough for all of us, but I was wondering if I could turn them into a curry or stew?

Wondered if so, would any one mind telling me how. Also if I could make sides with it (ie naan bread/ baaji etc) would someone please point me in the right direction?

This is just the begining of a long journey for me & I really want to start today. I will be on here a lot more to learn how to eat healthily and cheaply.

Thank you in advance.:beer:

SailorSam

If you're doing curries or stews get lots of bags of assorted dried beans and lentils, healthy and cheap as chips and you'll not even notice you're eating anything different than you're use to.

GlynD

Here's s couple of recipes to turn them into a stew.

http://www.yummly.com/recipes/lamb-loin-chops-stew

You can of course just dice them and chuck them into a big stew pan with carrots and onions and loads of spuds then you've got an authentic and very filling original Irish stew.

Sorry to hear you've got to make sacrifices like this. We've been through it too. Can I tell you that one of the ways we got to enjoy good food on a minimal income was to do our main shopping in Lidl. Are you doing any shopping there?

happycrafter_2

I make a really simple bhaji every one loves in the house:

onion sliced in half then cut in to slices. (sometimes I cut in to smaller chunks) make sure the pieces are separated.
mix the onion slices with some curry powder, flour and a little bicarb till coated then add an egg and stir well. so its a thick batter with bits of onion in it (hope that makes sense I do this all by eye)

put spoonfuls in to a frying pan and cook until golden then flip over and cook the other side.

I cant eat naan bread as I have a yeast allergy so make chapatis with plain flour and water roll thin and cook in a dry frying pan until they are cooked.

GlynD

happycrafter wrote: »

I make a really simple bhaji every one loves in the house:

onion sliced in half then cut in to slices. (sometimes I cut in to smaller chunks) make sure the pieces are separated.
mix the onion slices with some curry powder, flour and a little bicarb till coated then add an egg and stir well. so its a thick batter with bits of onion in it (hope that makes sense I do this all by eye)

put spoonfuls in to a frying pan and cook until golden then flip over and cook the other side.

I cant eat naan bread as I have a yeast allergy so make chapatis with plain flour and water roll thin and cook in a dry frying pan until they are cooked.

That actually sounds really lovely.

Yes you can eat well on a low income. I've proved it and so have you!

gayleygoo

Onion bajiis (sorry, don't think I can spell it) are easy to make. Kind of like onion rings but made slightly differently and flavoured. Cut a couple of onions into slices and season well with curry spices, salt and pepper, and fresh coriander if you have it. Add a little flour and some water so it's like a thick paste/batter on the onions, but not too wet. Form roughly into balls (damp hands help) and deep fry until golden.

Lamb loin chops sound like they could be quite lean? They might be nice in some sort of stir-fry with lots of veg, served with rice and/or noodles. Or, as already suggested, and Irish stew with spuds and root veg. Although I prefer a cheaper cut of lamb for making stew, there's much more flavour and it benefits from long, slow cooking.

crispycreme_2

Thank you for all posting so quickly. Onion bhaji recipe sounds great.

So generally, the lamb chop is not good for curry really? Shame as I thought I could make it go further with sides etc.

Lamb stew looks lovely on the link .

krlyr

I think an important part of frugality with food is addressing portion sizes.

Growing up, we always had large portions of meat. We were raised with quite a "carnivorous" outlook! 2-3 pork chops each, big steaks, etc. even though we were only teens.

However, if you look at the recommended portions of various foods, you'll see that for meat it's actually pretty low - about 100g, raw weight. I don't know how much your pack of lamb weighs, but on Google I can find several that are around 400-425g each. Technically, that means 1 pack should cater for the 4 of you. It might be difficult cutting down portions 'cold turkey' but you may want to consider slowly decreasing the meat amount and padding out with veggies etc.

http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/p/hi-portion-size
and
http://www.waitrose.com/home/inspiration/health_and_nutrition/weight_loss/portion_sizes.html
have some good info. Some tips on cutting down portions that may help too - from simple ones like smaller plates (and smaller plates than yours for kids), to taking more time to eat the food so you feel full.

crispycreme_2

klyyr, I think you're right. I need to address this too.

Will have a read through those links later.

We are a family of 5, my daughter is a little though ( 8months) so only tiny portions / tastes for her.

We are also going to move the boys from school dinners to packed lunch. My older one is in secondary (yr7) and costs £3 per day. More if he is too rushed to have breakfast at home, I give him £1 for that too. Younger one is in reception and his is £2.10 per day. So thats £25.50 a week on their lunch. Roughly £115 a month. Was very shocked when I worked that out.

milky1991

Have a browse at this blog
http://www.frugalqueen.co.uk
Loads of frugal ideas as well as recipes.

lostinrates

I think the first step in frugality with food is not to plan for a pop out for ONE meal, but to plan for a week or so.

I find a week plan is my minimum comfort plan with ten day ish plan being more effective, Ten days in realtiy gives me a fortnight meal planning as there are some nights something pops up in our household (either a late night at work, an unexpected no eating night, an invite out).


Last night I served the equavelant of a small lamb chop each as a 'tasty morsel' along side a beetroot risotto. I heavily marinated the lamb and they really only offered two bites a person, but they gave the 'satisfaction' or a meaty meal, especially as well flavoured. Now, I am not suggestions for a minute its the same as sitting down to a steak the size of a cafe table. But I am suggesting its enough for a tasty addition to a family meal.

I also find having a starter/ pudding 'feels' more luxurious than sitting down to a 'big plate of food' but can be much cheaper. Any number of inexpensive light soups can be whipped up to get an extra portion of veg into one, and stretch a meal for not very much money yet feel very much more luxurious because its a 'proper meal with a starter'

Were there not one each I simply would have gone without one tbh unless I needed the meat, in which case were no one else able to give up the protein portion I would have bought more in preparation for this eventuality and used the rest for a different meal.