Cheapest recipies.

Penelope_Penguin

Courtesy of Pink-winged

There are lots of ideas on these threads that should help:

Cheapest recipes???

Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

Feed 6 for £1.62

Cheapest meal

Your Cheapest Evening Meal.

cheap, easy family meals

Show Jamie How To Cook On A Budget Champagne Contest

Meal idea's under £1

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Penny. x

yummymummy85

Hi everyone

I have tried to do meal planning in the past in an attempt to lower what we spend on food and the little trips to the shop to buy bread which result in spending £20 on [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL]!

I'm now 37 weeks pregnant and once this baby is born I'm gonna need to be more organised when it comes to food and more thrifty. So, I'm looking at starting proplery after Christmas as we're moving house in 2 weeks, baby due in 3 weeks, Christmas etc. I can see it's going to be hectic time!!

So, after the baby is born our household will consist of me, DH, DS1 who is 18 months, baby and dog. The baby is going to be bottlefed and the dog has a 15kg bag of dry food and a crate of 15 meat tins a month.

My husband is quite fussy when it comes to dinners - doesn't like things in his meals that aren't supposed to be there (I put carrots in a bolognase the other week and he looked at me like I'd gone crazy!), meat is also a must in every meal according to him. He's also got a sweet tooth and likes to have things in to snack on. DS1 is generally a really good eater and will eat what ever is put in front of him.

I need some ideas of meals that are relatively quick and easy to make and will freeze well (although I don't have a huge freezer!) but also healthy. Another problem I currently encounter is that my DH doesn't get home from work at the same time each day so I would ideally like meals that I can cook for teatime (i.e 5pmish) but if need be can be reheated for later on in the evening if DH isn't back from work by teatime. I really don't want to get into the habit of cooking one meal for the kids then another for me and DH later in the evening as I'll never get out of the kitchen!!

I also get stuck on lunches for my DS, although he will eat anything I have noticed that he tends to get bored with the same sort of thing everyday so need to try and get a bit of variety in there!!

I'm hoping to go back to work once the new baby is about 6/7 months old so would really like to have this cracked by then as if I'm getting in a muddle with it all now when I'm at home all day it's only going to get worse once I'm back at work!!!!

Sorry for the really long post and thank you in advance for any advice you may have!

lowesy

Hi yummymummy85,

First of all - congratulations!

I'm sure one of the "more senior" OSer's will come along and point you in the right direction soon (i.e with links and stuff as I don't know how to post them :rolleyes:) but there are literally hundreds of recipes and ideas on this board to keep you going for a long while yet!

Things with mince are good for re-heating I've found also things like curries, but depending on what meat you've got in there.

As for your DH, mine was the same too so I now just don't tell him what's in things and he eats away quite happily! Only the other day he was commenting on how meaty a shepherd's pie I'd made was, little did he know it was only about 30% mince! The rest was a combination of red lentils and finely grated carrot! I stirred in a big teaspoonful of Marmite to give it the meaty taste Oh and if he moans ever (not that he does now), I tell him to cook for himself the ungrateful beggar!

Just read through the various thread on here is my advice - you'll pick up loads and everyone's really friendly!

xx

Mrs_Thrify

Yes, plenty of idea's on here. I am a coverted slow cooker fan and now do lots of winter 1 pot meals. Easy, put all food in the pot at about 9am and it cooks slowly all day ready for tea time.

Today I am batch cooking pastry, I will make a lb of short crust and see how far it will stretch... hopefully a bacon and egg flan, apple pie, cheese pastie and some mince pies. All can be frozen not that there is much chance of that in our house. People 4 adults are all in and out at diffrent times so I tend to cook and just leave things in the fridge - then watch as it all dissapears (funny that).

purpleivy

I do that with pastry as well. Every now and then I get a pack of Trex and make 4 lots. One or two get frozen in the right size lump to line my big flan tin. Last time I made some small quiches, cut some circles of pastry and layered them in wrap in the freezer. Did a large treacle tart for taking out for an occasion and a smaller one for immediate use. Also a plain 8" lined pastry case left in its tin. I used this at a later date for a lemon meringue pie. So lots of possibilities.

Advantage of small individual size quiches/pasties etc is that they look nicer if you have to serve meals separately to folks through out the evening, also you can take out the number of portions you need and not a whole pie or whatever. If dh has a sweet tooth then you could make some small bakewells, treacle tarts or whatever.

Triker

Just a little point, I see you say your baby will be bottlefed, this costs money, a lot...I make no judgement re your decision but just wanted to say breast milk is free.:D x

studiorex

Don't assume bottle fed means from formula, my wife expressed so we could get both twins fed at the same time - they were happier with a routine. This way of doing things worked for our daughter as well.

studiorex

Oh and cauliflower cheese is very simple and cheap - hubby can have a couple of slices of bacon.

Triker

Re your hubby and the vegetable thing, I sometimes get round this by whizing in the food processer onions, carrots courgettes, anything really then using this as a base for sauces, soups, bolognaise etc, great way to add a bit more nutrition in.

The slow cooker is a brilliant idea, they are invaluable especially at this time of year for stews and currys, anything really.

There is a meal plan group on old style that maybe could help you in your planning and suggestions for meals.

Good luck with everything, it sounds like you're going to have your hands full over the ensuing months.

Triker

Meal plan thread here.