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

WantToBeSE

That tortilla wrap above, does anyone know if they go hard once cooled down, or if you can make them in advance and they stay soft and pliable?

HOWMUCH

Well done Tink, I never ever only cook 2 portions as we are empty nester's and you're right it's amazing how much you save. I make a post it list of what we are going to eat that week and decide the night before what we will have the following day. We swop around within the week as to what we fancy. I do most of the cooking at the weekend or on Thursdays when we don't childmind DGS. It's all stress free and money saving.
Sorry Wantobe I've never made them. x

milasavesmoney

WantToBeSE wrote: »

That tortilla wrap above, does anyone know if they go hard once cooled down, or if you can make them in advance and they stay soft and pliable?

If you wrap them if foil you can freeze them and then heat in the oven or take the burrito out of the foil, wrap in a paper towel and microwave. If storing just the tortillas you can stack them in a zip lock bag once they have cooled and either refrigerate or freeze. They should still be soft.

Dinner tonight will be three random freezer chicken thighs (when did I freeze them?) that are deboned, cubed and saut!ed with garlic and chopped onion. Then thrown in will be halved cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach and a big shot of balsamic vinegar. I'll serve it over pasta. I need to make a salad too... I hate making salad!
All from my food stores.:D

milasavesmoney

HM clam chowder, yeast rolls, spinach salad.
From my food stores.

WantToBeSE

milasavesmoney wrote: »

If you wrap them if foil you can freeze them and then heat in the oven or take the burrito out of the foil, wrap in a paper towel and microwave. If storing just the tortillas you can stack them in a zip lock bag once they have cooled and either refrigerate or freeze. They should still be soft.

Dinner tonight will be three random freezer chicken thighs (when did I freeze them?) that are deboned, cubed and saut!ed with garlic and chopped onion. Then thrown in will be halved cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach and a big shot of balsamic vinegar. I'll serve it over pasta. I need to make a salad too... I hate making salad!
All from my food stores.:D

Thanks Mila We go through loads of wraps for burritos mainly, so will definitely be trying that recipe!

milasavesmoney

All from my food stores: meatloaf, asparagus (that I had brought home when our daughter took us out to eat), black eyed peas, mashed with gravy and left over brownies.

missymoo81

Hellooooo,

I'm so sorry to be MIA, have been really struggling with everything really. I unexpectedly, but not without reason, handed my notice in at work with immediate effect. OH has been away nearly 8 weeks now, he was supposed to be home ages ago. These things have really taken their toll and I've not been as good as I should have been!
I'm sorry about work Spendless, and thanks everyone for keeping the thread going.
Onwards and upwards now though, I've managed to secure a better job with less hours and more pay, without a verbally abusive alcoholic boss! And OH comes home Monday. So still a bit of stress with the transition of OH being home after so long, always a difficult first week, and the stress of starting a new job, but it will all settle down soon.

Ok so I was vegan for 2 weeks, then had to go to family's house for dinner and it all fell apart. But I'm eating a lot less meat, but will ch she small things daily until things are vegan again instead of stressing. Shopping wise.... I've not spent a lot but haven't been eating out of the freezer as much. But have been using up lots of cupboard bits which is what it's all about.
Right about to have a delve in the cupboards and get back on it. Love the tortilla recipes by the way. Will endeavour to make those soon!!!

milasavesmoney

Welcome back!! You have been missed!! I'm glad that you have made the needed work changes. That should help with stress levels!! I know having your OH home again will be good for everyone.

Broomstick

Can I pop in a tip that has been working for me since I went through my store cupboards before Christmas?

I found quite a lot of things like tins or packets of stuff that I hadn't got round to using and were now beyond their best before dates. I wasn't going to chuck them out since everything still looked fine but I did want to make sure they got used up and didn't hang around for even longer so I left one shelf of the cupboard clear and all these items were put onto it. It has meant that, as I've been meal planning, I've consciously been able to work at chipping away at reducing this stuff down. Sometimes, I've built my lunches around specific ingredients - I had risotto with the out of date rice for weeks on end - but at least it's been eaten up.

I've still kept adding to and using up the in-date stocks as needed but separating out the 'eat this sooner' stuff has really helped.

B x

milasavesmoney

Tonight's dinner is BBQ chicken. It was a hugh 10 lb. sack of leg and thighs. I took out what I was going to grill and chucked the rest along with a few chickeney spices in the SC. Almost coved it with water and it's been cooking on low all day. I'll portion out the chicken for recipes after I shred it. That plus the strained broth will go in the freezer for future meals.
Also having coleslaw I made with a shredded cabbage, carrot, lime juice, olive oil and Greek seasoning. It is doing its thing in the fridge right now.
Probably some roasted sweet potato wedges to round things out.
All from food I already have.