Food Planning : Large Scale

PipneyJane

Firstly, @Happy_Sloth, I must say that I really feel for your predicament.  Do your adult children also work in the family business?  If not, are they contributing what they can to the budget for food and utilities?  Are they aware how tight the situation is?  If they aren’t working or furloughed, have they applied for Universal Credit?  Everyone living in the house needs to contribute and take responsibility.

Happy_Sloth said:

other perishables. 

• 15 eggs 
• 1/2 block cheese 
• Sliced ham
• Gammon Hock 
• Feta Cheese (needs using) 
• Cream cheese 
• 2 pks of Tortillas

--- food cupboard staples... (Still working on listing the items in the kitchen.. haven't got to my basement pantry yet) 

• Raisins - 2/3 bag 
• Dried Prunes - 1 bag
• Dehydrated Onions - 500g
• Dried Shiikaka Mushrooms - 100g
• Ground Amonds - small bag
• Chopped mixed nuts  - small bag
• Dried Apricots - small bag

Baking

• 4kg sugar
• 1kg plain flour (this was a surprise i thought i was all out)
• Golden Syrup
• Lemon Juice
• Lime Juice
• Honey - 1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• 4 cartons of brandy Sauce
• 6 cartons of custard 
• 4 microwave sponge cakes
• Maple Syrup -1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• Jam - 1 jar (I know i have more in the basement)
• Panko Bread Crumbs 
• Bi Carbonate

Dried goods (I have more of all of beans/lentils in the basement)

• 5kg Dried Black Beans
• 1kg red lentils
• 1kg green lentils 
• 500g soup mix 
• 500g barley 
• 500g White lentils
• 3kg Porridge Oats
• Couple of boxes of breakfast cereal 
• 8kg white Rice
• 2kg Pasta
• 2 pks of egg noodles 

Herbs and Misc 

• Vinegar
• Soy sauce
• All purpose seasoning
• Red salt
• Garam Masala
• Cinnamon
• Miso paste
• Salt and pepper seasoning
• Ginger
• chives (Have fresh in garden as well) 
• Tarragon
• Rosemary
• Basil 
• Parsley
• Coriander
• chopped green chilli
• Turmeric
• Cumin
• Garlic Salt and Ground Garlic
• Paprika
• Tomato Puree
• Worcester sauce
• Chilli Flakes and Chilli Powder
• Stock cubes (Beef/Chicken/Veggy)
• Gravy  (Beef/Chicken/Veggy)

--Tinns 

• 4 tins of beans 
• 3 tins tuna 
• 6 tins of tomatos 
• 4 tin's of soup. 

Other 

• 8 pks of instant noodles
• 6 pot noodles. 

That pretty much covers the upstairs cupboards.. 

The gammon hock can be cooked with the dried black beans and the peppers to make a Cuban Black Bean Stew.  My recipe will feed 8 hungry people:-

 Soak 500g of black beans overnight.  In a slow cooker combine the drained beans with a chopped onion, 6 crushed cloves of garlic, the two peppers, sliced, the gammon hock, a teaspoon of chilli flakes, 1 tablespoon dried oregano (or used mixed herbs), 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons of white or cider vinegar and 1 bay leaf.  Cover with boiling water and cook on high for 8-10 hours, adding more hot water if necessary.   Once cooked, use two forks to flake the meat off the bones of the gammon hock.  Serve on rice or, if too soupy, with crusty bread.  (If you don’t have a slow cooker: combine all ingredients in a large pot, bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes, then turn down to a low simmer and simmer until done.  About 3 hours.)

To preserve some of your fresh veg:-

• cauliflower and broccoli:  layer into a saucepan.  Pour over an inch of boiling water, cover with the lid and boil for 2 minutes.  Drain.  Separate the florets out onto a plate to cool quickly.  Once cold, bag and freeze.   Cook from frozen, boiling for 1 minutes. 
• Spinach.  Wash and place into a saucepan.  Put the lid on then put the pan onto a high heat for 2 minutes.  The spinach will wilt.  Pour into a container and freeze.
• Potatoes.  Smaller ones tend to go soft faster, so could be partially roasted and frozen, bake from frozen for an hour.  (The BBC’s Eat Well For Less program covered this in an episode.)

Are you storing everything optimally?  The potatoes should be down in the cellar/somewhere dark and cool, away from onions (which trigger sprouting).  The butternut squash should be stored down there too.  They’ll keep for months, if properly stored.

HTH

- Pip

VJsmum

Nothing much to add to the superb advice you are getting but wanted to say "well done" all who are contributing.  Fantastic stuff.

well done Happysloth on tackling your issue.  have you looked at Jack Monroe's website - she is past master at doing what you are doing?   

Happy_Sloth

PipneyJane said:

Firstly, @Happy_Sloth, I must say that I really feel for your predicament.  Do your adult children also work in the family business?  If not, are they contributing what they can to the budget for food and utilities?  Are they aware how tight the situation is?  If they aren’t working or furloughed, have they applied for Universal Credit?  Everyone living in the house needs to contribute and take responsibility.

- Pip

My Eldest son (20) was at university until lockdown, we where topping up his student loan as he could only get the minimum due to our earnings... he's home now so we have stopped topping him up but he's not really financially independent yet.  I suspect he's still got some of his student loan in the bank, but i would hate to ask him for it. (I know he would give it to me if i asked, i guess it's pride more than anything that stops me) 

My younger son is 18 was in his final A level year at school so still counted as being in full time education. He's supposed to be starting uni in september but i don't know how on earth we will afford to send them both!!

i spoke to the student finance company the other day and they where not very helpful apparently i can fill in a form at re-evaluate my earnings for this year but if i get the estimates wrong i could potentially land the boys in debt as they would need to pay any over payments back.. it's hard because no-one has a clue how long this will last. If i am back working by christmas it's entirely possible that between me and my husband we would earn enough by April to push us back into the high earner bracket.. but that doens't help now. 

So as you can see  both boys are old enough to eat like grown men but they arn't yet financially independent..

i'm not sure how UC works for young people still living at home, tbh i've not claimed any sort of benefits in over 10 years and it didn't even cross my mind that the boys might be entitled. 

greenbee

Can you get the boys labouring in the garden to give you more growing opportunities? If you can get the fresh veg production up then you can stop the veg box which will obviously save you money. 

Happy_Sloth

greenbee said:

Can you get the boys labouring in the garden to give you more growing opportunities? If you can get the fresh veg production up then you can stop the veg box which will obviously save you money. 

not really we don't really have anymore space for more   the boys are pretty good helping around the house they have helped me inventory the food. 

Happy_Sloth

Ok basement... i've had some help here and it hasn't been as bad as i imagined.. underneath the inital layer of clutter the shelves where pretty well organised. 
Dry Goods (Most of this is vacuum sealed in mylor bags and sealed in buckets)

• 22pks of dry spagetti 
• 22kg of Pasta
• 11kg Oats
• 3kg of Chappatti Flour
• 7pks of Egg Noodles
• 20kg of Rice
• 2pk of Breakfast Cereal
• 2pks of  dried Macaroni cheese
• 3pks of dumpling mix

Beans/Lentils 

• 1kg split Peas
• 2kg Black Beans
• 4kg Barley
• 1 kg Soup Mix
• 6kg Green Lentils 
• 2kg Pinto Beans
• 7kg Red Lentils 
• 8kg White Lentils 
• 2kg Quinoa 

Instant meals 

• 18 pot noodles
• 134 pks of Instant noodles. (wow ok thats nutts) 
• 22pks of instant porridge oats. 
• 30pks of Mug Pasta/rice/noodle soup and the like

Tinned/jars /pulses/pastas 

• Beans and Sausages - 23 tins (DS1 has one for lunch everyday almost religiously.. i started with 90 tins before lockdown!!)
• Tins of Macaroni Cheese - 38 tins (DS2 eat's these frequently as a lunch) 
• 49 Tins of Vegetarian Sausages and Beans (Ds2 is veggy) 
• 38 tins of soup (My lunch most days) 
• 14 jars of cheese pasta bake. 
• 33 tins chickpeas 
• 15 tins mixed beans 
• 14 tins of black eye beans 
• 14 tins of kidney beans 

Tinned/packet Veggy's 

• 39 tins of onions 
• Tinned Toms - 87 tins 
• 8 cartons of Passata 
• 54 Jars of pasta sauce (Dolmio type)
• 24 tins of new potatos 
• 8 tins of Ratatouille 
• 16 tins of Carrots
• 2kg Dehydrated Onion 
• 24 packets of vacuum packed prepared potatos. (Gratin type things each does 1 carbs for meal) 
• 30 pks of instant mash. 
• Spinach tinned x18
• greenbeans x 6
• Sweetcorn x 30 
• mushy peas x 36
• garden peas x 12
• beansprouts x 3
• asparagus x 3
• water chestnuts x 3
• bamboo shoots x 2
• creamed mushrooms x 4 
• Jars of roast peppers x 6

Cooking ingredients 

• Blackban sauce x3 
• Sweet and sour x3 
• Curry Sauce x 19
• Curry Paste x 3
• Pesto x 5
• Stock cubes (Various) 

Tinned Meats 

• 62 tins of Chicken Curry (DH eats alot of these as lunches with rice or bread) 
• 29 tins hot dogs
• 20 tins of ham
• 12 tins of Chilli beef
• 12 tins chicken in white sauce
• 6 tins of spam
• 12 tins of chicken breast
• 16 tinned pies
• 13 tins of corned beef. 

Random

• 4kg TVP (dried veggy mince) 
• 20 pks of assorted stir in sauce for pasta
• 60 litres of UHT Milk 
• 3 tins of dried milk powder 
• 5 tins of ghee 
• 3 bottles of olive oil 
• 6 jars of coconut Oil 
• 6 jars Jam/Marmalade
• 4 soy sauce 
• 4 honey 
• 4 Peanut butter
• 3 Tofu 
• 4 tubs of gravy granules
• 10 tins Coconut milk
• 6 tins creamed coconut

Just the big chest freezer left and believe it or not thats the one i fear most! 

greenbee

Keep an eye on the dates on the UHT milk and work out how much you need to use each week and replace it while you can afford to. If you prefer fresh milk for some things, then use the UHT for cooking -it doesn't last for ever. And it looks like your sons are going to have to start having a bit more variety for their lunches!

Happy_Sloth

greenbee said:

Keep an eye on the dates on the UHT milk and work out how much you need to use each week and replace it while you can afford to. If you prefer fresh milk for some things, then use the UHT for cooking -it doesn't last for ever. And it looks like your sons are going to have to start having a bit more variety for their lunches!

Yeah it lasts about 6 months...by the date (Although i've drank it abit past that and it's been fine) We do rotate it so the earliest date i have is June. My youngest loves just to drink it, so whenever a stack get's close on date if we haven't managed to use it.  I tell him to find a home for it and it always disappears.  I may have to break out my yogurt maker... i know i have one somewhere. 
 
As for lunches ....my Eldest has ASD im not sure variety is in his vocab haha he is very much a creature of habit. 

greenbee

Re. the yogurt - with all that UHT investing in a pot of live yogurt and starting yogurt making seems like a really good idea. You could probably get through a couple of litres a week, which would keep the culture strong (I find making it every 4 days or so works best, and longer and it seems to struggle). You can use the yogurt in cooking as well as just eating it.

You've got a lot of stores, and you must have had a reason for buying the things you have, so think about that. But for the moment, as you're getting the veg box, I suggest you use the list of your stocks - and maybe have a 'what needs using this week/month' list to refer to - to plan how you can maximise the value you get from the veg box. For example, you say you have tinned soups most days for lunch - swap some of those for making soup once a week with all the ends/peelings, a potato or two, some herbs/spices, and handful of pulses, bits of hard cheese or scraps of ham etc. I'm always amazed how much my ends of asparagus/outer leaves/stalks etc make when I soup them (and I don't add potato). I usually freeze a couple of portions to ensure variety. And you can add yogurt to your soup too

If you eldest is going to have problems when supplies of his standard lunches run out, then you may need to keep a certain amount of your budget aside to restock with things he will eat, while the rest of you focus on maximising the value you get from your investment. 

Happy_Sloth

We are spending about £100 a month atm... 

• 2 x £30 fruit/veg box delivered. = £60 
• 8ish loaves of bread = £10 
• 12pts of Milk a week = £12 
• £20 random bits.. toilet roll, shampoo, washing up liquid.