£10 a week....

JIL

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeMYL1EDmwt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Dont know if this will work but heres the 5 family meals for £25.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cc3GRqKqB0p/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

And another.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cdgh9DwFupF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I just felt this would help some people as it isnt just run of the mill dinners, but things that seem different but also economical. 

London_1

I'm another one who thinks Shirley Goode's recipe book is excellent
She was a very down to earth lady and her recipes are easy to follow if your not a confident cook yet

I found her book in a boot sale years ago for 25p but maybe if you search the charity shops or even ask at the library you may be able to find a copy.

I have found lots of odd recipe books in boot sales my grandsons have all gone to Uni with a copy of The Student Cookbook mainly found at boot sales and invaluble for teen age lads who maybe have never cooked much before.

As I have had so much involvement in their upbringing I made sure they knew how to streetch the pennies as much as possible and that they didn't live on pot noodles and pizza for three years.

Ben (26) now lives in north London where he is a teacher, and as he lives in Camden its a very cosmopolitan area and he loves to cook foods from all over the world, and has access to many local food shops, not just supermarkets, and buys a lot of herbs and spices and tries his hand at some pretty exotic stuff now

Jack (22) is a real health fanatic and gym bunny and although living at home at the moment will often cook stuff for himself, and likes to try different things

Henry (21) has just finished Uni and as his part time job there for the past year has been working in a kitchen restaurant, and like to try all sorts of food.

As he's not yet decided on what he want to do I wouldn't be surprised if he may try hospitality as he does like working in the kitchen, even the peeling and dicing he has got a real good lad at doing  

The youngest  Mikey (18) is a canny shopper when it comes to buying food and knows the value of a penny bless him.
He will hunt round to get the best price and is quite capable of cooking for himself and is looking forward to this September when it will be his turn to set off for the next three years to Uni.
He has definite ideas on what he likes and dislikes so I think he will be fine he's not keen on tinned stuff preferring fresh food to any ready meal or tinned food.

But all four learned at a reasonably early age how to make a decent cuppa (I made sure of that ) and also simple cooking
I have no worries that they will go hungry or expect someone else to cook for them

They are all 6ft odd and have very healthy appetites Their Dad is the main cook in their house as its his hobby ,although my DD is a good cook as well

My son-in-law Simon really does make some delicious food.I think as a surveyor he really missed his vocation as he really does enjoy cooking and  his Moroccan lamb is my favourite, just melts in the mouth bless him.

Rising food prices means adapting to find food that's not only affordable but tasty as well.
This is where a decent stock of herbs and spices can make the blandest of food taste a whole lot nicer.
 I have at least two shelves in my kitchen cupboard that I keep all my flavourings in, and would be lost without them.
I just don't do 'beige food ' at all.
If you have onions, potatoes, cheese and even a pack of 'cooking bacon' you can conjour up a tasty meal or three out of a few ingrediants. Omelettes, quiches, even the humble cheese and potato pie from spuds layered with cheese and onion can fill empty tums for very little, add a tin of el cheapo baked beans and throw in some mild curry powder into the beans, and you have a filling tasty meal for very little outlay.

JackieO xx

annieb64

I still use Shirley Goode's sticky toffee pudding recipe.

My mother was good at stretching the pennies. She started a weekly lunch club for her church. The aim was not to make a profit but to provide a  two course lunch for £1 (this was in the early 1990s). By sticking to a strict budget they not only provided lunch but did start to make a profit-enough to refit the church kitchen.

Mum use to shop around for the ingredients-I would always let her know if I spotted any good offers. My uncle had an orchard and he let her and the other helpers glean after he'd finished picking. They got a second hand freezer and froze a lot of fruit and also made jam for the puddings. They even had an afternoon out blackberrying.

joedenise

London_1 said:

I'm another one who thinks Shirley Goode's recipe book is excellent
She was a very down to earth lady and her recipes are easy to follow if your not a confident cook yet

I found her book in a boot sale years ago for 25p but maybe if you search the charity shops or even ask at the library you may be able to find a copy.

I have found lots of odd recipe books in boot sales my grandsons have all gone to Uni with a copy of The Student Cookbook mainly found at boot sales and invaluble for teen age lads who maybe have never cooked much before.

As I have had so much involvement in their upbringing I made sure they knew how to streetch the pennies as much as possible and that they didn't live on pot noodles and pizza for three years.

Ben (26) now lives in north London where he is a teacher, and as he lives in Camden its a very cosmopolitan area and he loves to cook foods from all over the world, and has access to many local food shops, not just supermarkets, and buys a lot of herbs and spices and tries his hand at some pretty exotic stuff now

Jack (22) is a real health fanatic and gym bunny and although living at home at the moment will often cook stuff for himself, and likes to try different things

Henry (21) has just finished Uni and as his part time job there for the past year has been working in a kitchen restaurant, and like to try all sorts of food.

As he's not yet decided on what he want to do I wouldn't be surprised if he may try hospitality as he does like working in the kitchen, even the peeling and dicing he has got a real good lad at doing  

The youngest  Mikey (18) is a canny shopper when it comes to buying food and knows the value of a penny bless him.
He will hunt round to get the best price and is quite capable of cooking for himself and is looking forward to this September when it will be his turn to set off for the next three years to Uni.
He has definite ideas on what he likes and dislikes so I think he will be fine he's not keen on tinned stuff preferring fresh food to any ready meal or tinned food.

But all four learned at a reasonably early age how to make a decent cuppa (I made sure of that ) and also simple cooking
I have no worries that they will go hungry or expect someone else to cook for them

They are all 6ft odd and have very healthy appetites Their Dad is the main cook in their house as its his hobby ,although my DD is a good cook as well

My son-in-law Simon really does make some delicious food.I think as a surveyor he really missed his vocation as he really does enjoy cooking and  his Moroccan lamb is my favourite, just melts in the mouth bless him.

Rising food prices means adapting to find food that's not only affordable but tasty as well.
This is where a decent stock of herbs and spices can make the blandest of food taste a whole lot nicer.
 I have at least two shelves in my kitchen cupboard that I keep all my flavourings in, and would be lost without them.
I just don't do 'beige food ' at all.
If you have onions, potatoes, cheese and even a pack of 'cooking bacon' you can conjour up a tasty meal or three out of a few ingrediants. Omelettes, quiches, even the humble cheese and potato pie from spuds layered with cheese and onion can fill empty tums for very little, add a tin of el cheapo baked beans and throw in some mild curry powder into the beans, and you have a filling tasty meal for very little outlay.

JackieO xx

JackieO - would love his recipe for Moroccan lamb if you could get it from him please?  

Scumblepancake

Lidl £1.50 veg boxes are brilliant. They usually come out just after 9am. Around 10am other things are reduced and the lowest reductions are 20p and 70p. Get there after 11 and they bin the lowest reductions though.

If you can store them (and have the money to buy them in the first place) get sacks of onions and potatoes from fruit markets to save a fortune, you have to look up how to store them so they don't go off though.

I don't know the PC way to say Indian supermarket, but head for your local multicultural area and get big sacks of rice and trays of tinned tomatoes. Yellow split peas are cheap and make soup thicker. Also check outside because round here they have reduced sections. And for herbs and spices they are really good value, get bags of turmeric instead of little jars for the same cost.

Morrisons do excellent reductions on fish and meat but at random times. They are also one of the few places I have found soup mix - barley, dried peas and beans that you need to soak overnight before adding it to soup and cooking for a long while (unless you pressure cook). A couple of handfuls of soup mix goes a long way.

The Too Good to Go app is ace, I got a whole sack of sourdough bread for £3 once. About 8 loaves plus cakes. I had to give lots away to the neighbours because there wasn't enough space in the freezer. There are usually veg boxes on offer as fruit or smoothie boxes, be prepared to do a load of batch cooking if you get one.

Slow cookers or Instant pots save money on cooking, they are cheaper to run than an oven. You can slow cook most veg (not cauliflower though 'cos it tastes like feet if you slow cook it). 

Forage - nettles make a good spinach substitute. Blackberries are all over the place too.

I don't think I could feed me and my teenager on £25 a week without really working at finding bargains and doing a lot of food prep.

MovingForwards

I've just purchased a vegan spicy cookbook, £2.24, and I'll be cooking meals for next to nothing due to using homegrown herbs and veg, with shop purchased pulses.

PipneyJane

This is a very interesting thread.  For a couple of years, I did a £50 February Challenge here on MSE.

What I don’t understand are the claims that fresh veggies are expensive.  There’s two of us in my household.  I cook virtually all our meals from scratch and have just had a wander through my L!dl receipts:

1kg Carrots 40p
Family pack mushrooms (600g) £1.40
2.5kg pack potatoes £1.18
2kg family pack pack onions £1
1kg pack sweet potato 99p
3-pack garlic 79p
Spring onions 39p

Grand total £6.15.  

Throw in less than £1 for some fresh broccoli from MrS - sold loose not wrapped in cling film - plus a bag of MrT’s mixed peppers (99p) and my basics come to £8.14.  These are the latest prices that I’ve paid (or, in the case of the peppers recorded in my grocery challenge spreadsheet).

I don’t buy them all, every week.  In fact, I had to go all the way back to April to find my last purchase of onions, so I reckon I spend less than £5/week on fresh veg.  (Yes, there’s no fruit in that list but that’s because DH regularly gets free fruit thrust on him at his office and gets told to take it home, so I don’t have recent prices.)

There is a lot you can do with careful shopping and careful storage, to keep your veg edible for longer.  I dislike buying veg wrapped in plastic because they sweat and go mouldy more quickly, but these days you don’t get much choice, so I check everything very carefully before adding them to my basket.  No sprouting potatoes if I can avoid it.  (Those onions that I mentioned?  They came in the modern day equivalent of a string bag.) 

- Pip 

London_1

PipneyJane I so agree
 Re veg I spend in a month ,bearing in mind I only have to cook for myself around £15-£20 often less for fruit and veg
 Fruit wise I like Gala apples, and if they are on special offer as they sometimes are in MrT's at 6 for 69p I will buy at least two packs and they keep for weeks in the veg drawer at the bottom of the fridge

 Oranges I buy around £1.50-60 for 4-5 and keep in my conservatory, bananas I buy as green as I can and keep in the conservatory in the shade but will only but around four at a time as they do ripen quicker.

Soft fruit is bought in season.
Veg I buy whats on special offer so this week I have just finished a sweetheart cabbage I bought about 10 days ago.I wrap green veg in tinfoil and keep in the fridge.celery keeps very well like this

I have a tuppaware lettuce keeper that I had sent to me from someone on this site several years ago when my old one fell apart and its still going strong and keeps an iceberg lettuce brilliantly but if you haven't got one then wrap in foil it will keep well.

Onions I keep in a onion bag I bought years ago in a CS for 25p its cotton on the outside and black lined and hangs in the cupboard But if I think they are getting to dry I will peel dice and triple bag and freeze rather than waste them.

Spuds are in a similar bag and if getting sprouty then they too are pelled boiled mashed and frozen in balls made from my ice cream scoop then bagged and keep very well. new potatoes I will scrub and keep in water in the fridge until ready to steam.

Nothing ever gets wasted, and I tend to buy fruit and veg in season as I really don't want to eat strawberries in January and prefer British ones anyway that haven't flown across the world.

Blackberries are foraged for in season (I do live in the Garden of England after all ) Its probably about buying what you know you will use up so it doesn't go off no point buying a pile of greens in the middle of a heat wave Although any y/s veg does get bought and turned into soup then portioned up and frozen.

I get occasional bags of windfall apples from a neighbour, in exchange I bake her a few cakes.:) the apples I will peel slice and poach in a little water and honey with a squirt of lemon juice Then drain and freeze in soup bags to use in the winter for crumbles.

But we are very lucky in the UK as out friut and veg is usually pretty good quality.I will often buy from the local farm shop if I can as I like to help the local buisness's to keep going and our farmers have had a rough couple of years. When I was in the USA a few years ago they had apples that looked like something Snow white would have eaten huge red ,but bite into them and they were dreadful ,tasted like cotton wool  

Dried fruit like prunes or apricots are not too expensive and make a nice change in the winter for puddings. Mainly I buy stuff in season though as its more reasonably priced
JackieO xx

doingitanyway

D924 said:

Easy enough if you don't care about your macro ratios and only look at calories. Protein is brutally expensive without exception, fat and carbs can be practically free.

True. I buy most of my protein YS and freeze it. I could not eat as well as I like to without doing so.  

bouicca21

Where do I get an onion bag?