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

milasavesmoney

OH returned three days early from his fishing trip. I am scrambling to think of something for dinner.
I have spagbol sauce in the freezer to make a pasta bake and frozen bread for garlic toast so that will do. I still have lots of quinoa salad but DH is not a quinoa fan.

WantToBeSE

Morning All

Spendless, sorry to hear about your job. I hope you'll find something else soon.

Missy- how is your vegan journey going? I am on Day 3 and so far so good!

I started trying to empty the freezer yesterday. I have lots of frozen fruit and veg to use up, so am having a smoothie this morning. I put in some frozen kale, mango, pineapple, then a banana and some rice milk.

I have some fresh veggies to use up, so am going to make pizza tonight, and top with peppers, sweetcorn, pineapple and anything else i need to use up.

Spendless

Hi, Thanks for the best wishes. No luck so far, another rejection email yesterday but I have a plan to tackle the house first and job hunt once household organisation is in place.

The good news is the oven is now fixed. :j The element had gone. Didn't cost anything as covered by the insurance policy we took out a couple of months ago when the control panel went- can't believe this oven is only 3 years old. :mad:

As we've been having to manage without oven, yesterday did bbq pulled pork in sc. I do a very simple recipe, where I lightly spray oil (I use frylight, this is a low cal oil spray mila just in case it's not something on sale in the states) on sc sides, to prevent sticking. Put a layer of chopped onions on bottom, pork shoulder on top and pour enough bbq sauce (any brand) over to coat the meat. Leave to cook, remove meat and 'pull' using 2 forks, discarding fat/bones etc. Return pulled meat to sc where it mixes in with onions and juices.

There's always some leftover and there's previously been times where I've thrown it out unable to think of what to use it for. Today for lunch we have had burgers and then I stacked them with the last but one red onion, the last of some lettuce leaves, a sliced tomato, the end of the cheese slices, that I've no idea why I bought! I warmed the leftover pulled pork through and added that and served with wedges and what was left over of the HM coleslaw I made last night and just needed another dollop of mayo stirring through it. DH commented that it was like a gourmet burger and it was! If I'd said 'let's have all these leftovers and use up the end of things' I'm sure I would have been met with protests!

When missymoo returns to her thread something I wanted to mention is getting her husband on board with saving money. I fell out with my DH a few days ago. I am trying to cut back on things and our iron broke. DH went out to get another, I said for him to look for one on offer and a budget of around £40. He came back having spent £70 on one. :eek:

BrassicWoman

milasavesmoney wrote: »

OH returned three days early from his fishing trip. I am scrambling to think of something for dinner. .

not fish then?

Soworried

All tonights dinner was from stores. I had some cauliflower in the freezer that I had frozen when it was getting a bit limp. I defrosted it and whizzed it in the food processor. stir fried it in egg and a touch of butter to make egg fried cauliflower rice.
Served it with a chunky vegetable curry using the cheap easter veg.

milasavesmoney

BrassicWoman wrote: »

not fish then?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
No fish brought home!

Spendless that is a good tip. I spend time soaking and scrubbing my SC and to think I could have an easier time of it makes me happy!! :j

Soworried

I've have a jar of potato cheese and ham bake in the cupboard but not enough potatoes left to use it. I was thinking of pouring it over lasagne sheets with bacon and onions and broccoli between the layers, then topping with cheddar cheese.
Do you think this will work?

[Deleted User]

Soworried why not, it sounds OK to me and a sauce is what you would normally use in lasagne.I'd give it a go, in fact it sounds pretty delicious

last night was a bit of pot luck dinner I had got a chicken thigh out of the freezer plus an unidentifiable bit of meat Turned out when defrosted it was the tail end of a bit of pork fillet.So I wrapped it in dry stuffing mix and bunged it into the remoska along with the chicken thigh and the both of them wrapped in foil.Turned out pretty nice in fact along with some string beans from the freezer and a couple of lonely looking hash browns from the freezer that had found their way to the bottom of the freezer box was jolly nice and helps to use up bits .

I don't mind 'freezer roulette' at all as its surprising how nice it sometimes turns out to be I like to live dangerously :) and often the unexpected is better than what you know
Only have three meals to dig out this week for dinner as today I am at DDs for dinner, and Tuesday its quiz night at the pub, and I am away on Friday for a weeks holiday, so more than enough in the freezer to get me through the week. I am determined to run the freezer down for defrosting and use up the odds and ends in there

Soworried

Thanks Jackie, I'm going to give it a try. It needs used up as it is about a year OOD :rotfl:

Soworried

Soworried wrote: »

I've have a jar of potato cheese and ham bake in the cupboard but not enough potatoes left to use it. I was thinking of pouring it over lasagne sheets with bacon and onions and broccoli between the layers, then topping with cheddar cheese.
Do you think this will work?

It worked and it was lovely :j

2 portions left for lunch the next 2 days as well