First week of strict budget weekly shop. Any tips?

[holsnovell]

I'm going to do a meal planner and try and make as much as i can. But does anyone have any tips?

[moondog]

Yes
Make a list and stick to it.
Stay out of expensive shops.
Lidl and netto for you,lady.

[Oblomov]

Double meals. E,g. Make a big load of mince - then you can use it for spag bol, shepherds pie, on Jacket pots, put some in the freezer - much more economical.

[holsnovell]

Good one. How long does it keep when in fridge? I was going to try and go to huge tesco extra near me as they seem to sell bargains in bulk.

[compo]

do a roast chicken once a week. Then you can get 3 meals out of it - roast, curry, cold meat and salad for example. They do 2 for a fiver in most supermarkets so you can bung one in the freezer for the following week

[NBuGgeration]

Keep collecting lots of recipes so that you can use leftovers of meals well.

For example, soup is good one to make when you've had chicken.

[holsnovell]

Thanks guys i'm going to make start on meal planner now and get jamie oliver down x

[moondog]

Remember there is nowt wrong with sandwiches.
Omelettes are good too as is pasta and pesto.

[wurlywurly]

buy bulk pasta, Tesco do a 1kg bag for £1. You can do so much with pasta, spag bol, tuna pasta bake, macaroni cheese. I do a tomato chicken sauce to go with pasta, which is normally left over roast chichen with a jar of spag bol sauce. You only have to heat it thru and cook some pasta, quick and yummy.

[wurlywurly]

buy as much value stuff as you can stomach.

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Check out the Tesco Value or Sainsbury's Basics range - things like tinned tomatoes are so much cheaper. Compare the ingredients lists of tinned tomatoes and you can see that there is very little difference (other than about 30p per tin!) between these brands and premium ones. I used to turn my nose up in principle - bit of a food snob - till I realised I was just wasting my money! My mum used to buy Value baked beans, although I've never tried these.

A tin of tomatoes will make a fantastic pasta sauce (1 x chopped onion, chopped garlic both fried in a bit of oil, tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook till reduced. Add basil if you've got it)

And - nothing wrong with beans on toast as a meal either. Very good for you - protein, fibre, etc, especially if served on wholemeal toast.

[ELR]

make a large savoury mince dish,like bolognaise sauce type thing, then do about 6 jacket pots in oven when done scoop out flesh use this to top half your mince mixture so you have a shepards pie, bung in freezer
with other half of mixture you can use for a spag bol or add some chilli and kidney beans and have chilli,eat that on day you make it
with the left over skins from the jacket pots once cool cut up into wedges and drizzle with olive oil and cook in oven until crisp you can have these the next day with some fish or pizza or whatever you normally have with wedges(you could store these in the fridge for a few days before you cut and cook them)

[Lizzzombie]

Have you tried online shopping?
When you do that it means the 'bargains' and treats dont catch your eye and you end up with just what is on your list.

[ELR]

when all else fails and struggling for a quick cheap dish, make savoury rice, just chop up all bits of scrap veg you have lurking in fridge saute add a load of rice and some spices and some tomato puree top up with a pint or so of stock enough so your rice cooks then leave to simmer you can always chuck in cooked chicken or some bacon
dont forget if you have a roast cook extra veg and have bubble and squeak next day i always add bacon and chilli to itr and serve with a poached egg and baked beans

[holsnovell]

This is great thankyou. Any one know a good easy soup to make?

[Lizzzombie]

leek & potato
so cheap and so easy to make.
fry a leek (to soften) for a bit, maybe add an onion & some garlic.
Boil potatoes until soft. Depending on how many people you want to serve depends on how many pots you use.
Whizz 3/4 of the mixture up in a blender,adding a bit of vegetable stock. Then add remaining quarter of leek and potato for texture.
Bring to boil for a bit & serve.
I call this Lizzzombies leek & potato soup. You can quote me if you want to!
Serve with pitta bread, healthy, low GI and very cheap. 34p a pack or something!
job done.

[maisym]

buy own brand pasta, veg & sauce.

agree on the sarnies

[jinxed]

First step.

Go through your cupboards and freezer. Write down everything you have.

You can menu plan from that, probably find a good few meals sitting there that you had never thought you had the stuff for.

Stick to the shopping list, and if temptation gets in the way, order online and have it delivered.

HTH

[BikeBug]

Carrot soup is great, and really cheap. I make a Cranks one (Carrot potage) - main thing that makes it taste good is using dried sage and thyme in it as herbs. Apart from that it's just carrots, potatoes, onions, stock (Marigold is great), then whizz the whole lot with a stick blender. Cheap and lovely, and very filling.

[Chopster]

eat veggie for a few days of the week. Makign spag bol, shep pie, lasagne curry or whatever is a lot cheaper if you use lentils and veg rather than meat.

[petunia]

I'd go with veggie as well-mushrooms (economy ones) make a good curry as an alternative to meat. Also if you can get to a supermarket in the evenings (my local Sainsburys are quite good on a Wednesday between 6-7), they often reduce stuff that's already been reduced, down to silly prices. Sometimes we've picked up fresh pasta sauces for 20 or 30p!

[mumto3girls]

Baked potatoes....

A relly filling meal is toad in the hole and can be made using whatever sausages you like, then just yorkshire pudding batter.

We always get at lasta couple of meals out of our rost chicken then boil the carcass for stock and make french opnion soup and eat it with a french stick sliced into thin slices and grilled with cheese..yummy and cheap!!

[mumto3girls]

Agree with shopping online. We use Ocado and I still find it's much cheaper than if I was waltzing around Waitrose.

DON'T go/do shopping whilst hungry!!
It really does make you pile anything that looks appetizing into your trolley!

Always check sell by dates - often you can pick up two or more lots o food that all need ating by th sameday and one might get wasted. So keep checkig andput whtever meat can't be eaten fresh in the freezer! ( But get it out in a day or two or you'll frge about it).

[TinyGang]

Lidl

[Oblomov]

Every supermarket does deals at different times - my Tesco near my work has the best 'bargin basement ' ever, yet the one down the road from us, is rubbish. And the lady at the good one, once told me, wednesdays after 6pm is the best day - find out this sort of info and you're onto a winner.

[mrsmalumbas]

Oh this is such a timely thread for me - we need to go on a bit of an economy drive and I really want to get my tescos bill down to a more manageable level. There is a lidl within driving distance of me but I found it all a bit depressing when I went there once - what's good stuff to buy from there?