Hi, I'm new, and I would like your opinion on this please

Hawthorn

We store a lot of food. don't ask me why. I have a phobia of empty shelves, it's very strange.
Anyway, my grocery bill is costing me approx £400 a month for six of us, and I'm pretty sure we can get this down, and still eat healthily. Maybe not organic freerange, but we can eat healthily. I shop at lidl, the only branded thing I buy is fabric softener and Ariel washpowder, and I usually stock up on these when they are on offer. My meat is bought in bulk from my local butcher and I get a discount on it. I also use oats to bulk up meals made with minced beef. A pound of minced steak does six of us for two meals.
Sometimes we cheat and get a takeaway (that's GOT to go). We rarely eat out.
What sort of frugal meals do you feed your family? I have ideas for menus, and it would go something like this

Spaghetti Bolognaise
Minced beef,
Passata
Fresh tomatoes
Basil
Seasonings
Mushrooms
Onions
Garlic
Tomato puree.
Oats.
Pasta

Half of this will be served with pasta. The other half I do with as follows.

Leftover bolognaise
More mushrooms
Chilli powder
Frozen peppers
Can of kidney beans (or even baked beans)
Seasoned to taste.

So, that covers, Monday/Tuesday. The kids love these meals.

Then I was thinking, I can get a 5-6lb chicken from the freezer shop.

1st day, chicken dinner....chicken with mash/boiled potato. Two veg. Gravy (made from scratch)

2nd day Leftover chicken to make a soup/casserole with. All I need for this is veg and a couple of stock cubes.

3rd day boil up the carcass and make a good rich stock. Use for making a savoury veg rice dish?

So, that's five days covered.

Then I was thinking......ah? Fish fingers, chips and peas? The kids love that LOL.

Six days covered.

Pasta bake
Passata, basil, cream, onion, carrot, seasoning, mushrooms, maybe a bit of ham or bacon......Pasta and cheese to top it.

Ok, so that's seven days.

My husband and I love a good curry, and I was sick of buying from the takeaway, so I managed to source a GOOD book that gives you restaurant style curry recipes.
We'll have to cut down on this as we love lamb curry, but even at discount prices Lamb steaks are £5 per pound.

I can also make Quiche, and pies, in fact, I'll turn my hand to anything given the chance.

In stock, I have, lots of baked beans/tinned tomatoes/tinned tuna/pasta/rice/just about every herb and spice/a small selection of cooking sauces. I'm looking for creative ideas on how I can make well balanced meals. I also have a good frozen stock of different meats and vegetables.

What I'm hoping to do (gulp) is utilise what we have, and hopefully not spend so much money on groceries over the next couple of months at least, to get a head start on these bills.

Any ideas for cheap and nutritious meals?

Thanks

MrsTinks

Ok first thing that struck me is that you don't need lamb steak for curry... infact you should be buying the cheap cuts as they are meant to be stewed long and slow so the flavours can really develop.
Chicken... I do a chicken curry - bit like chinese chicken curry really...
I'm sure I've posted it before I'll have a look in a sec...
When you make spag bol etc and chili - add a tin of baked beans to bulk it out!
You can also use the mix in a sheperds pie - add some boiled carrots to it to bulk it out and get another veg portion in the days diet

Hawthorn

Mrs Tine, this is what we've done previously. Our butcher that I've seen, only does steaks and chops. I'll have to ask. What sort of cuts is it I'm after?
We were in there the other day, and I am looking at buying a full lamb to freeze. It'll be a while though, to wait for the price of spring lamb to start dropping. It seems much cheaper to do it this way. I think it worked out at around £1.50 a pound, though obviously some of the stuff isn't going to be useful. I could use bones for stock, and the dog also eats a raw diet, so they'll come in for her also.
I must admit, I'm fairly ignorant of the different types of cuts of all animals. I tend to buy a full chicken, but do occasionally buy breast fillets. I use braising steak, stewing steak, and rump steak every now and then. Pork we do pork chops or fillets.

Merlot

Hi hawthorn:hello: , Can I recommend you get a slow cooker, cheap cuts of meat are really fantastic cooked in one, I bought one almost a year ago after I read various threads on OS, I wouldn't be without mine.

Old Style have a receipe index, I'll see if I can get the link for you. back in a mo.

Merlot.x.

Its not the one I thought of, but it will do for starters, I hope you have a large mug of tea with you.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235198

Hope it helps.

Hawthorn

Thanks Merlot.

I have a slow cooker. It's an anthony worral thompson one and it's pants. It doesn't heat properly, never has. I think the first one I had was a russell hobbs one? Much better, but something fell out of the cupboard and smashed the knob off, so unsafe to use
I will invest in one when it gets cooler again I think. I do miss it for cooking cheap beef in. Braising steak is yummy done in a slow cooker.
Thanks for the links, I'll have a browse tomorrow.

Magentasue

We are a family of six and currently spend about the same as you, but I do go for organic and free range if there's only a small price difference. I buy fruit and veg at twice weekly market and could easily halve this if we weren't so indulgent - all those Scottish raspberries this month!

Big difference is we don't eat meat. A couple of times, I've cut right back (off to Lidls) and got it down to £60 a week. We still ate well but we had to cut back - for a start, we like five bottles of cheap wine a week!

But it's not all about cost cutting, is it? I love a bargain and hate wasting money on food but am happy to spend money on good food. We have a lot of value and own brand basics, cook from scratch most of the time but also have a lot of fresh (mostly seasonal) fruit and veg. We also have treats - couple of glasses of wine in the eveining, pot of cream every week and the odd pack of jaffa cakes. I'm happy to spend a bit more to have these things when we have the money but can forgo them when we don't.

floss2

Good to see you over here Hawthorn

If you do extra veg, can you stretch the chicken over an extra day? Maybe give slightly smaller portions & save the scraps to make risotto with the stock from the carcass?

Or how about using beans & lentils for meals? And talk to your butcher about different cuts of meat - lamb shanks are good value & very tasty after a long sloww cook, also oxtail & neck end of lamb benefit from long slow cooking & taste wonderful

Hawthorn

Yes, I probably could do that! The chickens I get are £5.49 for a 5 to 6 pounder, so it should work. I have lentils too. I just never know what to do with them LOL.
Are these cheaper cuts of meat riddled with fat and gristle? I have to ask because I really can't eat that *shudders*. Oxtail I have never seen around here. I'll have to ask butcher if he gets them.

Magentasue, we always shop at Lidls. I love it. They do a nice range of pickles and the like which is good value, and their pasta is cheap and tasty, as is the rice.
I don't buy biscuits as a rule, but we do have crisps and chocolate covered biscuits for packed lunches. I lack imagination in that department, I must admit. I give the kids the same thing my mum gave to me. Except, they have fruit with it also.
We get through a LOT of fruit here - I love it when Lidls do the 70% off fresh fruit and veg.
We also have invested in a pressure canner and dehydrator, so if I see any cheap veg/fruit going I can preserve it. I just need to pull my finger out and get using.
Years back, when I was with my first husband, well, he controlled the money and got us in a LOT of debt. I had £20 per week to buy everything - that was food for five, nappies, toiletries, cleaning products etc etc.
This is where my fear of empty cupboards comes from. I hated it, but I had to feed the kids poor quality minced beef (so greasy), chicken nuggets (which were 29p for a big bag.....you can imagine the quality), cheap sausages, a quid for forty (bleurgh). I really don't want to go back to that again. We had to wipe our backsides on newspaper back then (I couldn't afford the newspapers so I had to nab my dads old ones. So embarrassing)
Mind you, if I had to, I could of course. It did make me into a bit of a food snob though, I must admit. I haven't eaten chicken nuggets in years lol. Strangely I can't face them. Or minced fish, fish fingers *shudders*.
I changed from being very frugal, to a complete consumerist. After I left him, I met another guy who had his own house, good wage etc etc, and of course my standard of living shot up to what I was used to. No more cheapy cheap, unhealthy food. No more cheap clothing. I got used to that, and I've never been the same since.
I need to start lowering my standard of living again. We are living beyond our means, which is wrong.

Pink.

Hi Hawthorn,

Welcome! :hello:

If you feel that you are living beyond your means have a look at Martin's Budget Planner, that should help you to find out if/where you are overspending and give you ideas on how you could cut back. There is also his article on Supermarket Shopping which has lots of hints and tips on saving money on groceries.

Meal planning is a good way to save money. To get some ideas and help with this, have a look in

The Complete Menu Plans Collection



Also there are lots of ideas for cheap meals on these threads:

Cheapest recipes???

Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

Feed 6 for £1.62

Cheapest meal

Your Cheapest Evening Meal.

cheap, easy family meals


Each month on Old Style there is a Grocery challenge that you are very welcome to join and you'll get lots of encouragement and support from others there trying to reduce their grocery shopping bills.

Good luck with cutting back.

Pink

Mrs_Weasley

Hawthorn wrote: »

Thanks Merlot.

I have a slow cooker. It's an anthony worral thompson one and it's pants. It doesn't heat properly, never has. I think the first one I had was a russell hobbs one? Much better, but something fell out of the cupboard and smashed the knob off, so unsafe to use
I will invest in one when it gets cooler again I think. I do miss it for cooking cheap beef in. Braising steak is yummy done in a slow cooker.
Thanks for the links, I'll have a browse tomorrow.

I got my slow cooker from wilkinsons it was only about £13 and its fab, if i fill it i have found there is enough to freeze half, we are a family of 4 so i make that enough for 8 peeps:D

Hawthorn

Bingo! We have a wilkinsons! And that is a LOT less than I paid for the AWT one *spits* I think that was about £45! Scandalous! It is the biggest size you can get mind, but I hate it.

Thanks folks. A LOT of links to browse through, for sure