Am sick of eating crap.... someone help me write a healthy, quick and easy to cook shopping list that doesnt cost the earth, doesnt go off quickly and that tastes good please. No more chicken dippers!!!

[TambaIsHotHotHot]

When H was around he used to do the shopping and he bought mainly crap (frozen microwave toad in the hole anyone?)

So now that I am on my own I want to change the way we eat. I need healthy, easy to cook foods, that store well. And are cheap.

Also need to learn about veggies cause I have never cooked them!

My list comprises of -

Baking Potaotes

thats it so far !!

Chicken breasts (to make H/M nuggets?)

Nice sausages (to make S&Chips, S&Mash, Toad in the Hole?)

Pasta (with H/M tomato salsa (fry onions, peppers (both frozen)in olive oil add chopped tomatoes - then liquidise)

I'm sorry Tamba.....I seemed to have killed it for you

Cheese
Eggs
Good meat
Bread
Fruit
Vegetables
Juice
Yoghurt
Cereal
Butter

homemade tomato suave for pasta - dead easdy and can hide loads of veggies in
cous cous with roatsed veg
stir fry veg? woth chicken or frying steak?

trying to think of things that are easy, cheap and still reasonably gealthy.....

things like spag bol and chilli are great

pasta for the kids with tinned salmon/tuna, brocilli, dollop of creme fracihe and a dollop of phillidelphia

Chicken breasts - nuggets/casseroles/fajita's or simply grill and serve with veg and pots

whole chicken - roast and serve with veg and pots or salad and jackets

mince - spag bol/chill/burgers

salmon - grill serves with veg, pots or salad

Veg is so easy to cook, just bang it in a pan of water and cook till it's ready (depending on how you like it.

Roasted veg is good too.

couscous
canned pulses
pittas, naan bread
olives
tomatoes
bulgar wheat
pearl barley
brown rice
porridge - also handy for baking!
dried fruit
nuts

tomato sauce

my kids love brown rice

weirdies

tuna balls recipe that cod posted...
will find it - a staple of ours now if we need a quick tea 0 keep brillianlty too

Onions and potatoes (store in dark boxes)
veg/chicken stock
frozen vegetables (they are frozen straight after harvesting so retain plenty of goodness), get a collapsable steamer and put veges in it over some water in a pot and just steam briefly. I then tip them into a bowl, add some butter and sprinkle dried parsley (which I always have) over the top.

tuna balls
i just use plain 13p per can tinned tomatoes - none of the fancy ones!

make your own bread with the kids

they love it and eat tons

lol at that recipe and 'chill' needing to be in a Glossary

homemade pizza - incredibly good for veg - and NOT junk food if you are careful

My fav quick & cheap meal is pasta mixed with a can of chopped tomatoes, tin of tuna, mix of peas & carrots from tin and or green beans, some pasta sauce, fried onion slices, some grated cheese, some olive oil or butter . Just cook the pasta, drain & mix everything in. The heat of the pasta warms through the rest.

I use tinned veg but you can get fresh carrots, beans, courgette & chop them up & cook them at the same time in the same pan with the pasta.

that recipe is fab!
hmmm

sally - it is great to get kiddies to help with sqaushing the balls

ds1 loves it

oh yes - and serve tuna balls with rice not pasta - much nicer imo

Meatballs
-----
500g mincemeat (usually get half pork, half beef)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons of chicken stock (or 1 cube) dissolved in 2 tbsps of hot water
1 apple, peeled and grated and chopped a bit
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
pinch of sugar
pepper
plenty of chopped herbs (usually use dried parsley and dried chives) but you can obviously use fresh too. I throw in maybe 4 tbsps full

Mix it all together in a mixing bowl. Form into small balls with your hands. Roll in a bowl of flour
Heat some veg oil in a pan. Fry for 3 minutes at a high temp, turning around. Lower the heat, put on the lid and cook for about 12 minutes, turning around occasionally.

I find the trick is to keep them small and chop the onion finely. Everyone loves them, they taste nice without any sauce thanks to the apple, hot or cold.

with eggs and cheese you can make a cheese omelette, do you know how to make one? You can add chopped red pepper as well for extra nutrition, add it right at the end so it stays firm. None of those ingredients go off quickly.

roasting a chicken is easy, just put a lemon inside it, drizzle some oil over it (or put some slices of bacon over its back or mix some butter with herbs and stick it under the skin) and roast it for an hour or so, until the juices from the thigh run clear, no red liquid.

you can cook almost any fish in a foil pouch with some olive oil and lemon slices, maybe a splash of white wine

noodles and stir fry veg don't take long, sesame oil is lovely on noodles, or soy sauce

potatoes with their skins on are healthy, roast with a little olive oil and salt

eggs can be scrambled, boiled or made into an omelette and keep for a while

salads are great in this weather, although lettuce wilts fairly quickly but I add kidney beans, red pepper, capers, anchovies and hard boiled eggs to mine. You can use balsamic vinegar as a dressing

So for that lot you'd buy
eggs
red pepper
a chicken
potatoes
butter
lemons
some fish portions (not the crap with sauces, pure unadulterated fish)
olive oil
cheese
veg for stir frying
noodles
soy sauce
I'd also add
apples
strawbs/cherries/whatever's in season
whatever veg you think you might like. We can tell you how to cook them!

risotto with lots of veggies - buy risotto rice and it tells you how to make it on the packet. fry chopped onions, peppers, mushrooms, (for a more grown up one) or add peas, carrots, brocolli (for a more kid-friendly one), bit of chopped ham at the end or chopped chicken at the beginning; also buy a gammon joint and cook it yourself - gives you a huge amount of very nice very cheap ham

Pork and 3 mustards is a delicious dish for a change.
Its a delia recipe -

hope the link works, i'm new to this mumsnet thing!!

have a look at pork stroganoff wiv 3 mustards

Its really quick and easy after you've made it once and is lovely with rice, pasta or pots!!