HELP. Can I buy one week's groceries for £10. Really need some advice please.

LouBlue

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Just to show what results you can get from very little ...

GARLIC & OIL PASTA (AGLIO E OLIO)

Per Person

INGREDIENTS

1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
125ml of water
¼ of a teaspoon of salt
100g of spaghetti*
Ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a frying pan on a moderate heat. Add the garlic. Fry the garlic for about 5 minutes until it is brown, stirring to stop it sticking.

Put the water and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Put the pasta into the water. Stir it to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan. Bring back to the boil and continue to cook, stirring to stop it sticking.

Begin testing it about 2 minutes before the packet instructions say it should be done. The best way to judge if pasta is cooked is to bite it. This is tricky, because if you fish out a bit and stick in your mouth you may burn your mouth on the boiling water. Wait a bit and blow on it, then bite it. If it is hard it needs longer. If it is chewy (or al dente, Italian for "to the teeth") it is ready. If it is soft it is overcooked.

Drain the pasta in a sieve or colander. Season with the pepper.

Always “take the pasta to the sauce”. Put the pasta in the pan with the sauce and stir until thoroughly coated.

This is one of my fave dishes, I put parsley in the olive oil and garlic as well. We had it tonight, so simple and so tasty!!

dazed_2008

I had a real success with pizza recently so thought I'd post it here.
I either use one large pizza and it feeds four or I make the dough & topping and freeze (separates into 8 single portions for my son)

Dough
4oz plain flour
4oz wholemeal flour
1sachet fast acting yeast
1tbsp herbs (mixed/italian/basil/oregano etc)
sufficient warm water to mix (i never measure!)
mix it all together and leave to rise and then either roll out to make pizza base or
cut into separate portions for freezer

Pizza topping
1 400g tinned tomatoes
grated carrot
chopped onion
(you can add pepper/celery if available)
herbs
pepper
fry veg until softened, add herbs and tomatoes, blitz with blender until fairly smooth and then simmer til thick and liquid has evaporated.
You can then use to top pizza or freeze in seperate portions

You can top with anything you have and some grated cheese and everyone loved it!

gillybean101

You poor love! I've been where you are at right now too make times. My suggestion is : drink water before eating to fill up on. A squeeze of lemon juice in the water makes the fam think it's a bit special. I often find specials in the middle of the night at supermarkets, esp. Fridays and Sundays.

jo1972

I've loved this thread, have nicked Stephen's garlic pasta recipe for tonight and the sausage cassrole'y thing for tomorrow. I was wondering how you got on Dazed? How much of the £10 did you spend that week?

I'm going to do an online shop now and try and feed my family of 5 for £50 for one week (I can hear you all gasp, as I know you can all do it for half that - but I am a learner ) I am now desperate to see how much change I can get out of that £50! I can see this is gonna be quite addictive!

sethsgran

Home made lentil soup is a firm favourite in our home and a good price.

Steel_2

zarazara wrote: »

penne pasta and frozen peas. boil together then drain, add a nob of butter and grind over some black pepper. this is what we have had for our evening meal.

My hubby's favourite meal is something similar. He loves those chilli red kidney beans and mixes in a small tin of that with cooked pasta. Dead simple and cheap.

JailhouseBabe

I'm having to try really hard not to go to the supermarket now - I really want to try the ham shank and split-pea soup, but I've got lots of food in that I should really use up first.

The ideas on this thread have been amazing, but I'm sure we'd all like to know: dazed_2008 - how did you get on?

bandraboy

Just wanted to say you've been an inspiration to me not to go overdrawn, take a loan, cash an earlier cheque when I get into this situation - as I have before - just because I'm not prepared to economize for a week.

It is after all only 7 days.

Penelope_Penguin

Merlot wrote: »

PP, do you really get 12 servings from 500g mince? I use 500g of lean mince for the 2 of us:eek: , no wonder my OH has gained 7lbs in less than a few months.

Sorry, only just spotted this. Yes I do We had people round and I was making bolognaise. I asked DH to buy 500g minced beef for all of us. He was horrified and insisted that he get 1kg. I made the sauce without any fillers. It was nice, but I'm now used to less meat and more veg in my sauce, so I didn't like it as much as my usual recipe.

To bulk out the mince, I use 2 large onions, some garlic, 2 large carrots (grated), a large tin of sweetcorn, and whatever veg is in season, chopped small or grated. I use peppers, courgette, pumpkin, green beans, celery, mushrooms.

I add 2 tins of tomatoes, and as much red lentils as looks right I then add more water, as the lentils soak up quite a bit.

We then eat 4 servings that day and I freeze the rest in 2 margarine tubs for later.

Penny. x

parsonswife8

I have quite enjoyed a tin of spaghetti or spaghetti bolognaise, about 29p and 59p, respectively, heated up and put onto 2 slices of toast.
A bit of grated cheese is nice on top of the spaghettti.
Or, we also like a tin of mackeral, about 59p, mashed up and mixed with some diced onion and pepper and then put onto slices of toast and topped with thinly sliced tomatoes.