setting my grocery budget,y 'almost eight' son and I. Advice appreciated x

maman

I'd suggest you make up batches of Bolognese sauce (padded out with plenty of chopped veg) and freeze it in 2 portion containers. Those 'take-away' ones you get from the pound shop are excellent. Then you'll have healthy HM ready meals to hand for busy days. I think it tastes better after marinading too.


Same applies to savoury mince or chilli.


That way you can have a mince based dish once or twice a week max rather than having it night after night and getting bored.


It may cost a bit more up front but I think it's worth it. Your boy might enjoy joining in the batch cooking too like chopping carrots and mushrooms. I use my slow cooker but the hob works just as well.:)

cheel

Thankyou cyantist, I will test myself on a few and see if I can tell. It'd be a fun game to play with my son!! he'd love that!!

Thanks grunnie, if I buy bottles it vanished astonishingly fast!

Yes maman, sort of like home made ready meals., amd i wont have to cook for so long!! Its cottage pie tonight so I was going to freeze half the mix for next week

Enjoyyourshoes, I've never cooked ham hock ill have to have a go. My son doesn't like ham but I love it, so might be good for my lunches when the leftover roast meat runs out.

Xxx

Soworried

I work on a budget of £15 per person per week and I think we live very well on that.
We do tend to get most of our meat ys though. At full price I tend to only buy full chickens and salami.
We pad out our meat with a lot of veg. What ever is on the super 6 or other offers tends to be the base of my weeks meal plan.
We eat very little pasta, rice as I find our waist lines go up when we eat them more than once a week.
We are quite firm with ourselves on the amount of rubbish we buy/eat. We will buy a tube of pringles etc if down to £1 and weigh out a 35g serving so that they last ages and again for health reasons.
Lentils are a must in this house, we love them in vegetable curries, dhals, soups etc. Great food and protein source for very little money.
Cooking from scratch is the biggest money saver. I spend an hour or so on a Sunday morning planning out our week and then preping it in advance.

Pollycat

cheel wrote: »

My son loves mince type meals so planning a cottage pie and chilli for two more meals one week, and the other week mince and dumplings and a spaghetti Bolognese, so that's 4 meals a week already.

To ring the changes, you could use pork, chicken or turkey mince to make 'cottage' pie
I call it oink pie, !!!!-a-doodle pie and gobble pie.
To get more of our 5-a-day, I sometimes put mashed carrot, swede or caulilower into the mash.

I tend to put mushrooms and a tin of chopped tomatoes in instead of the carrots I'd put in beef or lamb.

How about home-made burgers and home-made wedges?

maman

enjoyyourshoes wrote: »

Butcher= Hock ham= cook for 4/6 hours (use liquor as basis for next soup)

Make short crust pastry pie, layers sliced hard boiled egg, then English mustard then chopped up ham+saut!ed onion and apple, to top it sliced egg and mustard then the pie lid

Cheap as chips (well chips are not cheap unless you make them yourselves and best chips are sweet potato home made chips)

Lentil soup made from the liquid is my absolute favourite and if you have the facilities you can take it to work to reheat fro lunch or use a flask.


I add lentils (obviously:o), onions, carrots and leeks and celery if I have any and any stray scraps of ham that fall off when I'm slicing it.


This is something else that I make a load of and freeze in portions.


I really would recommend gradually filling your freezer with HM ready meals. I know loads of people recommend the 'rubber chicken' approach but personally I would soon get fed up if I had to have similar things day after day.

Pollycat

I did a pork mince madras in the slow cooker with some mince that had been in the freezer for quite a long time.

Raw mince, lentils, onions, mushrooms, tins of chopped tomatoes and a couple of jars of Sharwoods madras cooking sauce that my mum was throwing out as it had just reached the 'best before' date.

Froze 3 double portions and have it with basmati rice and a dollop of lime pickle.

WARNING!!!!

Always remember to label what you put into the freezer.
I also keep a list of what's in & when it went in. It makes it easier to read through your list with a cup of coffee when you're menu planning instead of being elbow-deep in the freezer.

Another option for a meal you could consider is sausage and bean casserole.
I use good quality sausages so you don't need a lot and grill them then slice each sausage into 4 pieces.
Put chopped tomatoes, onions and your choice of beans - I find baked beans and red kidney beans in chilli sauce work well, sometimes borlotti/canellini/butter beans - herbs and cook in the oven.
That can also be frozen.
I serve it with mashed potatoes.

cheel

Thanks every one. Loads of great ideas there!

Well the cottage pie mince did both of us last night, me for lunch today and I've half in the freezer for mince and dumplings another day! While the oven was on I filled it with some mini bajis leftover from Christmas to nibble on and a danish thing for after tea and a tray of veg that I dont think ill use before they go over I roasted and plan to turn into soup while I cook tea tonight. So that's more lunches!!

feel like its all going to work out ok.

I'm going to have to take one of my customers to small claims court so I'm down to the bottom of my money right now, but I know I've paid all the bills there's food in and money on the way so and if I stick to budget this will be the worst it ever needs to get.

And I've learnt a valuable lesson. If you say cash on delivery take the items away until you get paid!!! I'm too flipping trusting. Xx

AnnieO1234

cyantist wrote: »

On one of eat well for less episodes there was a woman who drank a lot of coca cola and swore she'd be able to tell if they replaced it for a different brand. She couldn't tell. I think it was morrisons own brand cola they had swapped for and was way cheaper.

I saw the same show. The woman only drank one can a day. (I've normally had two before I get out of bed!), Morrisons version is awful.

xxx

hilstep2000

I make rissoles with left over roast meat. Just mince the meat and an onion. (I do mine in a processor). Some breadcrumbs, small amount of nutmeg, and mixed herbs. Mix in an egg, shape into balls or patties, roll in flour and fry till golden.
My OH loves them!

cheel

:I have days like that too Annie, today is one as my son if off school with a temperature. There's something going round at his school. There were only 18 in one class yesterday. however I think I acted too quick to keep home as hes fine now!!! :huh:

Thanks hilstep they sound nice.

Well I've been keeping to the plan. Its not so easy at the moment but just got to keep going. I've four quid in my purse ao I'm still solvent!! :beer:

Going to take half an hour and work out my main meal plan. Then list what's in the freezer and swap about from my master menu plan to use it appropriately.

Soup for lunch which I cooked yesterday. handy for a poorly boy. I think I need to bake some bread too! No idea what's for tea. But cant take son out so we will ha e to use what we have, which is a good job considering the £4 !!

Hope you are all having good days

Cheel. Xx