What do you eat if you're struggling/skint?

[vitaminC]

In the other thread, I mentioned that I have a very tight budget for food shopping and I was wondering what kinds of things other families eat to save money?

On school days, my kids get a decent, nutritious (subsidised) lunch at school, so most evenings we tend to eat soup and leftover dry (homemade) bread for croutons. Breakfast is homemade bread and jam.

Non-school days/school holidays are harder, as I try to make sure they get protein at least once a day. Eggs are cheap, so we eat lots of eggs. I also make bolognese-type sauces, using lentils or mashed up kidney beans instead of mince, with pasta or rice. I also try to buy whatever vegetables are cheap at the market and adapt our menus accordingly. Some stallholders give us overripe produce free at the end of the market, so we have tried various things we would never normally buy :)

So, what do you buy? How you save money on groceries? What is a typical meal in your house?

Much the same, lentils in everything, lots of pasta dishes, stews etc with a bit of meat and bulked with pulses. We are lucky though, we have a great farm shop and get things like bacon scraps which are brill for adding flavour to a pasta dish for next to nothing.

A few examples of typical recipes in our house:

2 stock cubes + 2 onions boiled up in a pan of water = onion soup
dried split peans + 1 onion boiled up = pea soup
boiled up chicken bones + 1 onion + 1 carrot = chicken soup

I also keep the offcuts of any vegetables I cook (e.g. radish leaves, cauliflower stalks) in a bag in my freezer, not matter how tiny the amount. When the bag is full, I boil it up and blend it ) = vegetable soup

Egg pie is a favourite dinner in our house - like shepherd's pie, but with hard-boiled eggs instead of meat under the mashed potato.

Sautéed mushrooms + flour + water + piecrust (i.e. more flour+water) = mushroom pie.

lots of whoopsied meals (not the healthiest but can cost as little as 5p for a meal that feeds all 3 of us), cereals, toast, beans, eggs, and lots of canned tomatoes and pasta. it really depends what i have been able to get on the whoopsie shelf an how much/little i have to spend. i try to make sure there is enough fruit for the dses but it isn't always easy. we dont have a market here (which i dont understand!!) so not so asy to get the over ripe stuff for free as supermarkets dont do that.

a typical evening meal here would be pasta in canned tomatoes, beans on toast, whoopsied sandwiches, whoopsie meal for one split 3 ways, sometimes my mum will parcel up any pasta or soup she has left over from during the week and we will have that. occasionally we will have bolognaise if i can afford to buy mince.

You sound like you're doing a good job to me!

We eat a lot of soups, pasta with various sauces, shepherd's/cottage pie, homemade pizza, stir frys and of course eggs in their various forms. A roast chicken usually features once a week and a casserole in the winter months. Lots of rice, potatoes, beans, lentils etc to bulk things out.

I'm planning to start a little herb garden soon, as they are extremely expensive in the supermarket. I do often buy them in pots, but they never tend to do terribly well.

Oh yes and using everything from a chicken. whole chicken, chop up raw. Legs make stew or roast for the 4 of us easily, bit of a treat really as it is a lot of meat. Breasts 1 between 2 for curry/stir fry and stuff. carcass boiled for stock. boiled carcass has enough chicken left on it for sandwiches or salads or pizza toppings or something.

Thanks Mishy :)

I just thought it might be helpful to share ideas, tips, recipes etc, as I'm sure my kids get tired of eating the same things all the time especially as when they see their dad he takes them to McDonald's, buys takeaways, ice cream etc

"especially as when they see their dad he takes them to McDonald's, buys takeaways, ice cream etc"

same here although it can be a blessing because it means saving a meal in our house for the next evening.

Except when they whine that "you never buy us nice things like Daddy" :(

Tinned tomatoes and an onion with pepper (reduced on a slow heat to make thick sauce) with pasta.

Omlette made with any type of leftovers (ham, any vegetables bits of cheese)

Good old beans on toast or banked potatoes.

Baked!

i get that too vitC. i just say that mummy would love to be able to buy them lovely treats but just at the minute she doesn't have enough money, and might add that they are very lucky children to have a daddy that can afford to buy them treats.

Vitamin - if your DC's dad 'treats' them at the weekend all the better! You provide the sensible, staple diet and he can waste his money on the rest :)

Ooh, yes, baked potatoes! Thank you. I never think to make those, but when I do my kids love them :)

I don't have a decent frying pan for making omelettes, which is a shame, because we all love omelette :(

Depends very, very much on local prices and availability, doesn't it?

TVP mince, stock cubes, and pasta is good.

Cous cous with stock cube. Bulgar wheat with stock cube.

Oh, another dish I make from time to time (usually when kids are visiting their dad) is bean & lentil curry. Or vegetable curry with hard-boiled eggs in (curried eggs are yummy) :)

I've never attempted to make naan, but simple chapatis are cheap and easy.

We are trying to reduce our food budget, we eat lots of lentils and pulses. If I have a curry or some kind of dish with a sauce, leftovers get turned into soup the next day. We have chickens so eat a lot of eggs.

We eat a lot of eggs (we have chickens) and a lot of jacket potatoes (39p for 4 in Aldi).. Either with noodles/pasta or good old baked beans

Sounds like you are doing a great job.

I've recently started peeling potatoes and chopping them up into really small cubes. I then roast them. A couple of times I've served them with chopped up vegetables (whatever's in the fridge) that are cooked with a bit of oil and then add a tin of tomatoes and some dried spices. I usually top with a bit of grated cheese. It's really tasty and cheap to do.

I also cook with a lot of chorizo as I find I can make it stretch and like others, add lentils to things to bulk things out.

Veg are much cheaper direct from farm shops - we got a huge sack of potatoes for £4.50 that will last ages. Potatoes are so versatile and filling. A small 5kg bag is over £2.00 in Tesco

Recently a very quick and simple meal I've been doing is boiling up pasta and serving it with a simple sauce of melted butter and an onion or whatever other veg is in the fridge. Not sure of how nutritious it is but it's filling, tasty and quick!

It sounds like you are doing really well on such a tight budget, If the DC are moaning and comparing with macdonalds and their dads could you try and make the same meals more fun? more of an occasion? I know this sounds nuts but its something I started doing to get my DS to eat anything and has worked well since the bottom fell out of the boat and I have needed to get more inventive with our meals!

Firstly I try and do padding with my meals, so whatever we have we I will do homemade bread/wraps/chapatis to go with it. Wraps cost nothing to make just value four and water, and so quick and easy - why anyone buys them is beyond me! The kids think its a great meal whatever it is if they are making up their own wraps :) A bit of creativity for them :)

Something else I do with the kids is make pizza. The base is just flour water and oil, then i get to use up all the leftovers in the fridge making them up, half a tin of toms, sweetcorn, peas, tuna, ham, whatever was cheap at the end of sales in supermarket. only need tiny amounts so really doesnt add up to much, but its quite fun, they love doin the toppings once I have made the base and it turns boring random ingredients into a bit of a craft project and a meal they enjoy. They think pizza day is ace and it costs pennies!

Also started ordering from that Approved Food site mentioned on here, i had to save up for a first order, but i spent £55 on £200 worth of food! All my cupboards are full for the first time in months.

Sorry that is so long,

@viraminc it sounds like you're doing a fab job and it all sounds nutritious rather than the usual cheap junk frozen food you can buy.

At the moment it's just my husband and I but we have found food prices have really gone up. I also do homemade pizzas, pasta and stir fry and being Asian also tend to do curries which are cheap and last for more than one meal team. Perhaps try a cauliflower curry with potatoes. Basically you need 1-2 onions, lightly fry them with a teaspoon of cumin seeds and then add salt, tinned or fresh tomatoes, turmeric and garam masala. If you like spice add a green chilli or some chilli powder. I know it sounds like a few spices but they can be bought in packets from a world foods store from around 1.79 and will last you ages as you'll use a teaspoon at a time. Then add chopped cauliflower and small cubes of peeled potatoes. Once it's cooked through serve with naans, chapattis or rice. With the cauli and potatoes it will last for two meals as you'll end up with a fair bit. Plus once you got the basic curry prep of onions right you can add any veggies to it so can go with whatever is in season and cheap.

Savoury bread pudding. Bread that's 'on the the turn' tin of tomatoes and seasoning.

'savoury chips' chopped potato and onion stir fried. Served with beans.

Buy mince if it's offer in Lidl and we have some spare cash so make spag bol bulked out with onion and mushrooms and leftovers frozen so we can have a treat now and again.

I would love chickens to all those who do.

Hi, we've moved this into Food.