Very Frugal Meals

gayle1

the op is saving for christmas xx18weeks and counting aargh we know how you feel alot of our meals are quite simple eggs are a good source of protien scrambled boiled fried .
eat one pot dinners good luck sweetie xxx
aldis super 6 is 39p this week do u need packed lunches ?or do u get free meals? breakfast cereals not really that filling and far too expensive maybe try porridge or weetabix out of aldis with hot milk.
lunch make some soup or keep it simple sandwich apple yoghurt drink
dinners keep it simple keep the protein eggs tuna mince to make spagbols chilli.
Are you entitled to healthy start vouchers that you can use for veg at most shops depends on kids ages though .

honeythewitch

gayle1 wrote: »

the op is saving for christmas xx18weeks and counting aargh we know how you feel alot of our meals are quite simple eggs are a good source of protien scrambled boiled fried .
eat one pot dinners good luck sweetie xxx
aldis super 6 is 39p this week do u need packed lunches ?or do u get free meals? breakfast cereals not really that filling and far too expensive maybe try porridge or weetabix out of aldis with hot milk.
lunch make some soup or keep it simple sandwich apple yoghurt drink
dinners keep it simple keep the protein eggs tuna mince to make spagbols chilli.
Are you entitled to healthy start vouchers that you can use for veg at most shops depends on kids ages though .

:eek::eek::eek: Just for Christmas?

I tried really hard to find cheap enough food suggestions, and I just don't think it is possible (unless you are using things from the cupboard that will need replacing anyway)

I know it is tempting to buy the children the same things that their friends have but in the long run it wont make a jot of difference to their happiness.

If the OP can save just five pounds a week she will have eighty-five pounds by Christmas, which will be enough for dinner and gifts from boot sales or ebay etc, and the day can be made just as special without spending much.
Months of suffering for one day doesn't make sense to me.

gayle1

i just assumed xmas sorry it is 18 weeks away

Tommelise

I agree with Gayle, I got the same impression yesterday after having read the other posts the OP had made.

She also joined a Christmas tread, and the amount she is aming for is 365 Pounds- If you start at the begining of the year it only a pound a day, but now she will have to save a bit more each week to reach that amount.

I only think she meant that the her budget of 7-10 Pounds should be for the rest of the month. So spending the minimum over a short period in order to save.

On this board we have seen a lot of other treads where the OP seems to be in a very dire situation, and her opening post could be read that way.

Maybee she will come back to the tread to put records strait. The people on this board are friendly and do have a lot of practical advice to offer a young mother, and it would be a shame if she choose not to come back due to us reading to much into her situation


Edited: Thanks for spotting the error Old Joe - it did not add up I agree

Old_Joe

she is aming for is 365 Pounds- If you start at the begining of the year it only a pound a week,


Perhaps you meant one pound a day?

Agentmomo

Hi Schmoo,


I am also new to this site, however I am a cook by trade and your request can be done just.... I have done some research for you.
Firstly shop at Aldi and Asda of these are local to you?
Here are your meals for 7 days and this does come to under a tenner...
Breakfast...
Alternate between porridge (75p) Must be made with equal parts of Milk (£1.00 for 4 pints) and water to help your milk stretch the week. Top with Strawberry Jam (25p a jar) to add sweetness. Or have toast (Bread 45p for a medium loaf) buy 2 to make this stretch the week, for breakfast and lunch. Have Jam on your toast.
Lunches:
Veg Soup. Must use ONLY the stalks and peelings for this Aldi Super 6 this week has Broccoli, carrots and cabbage for 39p each. Also invest in a kilo bag of onions for 65p. Add your veg stalks and peelings and onion to boiling water and simmer for 20 mins. Either blend and serve or for a chunkier soup dice your stalks, onion and peelings into small bits. This will give you 2 servings each for lunch during the week.
Sardines (37p) Make into toasted sandwiches, add sliced onion and your tin of sardines will stretch to the 4 of you.
Tin of tuna flakes, as above, add onion and stretch between all 4 of you.
Chunky Spanish style omelette use 5 eggs (£1.25 for 15) add a little milk and water and whisk. Dry fry some sliced tinned potatoes (15p) and sliced onion, add your egg mixture. When cooked slice into 4.
Savoury rice. (40p per kilo) Use some of your veg, pre cooked. Dry fry some onion, add half a tin of tomatoes (31 p per tin) and top up with water. Add the veg, this will be plenty for two meals.
Dinners:
Eggs (already Purchased) x4, use frozen potato wedges (59p) and beans (20p)
Toad in the hole Use 6 sausages (Frozen x 20 99p) Make a batter using plain flour (45p) 2x eggs, a little milk and water combined, Serve with some of your veg already purchased.
Vegetable lasagne. Cook your veg and onion. Layer Lasagne sheets (20p) and white sauce, (you make this using your plain flour with a mix of milk and water) add your cooked veg and repeat layers. Finishing with the white sauce and bake in oven for 20 mins.
Meatballs, Skin 4 of your sausages, add finely diced onion, and roll into small balls, dry fry in a pan, add your remaining half tin of tomatoes and half again of water. Serve with Spaghetti (20p)
Savoury rice, as per lunch but minus the tomatoes, instead add cooked sliced sausages x4.
Sausages, potato wedges and eggs.
You should have enough veg, milk, flour and lasagne sheets left to make another veg lasagne to finish off the week!
By my calculations this comes to £9.80! Yes, very frugal, but under a tenner and will feed a family of four, and includes fresh veg!
Try it x

ampersand

What a kind, well-researched and thoughtful 1st post Agentmomo!

:TVast Welcomes to you :Tand to you, op:). I hope you haven't been put off by a couple of unhelpful posts and are feeling less alone and unjudged by other good posts here, along with the sound advice and caring support which will be forthcoming elsewhere.

Remember Martin's assurance that No Case is Hopeless, even though it can take time to come right. This includes you SchmooSquidge.

You've been brave, you've posted here and on other Threads.

Read my signature too for real budgeting help short and long-term. Martin rates CAP UK highly and they do not proselytise. 'Christian' is in their name, because that's why they offer this excellent, top-rated help.

Agree re: porridge as brill. start to every day, which I never make with milk, never from portioned packs either[hands go up in horror]. Basic oats from supermarket are c,75p per 1.5kg pack. In fact, portions generally should never exceed what can be eyeballed as fitting palm of hand. That's REAL portion control. Put in tall plastic jug in m/w. Add a few sultanas maybe [that's what I like]and zap until it rises up in the jug.

Well done for thinking ahead re: crimbo, but thinking ahead to plan, is not the same as being terrorised by consumerism and having absolutely no joy in anticipating the countdown over the last days, esp. once children break uo. That is why I have written 'crimbo', which is fine, but it is not Christmas. The latter is the origin of the former and you, op, with even a month or two of proper budgeting help, can have the best one you've yet had as a family, since financial pressure came upon you.

CAP budgeting ALWAYS makes allowance for you being nice to yourself, too - so enjoy that. They'll insist on it:-)

Cut old net curtains for Christmas stockings, backstitch by hand if you haven't access to a machine.

I hope you're using your local Library. Check here:
http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/english/education/libraries/Pages/Home.aspx
and for the children, here:
August - 6 September

Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge
Children's Library, Llanelli Library, Vaughan Street, Llanelli.
The Mythical Maze is the national library summer reading challenge for children. Come and join us at Carmarthenshire Libraries where we hope to inspire children to use the library in the holidays and sign up for the challenge! The Mythical Maze will be running at all Carmarthenshire public libraries throughout the school break. Young readers are challenged to read 6 books or more and will receive prizes along the way.
carmarthenshire.gov.uk 01554 773538

Post polite Wanteds on freecycle and read what's on offer too: you can be surprised. Don't know how old your children are, but jumble sales and church fêtes are winners for everybody - great fun, good learning curve, the power/responsibility/discernment that comes with choice.
On book of face:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carmarthenshire-Freecycle/110185642400888

and you join here:#
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carmarthenshire-Freecycle/
and perhaps here, too:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Ceredigion-Freecycle/info?referrer=carmarthenshire-Freecycle

Stay close and so will we.

honeythewitch

Agentmomo wrote: »

Hi Schmoo,


I am also new to this site, however I am a cook by trade and your request can be done just.... I have done some research for you.
Firstly shop at Aldi and Asda of these are local to you?
Here are your meals for 7 days and this does come to under a tenner...
Breakfast...
Alternate between porridge (75p) Must be made with equal parts of Milk (£1.00 for 4 pints) and water to help your milk stretch the week. Top with Strawberry Jam (25p a jar) to add sweetness. Or have toast (Bread 45p for a medium loaf) buy 2 to make this stretch the week, for breakfast and lunch. Have Jam on your toast.
Lunches:
Veg Soup. Must use ONLY the stalks and peelings for this Aldi Super 6 this week has Broccoli, carrots and cabbage for 39p each. Also invest in a kilo bag of onions for 65p. Add your veg stalks and peelings and onion to boiling water and simmer for 20 mins. Either blend and serve or for a chunkier soup dice your stalks, onion and peelings into small bits. This will give you 2 servings each for lunch during the week.
Sardines (37p) Make into toasted sandwiches, add sliced onion and your tin of sardines will stretch to the 4 of you.
Tin of tuna flakes, as above, add onion and stretch between all 4 of you.
Chunky Spanish style omelette use 5 eggs (£1.25 for 15) add a little milk and water and whisk. Dry fry some sliced tinned potatoes (15p) and sliced onion, add your egg mixture. When cooked slice into 4.
Savoury rice. (40p per kilo) Use some of your veg, pre cooked. Dry fry some onion, add half a tin of tomatoes (31 p per tin) and top up with water. Add the veg, this will be plenty for two meals.
Dinners:
Eggs (already Purchased) x4, use frozen potato wedges (59p) and beans (20p)
Toad in the hole Use 6 sausages (Frozen x 20 99p) Make a batter using plain flour (45p) 2x eggs, a little milk and water combined, Serve with some of your veg already purchased.
Vegetable lasagne. Cook your veg and onion. Layer Lasagne sheets (20p) and white sauce, (you make this using your plain flour with a mix of milk and water) add your cooked veg and repeat layers. Finishing with the white sauce and bake in oven for 20 mins.
Meatballs, Skin 4 of your sausages, add finely diced onion, and roll into small balls, dry fry in a pan, add your remaining half tin of tomatoes and half again of water. Serve with Spaghetti (20p)
Savoury rice, as per lunch but minus the tomatoes, instead add cooked sliced sausages x4.
Sausages, potato wedges and eggs.
You should have enough veg, milk, flour and lasagne sheets left to make another veg lasagne to finish off the week!
By my calculations this comes to £9.80! Yes, very frugal, but under a tenner and will feed a family of four, and includes fresh veg!
Try it x

It is very difficult to work it all out, isnt it? Which Lasagne are you using? The cheapest I can find in all the supermarkets is 32p and it is only enough for one go.

honeythewitch

ampersand wrote: »

What a kind, well-researched and thoughtful 1st post Agentmomo!

:TVast Welcomes to you :Tand to you, op:). I hope you haven't been put off by a couple of unhelpful posts and are feeling less alone and unjudged by other good posts here, along with the sound advice and caring support which will be forthcoming elsewhere.

Remember Martin's assurance that No Case is Hopeless, even though they can take time to come right. This includes you SchmooSquidge.

You've been brave, you've posted here and on other Threads.

Read my signature too for real budgeting help short and long-term. Martin rates CAP UK highly and they do not proselytise. 'Christian' is in their name, because that's why they offer this excellent, top-rated help.

Agree re: porridge as brill. start to every day, which I never make with milk, never from portioned packs either[hands go up in horror]. Basic oats from supermarket are c,75p per 1.5kg pack. In fact, portions generally should never exceed what can be eyeballed as fitting palm of hand. That's REAL portion control. Put in tall plastic jug in m/w. Add a few sultanas maybe [that's what I like]and zap until it rises up in the jug.

Well done for thinking ahead re: crimbo, but thinking ahead to plan, is not the same as being mesmerised by consumer terrorism. That is why I have written 'crimbo', which is fine, but it is not Christmas. The latter is the origin of the former and you, op, with even a month or two of proper budgeting help, can have the best one you've yet had as a family, since financial pressure came upon you.

I think you will find that that porridge has shrunk in every supermarket to 1kg packs, and there is nowhere near the twenty-eight handfuls needed for the family in question.
I mention it only because I would hate someone to buy it (or other items mentioned elsewhere) thinking it would be enough for the week and running out of food.

Agentmomo

I would estimate 20 portions out of a bag of porridge Oats (Aldi 75p) My suggestion would be alternate breakfasts, porridge for 4 days, toast with Jam for the other 3. I believe there are 20 slices in the bread (Asda 45p) If two loaves were bought, this should suffice for both the sandwiches mentioned and toast for 3 breakfasts. If of course you eat the crusts... Never waste the crusts!