Tips and OS recipes for larger families....

mummytofour

I used to come here a lonnnng time ago and now I am mostly to be found on the debt fee wanna be bored.

We are a family of 7 and i really need your help.

Where do I start?

I dont have many pans or much storage space. I have an easy yo, and a slow cooker but little imagination.
Tesco, lidle and sainsbury are in my area for shopping but the food prices have gone mad mad mad and I have noticed that even lidle has gone up loads.

Please somebody take pitty on a rubbish cook who needs a better diet ( student brain) who likes to eat loads of fruit and veg and diet stuff, for cheap.:D

Penelope_Penguin

mummytofour wrote: »

We are a family of 7 and i really need your help.

That's nothing - I've just been reading an article from Saturday's Guardian about a family with 13 children, trying for their 14th :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I'd recommend doing big batch cooks of casseroles, pasta sauces, soup. Make enough for 2 meals and freeze half for another day. This will help reduce the work that you need to do.

Have one baking day a week. Make bread, cakes, biscuits. Again, store some for later in the week.

Can you try cooking with pulses and beans That makes really cheap and filling meals, with low saturated fat, so they're good for you too.

Try buying fruit and veg from the market - it's usually loads cheaper there.

HTH, Penny. x

sammy_kaye18

Hi

Strange that your post hasnt been inundated with replies yet - everyoen must be out enjoyign the sunshine. Anywho...........

firstly welcome to the boards - they are a grand little place, bursting with knowledge, know how and lots fo friendly people. Plenty of advice and dont be scared to post anything that seems remotely daft because they arent nasty in any way, although sarcasm is to be expected.

As far as meals go.

If you have a few basic meals that you liek to stick to then use them, dont eb afraid to make extra though adn freeze it to give your self some time off and a safe back up of food if you find your time limited.

How old are your children? any allergies? If you have any young ones do you make their baby food? this is very cheap, easy and you can keep an eye on what is going into their meals and you basically dont need to do much with it.

You slow cooker (provided its big enough to feed your family) would be helpful - especially in batch cooking things like a basic pasta sauce (provided you eat it), this can then be frozen if you have space to do so and can be used with pasta, spaghetti bolognese, chilli, etc etc. The same goes for things liek shepherds pie - agian fi you have more you can freeze a few portions and it is there if you have a hungry mouth to feed quickly - just whack it in the microwave and jobs a good un. Your SC could also be used for casseroles too and many other measl (there is a thread somewhere on Slow Cooker recipes) that simply you jsut bung it in and leave it all day which would give you soem extra time without having to worry about an evening meal as it would do it itself.

Rubber chicken - again stretched as far as it can go would be able to make a big pot of stock at least with a few odd veggie ends in it to be used/made into soup or cook rice in it for a bit of added flavour.

Beans, lentils, other pulses can be added to meals to bulk them out, also you can stretch meat a bit further by adding lots of vegetables to a meal, also some members like to add a handful of porridge oats to a meal - they dissolve but thicken and bulk out the meal.

i agree with Penny - if you can have a baking day once a week - cake, biscuits, pies, scones , D&DD's bread braid - they are all handy snacky things to keep kids full and stop nagging that they are hungry.

Im sure there will be more along soon to give you more advice

moanymoany

It really depends on the type of food that your family are used to. There are cheap vegetables, cabbage, carrots and seasonal vegetables. A big bag of dried peas goes a long way if your family like mushy peas.

There is no doubt that it costs more to feed more. It is not necessary to eat huge amounts of meat 250 grams of mince should make enough for 6 to have with pasta, to have with mashed potatoes and veg or the base for shepherds pie. It can be mixed with pulses or with dried soya mince as well as lots of carrots and onions.

Quiches, frittatas, vegetables in cheese sauce, sausage casserole with sausages cut into small bits, jacket potatoes with toppings, all worth a try. Don't forget that pastry contains protein in the lard/butter content.

Go to the library and find books specialising in economical food. I'm sure there are many on these threads who can advise which to look for or order.

For generally living on very little I would recommend reading the Tightwad Gazette books. It gives a lot of ideas. I've got a huge amount of inspiration from them. There are SO many ways that the budget gets away that can be stopped.

pennypinchingmum

hi mummytofour, i completely agree on the food prices.
I have 3 children and we have a very healthy diet. We spend around 180- 200 on food and toiletries a month and we get lots of fruit and veg in. I suggest meal planning and also joining the grocery challenges.
We divide up our budget and buy our bulk foods (80-100 pound) ie Pasta rice tins storecupboard nappies etc 1 month from tesco online and get it delivered. We then spend 20 a week on fresh fruit and veg and meat from either tesco or the market and then the remaining goes on milk and little extras. We buy our milk from iceland as it's the cheapest and we always buy whole milk and water it down by a 3rd since we have alot of cereals. Hope this helps.

jackk_2

We are a large ish family too of 6 (although my baby went to Uni, so is not here all the time *boohoo*). I like one pot stews, casseroles and pasta sauces, as said above (less washing up to do also ). i take any recipe for four, and generaly (if possible) quadruple it :eek: , then we eat half and i freeze half. this saves time when i'm busy doing assignments etc, i just say it's in the freezer......go nuke it, and everyones happy :j .

Jackie x

OrkneyStar

You did not say what age your kids are but if old enough you could get them involved in the kitchen and make a couple of homemade pizzas- so much cheaper than the shop ones and you can put what you want on them! Even if kids not interested kneading the dough is a great way to de-stress!!!! ?I agree with a lot of the other ideas, buy in bulk, eke out with veg/pulses etc, buy reduced stuff if you can freeze it or make a meal with it (that you can maybe also freeze some of), be careful with BOGOF-sometimes these do not work out (esp if some goes off or its the premium range that is BOGOF), use shops own brands (9/10 times they are just as edible!), join the supermarket loyalty clubs so when you do shop there you get points (we only shop in Tesco when on the mainland 2-3 times a year yet I collect points and got a £2 off voucher- all helps!), meal plan, set a budget (this might have to be adapted week to week or month to month and don't start too drastically low!), keep receipts and check them, if you have change from shopping put it in an envelope....3 days change can be enough to get bread/milk next time!!!
Good luck and let us know how you get on
Oh yeah, welcome too, I am fairly new as well and its nice to meet more MSE wanabees!

Merlot

mummytofour wrote: »

I used to come here a lonnnng time ago and now I am mostly to be found on the debt fee wanna be bored.

We are a family of 7 and i really need your help.

Where do I start?

I dont have many pans or much storage space. I have an easy yo, and a slow cooker but little imagination.
Tesco, lidle and sainsbury are in my area for shopping but the food prices have gone mad mad mad and I have noticed that even lidle has gone up loads.

Please somebody take pitty on a rubbish cook who needs a better diet ( student brain) who likes to eat loads of fruit and veg and diet stuff, for cheap.:D

Can you post us your typical weekly meal planner and approx cost of the weekly shopping, we will then see what we can do with it.

Merlot.x.

wotnext

I'm in the same boat. We are a family of 5 - soon to be 6. The cost of shopping has gone through the roof and during those months where there are 5 weeks worth of shopping to buy, we are finding it a real struggle.

I have a slow cooker but don't want to rely on casseroles over the summer months. I need inspirational and cheap meal ideas - particularly things that don't take too long to prepare. I am suffering with a few problems during this pregnancy and can't stand for too long and DH works long hours and doesn't particularly want to stand in the kitchen for hours on end preparing a feast.

Hadn't thought of making a huge batch of pasta sauce in the slow cooker. That's a brilliant idea and one that I'll definatley use.

Any others?

zarazara

welcome to the forum.