Living out of my store cupboard & freezer, how little can I spend to feed my family?

missymoo81

Thank you for advice Siberia, and RAS, its much appreciated, I didn't even think about sugar and fat to be honest, I need to think a bit more, I think . We don't have fruit juice, I managed to wean the on to water when I realised the error of my ways! We have apples, pears, bananas, grapes and oranges as staple fruits in this house. But what I think I might do is just have apples, pears and bananas, as they eat them one after the other before breakfast, so only one sugar hit, that way. Littlies have either porridge or (tesco) shreddies for breakfast, tend to have a sandwich for lunch, with fruit and a biscuit, and whatever we have for dinner, followed by a yoghurt.

I will try and change fruit for veg sticks at lunch, and maybe make some biscuit/cakey type things with the ingredients i have.

I have basically been eating rubbish, hence the sudden need to diet and then not following it through as everyone has had flu this week.

Right since my first post, I have done my cupboard and freezer inventory and am just typing it up, am coming up with recipes as I'm typing which I'm really happy about, I do actually love to cook and am not bad at it, and have more cookbooks than I care to mention, so I am fully equipped to do this, but laziness and burying my head in the sand have stopped me.... No more!!! Right on to posting lists!!!

ceeCee1 and wanttobese we didn't have much food when i was a kid, and what we did have wasn't the best, my mum was a really bad cook too, so we lived on pie and chips and cheap rubbish, my mother was too busy treating herself to her WW meals!? I also love a 'bargain', but am starting to see that bargains aren't bargains if you don't need it in the first place..... let alone 3 of them.....

missymoo81

ok have posted the list of shame, am now working on recipes. A couple of things I'd like to ask you lovely ladies is:

Can I use bread flour instead of plain flour in cakes or to make pasta for instance? (As I have a pasta maker) I'm thinking it may be too coarse for pasta, but maybe ok in cakes.....

Some things jump out as being able to do, like make bread for sandwiches, but others do not, like what am I going to do with all that Quinoa? Maybe use it instead of rice?

Right thinking head on, back soon with a list of meals?!!

RAS

missymoo81 wrote: »

fridge
1 x 4pt milk - either use quickly or decant half and freeze.
1 1/2 cartons of almond milk?!
2/3rds red pepper - needs using (pasta bake or soup)
7 onions - get these out of the fridge, they keep better dry and warm.
5 bendy carrots - bendy veg soup
2 slowly going off courgettes! - needs using either pasta bake or soup

1/2 tub grapes
2/3rds punnet of strawberries - priority eat as they will not keep
1/4 punnet of blueberries - keep somewhat better IME

3 x large caulk, why???!!! - should keep fr a week or two - cauli cheese, gobi curry?
1 x broccoli
2/3rds punnet of mushrooms - pasta bake, chicken bake?
1 x butternut squash - get this out of the fridge and keep dry and it should keep well for a few weeks
5 x avocado, again, why, as if I can eat them that quickly?!
6 x kiwi
6 satsumas
2/3rds punnet cherry tomatoes - into a pasta or chicken bake? or as sweeties for the kids?
3 slices ham - wrap round chicken breasts or in pasta bakes?
4 sticks celery - bendy soup

bit of old parmesan ?! - flavours soups
1 1/2 bags of spinach - wilt and freeze.

With respect to the flour, white keeps better than wholemeal but it can go rancid. You might want to taste a few, reseal if good and freeze for a month?

missymoo81

Wow Ras thank you so much for taking the time to comment on all of those things. On that note I think I will meal plan for the coming 7-10 days to see what I can use up.

WantToBeSE

Also, dont forget that you can freeze strawberries and other berries (if you have enough freezer space!). Just lay them on a tray and freeze, then bag up

Also strawberries, almond milk and spinach would make a lovely smoothie for breakfasts.

Carrots, courgettes and peppers, cauli and BNS can all be sliced and frozen, or do what i do and cut it all up and make a veggie curry You could serve that with quinoa instead of rice. Any leftovers can be portioned and frozen for future 'diy' ready meals.

Nargleblast

Missy moo, looks like you have the makings for a whole month of dinners, going by your lists!

Couple of suggestions - use quinoa as a side dish where you would normally use potatoes, rice or pasta.
Make a huge pan of soup using different combinations of vegetables, chucking in leftover gravies, stock etc. Soup with bread on the side, followed by cake or pudding of some sort, can be a substantial dinner. You could also do soup and sandwiches or toast for lunch sometimes.

Nargleblast

One more thing - when you do your meal plans, aim to use up fresh stuff first, so it doesn't go off. Get into the habit of checking your fridge and fresh fruit/veg stocks every day - if something looks like it will soon go off, use it up that day or freeze it. Give yourself a challenge not to let anything go to waste!

gizwal

Hi missymoo, my food list could rival yours and there is only me and OH to feed! Without checking I know I have 10 bags of pasta, 7 tins of salmon, loads of noodles etc. Like wanttobeSE, my childhood meals were made up of the cheapest food and scraps,so me stocking up and having the freezer full to bursting is like a buffer against that.
I spend an awful amount on food, so I decided that from this week I will only buy what I need to use this week.
Also ,I do the same re the diet thing- buy loads of salad and leave it to rot, so for me it`s less waste to buy up a small boxed salad when I fancy one-at least it gets eaten then. To lose weight I am doing smaller portions of my normal meals,which might work for you.
Carrots and courgettes-either slice and freeze, or use a julienne cutter to shred some into salads, or curry, bolognese etc,it`s nice, and adds a bit of colour and crunch.
Looks like you know where to make changes, so good luck with your challenge- I will be following closely !

missymoo81

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Also, dont forget that you can freeze strawberries and other berries (if you have enough freezer space!). Just lay them on a tray and freeze, then bag up

Also strawberries, almond milk and spinach would make a lovely smoothie for breakfasts.

Carrots, courgettes and peppers, cauli and BNS can all be sliced and frozen, or do what i do and cut it all up and make a veggie curry You could serve that with quinoa instead of rice. Any leftovers can be portioned and frozen for future 'diy' ready meals.

Love all of these suggestions thank so much! I didn't even think about freezing fruit, even though I have plenty, but It would go nicely on top of porridge in the mornings, just got out the night before!

And thank you Nargeblast, I think I will freeze all of the cauliflower, bar one and make soup out of that and the bendy stuff. definitely a veggie pasta bake too.

And you're right, usually my downfall is, I just see stuff and plan around it, but the easiest as opposed to the freshest first. I've already struck stuff off my shopping list from before my LBM cumin, i've just run out of, I have cumin seeds I've found, so I can use those, jam... I can use frozen fruit instead!

Will start planning, just bathing the littlies, they have had cheese burgers for dinner, this was on their request, and because they have had this awful virus bug all week, I had to succumb to what they wanted really, but at least its using up stuff from my freezer, so thats 2 burgers, and 2 buns from the freezer. Also the dodgy bolognaise from the fridge and a handful of rice, i cooked more than needed so will do something with that tomorrow. possibly make a veggie curry to go with it. Need to get into the habit of using quinoa instead!

Thanks again for your support and thoughts

missymoo81

Hi Gizwal, its comforting to know I'm not the only one!!