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.

Margaritte I suggest you plan before you shop, when you are chopping veg sit and do it with the TV on or something do 2 days worth of veg so the next day you can throw them in (it does degrade some vitamins but saves time). If you do rice with a meal, plan to have fried rice the next day and make a double amount or if you are having mash make more than you'll use and make the rest into potato cakes, or mix with tinned tuna a tiny bit of flour and make fish cakes, coat in egg, then bread crumbs for crispiness. Just use your prep time for one meal to get you through 2 and IF you can make a double amount of something like the lentil bolognaise (which I saw posted above and also recommend) or your soups and freeze some - that way some days you won't have to cook at all (I do this). Just plan wisely and think about where you can double up prep or portions. You could always post plans here I'm sure people will assist you - I certainly will.

I've had to do this budget thing quite a few times now.

Pointlessfan

I haven't read the entire thread so sorry if this has been suggested but come and join us on the frugal thread - we are always sharing recipes on a budget and can offer plenty of other money saving ideas too. Sorry, can't do link on my phone but look out for a new thread starting in June!

Which bit of the forum are you in?

Ive just done a meal plan for 2 weeks and put everything to make it all in my tesco online basket - £52 for 2 weeks worth of teatime meals

examples are -

Roast chicken and veggies
Chicken and tomato pasta bake
Toad in the hole
Fajhitas
Spaghetti and meatballs
Lasagne, salad, garlic bread
chicken breast, spicy rice, halloumi, pitta breads (nandos at home type thing)
homemade pizza
chicken curry and rice

Mini tip for planning with little stress - you probably would already have thought of it but:

• Buy in big quantities for economies of scale (if this makes sense to do so) - potatoes spring to mind, and meat.
• Use your market or your greengrocer for veg and fruit if you have these close enough. So much cheaper and nicer.
• Look at how you could use, say, leftover veg - so you could use half a big onion for something on Monday and then the rest on another day if you fridge and cover it. Peppers and carrot respond ok to this too.
• Or if you cook up lots of veg at once one day, (like whole broccoli plus lots of spinach, say), you can then plan to do the bubble and squeak or risotto or whatever later on, to use it in that too.
• Bulk out price reduced smaller things which are 'treats' and think how you can maximise on them - I've just bought a reduced but originally overpriced tapas dish and I plan to bung in lots more cooked chicken and probably aubergine/onion to make it up to enough for 2. I also buy stuff like paella for 1 and then put in a tasty pack of the 'instant rice' at the end (one with a nice flavour like the courgette and pepper one). This might work well for lunches.

Not consciously economising but at the moment the kitchen consists of a microwave and slow cooker in the garage, and the bathroom tap - so it's a lesson in planning and creative thinking!

Baking your own tea-bread is a big saver. My family loves banana bread, which I make when the bananas don't get eaten in time.

Also, at Lidl, they do huge tins of canned peach halves which my DC really enjoy as a "pudding."

Do you ever have left over roast chicken Margaritte? Or is your family of a size where it all gets eaten up?

I have a chalk board that's up in my kitchen with mon - sun written up. On the Sunday I write each of my suggestions for dinner. I shop Monday checking the cupboards and freezer first, then adjust the planner when I get back if I need to tweak the recipes. I make enough to at least have a portion left over for the children's tea or an.adult lunch in the freezer. I also immediately split meat into portions and freeze any I won't use in the first few days. If it's up on the board is tend to be more organised about getting things out of the freezer and cooking from scratch. Also stops expensive last minute corner shop runs or my oh saying I don't fancy that.

I also pick up the lidl newsletter every shop which gives you an idea of some of the deals for the next week (following) and the half price weekend deal.

buy a chorizo sausage. Very versatile to flavour dishes.

for example: chorizo bean pasta: cut a few slices of chorizo sausage and cook with a can of baked beans. Serve with pasta, rice, or baked potato. made in 10 mn!

alternative: chorizo with one fried onion, can of chick peas or kidney beans, tomato passata and green, beans or spinach. Serve with pasta, rice or baked potato.

I buy a big bag of baked potatoes and cook them all. And defrost and reheat according to my needs.
I serve the potatoes with a choice of side salad (lettuce/spinach and grated carrots, houmous, baked beans, tuna mayo, tuna sweetcorn, cheese, sardines in tomato sauce...

fishy risotto: fry a onion, add stock and rice, peas, grated carrots or spinach, prawns or tuna, smoked fish or any fish. Stir and add liquid until your rice is cooked. Serve with grated cheese or parmesan

puddings: rice pudding; yogurt jam and fruits; fruit salads; apples halves baked in the oven topped with jam and seeds served with custard.

lunches: tuna/sweetcorn mayo sandwiches or corned beef with salad and guerkins, cheese grated carrots and houmous sandwiches or wraps.
Add a fruit and a fruit/cereal bar

You can make your own cereal bar by using leftover porridge, adding extra dry porridge or ground almond, cut apples, sultanas, nuts, a tbs of sugar. put on a tray and bake in the oven. Cut in portion size and add to lunchboxes.

Good luck!

Oh, and 2 more suggestions:

Instead of chips (not that they are prohibitive, but this will make the most of little potatoes) - just cut in half small (like salad) potatoes Brush a decent baking tray with a bit of oil, or spray the spuds. Add a bit of salt. Put in the oven on about 160 and turn occasionally until like small jackets, so a bit shrivelled! Really yummy.

And I have never got on with the things where you cut up lots of fruit to infuse in water, but have success with iced tea which can go a long way. Look up an apple and mint version. Basically you make lots of tea and add apple juice and crushed mint and sugar. Could also do a decent job with some cheap grape or red juice and rooibos. You will need 2-3 teabags and it is worth dibbling about with cut up lemons in there while the tea is still brewing, making it pretty strong, and tasting for how much sugar will work well. Stick half of the cold mixture into saved plastic bottles, not too full, and freeze it. Defrost as necessary. Drink the rest.

Hi OP, was in this situation three years ago. It terrified me. I didn't know how long it would last but lots of inspiration here on MN. Lots have mentioned A Girl Called Jack. I got her book and I can honestly say it is my favourite recipe book. Things are easier for us now but I still use lots of her recipes and from her blog which others have linked to upthread.

The key is planning and looking for simple recipes with no more than 7 ingredients (including the spices).

I email myself a menu plan each week. As I write the menu plan I check the recipes and below the menu I write the list of ingredients that I don't have and need to buy so that I can do a shop online or in Lidl. I swapped from Sainsburys to Asda online. Then I found Lidl but it's too far for a weekly shop so I go once a month and stock up on tinned tomatoes, their own baked beans, their own tomato ketchup, their own cereals, huge bags of pasta for next to nothing, tins of kidney beans and other beans and loads of other stuff. A lot of my meals are based around tinned tomatoes as a base.

I also have a spreadsheet where I list all the meals I cook and also list where I can find them (try to have them all on email links so that I can find them without pouring through loads of books). This is because I need inspiration and cook things that I forgot I could cook! Gradually you will build up a lovely list of really delicious meals that cost very very little. You will eat less meat and actually be healthier!

If you buy a gammon then with the leftovers cook a gammon, pea and mint soup using frozen peas and mint from the garden (quickly plant some!). We get more than 10 meals out of a gammon (2 x 5 people). The link doesn't include mint, but seriously add mint to it - out of this world!

Lentil bolognaise is yummy and there is a mumsnet recipe here for it.

Sorry, not read full thread, but last time I was in Lidl they had spaghetti for 50p for 500g and really nice smoked ham for packed lunches - 99p for 6 thick slices.

Eggs are good. Try frittata - fry up an onion and cubed parboiled potatoes, add a cupful of frozen peas and stir till lightly cooked. Add 4 eggs beaten with a tiny splash of milk, some pepper and dried herbs. Sprinkle grated cheese on top if you want and stick under the grill until the surface bubbles. Serve with salad or grilled tomatoes. Costs about £2-3 for whole family meal.

Chicken noodle soup. Use chicken thighs. (packet of four was £1.50 in Co-op so can't be too expensive elsewhere) 2 litres of water. Add 2 skinned, diced chicken thighs, chicken stock and a splash of soy if you have it, garlic puree, tin of sweetcorn, chopped up carrots, cup of peas and 2-3 nests of noodles. Serves 4, for around £2-3.

You can use the other two thighs chopped up in a chicken and mushroom risotto with leeks or onions, chicken stock, herbs and rice and a little grated cheese.

You can get two dinners out of a pack of minced beef fried with onion and any Mediterranean veg such as peppers, courgettes, mushrooms etc (see what's on offer in Aldi/Lidl/market, two cheap packs of passata or chopped tomatoes and seasoning. Use just over half one night on spaghetti as Bolognese sauce. next night add some basics kidney beans and chilli powder, and serve with rice or wraps as a chill con carne.

If the individual recipes are a bit overwhelming and you're looking for meal plans, I've found these websites helpful:

Frugal Queen on feeding a family of 4 for under £40 a week
www.frugalqueen.co.uk/2014/02/menu-planning-for-week.html

Feed a family of 4 for £100 a month
<a class="break-all" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20121227035720/www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/planners.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">FamilyRecipes

Thrifty Lesley meal plans based on £1 per person per day
www.thriftylesley.com/meal-plans/

Good luck

There's a really good website and Facebook group called Feed Your Family for £20, and tgeres one called something like eat for £1 too,both very good. Have you got a slowcooker? I got one for a tenner. All those past it veg in the salad drawer? Chuck them in to any casserole/soup etc. Any bones,put them in overnight to get tasty homemade stock. I have a whiteboard. Kids get to choose a meal each, I pick the rest. Based on what's in the cupboards/freezer with some top ups. Daily Mirror has Aldi vouchers today, cheese is 77p half price!! I bought two papers so i can go twice.

My uber frugal week is:-

Macaroni cheese and peas(Lidl frozen peas are v good)
Home made pizza( Lidl mozzarella,salami and tinned toms)
Jackets( with curried mushrooms for 3 of us,cheese,beans and sweet corn for the others)
Veg lasagna
Roast chicken( Lidl free range chicken with cheap stuffing to pad it out, followed by Lidl apple strudel for £1)
Left overs chicken curry
Fish fingers and chips.

Buy the lot in Lidl.

Potato and leek pasties with baked beans are cheap too.

We also do pasta with a home made tom sauce and Lidl Parmesan which the kids love.

Porridge with the cheap Lidl oats and their frozen raspberries fill you up.

They do boxes of 15 free range eggs which are good value.

Their chorizo is good value for a treat,you can use half a sausage in two main meals. I buy their big boxes of blue orange juice which are v reasonable,the big pots of Gk yog,their bacon bits are good to chuck in pasta,their spreadable butter,olive oil,frozen paella for a treat......I literally get nearly everything there and make what I can't even when I don't need to.Other supermarkets seem so big,confusing and bloody expensive in comparison now.

My favourite recipe book 101 cheap eats bbc good food. You can google many of the recipes.

Meat
Chicken thighs or whole chicken, avoid chicken breast overpriced,
pork shoulder steaks
Braising beef - cook slowly with carrots and onions in beef stock, serve with potato. Perfect.

Make stock by gently boiling the chicken carcas for 1to2 hrs, use this to make risotto with leftover chicken, rice, onion, sweet corn, garlic.

Veg
carrot
onion
cabbage stir fry
Swede
etc.

Coleslaw home made, grated cabbage, carrot, celery as a base with salad cream. Add a few grapes or raisins for interest.

Cereal
Stick to porridge - all the rest are mainly very expensive air and sugar and wont fill you up. Add chocolate spread or nutella as previous poster said if needed. Otherwise add fruit banana or sultanas for sweetness.

Eggs - omlette, fried, Etc,,eggy bread make one egg go further.
E.g. make pancakes, kids love makemaking them and they are filling, specially if Served with grated cheese and or bacon/ham as in a French creperie. Or make thick american pancakes/dropscones with some raisins in for sweetness/fibre.

bbc sausage and bean bake - see google - makes a packet of good sausages go further.

Soup - use stock as above, chuck in chopped veg and lentil, or chick peas, add a few chilli flakes. lots of recipes on www.

Pasta makes the plate look full but not that healthy I dont use it much, rather eat smaller portions of more nutritious stuff. Its empty calories. Unless you are going to use the calories, e.g. energetic or rapidly growing teenager.

Chilli, fry 500g mince, add tin of chilli beans, tin of tomato, heat and serve with rice.

OP what do you find stressful about menu planning? Is it finding the time? Or concern that you will not fancy that meal that day? Or figuring out where to start? Or something else? (All of these can make it difficult to get to it IME) I want to make suggestions to help but without knowing what you find tricky, it would be easy to suggest something unhelpful!

Just popped back on whilst dc bath is running... 1stMrsF I think its probably all of what you asked... I just cant seem to get on with it & end up in tears from frustration I need to get a grip, I know.

Sorry, I only read the last post... will be back to catch up on thread once dc are in bed

Good point Edna - in credit crunch. Newcomers always welcome. It's a lovely friendly and supportive thread.

Well I don't find it easy either, but I do agree with PP that it has benefits, so here are a few ideas that might be helpful:

I start with what I've already got - got some leftovers? Something that didn't get cooked last week? Or a random tin of something that's been sitting in the cupboard? That's the basis of one meal.

Although some will say you must plan in advance for maximum cost savings, I find it easier to get my head around it if I start with whats on offer, so using the Aldi Super Six as some others have suggested is a good example. Look at whats there and plan a meal around some of it. It might be as simple as cod being on offer so you do cod and wedges, or it might be bags of carrots reduced, so you make soup. I have to say that although the best bargains are to be had at budget supermarkets and at mark down time, I find it easier to budget by shopping online. There is a total cost of your trolley and you can keep swapping things or removing things until you hit your budget. You can also split shopping - put a few bargains in your trolley, then do a little meal planning based on those items, then do a bit more shopping adding the things you need to make your choaen recipes.

Another way of planning is to have a pattern to the week, e.g. Something with jacket potatoes, something with pasta, a soup, a salad, etc. each week a different recipe but always the same types of meals.

A simple grid on a piece of paper works well enough, a box for each meal. Or lists of lunches and dinners. I have a meal planning time, its usually on Thursday night when I shopping for my Friday evening delivery.

Once you've got going, you might like to build up a 4 week cycle. Me, I like to plan each week but you have to do what works for you. It might be easier to do it gradually? Maybe plan evening meals for next week, just buying 'stuff' to make lunches, then next week plan lunches too? If you are at home for lunch, planning to eat leftovers from the previous evening meal is low stress and its a bit like a 'free' meal.

Good luck!

Forgot to say, make it flexible so if you don't fancy cooking one night you can swap the cottage pie for the fish fingers or whatever, so you don't feel like a slave to the plan!

Just wanted to add my tip regarding whole chickens. I used to be sceptical about one lasting for 3 meals etc but I found that using my hands to rip every last morsel of meat off the bones and then shredding that chicken made it go so much further.
These days a smallish chicken will do 2 maim meals for 3 of us, a couple of days' worth if lunches plus a few frozen portions if something for DD.
Seriously, ditch the knife and fork and use you r fingers