Really need help with making this last as long as possible

[Deleted User]

Hi honey I have PM'ed you
JackieO xxx

themarsbargirl

Hi there, have put together a rough 4 week meal plan for you. Breakfast is toast or porridge,lunch is oeanut butter/choc spread/jam sandwiches (cheese at weekends) with a pice of hm cake. Dinners are served with your choice of veg.
Week 1;
Monday- HM carrot quiche and potatoes
Tuesday- Veg chilli
Wednesday- Sausage casserole (1 sausage pp diced) with mash
Thursday- Veg lasagne with garlic bread
Friday- HM pizza and chips/wedges
Saturday-Braising steak casserole with hm bread
Sunday- 5x gammon steaks with stuffing/gravy/roast pots

Week 1 shopping list;priced tesco online
15x value eggs-1.35
Value potatoes 2.5kg-1.18
Value carrots 1.5kg-0.89
Value garlic-0.49
Value garlic bread-0.32
Value onions 1kg-0.63
2x value red kidney beans-0.60
Value mozzerella-0.44

Week 2;
Mon-leek gratin
Tue-Chickpea burgers with cous cous
Wed- stir fry with noodles and tuna steak (1/2 rach sliced)
Thu-Bolognese-veg-with soya mince if affordable
Fri-HM pizza and chips
Sat-3.50g diced beef casserole
Sun-3x gammon and 2xlamb with stuffing and roast pots and gravy

week 2 shopping list;
Soya mince-1.89
value oats-0.75
2x tin chickpeas-0.90
value cheese-3.08 (to last 2 weeks)
value mozzerella-0.44
Total-7.06

week 3
Mon-onion quiche with potatoes
Tue- veg chilli with rice
wed-chicken curry using the 2 mini fillets bulked with veg
thu-spag carbonara using the recipe above
fri-hm pizza night
sat-350g diced beef casserole
sun-4x beef grillsteak and 2 sausages with stuffing, gravy roast pots

week 3 shopping list
2x read kidney beans-0.60
value onions-0.63
value potatoes-1.18
value eggs-1.35
value mozzerella-0.44
total-4.20

week 4
mon-chinese pancakes (stirfry wrapped in hm pancakes)
tue-chickpea burgers with cous cous
wed-250g mi.bced porck as spag and meatballs
thu-veg paella-use your rice rather than paella rice
fri-hm pizza and chips
sat-300g diced beef casserole
sun-sausages with roast pots and gravy

week 4 shopping list
2x value tin toms-0.70
2x chickpeas-0.90
calue oats-0.75
value cheese-3.08
val mozzerella-0.44
total-5.87

use the few quid left over each week for milk and veg and fruit and bread-ys will help stretch this.

hope this helps

skeeter93

Hi, I just have a couple of suggestions to use up the leftover bits of meals. You could use the pita breads to make pizzas, using whatever bits of veg, meat etc are leftover. Quiche is a good way to use up little bits too, and maybe could go in lunchboxes? Lastly, we like to put leftover mince and casserole dishes together, make a gravy to go over and put a piece of pastry over the top to make a pie. Hope these suggestions might help you stretch an extra meal or two a week.

[Deleted User]

Indeed, back in the 1970s when things were tough and the wolf was hammering at the door I made odds and sods pie:)
line a round flan dish in pastry and then bake 'blind' for 10 minutes in a hot oven, just to crisp it up a bit.Then fill with a layer of whatever you have in the fridge .diced up.I used almost anything ,onion,mushrooms, baked beans,cheese top with mashed spuds and if you have any I used a couple of cooked sausages and sliced one lengthways on top for the 'hands' and the rest in bits for the numbers and made a 'clockface on top of the spuds.Bung it back in the oven and cook until the top spuds are brown and crispy then hoick out and sprinkle a biyt of grated cheese on top and back in the oven until its melted.This with maybe some carrots and green veg makes a filling meal.I's always ask the kids what time they wanted dinner and put the 'time' on the clock face.kids thought it was 'cool' to have a dinner with the time on it :)
Quiche is really a great meal as well to help fill up empty tummies.a pastry base filled with a couple of eggs and mixed with grated cheese,onion,or fry up a couple of rashers of streaky bacon unilt 'crunchy ' and crumble it into it.You can put almost anything in a quiche and it only costs pennies

Or into a pyrex round bowl line with layers of thin sliced potato's and onion and grated cheese.tiny bit of stock over the lot before you top off with mashed spuds chuck into the oven and cheese and potato pie is gorgeous on its own or with any veg at all.
so many things you can think up to use up anything left over in the fridge.
I soon sent the wolf packing :):)
good luck
jackieO
P.S. I have replied with a pm

FairyPrincessk

Hi,


A few ideas for lunches for the 12 y.o. I think the most important thing to keep him full is a balance of carbs and protein.

I'd try to go for quiche (either make mini ones in a bun tin or send a slice) and perhaps carrot batons or Celery batons with peanut butter and raisins/sultanas, an apple or banana, a slice of hm sponge from the sponge mix, and perhaps even one of the bread rolls, lightly buttered.

Another option might be pita filled with ham and salad with the other sides.

If he is adventurous, a variation on this salad might be a way to use some pearl barley and sweet potato:

http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/sweet-potato-and-pearl-barley-salad.html

Otherwise it might make a good dinner recipe.

I think the main things you'll need to buy in the coming weeks will be a bit of fresh fruit and veg, milk, eggs and perhaps butter or spread.

To keep costs down on the fruit and veg--stick with bananas for snacks for kids. Almost all supermarkets lose money on bananas since they are on of the items they use to judge how competitive their pricing is---and they're easy for pack ups. Apples can be good value, but compare prices based on servings rather than weight (for example do I get six apples or eight for this price, rather than how many grams).

For veg and salad, yellow stickers are great, as you mentioned. I'd also think about carrots, celery, cabbage, and if you have one near by, check out the Aldi super six. This weeks isn't great, but it should change over on Thursday. Carrots are good for pack ups--either as batons or as a shredded carrot salad and they're versatile for dinners. Any left and going bendy can easily be turned into soup. The same with celery. Cabbage can be added to stir fries, mixed with some carrots and onions and dressed with a dressing made from your excellent stores of sauces and vinegars, served boiled with most of the pork products you have or added to soup.

I'd suggest you meal plan the lunches for your 12 y.o. as well. You can do prep work all at once and it will stop you panicking thinking you've got nothing to go in it on Thursday when everyone is tired.x

Busy_Mee

Puddings are good for filling up hungry kids. I would make up you Angel Delight, jelly and trifle into individual little pots if you can - makes it go further and can be taken as packed lunch.
Do you know anyone with apple trees - they are usually giving away apples at this time of year. Apple crumble is very filling with custard - also I make an apple tray bake cake that goes down very well. Can be cut into squares for lunch boxes, eaten on its own or with custard. Blackberries are coming to an end but you might find a few worth picking. Ald@i do tins of rice pudding for 15p - or you could try making your own.
If you could manage to scrape together £40 for the last week in September there should be a £5 voucher in the Daily Mirror for Ald@i.
Might be worth going for a little walk around any local allotments - people who grow their own often have gluts of veggies at this time of year and will either give them away or sell them cheap

RedCola

LameWolf please could you recommended a spreadsheet, is there a downloadable one thats any good online?
Some great tips here , thank you.
Went to Asda & bought from the reduced sections. I bought square flatbreads, lemon & lime pack, red chilli, garlic, cherry tomatoes, thai selection pack (garlic, lemongrass, shallots, birds eye chillies & galangal)
We also bought eggs & frozen peas & sweetcorn.
I will update my list as well as post my mealplan for the next few days.

Busybee.. We just got the keys to an allotment a few weeks ago. Am so please as have beenon the waiting list for yrs! Is a real mess as has been abandoned for a year, is a working progress. I will ask around if anyones selling, the people Ive met there so far are lovely people.

Thanks for lunch box ideas fairyprincess & will be using them. Also could I please have a recipe for the chicken, pearl barley, mixed veg e4c you mentioned up thread?

themarsbargirl.. thank you for your lovely plan.. will definitely be doing a lot of your your ideas,

RAS, do you have a recipe for your cowboy casserole please?

RAS

Hi

It was a suggestion from ButterflyBrain in this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5027240

Lots of useful ideas for your sausages there.

RAS

RedCola wrote: »

We just got the keys to an allotment a few weeks ago. Am so please as have beenon the waiting list for yrs! Is a real mess as has been abandoned for a year, is a working progress. I will ask around if anyones selling, the people Ive met there so far are lovely people.

Would you be OK taking the kids up to help with what I call gross weeding - just pulling up the plants or removing the top growth?

Plotters are suckers for kids and if they see them stuck in you may well find people ready to give you stuff; in a year like this when many apple trees are laden you could get a decent bounty.

siws1

Our local butcher sells packs of bacon mis shapes for 2 packs for £1.50/£1.99 depends on size and I have started boiling these up as quite often there are lumps of bacon on there - I then sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on top and put in oven for 10 mins and this turns it into a lovely meal of sugar glazed ham. I haven't bought a ham joint since discovering this. Lidl also sell these packs and last week my pack contained 2 large pieces - which weighed more than a joint of ham for boiling. I have found that this makes a really cheap meal - you could use the stock to make bacon and lentil soup which is yummy - just don't use all the stock as it is quite salty!! Good luck with your meal planning - you seem to be doing good.