Need recipe Ideas for Non Veg Eating DP

[Antdamm]

Hi

I have tried to lower my shopping bill for a long, especially since we are living in Ireland now for a few years and the food here is soooo expensive!!! So, I have it down to £80 ish a week!! The problem is, theres only three of us - me, DP and DS (3) I think we must be incredibly greedy, I make up meal planners for the week and stick to them, I occasionally buy stuff thats on offer, but not anything that wont be eaten, I shop online as I find im not drawn to offers if I cant see them I try saving money by baking my own cookies, cakes and make my own pizza dough and make all of my meals from scratch. I buy own brands all the time, i think the only branded product i buy is coca cola.

My biggest problem is my DP, he will not eat veg, he doesnt like the textures of some foods - weird, but I cant get him to eat any veg that isnt hidden. I can make soups - limited soups, dependant on ingredients. I make stews and put in carrots. But thats as close as he gets. On an average week I make:

Spaghetti and meatballs
Pizza
Macaroni Cheese
Roast Chicken On Sunday
Chicken risotto - using leftover chicken
Spaghetti carbonara - using up leftover cream, bacon in fridge
Mince n tatties

Or similar, ive cut out a lot of meat, we probably had meat everyday before we moved here, but i still can seem to drop euros of my shopping bill

HELP!!!

Oh btw, probably shud have said that DS is at nursery everyday and he gets fed there, so doesnt usually have an evening meal until weekend.

Sorry its so long

[Roskva]

I can hide LOADS of veggies in mince. Cut them into little tiny chunks (as small as you have the patience for). Virtually any veg except green veg goes: carrots, parsnips, celery, peppers, swede, whatever.

Chop an onion and fry in a big pan with some veg oil. Add 1lb - 1.5lb mince and brown. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes (or an equivalent quantity of stock if your dp doesn't do tomatoes), your cunningly chopped veggies, a good slug of worcestershire sauce, and some dried herbs (I like herbes de provence best). Simmer on the hob for at least 20 mins.

That does us for 3 meals (once with mash, once with rice and once with pasta).

[Bumperlicious]

Grate them. I grate carrot and courgette into most things! Curry, bolognaise, risotto, pasta. DH also hates veg. Over the years I have managed to get him to eat a bit more. He also likes a lot of meal with meals. Tough though, I cook, so he has to eat what I make! And we just can't afford to eat meat all the time.

£80 seems an awful lot considering what you are cooking. What are you having for lunch?

[nailpolish]

Tell him to grow up and eat his veg

make stuff like vegetable curry, veg lasagne, peppers stuffed with roasted veg and couscous/rice and i bet he loves it

[Bumperlicious]

Also, if I make things like curry I bulk out with potatoes.

[Bumperlicious]

Spaghetti and meatballs - add grated carrot (or lentils, courgette, etc.) to the sauce and halve the number of meatballs you have. have the rest the next day.

Macaroni Cheese - again, grate some veg or dice some up really small. DH will eat miscellaneous greens (beans, mangetout etc.) as they taste fairly innocuous.

Chicken risotto - using leftover chicken - another great opportunity for grated veg! How about roasting a butternut squash and adding it, yummy!

When I make things I usually make 3 or more portions so some can be had for lunch the next day or frozen. If you do this with 2 meals, once a a week you and DH could have leftovers from the freezer.

The first thing I do when I get in teh supermarket is go to the reduced section. I know you shop online but you could pop in occasionally and pick up some meat or sauces to freeze.

What do you think most of your money is going on?

[nailpolish]

i think £80 is ok if you include EVERYTHING - ie wash powder, toothpaste, enough bread for the week, nappies, wine, etc etc

[Antdamm]

Hi

Thanks for your replies. I have looked out a couple of my old receipts, mostly i buy two or three meats in a week, and usually i freeze them and use them the next week, so thats usually good. I try my hardest to buy the cheapest available, but the tesco here is still very expensive and they have a lot less of tescos own brand products.

Its not that my DP dislikes them because he's fussy, he just has a problem with textures, cant eat peas, sweetcorn or beans. When i make stew, i put carrots in it, but by the time its cooked, they taste of stew instead of carrots, so he likes them. I do add veg into most of my dishes. I sneak it in wherever i can, honest.

I just need inspiration