Help please on getting unnecessary outgoings cut!!!

catchooky

Hi there I hope that someone can please help.
I'm really lucky in that I don't need to pay for rent, utilities or cleaning stuff as I live with my parents at the moment. I earn around 900pounds per month and my outgoings are, at the moment, just food and debt repayments.
My problem is this - I'm trying to lose weight and so I attend ww classes (using monthly pass so pay less for my meetings).
However, I am trying to learn to cook as well, instead of paying for expensive ready meals which I usually do.
So I've been attepting to 'mealplan' using my ww cookbooks and trying to cook items which are freezeable as it's only my OH and myself who eat them (M&D are really fussy).
However, I have been struggling to actually make the meals as I tend to just boil some pasta for dinner when I get in at night. This means that I have an overflowing fridge stuffed full of vegetables which I'm afraid i'll never use before they walk out of the fridge on their own!!!:rotfl:
Does anyone have any ideas for healthy lowfat meals? I have a slow cooker but it's yet to leave the box - I take it this is a cheaper way of cooking???
Also, I rarely eat meat and feel i need to up my intake of it, but it always seems too expensive!!! Obviously becuase of the ww thing I try to get extra lean mince etc. Does anyone have any tips for buying cheap healthy meat which it easily transformed into yummy meals???
Thank you very much in advance
Cat x

gunsandbanjos

Have you thought of a slowcooker? It will merrily bubble away while you're at work, so when you get home there is a hot meal waiting for you:D It also makes the cheaper cuts of meat more tender as the cook really slowly. HTH

lightisfading

why do you feel the need to up your meat intake? a non-meat diet can be just as / far more nutritious, as long as you pay attention to what you're eating!

catchooky

lightisfading wrote: »

why do you feel the need to up your meat intake? a non-meat diet can be just as / far more nutritious, as long as you pay attention to what you're eating!

HI thanks for posting. I guess I just feel I want a balanced diet - I eat only chicken and very occassionally I'll have a piece of fish. I like the idea of cooking meat and I do enjoy meat when I eat out, but I'm just afraid of cooking it at home as I'm a complete novice. I also see the prices in the supermarket and grudge paying that amount.

Guns:
I do have a slowcooker but I haven't actually used it yet as i've been unsure how to

gunsandbanjos

Theres a large index of ideas on this thread somewhere for slowcookers.

duchy

If you are cooking from scratch basically healthy meals the points counts aren't going to be outragous anyway so it might be an idea to invest in a "beginners" cookery book to give you the confidence to use the ingredients you are buying. As you say it isn't very MSE to buy vegetables and end up throwing them away but if you menu plan before you buy from a recipe book you'll make yourself try it out and also save money by not wasting food-and learn to cook a wider range meals too which is healthier and cheaper as you will then have a wider choice of foods to buy from and can take advantage of more special offers.

Pink.

Here's the link to the slow cooker index: The Complete Slow Cooker Collection

This thread may help too catchooky:

The Lose Weight The Old Style Way Thread


Pink

JoJoB

If you have a lot of veggies in your fridge in danger of not being used it is a good idea to roast the suitable ones (eg winter root veggies, peppers, sweet potatoes, aubergines) in a little olive oil and maybe a sprinkle of herbs and garlic.

The roasted veggies can be kept in a covered bowl in the fridge and used for sandwiches/wraps (delish with a dollop of hummus). Or you can mix a couple of spoonfuls into a helping of couscous with a splash of balsamic and lo! you have a tasty couscous salad. Drain a tin of chickpeas and add roasted veggies, balsamic and pepper and olive oil and you have a high protein helathy slad again. Ditto with a can of lentils - maybe dotted with some goats cheese or halloumi cheese if you're feeling cheeky.

And if you like pasta the roasted veggies come in handy there again - just mix into the pasta and add pepper and parmesan (and balsamic if you like it).

Maybe introduce one or two new dishes a week so you don't feel overwhelmed with change, and keep it simple initially as you are just learning to cook. Sometimes it can feel a bit intimidating, but once you have pulled off a couple of nice recipes you will feel much more confident and willing to experiment.

noonesperfect

If you've currently got a fridge full of veges how about some nice slow cooker vegetable soup? It would be an excellent way to use most if not all of the veges you're likely to have and good for the waistline too! Or a vegetable curry/chilli perhaps. Not much more complicated than peeling and chopping veges really......HTH

Come to think of it, Iif you're being really OS maybe you could make chilli or curry and make soup out of the peelings!

moanymoany

We absolutely love a dish called 'Homity Pie'. It can be frozen, eaten hot or cold and it is cheap. It came from a thread on here, but can't remember the poster.

Homity Pie(s)

I've posted this before but thought I should put it here. We call it cheese and potato pie and I use double quantities for six of us. You can use leftover potatoes but it's nicest with freshly boiled potatoes and Cheshire cheese or similar. Takes about 45 mins altogether.

Preheat oven 200C

1 pastry case

4oz plain flour, pinch salt
2oz butter or other fat
cold water to mix

Rub fat into flour and salt, mix to ball of dough with cold water. Roll out and line a shallow tin (quiche tin or similar). Or you can make individual pies. Bake for 10mins or so until dried out. Meanwhile cook the potatoes and onions.

2 onions, peeled and chopped, cooked gently in a little oil or butter
4 medium potatoes peeled, cut into chunks and slices and boiled

Quantities can be varied. I roughly slice the drained potatoes but you can mash them. Stir in the onion and add

4-6 oz grated cheese (keep some back to sprinkle on top)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (optional)
salt and pepper
1 oz butter

Turn the oven down to about 170C and pile all the potato mixture into the cooked pastry case. Sprinkle on some grated cheese and return to the oven until golden brown.


Another good thing is Thriftlady's vege pancake and fried egg. I've also discovered a recipe that is triff. Stovies. Melt fat from the meat or chicken - or oil or marge - in a pan. About 1 tablespoonful. Add three tablespoons of water and add a mix of chopped onions and potatoes. Shake it up well and season with salt and pepper. Cook on high for a few minutes and then lower the heat to low, put a lid on and cook for about half an hour. Keep shaking or stirring till it's all soft. Good with baked beans and fried egg or whatever you like.

lightisfading

There's plenty of non-meat options that are cheaper, healthier and low fat, such as beans, eggs etc. A mixed bean chilli would likely be lower in fat and far cheaper than the meat equivalent.

(oh, and I'm on WW too and regularly do roast veggies (also yummy with pasta with either a healthy tomato based sauce or a *little* pesto). I tend to roast them just with a few sprays of 'one cal' instead of oil, and plenty of herbs, garlic etc for flavour. You barely miss the oil and I'd rather spend the points on chocolate