6000 meals under 50p in 2010; feeding your family on a low budget

mark88man wrote: »

mmm - bit selective PBS - typically only 1 meal a day with cheese, and I am using less than previously. I think you have convinced yourself for personal or professional reasons and nothing I do will convince you. Have you got something against cheese? - I bet you don't like Wallace and Gromit then

Nothing against cheese - in moderation. But cheese every day is hardly the sign of a varied, healthy diet. There's plenty of other things to pick on, but I thought I'd just highlight the overuse of cheese as an example of why this diet isn't particularly healthy.

Grateful for your interest - I would be interested in some more detail on the bad things that will happen if I continue in this fashion. Vague allusions to potential things that are bad for you are not the kind of argument I find too convincing

Don't ask me, ask a British nutritionist what they think of the meals. I can almost assure you that they will find the diet very, very poor.

As for what will happen - eating habits gained in childhood often stay for life. Think about that one?

Don't forget that cheese is a vital source of calcium if kids don't/won't eat yoghurt or drink milk say. (I know there are certain veggies that contain calcium!) As long as it's in moderated quantities then a little helping each day, alongside plenty of fruit and veggies, does no harm.;)

Interesting thread Mark. Well done and good luck. This site will give you a rough idea of the government guidelines and might be of interest to you.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/eatwellplate/

Many thanks Mark for this thread. I have read it for the first time this morning, although I nearly did give up half way through, but glad I didn't.
Ideas have kept popping into my mind, only to find that others have said what I was thinking. :rotfl:

One in particular, was using smoked paprika. It's used not quite daily, but at least 4 times a week. I add it to tomato sauce (home made), chilli dishes, bolognaise, macaroni & cheese, fish and shellfish dishes, even to an omelette or some scrambled egg. It just adds a little extra, and is scrummy. I advise just to add a tiny little pinch at first, to see how it goes, as it can be overpowering if you add too much. I also add it to mayonnaise for dips, sandwich fillings....the list is endless.

As to what to do with cabbage, here is another suggestion.

Baked cabbage
(My apologies if this has already been posted, but not seen it on this thread).

1 cabbage cut into wedges (if it's a small cabbage, cut into quarters).
Place in pan of boiling water and simmer for about 1 minute. (You could always steam if you prefer for a couple of mins).

Drain cabbage, reserving liquid to make sauce, and place cabbage wedges into ovenproof dish.

Sauce
Make up a bechamel sauce, but rather than using milk, use cabbage water instead. The original recipe I had, was to add curry powder to the sauce, how much depends on your taste. If you don't fancy that idea, which really is very good, you can always make up your own sauce and add more veggie stock to give more flavour. I have tried it with a cheese sauce and it's very good too, I used half cabbage liquid and milk though, for this variation.

Pour sauce over cabbage and bake in oven (about 180C) for about 30 mins.

Do try out soya mince (the dried variety which you can get from Holland & Barrett, or perhaps locally, if you have a health food shop or grain store).
It is a great source of protein if you don't eat meat. I also highly recommend eating lentils and other pulses too for their protein content. (I don't want to go into this in great detail and start off another debate, as I am not a dietician, just a vegetarian for many years).