Cheapest recipies.

BOBS

Just wanted to say you are definitely a good friend taking her in along with 4 kids!! I am sure someone will be along with great ideas...... but to start you off.

Simple mince steak stew - bulk out with tin/s of beans and grated carrots.

whichwhydoIturn

what about stovies with oatcakes.stews,HM soup,HM pizza with HM wedges,kids can make biscuits and jam tarts, keep them busy.someone will be along shortly I am sure with loads more ideas,Type in supercook to google it brings up a site where you load what ingredients you have and it generates a recipe,lets you know what you need to complete a recipe

Pink_Giraffe

Anything that can be made in a massive pot! Eg bolognese, chilli, stew, soups etc Jacket potato with cheap fillings are simple to do, cheap and filling. I'm sure there will be plenty of better ideas coming up.

It's really kind of you to take your friend's family in like that, your house will be very busy!!

annie-c

The 6 litre slow cooker on sale at Argos right now at £11.99 might be a really good investment for cooking huge batches of soups, stews, bolognese etc.

Assuming that she will be contributing to the bills then you might both be a bit better off by buying in bulk etc. The bigger supermarkets will sell giant size (3kg) bags of pasta and rice and if possible it might be worth buying potatoes by the sackful from a farm or market (we often have farm vans selling them just down the road from our Tesco). Equally, you can get 6pint tubs of milk etc from the supermarket.

It would probably be a good idea to sit down with your friend quite soon to talk about likes/dislikes, mealtimes, family habits etc, and then for you all to sit down with the families to establish ground rules to try to avoid tension later on. Apart from general household behaviour, you will need to establish rules about what foods, if any, can be eaten freely and what is off limits (just so your key ingredients don't get snacked on by mistake!)

My meal suggestions would include:

Any pasta dishes (bolognese, tuna and sweetcorn pasta, tomato and cheese pasta bake_
Jacket spuds with fillings (cheese, beans, chilli, curry, coleslaw etc)
Pizza made with home made bread dough
chilli and rice
curry and rice (all bulked out with veggies)
bolognese bulked out with lentils
ham hocks slow-cooked to provide 'roast dinner' and the stock and scraps for ham and veg soup
Home made potato wedges for a treat instead of chip shop chips
Home made soup and bread
Fruit cobbler
Jelly with tinned fruit

Well done you for helping a friend in need!

fairy3

I would suggest pies once or twice a week as well, I know they are not always considered the healthiest food but growing kids can burn off the calories and being HM you control what goes in them.
corned beef with carrots, onions and potato slices with thick gravy is filling and can be made in a roasting tin (my mum did this on a regular basis for my brothers and their friends) She also used to save some of the pastry and make a jam slice which was eaten with custard as a sweet.
Smaller pies can also be made like cornish pasties and served with veggies and mushy peas
Cowboy pie made with sausage meat patties and baked beans served with mash
Any cheaper cut of meat in casseroles with dumplings
Toad in the hole or anything which can go in a yorkshire pudding

For desserts or snacks how about tray bakes or refrigerater bakes which can be made on a large scale

Rice pudding and porridge are also quite economical and filling

I have to agree that you are being a real friend and it would be great to find out how you get on. When I first started organising our meals (with 3 growing teens) and planning one of the things that helped was to make sure that we all sat down to eat at the same time so that there wasn't a constant trail to the kitchen for 'snacks' and 'fridge gazing'. Also I still write a weekly menu plan so everyone knows what's on the menu.

Good luck

Bigjenny

Hi

Try this site for some ideas http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

It includes recipes for meals and snacks, as well as menu plans and shopping lists.

HTH

BitterAndTwisted

You can put all of the plans into action that you like but once those four kid are on the premises you could find that they all go out of the window. You don't know what daft fads those nippers have acquired.

I honestly think that the first conversation you two should have us what meals need to be served, who us going to cook them and how the cost is going to be shared. This "a few weeks" could turn into much longer and you really don't want to find yourself exhausted and bankrupt at the end of it.

Penelope_Penguin

princess_skint_a_lot wrote: »

I was wondering if you could give me some cheap recipes that are going to feed a family of 9 (us included), as we are all on a really really tight budget.

what a kind offer :A Pink-winged has compiled this list of threads

Hi debtfreein5,

These threads may give you some ideas too:


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

£20 to feed a family of 4 for a month?

50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

I'll add this thread to one of those to keep ideas together.

GreyQueen

princess_skint_a_lot wrote: »

hi all

im wondering if you can all help me, my best friend is moving up here to scotland to me in 2 weeks time. She will be staying with me for a few weeks while her house goes through, and as she is just moving it is going to cost her a small fortune, she has 4 children.

I was wondering if you could give me some cheap recipes that are going to feed a family of 9 (us included), as we are all on a really really tight budget.

Kind Regards

Debbie

You can make a pound of mince into a whopping great pot of chilli con carne very cheaply, add lots of kidney beans, 2 cans tomatoes, tube of tomato puree, one onion, packet chilli mix. Serve with rice. Any leftovers can go around again to liven up baked potaotes.

freyasmum

GreyQueen wrote: »

You can make a pound of mince into a whopping great pot of chilli con carne very cheaply, add lots of kidney beans, 2 cans tomatoes, tube of tomato puree, one onion, packet chilli mix. Serve with rice. Any leftovers can go around again to liven up baked potaotes.

I adore chilli.

I serve it with sour cream (or yogurt, if you like) to cool it down a bit for the littler ones and tortillas chips - last time I bought them, they're 25p a bag - makes it seem a little different (crisps, for dinner? :j) and spins it out a little.