Food budget plan

RedCola

Thank you all - so many ideas to look through. I understand the suggestions of cheaper cuts, and will be doing that. What do I ask my butcher for?

I'm going to sit down and reread all the posts, taking notes. I should come up with some plan hopefully, and be able to shop from that. Any more suggestions on what I can do with what I already have would be a help.
I normally just put easy meals together - tacos / lasagne etc. However, I buy the kits in or something. With what I have, I cant see a meal at all (other than what others have put already)

Stressed about packed lunches still - is it worth dipping into my budget for flasks? Or should I leave it? If so what flasks actually work?

angelpye

Hi RedCola,
I would probably leave flasks until when your budget isn't so tight unless its absolutely necessary to have hot food and no microwave available etc. I often have leftovers of pasta or rice based dishes cold the next day with salad for lunch.
You have to find the right balance for you though. Once you have worked out a full plan you will feel so much better. If tacos etc are a big hit in your family and you eat them regularly could you look at recipes online - I am sure buying the actual spices will work out much cheaper over say four meals. Lasagna is a good one for making in bulk if you can do it cheap enough. Tips like adding grated carrot to the mince in sauce will make the meat stretch much further. But like others have said jacket potatoes, egg with chips type meals will also help.

culpepper

For the meat, anything where you can cut it up and add it as a component of the meal instead of the main attraction will help..
For example, 4 chops will make one meal each for 4 people with chips and veg but if you cut the meat off the bone and have a risotto or casserole it will stretch much further. Same with sausages and fish etc
For crumbles you can add porridge oats as the topping if you have it handy.
For pies, a plate pie is good if you dont have enough pastry ingredients to make a whole one. You just put the filling in the dish or deepish plate, then cover with a circle of pastry or mashed potato .You can even make a savoury crumble instead with flour and fat or breadcrumbs and grated cheese or even crushed crisps for the topping .
The main thing is to shop at home first by checking out your cupboards to see what you can use instead when you dont have something.

jackyann

I would probably leave trying too many new things until you have a little more leeway in your budget. But here is where I would start:

Whatever you make using 'kits' deconstruct. Look on recipe sites for how to make them, and look around - compare delia to waitrose to bbc to bootstrap and others.
Remember that buying spices, herbs, pulses, rice etc. from your local Asian grocer is usually much cheaper than the supermarket (or in a big supermarket, look in the'ethnic' aisle.

Think of a cheap cut of meat that you think the family will like - again, look around recipes and be aware that some recipe sites are extravagant with extra ingredients! One you've decided, ask your butcher for it, and then give it try.

Whenever I tried something new with my kids, I always made sure there was plenty of HM cole slaw and jacket potatoes!

And ask on here!

nmlc

Afternoon

Some excellent ideas already given as always. Do you have any of the more budget supermarkets near you? It would possibly be worth a look, one of them does a Super 6 - fruit and veg every week - very often packs of fruit or veg for 49p each - it's normally a 2 week offer then it changes to something else, but a good way of buying fruit/veg to use and to chop up and freeze for use at a later date.

Also you said packed lunches are a source of stress for you - at the budget supermarkets they sell packs of part baked rolls (also main one's do, but are a lot more expensive), if the children would eat those maybe it's worth buying them cooking them the night before/early morning and then putting a filling in - so much nicer than 2 slices of bread slapped together. Some really good tips from others also re grating cheese etc. Plan everything - also you don't necessary need to plan every day what meal you're going to eat, you could plan 5 evening meals and then decide depending on time/after school activities etc what night you're going to eat what. Also maybe worthwhile thinking of having a batch cooking day when you feel more confident. Also if you cook a roast on a Sunday - prep and cook extra so there's leftovers for another night's dinner - but only do this if it's going to get eaten, no point doing it then digging it out of the fridge 5 days later and binning it! A tip that I was given from someone many years ago when my children were small and taking pack ups - if you buy the cartons of juice for lunches, put them in the freezer the night before and then when you put the packed lunch in the lunchbag you have a sort of ice block keeping the food cool and fresh - obviously much better in the warmer weather, but by lunchtime the juice has defrosted so they can still drink it.

The children may also like homemade little cakes in their lunchboxes - if the school allows - I know alot of schools are quite strict now what they can have in their packed lunches, you could also make biscuits, cookies, flapjacks etc.

HTH

Keep safe and well x

nmlc x

Ginmonster

RedCola - I know you've said you're not comfortable with baking and I totally understand. I'm a good cook but a rubbish baker. I think I don't like following instructions! The one thing I do find easy is flapjacks - I think they're pretty hard to get wrong and are a good filling treat. You've already got oats and fruit/ nuts so you'd just need syrup and butter. You also seem to have the stuff to make bread so it might be worth checking out freecycle and freegle to see if you can bag a free bread maker. You never know your luck!

Wysiwyg49

Lots of good ideas so far. Here are a couple of budget meal plans to have a look at - try picking out the things you think the family will eat and put something together?

Anneliese Giggins - search on the goodtoknow recipe site or read the article here. £20 a week in 2014 I think, for family of 4, so will be more now. The article gives tips on which bits worked best.

Skint Dad - £40 a week meal plan

I often search for meal plans to give myself ideas, otherwise end up doing the same few things over and over! Good luck with the debt reduction and this is definitely an area you can save money.

carriebradshaw

don't worry about being a great baker,I'm not either, I just do easy things like twinks hob nobs or sponge cakes & cup cakes.Cake can always be served in a bowl with some custard if it doesn't look as good as you wanted it to and it will be happily gobbled up by all.
You'll get better with practice as you get more confident anyway,
Like others have mentioned value/basics biscuits and crackers are very good indeed .I prefer them to a lot of the big brand named biccies and you can get lots more for your money as well.

suki1964

There's a good few meals there already without needing to spend

Do your roast lamb for Sunday but really up the veg and perhaps make a Yorkshire to stretch it to leave left overs

Left overs, shred the meat, saute some mushrooms, onions, whatever veg you have in a frying pan. Add a dollop of say sweet chilli sauce, or whatever sauces you have ( go easy on soy) then fill some hot pittas with salad and top with the lamb mixture

Pigs in blankets , make a toad and serve with tinned spag or beans

Pork sausages, sausage casserole, onion, mushroom, tinned toms, sugar, Worcester sauce ( or brown sauce, whatever you have ) and a tin of beans rinsed off

Lamb sausages, skin them, make meat balls, add some chopped onions and herbs, dry fry, make a curry sauce if you have the spices or a tomato based one, serve with the cous cous

Lamb shanks,4 are plenty for a family. Cook them then shred the meat off them. I use 2 to feed 3 adults

Packed lunches need to be planned. Kids obviously are restricted but adults can take flasks or you may have a microwave in work? If so , HM soup, lentil is cheap, easy and filling. Kids like finger food. So salad wraps with some protein ( poach the chicken, chop small, add corn and mix with mayo ), filled pittas, veggie and fruit sticks etc

Meal planning is paramount to keeping hold of the pennies. It doesn't have to be written in stone, you just need to know what you are buying and how to use it. Example, if I need mushrooms for one dish, I make sure they are used up else where that week, my left ones this week are going in a steak pie for tomorrow. The very large cauliflower bought for Sunday is still going strong, added to a curry and served as cauliflower cheese, the last of it is going in a Chinese dish.. Wrinkly veg is soup or just chopped up and added to any casserole/stew type meal.

Cheese and eggs are fantastic protein sources for very little money. Who doesn't like cheese on toast? Try making Welsh rarebit ( don't need beer), it's really filling and served with a salad it's a meal. Quiche is another easy cheap meal, 3 eggs, a small amount of cooked ham/bacon and a bitof veg, a drop of milk, whole family fed for pennies. Egg curry, actually very traditional and once again cost pennies. Or make scotch eggs using some of the sausages

Twinks hob nobs are great in lunch boxes. The recipe on here makes at least 36 ( made some today). Most expensive ingredient is the marge. If you don't have golden syrup, leave it out. Make them 'healthier' by adding dried fruit


I'm not a natural cook, I can't see something and think 'I know what I can do with that' but Google and cook books do help big time. If I don't have an ingredient I just either omit it, or use something else. I've not yet poisoned anyone

mardatha

I can bake but I can't cook. I used home made soups as a great filler-upper. Soup and pudding is a great meal, crumble or sponge on top of any fruit, drowned in lovely custard
Soup and a couple of rolls would fill the hubby up but would be too much expense right now to buy flasks for all the kids.
What if you just meal-planned until you've used up all the stuff in the freezer, and then did a looser weekly pick n mix plan? I did find that menu planning takes ££££s off the weekly shop though, it def does help.