to ask you for your best skint meal ideas please? And what to buy at lidl to help this?

[Margaritte]

I did ask for lovely, budget, impressive looking meals last week.

However, the shit hit fan for us, financially, for the next month or two. So now I really need to know what I can buy & cook. Now it just needs to be healthy & dirt cheap and less impressive . Taste buds haven't died in this shit situation, so if its fairly yummy will help too, although I realise that's not the main priority.

I have to figure out breakfasts, lunches and dinners. My dc & dh take packed lunch with them, & dd & I eat at home. I have a bit in already, which I'm so grateful for, as it gives me a 'head start'.

I have got advice from StepChange today and they were great, so that bits sorted.

Just a bit of back ground ( so I'm not drip feeding) I am recovering from PND (mostly good days for a while) However, during having it, cooking / meal planning etc would cause me a lot of distress. I'm starting to get back into cooking now, and sometimes enjoy it. I don't want to slip back into the upset & frustration I used to have around the weeks meals, so as easy as possible would be helpful too.

DH was made redundant when dd was 4 weeks do. Ds was just 3. I mostly used cloth nappies, but disposables at night. I found Sainsbury's Basics nappies to be amazing.

Apologies for the hijack. Did you have a nice weekend in London the other week bikerunski? I hope you did, dd fan ied wagamamas that Saturday and I said no in case I sussed you and you caught me staring

OP - if you have veg on the turn - do the parboil method and pop into the freezer to keep the nutrients and make sure they are fit to use when you need them.

PARBOIL: Add to boiling water for 3-4 minutes (before veg softens). Plunge into cold water to stop cooking. Dry and freeze on baking tray. (Bag if not needed next day)

For the fruit that is on the turn, cut into a fruit salad and keep in the fridge in a closed dish. (Don't add any bananas - they ripen other fruit too quickly)

Make a syrup from boiled water, sugar and lemon juice.

Ripe bananas: Insert a sharp knife into the length of the banana and split 2/3rds through the skin and flesh. Sprinkle inside with sugar (brown sugar if you have it). Close over and grill for about 4 mins.

Lentil or chickpea soup
Pasta and tomato sauce, in fact pasta with sautéed onions and any veg
Veggie chile w rice
Lidl wraps warmed in pan with melted cheese and ham
Pasta with chopped lidl fresh tomatoes and mozarella , basil and olive oil - like a warm pasta salad
Roast seasonal veggie
Omelet with cheese

Basically stick to vege and carbs and you can't go wrong

Definitely cut the expensive meat and get proteins from eggs lentils and cheese

Eat like India , North Africa and South italy

Any veg on the turn goes into omlette/veg curry/risotto/soup/pasta sauce/quesadillas using HM wraps.

Fruit, cook lightly, either on the hob or in the oven depending what it is, and add to rice pudding/pancakes/ yoghurt for breakfast/pudding/milkshake/smoothie.

M&S do have more basic stuff like frozen fishcakes,bags of pasta, bags of oranges, mild cheddar, sliced bread etc that you could get a fair bit of for £20.
Regarding lunches, for the non fussy cold pasta pasta or rice or potatoes can all make salad, anything you can make scones or oat biscuits or something out of? Does dh have a microwave at work or a flask...some sort of soup?

Hello. I'm sorry I haven't been on this thread for a few days. I have some more food in now. I want to make it last as long as possible, so if I post up on here, maybe I could get help on how best to make it last?

Go for it!

I have a few bits that I wont list (they are obvious - cereal /porridge / spreads / salad /bread etc) So lunch & breakfast bits.

Carrots
Peas
Potatoes
Broccoli
mushrooms
Onions
Swede

Apples
Bananas
Plums
Oranges

Cheese slices
Cheddar
Eggs

Sausages
Minced beef
Chicken portions
Ham

Baked beans
Chopped tomatoes
Kidney beans
Red lentils
Pasta
Spaghetti
Rice
Wraps

How long does it need to last?

Red lentils - I make 2 things from these .
Lentil bolognaise - lentils, onions, a little diced or grated carrot, tinned tomatoes.
When you dish up, try saving 2 or 3 tablespoons. Spread it on a pizza base, add some grated cheese and you have another meal.
Daal - lentils, onions and curry spices . Add tinned tomatoes if you like, or some greens (I add frozen spinach, very cheap and nutruitious. Again, if you can save a little, add some water or stock and you have soup.

With chicken portions, I do what my Mum did. I slice it up before serving, put it on the plate with stuffing. It makes meat go a lot further. My kids share a chicken breast between them and still have a nice little roast dinner with plenty of meat.
Yorkshire puddings are good for making a dinner more filling as well.My kids like sausages with yorkshires, mash or roast potatoes and veg and gravy.

You could make chilli with the mincemeat, tomatoes, onions and kidney beans. Serve it with rice. Serve leftovers with wraps or jacket potatoes.
Have you got any herbs and spices?

2 of my favs are:

Pesto Pasta & garlic bread
Pasta
1/2 jar pesto
Handful frozen peas and/or Sweetcorn
Garlic bread

Veg fried rice
Rice
Frozen mixed veg
2 x eggs
Soy sauce
(Sometimes add chopped ham if I can)

I do those every week and saves a lot as each costs under £2 x

You have the makings of a stir fry there with the veg and some rice to bulk it out.

Flat bread pizzas (wraps)
Mixed egg fried rice
If you have flour you can make toad in the hole or pastry (with your spread). That way any left overs can be put in a pasty or make pies with the chicken and ham/mushrooms or savoury mince (bulk out with baked beans for a tasty sauce)
Spag bol - use the oats to bulk the mince, you wont taste them honestly, and vegetables. Chilli for the rest?
You could even make falafel (lentils and tinned beans spiced up)to have with the salad and cheese squares to have in the wraps.
Hope that helps. We had left over sandwich fillings (ham, smoked salmon, and tinned salmon) from my dad'd funeral wake stirred through a creamy pasta sauce with frozen peas and the cream that we didn't use on yesterday's strawberries. Waste not, want not. See. I told you I was tight!

I'm sorry - I posted and then vanished. I am going over these tonight, to make a proper plan. It needs to last as long as possible HayFeverHell

Thank you for all the ideas

Do you have a local potato man? Mine comes when I text and 1/2 sack is £4. And lasts 2 weeks.

I'm not sure, I will look to see.. Is there a best place to store large bags of root vegetables, to make sure they last as long as possible?

I'm going to make a coffee later, whilst DC are making fathers day cards, and write down all recipes. So its like a little recipe idea book

Keep root veg (pots) in a cool and dark place, but not fridge. More like garage maybe?

Potato pancakes are super delicious:

Grate loads of raw potato, add 1 grated raw onion, 1 egg 1 or 2 table spoons of plain flour and plenty of salt and pepper.

Fry in a layer of oil in frying pan (think pancakes the size of drop scones). Drain on kitchen towel when done.

Eat straight after cooking whilst hot.

No need for anything else.

Really yummy

You can google "latkes" or Polish potato pancakes. You can also eat them between 2 slices of white bread with salad and mayo!

Ok, I have a brick shed I an keep root vegetables in. How long should they be lasting anyway?

Potato pancakes sound lovely

With the ham I'd do a salad and some new potatoes or a Jacket/potato.

Mince and the wraps make some spicy mince wraps.
If you have enough mince left you could make a bologneise bake for another day.

Use 2 of the chicken portions,some carrots,broccoli,mushrooms,onions and rice and make a chicken stir fry.

1 piece of chicken and make some chicken omlettes,serve with a side salad and a few chips or HM wedges.

Sausages,you could do sausages,eggs beans and potatoes for 1 meal.
Another meal Sausage casserole,Toad in the hole or Hotdogs.

Any chicken left,you could do a roast dinner with roast potatoes carrot and swede mash and broccoli.

Jacket potato with cheese and beans.

If you don't have any flour at home you could make a crustless quiche,cheese,ham,some veggies and serve with baked beans or a salad.

Lovely ideas - thank you so much ohtheholidays

How do I make crustless quiche please?

use sausages as a mince - sounds gross but one of my favourite recipes is dirt cheap.

sausages removed from skin, fried with mushrooms and a red chilli (or chilli flakes in store cupboard), stir in creme fraiche (might be a bit out of budget but worth it), then wilt in spinach leaves.

take a lasagne dish and with pasta, a tin of chopped tomatoes, layyer the sauce mix but only with dollops, you dont have to pack it in like you do a regular lasagne. i usually get about 3 layers from 8 thick sausages.

finish the top layer with pasta, then spoon on the juice/sauce left over from the sausage mix. sprinkle with cheese and cook for however long the pasta needs in the oven.

serves 8 servings easily and is proper delicious.

another cheap one is good to use up leftovers - make a tomato sauce with chopped bacon or ham, a few mushrooms, that onion thats been sat in cupboard 2 weeks, add some chilli flakes, a few herbs from your store cupboard.

oil a clean frying pan and put a flour tortilla flat down on the hot pan. put some of the sauce over in dabs. some grated cheese, then press another tortilla over the top, tucking in the sauce. flip whole thing over when browned on one side and brown other side. slide onto a bread board and cut up like pizza slices. delicious hot or cold.