Please help me meal plan!

[SolidGold]

I need to cut down drastically on my spending.

Dh has been out of work now for five months and it's not looking good. We are receiving any benefits we are entitled to, but are overspending.

We have been eating low carbs for over a year, so lots of meat, no pasta, bread, rice etc. Obviously this is an expensive way of eating and we just can't afford it any more.

I don't have a huge freezer - well, I have two, but one is full of raw frozen dog food, so I only have an undercounter freezer with three drawers to use for us - so can't cook lots in advance and freeze it. I buy as much frozen meat and veg as I can to cut costs, but I still need to bring the cost down.

Thing is, I don't really know what we can eat now. Obviously we can't stick to low carb, so will cut down on the amount of meat we've been eating and add in pasta and stuff.

Could someone help me meal plan for cheap meals?

I can cook, but I work part time so don't have all day to prepare.

I also find some of the expensive stuff is impulse buying, like crisps and chocolate (not low carb, I know ), so I think if I can plan ahead for stuff like that by buying cheaper versions.

I tend to shop online at Asda, I've paid for a three month delivery pass up front, which is saving me lots, so will stick with that for now.

I can't cook meals with lots of lentils and pulses, because I have IBS and they aggravate it terribly, so unable to bulk out meals with lentils for example.

Typical food for us usually would be roast chicken, spaghetti bolonese, cottage pie, lamb curry, chilli con carne, burgers, roast pork. We eat lots of veg and no puddings most of the time. For breakfast we have been having lots of eggs, scrambled, fried etc. I'm not sure cereal would be cheaper in the long run and certainly wouldn't fill me for as long.

Lunch has been home made chicken soup, chicken drumsticks, tuna mayo.

I've been including a bottle of wine in the shop as well - we don't go out at all, but a glass of wine in the evening at the weekend is our treat.

I'm going to sit down and work out my outgoings again, see how much I can afford a week, but I think I need to get the weekly shop down to £50 ideally.

We have an Aldi nearby, but no Lidl at all. Other local shops are just a small Tescos and Sainsburys, hence why I shop online.

I'm very grateful for any help at all.

TIA.

[sunshineandshowers]

I would really recommend Aldi. I shop in Lidl and I reckon it is about 40% cheaper than Tesco, so probably 20-30% cheaper than ASDA.

Also read this blog www.frugalqueen.co.uk/ and read the moneysavingexpert forums (old style board).

Why don't you try to source your meat somewhere cheaper? (look at frugal queen blog - I think she goes to a farm?)

It does make sense to have a bit more pasta/rice in your meals, but if you stop buying chocs/crisps this will work out doubly cheaper and you won't gain any weight!

How many in your family? Sorry your husband is out of work. Can he not get anything just to tide you over? Just bringing in a bit will help. The best thing is to try to avoid getting into debt. This will only compound your problems and maybe add to feelings of helplessness. I always think (I have no experience of job loss, but experience of money worries) is that people don't act quickly enough when the shit hits the fan. You need to act quickly and decisively. eg: If you could potentially get into mortgage arrears, better to sell quickly and keep a good credit rating OR if you can see in a couple of months you might need to go to pay day loans, get a job, get any job, no good can come from them at all.

Good Luck xxx

[ameliarose2012]

Go onto the Change for Life website. They have loads of healthy recipes on there, and you can set up a shopping list to go straight to your asda account. I would also recommend ALDI as the meat is really good quality, and cheaper too. Some things are about the same price, but your shopping will work out cheaper overall xxx

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

We shop in asda and we usually spend around £50 a week. DP, me, 4yo DD and 1 yo DD. It was £70 until DD2 was off formula and then recently I have been saving the other £10 towards xmas.

We have meat with most meals, but only a small bit. I use things like chorizo or bacon which have a strong meaty flavour so I can get away with using less.

We also have one night as soup night because its so cheap. Butternut squash and coconut milk with some stock, onions and spices, or veg.

Our usual meals are,

Spag bol- asda 500g/ £2 mince, might be cheap but its not value mince and always drain the fat off. The pasta we use is the 3kg (I think) bag of fusilli for £2.87. We buy ragu when its on offer for £1 but you can easily make a sauce with chopped tomatoes £1.50 for a 4 pack, and some herbs etc.

Chilli - sometimes I make my own using a good food recipe, other times I use an old el paso spice mix and chopped tomatoes.

Naan bread pizzas - asda naans 4 for £1.19 or so, tomato ketchup, bacon and some cheese.

Fajitas, soups, sausages and mash, various pasta dishes (nigella has a great recipe for orzo with pancetta and peas.)

It may not be exciting, but we get by on this kind of thing. That £50 also includes DD1s school lunches and nappies.

You just need to make a loose list for the week, I write down each day and then write beside it what we will eat for dinner, then write down below the ingredients. Then once you have the list, stick to it!

You can change the meals around depending on what you feel like each night. We have very little waste by meal planning, and I can really keep the cost down.

[SolidGold]

We were restricting carbs for weight loss and to control my IBS and other health problems. But we just can't afford so much meat at present, so I know we need to add in some carbs.

Farm meat seems to be more expensive around here

I buy only basic/cheapest range products from Asda and by buying online avoid impulse buys, so I think it works out cheaper. I tried aldi a few weeks ago, but didn't really save anything.

As neither of us smoke or go out or drink much, the odd cheap piece of chocolate is our only luxury, I'm trying to buy asdas own brand in multipacks instead of Mars bars for example.

I'll have a look at the blogs, thanks.

Dh can't get anything that would leave us better off than the benefits he is currently claiming He is applying for everything in his field, near and for, but has only had two interviews in five months,

[DisappointedHorse]

You could do all that easily at Aldi I'd think. I'll get a large chicken which will do 2 or occasionally 3 meals, one roast, one stir fried dish and a chicken foo yung for example. Turkey mince is cheap and even steak mince is less than £3 there. You could probably buy all the meat for £20.

Veg is amazingly cheap, especially the super 6 and a pack of 15 free range eggs is a couple of quid.

Write a list of meals to have during the week and the ingredients you need to go with them. Then buy and prepare! It gets to a stage where it's second nature.

Give it a try, I feed us for about £60 a week from Aldi with the occasional top up and that includes a wine box. I certainly don't feel as though I'm scrimping.

[SolidGold]

Forgot to say thanks for the replies

Unfortunately we already have debt from previous periods of unemployment It all feels quite hopeless at the moment.

[SolidGold]

Thanks wannabe for the list of meals and disappointed for the tips re aldi.

Maybe I should go back to aldi and try again. I've managed to get this weeks Asda shop down to £65, but that doesn't include wine, loo roll, cleaning things at all, just food.

[SolidGold]

I'm not keen on the thought of quorn, as it's so processed, I also don't like the texture.

If I'm not using pulses, what would you put in a curry?

[evertonmint]

On the low carb thing, you may want to look at the harcombe diet - essentially you either eat low carb or low fat - so pasta with tomato sauce but no cheese or meat with veg. You just don't eat fat with carbs so no spam Bol for example. It may be a way of introducing the cheaper meals without completely undoing the benefits you get from low carbing. I've eaten on the harcombe plan and lost weight and felt very healthy (slightly gone to pot now I'm pregnant)

On meal planning, we only ever plan 5 out of 7 meals. There are always leftover bits of veg, meat etc. and we have 4 dishes we earmark for leftovers and then pick appropriately based on the leftovers - fried rice, stir fry with noodles, a baked eggs with tomatoes dish (to which you can all sorts of veg and meat), and tomato pasta. That way you are only buying for 5 dinners and you're not wasting anything. It's made a big difference to our food bill and end of week wasteage.

[evertonmint]

Curry - wonderful veg include cauli, potato, squash, aubergine, spinach. They all taste fantastic in curries. I find bulking with potato or squash makes it more filling so give a similar effect to pulses.

[MuffCakes]

I don't think once you take into account the OPs free delivery now and value and own brands that asda is that much more then aldi.

I can do a £50 shop in asda for me and 2 very hungry dc but that's not impulse buys and treats, my shoppings usually £70 from asda.

OP I find if I do one big shop a month with toilet rolls big washing powders washing up liquid ect ect then there's a week in the month I can do a £25 shop.

Meal plan, use your slow cooker loads and plan for leftovers. For example a gammon from asda does 2 dinners and sandwiches for lunch. Jacket potatoes can go in the slow cooker to, I saw you eat a lot of eggs asda do chef eggs 30 for £3 you couldn't get cereal cheaper.

[Nojustalurker]

I am trying to reduce the cost of our shopping too.

For breakfast we have been having porridge using value oats, value sultanas and value dried milk. It works out very cheap and very filling. I always have porridge for breakfast when trying to loss weight.

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

I make veg curry with onions, mushrooms, green beans, roasted butternut squash, peppers and sometimes peas and sweetcorn.

Its a really cheap recipe using curry powder, plain flour, a stock cube, sometimes coconut milk, and a little mango chutney.

The only thing I have found cheaper to buy from elsewhere is potatos in sacks from local farmers. I did try switching to lidl, but they didn't do all the ingredients we need regularly, and the difference wasn't great enough to switch permanently.

I do use lidl for baking things, eg chocolate, plain flour, cream, butter and sugar.

[Nojustalurker]

Are you using asda value stuff for cleaning? We get toilet rolls from home bargins. 18 pack of quileted rolls for either 3.99 or 4.99 (I can't remember which).

[ameliarose2012]

Home bargains is great for a lot of stuff (cleaning products, bath/ shower gel, shampoos, deodorants etc)- we're lucky to have one just at the end of the road so can get a lot from there.

We shop aldi, and with meal planning manage to feed 3 for £25 a week. If you shop the 'super 6' it can save a fortune in fruit and veg, and also means you get a lot of variety, and you're doing your bit for the environment by eating by season. Without even trying!

xxx

[SolidGold]

Thanks for the replies

Originally I was following the Harcombe diet, so thanks for reminding me about that evertonmint. I'll dig out the recipe book again. I never really did the only carbs thing, but will give it a try.

What veg do you put in stir fry and what recipe do you follow for fried rice (sounds lovely!)?

Dh says veg dishes don't fill him up, he needs some meat. Wannabe, you mentioned using chorizo, how expensive is it and what do you cook with it?

I do try to use my slow cooker for curry and stew and chilli. Not sure what else to cook in it.

Wannabe, could you share your curry recipe with me?

Nojustalurker, yes I use own brand/value cleaning products where possible and as few as possible. Except for persil, because anything else aggravates my skin terribly.

I'll sit down tomorrow and write a meal plan for next week, maybe trying to incorporate a veg dish and a leftovers meal. I'm not very good at varying what we eat, I always cook the same stuff, so all suggestions and recipes are gratefully received!

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Veg curry

Roughly slice some onions and peppers and fry in some oil for a few mins. Add 2 tbsps curry powder, and fry another few mins. Add 2 tbsps flour and fry another few mins. Then add stock slowly while stirring, it will go lumpy but keep stirring and it will form a thick paste. I think I roughly use between 250-300ml of stock. Its hard to say because I do it by eye. Then add a tin of coconut milk (or just add more stock until you have a consistency you like) throw in the rest of the veg you are using, and simmer until cooked. Right at the end add some mango chutney, or some raspberry jam. Trust me it works.

Its a kinda thrown together recipe but I make it a lot and I do it for dinner parties as there are a few vegetarians in the family, and everyone loves it.

If using butternut squash, I cube it and roast it before hand. 30-40 mins at 190ish drizzled with a tiny bit of oil.

Chorizo in asda is £2 and I make a lentil stew with it, but as you can't use lentils that's no good. I did have a recipe for chorizo and rosemary pasta, I will see if I can find it again.

Chorizo hash is lovely aswell, especially with an egg on top. I will try to get some links for you!

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Both recipes I use have had their licenses expire.

If you go onto the bbc good food website and search chorizo it brings up some great recipes. Squash and chorizo stew, a chorizo pilaf dish, a chorizo chilli etc.

The thing about chorizo is that even though its not much meat, the flavour is really meaty, so you feel like you are having more. Even my DP, who is the biggest carnivore around, is satisfied with a chorizo meal, and he even suggested I put less in the next time. So now I use a £2 sausage for 2 meals sometimes.

[SolidGold]

That's great, thanks wannabe.

The curry sounds lovely and I'll have a look for chorizo recipes.

[evertonmint]

Fried rice - leftover rice (you need to cool leftovers quickly then get them in the fridge or freezer) is better than fresh. We freeze scraps of rice and then use what we need. You can cook it from frozen it just needs longer to heat through. Our most basic recipe is:

• heat wok and a bit of veg oil
• add an egg or two and scramble (this is v quick)
• throw in the rice, some chopped spring onions, some tinned sweetcorn and stir continuously, scraping all the bits off the bottom of the pan as you stir
• add chopped leftover chicken or handful of prawns (we have the little ones in the freezer specifically for this, you can throw them in from frozen as they're do small)
• add soy sauce to taste.

We usually add more than this but the basic recipe is nice. Other things we add are

• garlic, ginger, chilli at the start before eggs
• broccoli, carrot, mushroom, cabbage, cauli, onion, sugar snaps (any veg really) at the same time as the other veg. Chop them fairly small so they cooks quickly
• any amount of leftover meat - chicken, pork, beef, prawns. Raw meat goes in before the egg, cooked near the end to just warm through. The amount of meat varies from a few scraps of roast pork to a whole fresh chicken breast. We often combine if we have scraps, e.g. Chicken and prawn, pork and prawn, chicken and pork
• soy, sesame oil, Chinese five spice etc for flavour. A splash of rice vinegar gives a nice balance to the flavour.

Stir fry - any leftover veg, cut into batons where possible. Chuck in wok with hot oil, stir around. Add sauce. Our sauce is 1tbsp soy, 1tbsp oyster, half tsp sugar per person. Also chuck in a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a tbsp of water - this makes it look glossy and thickens the sauce slightly but isn't essential. Meanwhile cook some egg or rice noodles or rice. Stir noodles in to the mix or just chuck the veg and sauce over the rice.

As with the rice, leftover meat and prawns plus flavours like chilli, ginger and garlic can be used to oomph it up.

[SolidGold]

Thanks Everton

[evertonmint]

Baked eggs - these are another fab chorizo recipe amongst others. We have this every week but tinker with it every time.

Basic recipe for 2 people - make a tomato sauce out of onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes in a fairly wide low pan. When sauce is nicely cooked, make 4 wells in it and crack in eggs. Put lid on and cook over med heat until egg whites are set. Serve with bread and salad,some grated cheese on top. We regularly add a few defrosted cubes of frozen whole leaf spinach to the sauce too.

Endless variations:
Spanish - bit of chorizo, peppers, mushrooms, dash of smoked paprika.
Italian - a bit of mozzarella or Parmesan. Maybe some ham, Mediterranean veg, basil, olives etc
Indian - a bit of curry paste, ginger, chilli with the onions at the start, some frozen or fresh spinach, a bit of coriander in too
Greek - spinach, feta cheese, olives serve with a bit of Greek yoghurt.

[evertonmint]

For the eggs, basically we just look at what's left, decide what country that comes from and then throw in store cupboard spices to roughly match

[evertonmint]

This was the original recipe that got us started on the eggs www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1263668/turkish-onepan-eggs-and-peppers-menemen