feed a family of 4, almost vegan, on a rather small budget! Old Style!

phizzimum

I'm neither vegan nor vegetarian but I'm really enjoying this thread and I'm loving the ideas I'm picking up.

Can I just take a moment to commend everyone for the lovely positive tone that's been maintained by everyone. The comments are both supportive and respectful of people's dietary choices. So well done, everyone! :T:T:T

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - if it comes to the texture of porridge - I find that I used to make mine of standard porridge oats and wasn't too sure about it when I bought jumbo oats by mistake one time. However, I ate my way through the packet and these days I find I'm not too keen on the texture of it if I buy standard oats by mistake and I make sure I do buy the jumbo oats - as I prefer the texture of them.

Anne_Marie_2

You should be able to make that Sunday roast chicken spin out a bit, obviously depending on the size....you might even get it to cover two Sunday roasts, as it will just be for one adult and two little ones, and even a bit extra to spare for other recipes. I won't insult your intelligence regarding recipes for making chicken stretch out....this board is full of ideas!

Also, regarding stuffing, it's so easy and cheap to make your own. Am a bit out of touch with UK prices, so can't say if it would be cheaper to buy or make your own. Sage and onion is just breadcrumbs, a beaten egg, small diced onion sauteed, and some fresh or dried sage....and if you don't have sage, you can substitute with another fresh or dried herb that you have in.

Manxcottageonthehill

Hello!

I've just spent the last day reading this thread, I've loved all the extra notes I've made. I went Vegan on the 1st April after lots of years trying to, thankfully with my sisters this time so I have a lovely support system, and my other half is really decent in eating what I put in front of him, even if he doesn't like it. Then again he cannot cook anything bar toast!!

It might not help but every Sunday is family Sunday in our house which is normally me, the other half, my big sister and her other half, my big big sister and my parents of which 3 are Vegan, two put up with being Vegan and my parents. My mum is willing to try anything (and is even taking us to a Vegan festival for Christmas) but my Dad, oh dear he is a very true to meat and two veg as you can get. After a few months we gave up trying to make a meal that everyone will eat and we just said if you want meat he can cook it himself, so he does. That way we're not feeling like we are going against our principles and he is still getting the "Sunday Roast" he wants. Everything else is Vegan, veg as normal, roasties with oil, gravy is bisto, still haven't mastered yorkshire puds though and pudding is either apple pie/crumble with alpro custard or cream.

HTH I know it was a bit of a ramble!!

missymoo81

so sorry for being MIA, work and writing assignments has taken over, and I did find time to write a lovely long post, only to have it deleted as it timed out grrrrr!!!

I do think that after much thought it is very much each to their own, and if OH wants to eat meat he can cook it, but I will buy the milk!

ok have come up with a super cheap menu plan, not sure what everyone will make of it but, I've managed to get it down to £25 per week.... this is for OUR family of 4, which is 2 children under 5 and 2 adults. Its not intended for long time but as a 'how cheaply can we live if we had to' sort of thing, and it is purely for food nothing else, so here goes:

This is shopping at aldi and tesco as they are cheapest and closest to me:
shreddies 89p
soya milk x 2 £1.18
sweet potatoes 85p
peppers 99p
strong flour 75p
jam 27p
porridge 75p
yeast 64p
sugar 25p
coffee £1.39
tesco value tea 25p
butternut squash 55p
value rice 40p
pasta 29p
tinned garden peas 21p
tesco reduced 30 bananas 66p
satsumas 55p
kidney beans tin 25p
pears x2 bags of 7 98p
tinned tomatoes x 2 50p
passata 35p
2 x 4pt organic whole milk £3.00
carrots x2 86p
onions 59p
tesco value stock cubes 30p
tinned sweetcorn 35p
bourbon biscuits 22p
rich tea 25p
400g fresh spinach £1.39
bag rocket x 2 £1.58
tesco pride coconut milk tin 70p
1l fresh concentrate orange juice £1.18
chickpeas x 2 50p

everything is from aldi unless marked tesco, I've used prices form tesco and mysupermarket. I appreciate i have included reduced bananas, but I feel this is realistic, as literally, every time i go in there, although its timed right, there are always reduced bananas.

And I know i haven't included any spices, but I'm hoping people with have some in their store, or if they managed to get some things yellow stickers they could maybe get one a week with the extra, alai's are about 49p.

£25.00

missymoo81

Ok breakfast:

OH shreddies with milk
coffee with milk
satsuma
1/2 banana

Me: 1 1/2 banana and few spinach leaves smoothie, made with coconut milk, tablespoon of oats and water
tea with soya milk, glass of juice

children: porridge made with 130g porridge milk.
banana and pear glass of juice

snack: biscuit

lunch: home made bread and soup made from sweet potatoes, onions, stock and carrots. and home made banana bread

Children snack: biscuit jam sandwich

Dinner:

chilli, made with kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, peppers and sweetcorn serve with rice and some rocket

curry, made with 1/4 butternut squash, onions, chopped tomatoes 2 tblsp coconut milk and chickpeas, serve with rice and some spinach, make some flat breads with flour and water if have time

pizza, made with flour and yeast and sugar, spread with a little passata, sweetcorn, peppers, spinach, rocket and grated carrots.

Fajitas, made with onions, peppers, carrots chick peas, serve with rocket and wraps

calzone, as pizza but with onions and more passata, and all ingredients fried up before hand, serve with rocket

butternut pasta - made with onions, 1/4 butternut squash, red pepper, ladle full of soup, all fried off, add half cooked pasta, then a little passata, grind of pepper, all mixed in and bunged in the oven, serve with spinach

risotto - made with stock, rice, onions, 1/4 butternut squash and tin of peas, grind of pepper, served with any left over rocket and spinach

So there you go!! Let me know what you think

missymoo81

Will try and work out the macros later if I can.

shandyclover

missymoo81 wrote: »

Ok breakfast:

OH shreddies with milk
coffee with milk
satsuma
1/2 banana

Me: 1 1/2 banana and few spinach leaves smoothie, made with coconut milk, tablespoon of oats and water
tea with soya milk, glass of juice

children: porridge made with 130g porridge milk.
banana and pear glass of juice

snack: biscuit

lunch: home made bread and soup made from sweet potatoes, onions, stock and carrots. and home made banana bread

Children snack: biscuit jam sandwich

Dinner:

chilli, made with kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, peppers and sweetcorn serve with rice and some rocket

curry, made with 1/4 butternut squash, onions, chopped tomatoes 2 tblsp coconut milk and chickpeas, serve with rice and some spinach, make some flat breads with flour and water if have time

pizza, made with flour and yeast and sugar, spread with a little passata, sweetcorn, peppers, spinach, rocket and grated carrots.

Fajitas, made with onions, peppers, carrots chick peas, serve with rocket and wraps

calzone, as pizza but with onions and more passata, and all ingredients fried up before hand, serve with rocket

butternut pasta - made with onions, 1/4 butternut squash, red pepper, ladle full of soup, all fried off, add half cooked pasta, then a little passata, grind of pepper, all mixed in and bunged in the oven, serve with spinach

risotto - made with stock, rice, onions, 1/4 butternut squash and tin of peas, grind of pepper, served with any left over rocket and spinach

So there you go!! Let me know what you think

Your shopping list in the previous post looks very, very similar to ours! Our 2 closest shops are also Aldi and Tesco though we do also have an ethnic store close by.

My only suggestions would be to boost protein and iron content...

Add a few tablespoons of red lentils to your sweet potato soup or add soya milk. If the soup is blended the lentils won't be noticed if you are worried about texture.

If you are baking home made banana bread add a tablespoon of soya flour. This is a flour made out of soya beans. We buy the brand 'East End' from an ethnic food store. It can be added to baked goods, in fact apparently a lot of store bought bread has it added in the manufacturing process as it prolongs the shelf life. This will also smuggle in more protein and iron and it's relatively cheap.

Will the kiddos accept a tablespoon of peanut butter on their jam sandwich? My girls favorite snack now is peanut butter spread on apple slices - it's amazing.

When you list spinach are you using raw or cooked? On the pasta bake day I would sprinkle some pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds over the raw spinach along with a drizzle of olive oil to make a complete protein.

I have opinions regarding juice, especially given to children. A lot of people say it causes hyperactivity, high blood sugar and when our youngest had braces she was banned from juice of all types by her dentist as he said it was more destructive to the teeth than pop! Daughter has braces off now and we do buy it occasionally though it is considered a treat. Since I am so budget challenged I would rather buy the actual fruit with its live enzymes but obviously do your own research and decide whats best for you. Having oranges or orange juice at the same time as spinach, the vitamin c will encourage the maximum iron absorption.

There are a couple things we make a priority on buying no matter how strapped the budget due to most of the household being vegan. Marmite has lots of vitamins that can be hard to get into the vegan diet. Thankfully my DD's love it and its a favorite snack marmite on (reduced!) granary toast. Right now the girls are brand snobs and only like Marmite so I usually look up on my supermarket the cheapest place to buy the giant 500ml jars, but if the price keeps climbing we will have to downgrade to Tesco only brand. Molasses is very, very high in both calcium and iron. The cheapest place we found it was in H&B. I don't care for it but hubby and kids spread it on pancakes and toast.

We buy our coconut for 59p a can at Home Bargains, if you have one of those anywhere nearby? You can also buy solid blocks of coconut from ethnic stores for about 70p. These have to be made up with water, a bit of a faff, but good value as one block makes a liter of coconut milk.

Its taken me years to sort out cooking and shopping economically for a vegan household, so I think you are doing brilliantly. I will post a few bits later like a recipe for HM mozzarella which can be used on pizza etc. as well as links to some sites I have found really helpful.

WantToBeSE

missymoo81 wrote: »

soya milk x 2 £118

Wow, expensive soya milk Sorry, couldn't help myself. :rotfl:

I think your meal plan sounds delicious! I made vegan calzones a while ago and my kids went mad for them! They are on my list of things to batch cook and freeze (i must do that soon!).

Re your banana/spinach smoothie- after time, your taste buds adapt and you can put more spinach (or even kale) in there and you dont notice the taste. I swear it's true, it's not just a play to get more green veg into me!

It might also be worth looking on Instagram for some vegan food inspiration, i often get some recipes from there. I post loads of photos of vegan food on there, as do a lot of other people. Just search the hashtag #vegansofig or just #vegan.

joedenise

Missymoo - I notice you've included yeast @ 64p; I assume that's for dried. Did you know that if your Tesco has a bakery then you can get fresh yeast free. They always give me loads and then you can freeze it in icecube trays and use straight from frozen or defrost first if you remember.

Denise