big shop every two weeks for £50, then just buy essentials the week in-between?

Katiehound

Plenty of fajita recipes online if you google.
Here's one : https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-chicken-fajitas

recipe for fajita seasoning
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fajita-seasoning

There are plenty more to choose from online!

you can make tortillas easily in a frying pan- flour & water. keep them layered with greaseproof paper and then freeze the extras.

You like pies?
Use your left over meat- ham, chicken, whatever and give it a pastry lid. You can buy ready rolled puff pastry. If that works well for you can learn how to make simple pastry

No pie dishes? save the foil cases that you have already bought for the hock pies & use them or look in charity shops.

YoungBlueEyes

If you haven't saved yours you can buy the foil pie dishes in places like B+M and £land. They sell the plastic lidded cartons like you get from the Chinese too. 

pumpkin89

Rosa_Damascena said:

@JackieO - you are an inspiration and I'm so glad you came back to us! I wish I could have a NSD but the reality is that buying fresh (which for me means salad) means buying almost every day. 

There's no need to buy salad every day - it easily lasts a week in the fridge.  It will go off very quickly if wet, so it's often a good idea to take lettuce/leaves out of their pack when you buy them, pat them with kitchen roll and then store them in an airtight container.

Miri_J

HampshireH said:

williewonder said:

I'm trying to cut my food costs down to £30 a week (Just for food) I know I can easily live off £30 a week, I'm thinking about doing a big £50 shop from Morrisons every 2 weeks for delivery, buying 4 breaded cod, 4 small meat pies, 4 chicken Kievs, whole chicken, Fajita ready meal box,500g mince, hotdogs, 8 in a jar (2 meals) Frozen stuff. Then getting everything else like my essentials and fresh bread. cheese. and fresh veg,

In-between buy fresh veg, milk and bread, other small items, so maybe £10 for the in-between weeks.

Is this sensible? I want to each healthy but maintain my food bill at £120 a month. I only cook for me. Is this doable?

With your hot dogs, you say 4 per meal.

Perhaps try 2 per meal (hot dogs as they are one night) and hot dog risotto another (tomatoes, onion garlic stock hot dogs mushrooms and risotto rice) leaves you with 2 for a 3rd meal.

500g mince should do you 3 meals We buy 750g and it serves 3 meals for 3 of us. (If I buy 2 packs on a big shop I get 7 meals out of 2 packs for 3 of us).

You can do spag bol with a base of blitzed carrot, celery and onion it hugely and cheaply bulks it out and makes the meat go much further. Then you can freeze half (as you won't need 250g mince plus the rest and pasta on a plate). Use the other half for a cottage pie and again bulk it out with onions carrots and peas, plenty of potato and then freeze half or save it in the fridge.

Some really good ideas there Hapmshire H. You can also experiment with adding oats to bulk out a spag bol or cottage pie. Also adding beans (usually kidney beans but you can change them if you don't like them) and a little chilli gives you a Chilli con carne - both give extra protein at very little cost. 

-taff

I make flatbreads out of same amount of each sr flour and greek yoghurt [ or slightly less if it's natural youghurt because it's runnier] with a big pinch of oregano.100g of each will give you two big flatbreads.  Mix well and turn out and knead a little bit, it does look as if it won't come together but it will. Roll out thinly. Dry fry on each side for a couple of minutes or less. It will start bubbling one side when its nearly cooked on the first side. Very easy, very nice.

If you have a roast chicken and not pieces I would roast it first, put a carrot, onion and a stik of celery under it and roast. Strip off the meat and fry the onions, peppers first, add the chciken and the powder [ I refer just to buy the roast red pepper one] but it's very easy to make your own mix with paprika, cumin, garlic granules, salt or celery salt, coriander.[you can also add other stuff]  All those spices will be cheaper in a Indian type supermarket.

The rest of the roast chicken can be stripped and used for whatever. Pour off some of the fat from the tray, pour everything into a saucepan , add some water and boil for a bit until the veg is soft. Set aside to cool then whizz up everything. Use some of the fat from the tray in a saucepan, add in a couple of spoons of flour, mix, add water slowly [ think of making a white sauce], add in the whizzed vegetables when the sauce is smooth, mix well, cook for a few minutes to get rid of the flour taste and bingo, that's your gravy. You can freeze or use.

Put the carcass and bones/skin/knuckles etc in a big pot with a good bit of water, a roughyl chopped  onion, carrot and a couple of celery sticks, simmer for an hour or two.Strain. That;s your stock to make soup, or add to gravy granules/powder. This can also be frozen until you need it.

MikeJXE

All very interesting how different people keep their food bills down

My weekly shopping takes no longer than 10 minutes in Tesco, I know where everything is so I don't go down isles unnecessarily, self service checkout. 

My cooking is simple too. Bacon egg beans 3 minutes, chicken salad 7 minutes as is chicken mixed veg and gravy, I don't have a fridge freezer so no cost there. 

It would be interesting to hear how long all that bargain hunting takes, how many different shops, how long it takes to cook 

More importantly what it all costs in energy 

Rosa_Damascena

pumpkin89 said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

@JackieO - you are an inspiration and I'm so glad you came back to us! I wish I could have a NSD but the reality is that buying fresh (which for me means salad) means buying almost every day. 

There's no need to buy salad every day - it easily lasts a week in the fridge.  It will go off very quickly if wet, so it's often a good idea to take lettuce/leaves out of their pack when you buy them, pat them with kitchen roll and then store them in an airtight container.

I do know that. but I prefer buying the mixed leaf versions fresh and eating the same day. If it is more robust specimen such as iceberg, then yes it will keep for a while in the fridge - salad spinners work particularly well I find.

-taff

I have all tbig supermarkets within a short driving distance, and I've learned which ones are good for what. My tip, never buy potatoes in Lidl, they look nice but when you start peeling them, they're covered in black spots.

London_1

I had someone on here very kindly send me a lettuce keeper a few years ago. I had one a long time ago and it finally gave up the ghost I think I bought the first one from Bettaware which is now extinct sadly
It was a large green plastic bowl with a lid rather like something from Tuppaware which you popped on and clicked the air out with, and inside a removable spike which you impaled your iceberg lettuce on then popped the lid on ,looked a bit like a lettuce sized plastic bowl.
One of the folk on here sent their one to me as they didn't use it and I have used it ever since.But if you can't find one then if you have an ice berg lettuce strip the outer wrinkly leaves off and pat dry and wrap in tin foil it will keep in the fridge really well I do this with sweetheart cabbage and celery as well. I usually tear a bit of lettuce off then chop it on the plate I never use a metal knife on the lettuce as it causes it togo brown and rather nasty looking, Or if you have a plastic knife like to take on a picnic that will cut the lettuce without browning it either.

 I'm not keen on pizza at all, but a good few years ago now nearly 40 in fact when my eldest daughter was in her teens she wanted a party of her friends from college round for the evening and I did the catering for them one of the things I made was some  pizza pastry but instead of being round I cooked it in a Swiss roll tin so they could slice it up. I remember she wanted several of various flavourings, and one I topped ,as I was running out of toppings was with a tin of pilchards in tomato sauce, with thinly sliced tomatoes and  with grated Parmesan over it ,and all her pals said it was great and wanted to know what sort of fish it was that was so tasty and cheesy

 Palates in the 1980s were a lot different than today she is now 56 bless her, and still remembers her Mums pilchard pizza that her college friends loved  It smelt OK and being students they will eat almost anything luckily, especially if its home cooked I must admit my kitchen smelt ....interesting if nothing else.:)
 its all about adapting stuff that you have in the cupboard

 JackieO xxx
 

Rosa_Damascena

MikeJXE said:

All very interesting how different people keep their food bills down

My weekly shopping takes no longer than 10 minutes in Tesco, I know where everything is so I don't go down isles unnecessarily, self service checkout. 

My cooking is simple too. Bacon egg beans 3 minutes, chicken salad 7 minutes as is chicken mixed veg and gravy, I don't have a fridge freezer so no cost there. 

It would be interesting to hear how long all that bargain hunting takes, how many different shops, how long it takes to cook 

More importantly what it all costs in energy 

How do you store your bacon, chicken and salad without a fridge?