Newbie In Need

FeelingLow

Hi Everyone.
I've been a lurker on here for some time now & i love the help & support you give each other, i post over on the DFW threads but i'm trying to get organized & get my family to eat healthly & on a budget.

i have been doing meal plans for a few months now which has really cut down our shopping bill but i'm still spending around £100 a week (ridiculas i know) for 4 of us,

i like to support my local shops so buy my fruit & veg from our market.

basically i'm fed up with eating the same things & my kids are quite reluctant to try new foods & hubby is a meat & two veg man but will try other things.

i love pasta/rice/noodles the kids dont really like chips, we all like quite spicy things although DS doesnt like it "too" spicy DS will eat fruit & veg DD wont touch it, our typical meal plan is

traditional roast.
beef bourgioun
H/M meat & pot pie
chicken with chicken tonight sauce pasta or rice
H/M breaded chicken fillets with new pots & peas
spag bol
shepards pie
pork chops new pots & cauli cheese
home made pizza
peppeonni pasta
steak with egg, mushrooms, oven chips or new pots & peppercorn sauce
battered cod (the only fish we will eat)
chicken/beef stir fry.
H/M cornbeef pie
H/M steak pie
chicken wraps or pitta breads with bacon & mushrooms

& i think thats about it, as you can see its quite limited & a lot of the foods are similear i have a bread maker & have just bought a slow cooker (after reading on here!) so can anybody suggest other things i can make to reduce my food bill? i do love to cook from scratch & i think the time has come that either my kids eat there meals or go hungry!

thanks in advance for any help you can give:o

Willowx

What about a paella or a risotto, both good for using up left over meat and veg. Or a pasta bake normally tuna but can be done with chicken, or potato bake with a cheese sauce and some veg.

FeelingLow

thank you for taking the time to reply, i've never made either of those so i'll look up some recipes

moo2moo

My littlies are constantly being given teeny bits of other things to try. They get their dinner on a plate and a tiny bit of something the grown ups are eating to try as a "treat". They aren't as faddy because of this. If they genuinely don't like something I won't give it them again, most of the time they are surprised by the flavour. However this does have its downsides. Attempting to eat your lunch whilst the demonic daughters are happily biting tentacles off a pickled squid is one of the most off putting things ever.

You seem to have meat or fish with every meal. How about a veggie stir fry or one wth a small amount of chicken in. Generally 1 or 2 chicken breasts make a good stir fry for 4, bean shoots make it filling.

FeelingLow

thank you moo2moo, my two arent babies & they always get given a small amount of even the things they dont like to try, if i did something veggi my daughter wouldnt touch it, i have only just got her to eat a portion of carrots

pigpen

FeelingLow wrote: »

i think the time has come that either my kids eat there meals or go hungry!

I'd go with that one!!

A veg stir fry or something you can separate a portion for DD and throw some strips of chicken or some salmon bits in (fairly cheap at the fish counter. they are the offcuts from the fillets)

I so a stir fry with salmon, noodles, orange pepper, mange tout, strips of carrot and anything else available to sling in.

Mine don't like gravy or 'sloppy food' so soups/stew are out. sausage casserole get eaten.. loads and loads of bread too though. I also sneak veg in everything to bulk it out.. handful of lentils in savoury mince makes the stretch.

Salads.. they are so much less drab with dressings.. I shred the lettuce and shake carrot, sweetcorn, and sometimes pasta in..

Food on sticks.. they'll eat anything with a cocktail stick!!!

pitta bread stuff with chicken and salad.

potato salad.

boiled new potatoes roughly chopped with lots of butter in..scrummy..

If all else fails.. lie.. all meat is 'chicken' in here.. otherwise they 'don't like it'.. duck, pork, beef, turkey, venison, all chicken!!

As for 'not eating veg'.. my oldest only eats veg raw.. and he'll eat anything so long as it is raw.. cooked he won't touch it!

ashbart

Hi FeelingLow - I would elaborate on the pasta side of things. You can do so many variations and pasta isn't expensive. Here's a few ideas:

1. Philadelphia Pasta:
Chicken
Bacon
Any veg
Schwartz Italian Seasoning (I use this in most of my pasta dishes)
Garlic & Herb Philadelphia Cheese - small tub
Pasta
While boiling the pasta, cook the chicken and bacon in a pan. Add seasoning (& some chilli flakes if you want a bit of spice). Add veg. Add the Philadelphia Cheese and stir until it melts. If you find it is too thick, add a bit of the "pasta water" (after you have strained the pasta). Stir the pasta into the mix and serve up. Yummy! You can obviously change the ingredients to various things.

Spaghetti carbonara: (excl the egg!)
Chopped Bacon
Tomatoes chopped small
1 clove of Garlic
1 squidge of Tomato Puree
Schwartz Italian Seasoning
Double Cream
Pasta
While cooking the pasta, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain (leaving the bacon fat in the pan) and put to one side. In the pan, add chopped tomatoes, garlic, tomato puree, seasoning (chilli flakes optional) and cook until reduced to a paste like consistency. Add double cream & bacon and stir until heated through and slightly thickened. Add pasta and serve up.

Also - jacket potatoes or omelettes are always a good fall back if you're running out of a budget in any week. Anything goes on jacket potatoes and a small side salad is a nice touch.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

LittleMissAspie

How about using beans and lentils? Some dry ones you don't have to soak, otherwise the canned ones are cheap anyway.

FeelingLow

thanks everyone i'll give some of those a go

Mellika

Cottage pie, Lasagna, moussaka, quiche, pasta bakes?

Also, anything with lentils/beans is always a good idea to feed children...

HariboJunkie

Some of your meals are based on some expensive ingredients so I've added a few alternatives.

FeelingLow wrote: »

traditional roast. Bulk out the meal with plenty of frozen veg and make the meat stretch further.
beef bourgioun Make a basic beef stew in your new SC with cheaper cuts of beef.
H/M meat & pot pie
chicken with chicken tonight sauce pasta or rice I've stopped using chicken breasts and just bone a whole chicken now. A couple of value tinned toms, some garlic onion and peppers would be much cheaper than chicken tonight.
H/M breaded chicken fillets with new pots & peas. Chicken filliets again. :cool: Bone a whole chicken and make your own goujons.
spag bol Bulk it out with plenty of veg and red lentils.
shepards pie Same as spag bol but with brown lentils
pork chops new pots & cauli cheese Buy cheap spare rib chops and cook slowly. Batch cook the cauli cheese or serve it as a main course with salad and HM bread.
home made pizza. Build up bits and bibs in the freezer for toppings.
peppeonni pasta. Try carbonara instead.
steak with egg, mushrooms, oven chips or new pots & peppercorn sauce
battered cod (the only fish we will eat) Batter your own. And try some other more sustainable fish which I'm sure you'd like.
chicken/beef stir fry. Try a veggie one or prawns when on bogof are cheaper than meat.
H/M cornbeef pie. Can't argue with that.
H/M steak pie. Minced beef pie is cheaper.
chicken wraps or pitta breads with bacon & mushrooms. Again, use a whole chicken boned instead of breasts.

& i think thats about it, as you can see its quite limited & a lot of the foods are similear i have a bread maker & have just bought a slow cooker (after reading on here!) so can anybody suggest other things i can make to reduce my food bill? i do love to cook from scratch & i think the time has come that either my kids eat there meals or go hungry!

thanks in advance for any help you can give:o

As far as new things goes, try asking your butcher for cheaper cuts of meat which you can slow cook. There are lots of recipes for tasty stews out there.
What about quiches and omlettes, or baked potatoes with a variety of fillings? Are there any other pasta dishes you would like. Macaroni cheese is good and I make a bottom of the cheese drawer pasta sauce which is lovely.It's made with all the bits left from the cheeseboard.:cool: