whats the cheapest youve did it for inspire me!

destiny_star2006

Just being nosey and wondering whats the cheapest youve fed your family on for a week mine is around £40 but then top ups during the week come to around £20 so all together £60.00.
This is for me oh dd and db.
I meal plan every week but come the weekend theres never nothing in to have a good meal with i have no idea why this happens.
Im just sick of having no cash from a thursday till the following tuesday until payday..
were always rich tuesday and wednesday as its mine and oh pay day but once ive paid the bills were skint so have no cash at all until the following week..i try really hard to meal plan and buy the cheapest stuff,,,,ive never bought new clothes for any of us since christmas and no beauty products or anything just the basics so come on please tell me how you do it and inspire me....i am going to wait until 11.00 tonight then go shopping and pay on debit card when i get to till as by then my payment will be in bank and this is what we do most weeks,,please inspire me and make it so that i dont have 40p left in my purse for 5 days of the week...its getting me and my oh really depressed .... i shop at lidl for items and farmfoods and then asda for other stuff ...im just trying to list all the things that im doing in order to save cash but it just never works many thanks for reading again inspire me os,s:j

Bargain_Rzl

Hi d_s,

No real advice from me (as I only have myself to plan for) but why not come and join in the Grocery Challenge (first thread at the top of the Old Style forum) as that should get you going in the right direction.

Also look at sammy_kaye's thread about feeding a family of 3 on £100 a month

HTH

Rzl xx

moo2moo

I think the question you should be asking yourself is why do you regularly run out? What do you buy on a top up visit that you couldn't forsee needing when you did your main shop?

Perhaps if you list the things you bought on your main shop and the things you bought on your top up we could help more.

I know the bulk of my spend goes on fresh dairy produce and fruit and veg.

12 pints milk £4
4 cartons soya milk £2.50
Cheese £5 (value)

Bananas £3 (value)
Apples £2.50 (value)
potatoes £1.70 (value)
Carrots £2 (value)
other fruit and veg £7.50
pasta £3 (5kg bag)
Bread £3 (value)

Thats £33 without fish, meat, loo roll, washing powder, dog and cat food, cereals for breakfast.

frosty

Hi,my food bill is £50 a week for 6 adults,2 dogs,the cat and 3 ferrets.
I try to go to the supermarket in the evening about 8pm,they have bread and rolls reduced to 10/20p each.I buy as much as I can and freeze them.the other things I do are...
1)buy 500g of mince and divide into 2,add a good handful of soya mince.Then make a very large shepherds pie with one lot and a big pan of spag bog with the other.when I make the spag bog I keep a few tablespoons of tom sauce back and use this when I make a homemade pizza,the pizza is served with baked potatoes or wedges and salad(thats 3 meals taken care of)
2)I buy a large chicken,we have a roast dinner,then I pick all the meat off and make a curry.Boil up the carcuss and make a chicken stew,using all the veg thats going limp,serve with crusty bread.I keep a few ladels of stew back and make a large pie with this,serve with mash and veg.(3 more meals)
3)Breakfast is cereal ect,smoothies or toast.
4)lunch is soup or sandwiches or leftovers.
5)we have a large tin with homebakes in for when the munchies start.

destiny_star2006

Feel a bit embarrased at the mo as ive went through all my cupbaords and fridge freezer and theres quite ALOT there but i still feel theres nothing to eat:mad: and so does oh and dbro...so heres my list give me some inspiration

1 loaf of bread
sp chick soup no one likes
tin ravioli oh loves
heinz chick and much soup not keen
tin sp fruit cocktail
jar sp mint sauce
tate lyle icing sugar
quarter bag of sr flour
2 bags 500g conchiglie pasta
3x sp chicken noodles
1x curry noodles
2x bachelors chicken noodles
sp cheese and brocolli pasta sauce no one likes this only like bachelors
3x golden savoury rice
3x strawberry sp desert whip
colmans spag bol mix
colmans beef bourguignon sauce mix
instant custard powder
1/4 tube garlic paste
sp batter mix
1/4 bag porridge oats for hobnobs
1/4 jar sp choc spread bro only likes
6x sachets strawberry ready brek swirls only bro likes
5x long grain rice asda boil in the bag too boring to eat like this yuck
21 cornets for icecream
2x malt vinegar bottles no idea why 2 lmao
farmhouse dumpling mix
golden syrup jar
jar hot choc
salt
salad cream
sp brown sauce
amoy soy sauce oh loves stir frys i carnt make them
bic of soda
nearly full bag of taties the 1.18 ones from asda

fridge....
dried garlic powder
5x cheese slices
2x garlic cloves
5x slices of cornbeef
1/4 tom puree paste
2x tins cornbeef
2x small tins of spagetti
3x rice pudding only bro likes
jar beetroot
tin custard
tin sweetcorn
1/4 jar sp mayo

freezer....
chick curry frozen meal
cottage pie frozen meal 2
4x fish cakes
14 value fish fingers
6x small ice pops
chick chow mean frozen meal
spag bol frozen meal 2
2 sp garlice kievs
southern fried 1/2 bag wedges
7 pot waffles only dd eats for breakfast with spageti
frozen meal chick hot pot
micro chips 1/2 bag
12 yorkshire puddings


And thats the lot now what i will make tonight is chips with the taties and me and oh will have kiev with them dd will have fish cake with hers along with some sweetcorn they sometimes eat it sometimes they dont..brother will have his chick curry with his chips as only he likes them.
but other than that theres no other meal i could make with all of this stuff:eek:
i no im useless but im just new to home cooking etc hence all the frozen meals in freezer

what would you tell me to buy tonight on my shopping trp or what meals could you make out of this waiting in hope many many thanks to whoever helps xxxxxxxxx:T

dancingfairy

I think you are relying on ready meals too much. Perhaps try to use them up and try and cook a few things. Perhaps chicken curry - get some chicken, fry it, fry some onions in with it and a jar of sauce. For instance it's not that much work and would be cheaper than buying frozen. What about cooking spaghetti bolognese, chilli, beans on toast, sausage casserole is great : - cook sausages, put in some garlic, tinned tomatoes and a bit of green/red pepper and serve with some mash, jacket potatoes with cheese/beans etc. I'm sure you'll find some easy recipes around here that will save you money and be better for you than ready meals.
Good Luck

dancingfairy

spaghetti on toast for some tongiht?
corned beef hash? fry and onion, mash in corned beef and cooked potato I think.
chicken and mushroom sauce with pasta and maybe some veg? mushrooms? carrots?
garlic kievs and chicken noodles?

You have got a few meal suggestions there.

destiny_star2006

thanks for your ideas i make spag bol when ive got ingredients as well as sausage casserole dont like chilli and diddnt think of spag on toast we normally have beans ... ready meals are normally for oh to take to work he loves the cot pie one and my daughter really loves the spag bol im going to go make the tea now as have 4 hungry mouths to feed and then ill be back to see if theres anymore inspiration for my shopping trip to asda tonight at 11pm lol hopefully il grab some bargains xxx many thanks again xxx

moo2moo

A few observations but what strikes me most is just how many ready meals you have! A lot of the time its cheaper to cook the entire dish from scratch than it is to buy a single portion ready meal. You can always freeze the leftovers or use as jacket potato toppings.

Firstly I'd start by getting rid of the things no one likes. The soups are easy. Use them as the basis for a sauce in a slow cooker or an oven casserole. This also means you can buy cheaper cuts of meat (usually called casserole xxx or stewing xxx) as they taste great after several hours of cooking. Use up the cheese and broccoli pasta sauce in the same way.

Long term its far cheaper to buy the large packs of plain noodles and add an oxo cube for flavouring than to buy the many varieties of single portion flavoured noodles. The same with the savoury rice at 50p per 120g pack (or £4.20/kg) whereas rice is £0.73/kg. Boil in the bag rice? really? buy a sieve!

Batter mix is egg, milk and flour. You have all these in your store cupboard in addition to the packet mix. The same goes for the components of the colemans sauce mixes

Ready Brek swirls - couldn't you achieve this by stiring a spoon of jam into the Ready Brek?

As for stir frys you can make them! Use a very very hot wok or frying pan. Chop everything before hand. Heat the oil until it smokes then add meat first, then veggies and finally seasoning. Stir continuously and don't over cook. Add beanshoots to make it very orientally and sesame oil for extra flavour. You'll get better with practice

Small tins of sphagetti cost 24p. You get twice as much in a large can for 15p. Use half, put 1/2 in a bowl covered in the fridge for another day.

Cottage pie is easy to make and fun. Theres a great recipe here.You can also make this using fresh fish. http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000216easy_shepherds_pie.php

The frozen ready meals you have are all easy to make if you allow yourself a bit of time. If you get flustered when cooking then sort all the ingredients out first. Chop everything beforehand and then start cooking.

Good luck!

destiny_star2006

thanks very much for that long post its really helped me and i will try my best to cook the ready meals from scratch to save on cash but i buy 6 ready meals for 4.00 out of asda is it really cheaper to make the 6??? home made ???


oh and btw i spent £76 in asda last night way way above the normal spending limit and i also mealplanned so dont know where i went wrong there but did buy large tray of diced beef for casserole and chick breast for stir fry but that doesnt cost more than £6 i really need to head over to grocery challenge as i just carnt afford to be paying this much each week...i also said i wasnt buying anymore crisps as im sick of them eating 5 packs per day each and it was a waste of cash so had i have bought the crisps it would have come to around £80 omg!!!!!!

moo2moo

Make a huge lasagne. Pasta sheets 50p, can of tomatoes for the sauce 25p, veg £1, mince meat £1, cheese, milk, butter and flour to make sauce 75p. Total spend £3.50. Chop up into 6 portions. Freeze individually. Cheaper than your frozen meals. It'll taste much better too!

Cottage pie is minced meat £1. Veg 50p. Potatoes 50p. Milk, butter, oxo cubes to season 50p. £2.50. Again you'll get 6 portions out of this.

I could go on and on and on.

Don't beat yourself up for spending £76. Just don't go to the supermarket or anywhere else until next week. If you really do NEED something take the money to buy this item and nothing else. It will save you being tempted to buy anything else!.

and finally....... what did you buy? and what do you plan to make with it. More importantly will you actually make what you intended to make?