please help me change my life

[Tortington]

i dont want to go on a diet but the food we eat as a family is pure crap. although being poor is no excuse its the only one i have, we have a bog standard egg n chips kinda diet and we need to change. my husband is a big man who wont do "namby pamby shit" whatever that means. we need help and we need you to advise and dispell some myths.

so for tea tonight i cooked two meals

one was noodles with hotdog sausages for the children - now the noodles are the 20p noodles in a packet

the other meal was potatoes into chips deep fried. cheap burgers and beans.

i dont need telling the second meal was putrid crap

how am i doing with the first meal?

the kids and i like pastas, but are relativley new to them - and sometimes we use the sauces in a jar, sometimes i used tinned tomatoes.

you have to be realistic in your advice - i cannot possibly spend ages in preparing food - peeling potatoes in my limit.

potatoes are a staple part of out diet - which ways are best to use them

lean mince - is this ok - how should i coook it - with what - how do you actually make a tasty spag bol and is it good for you?

muller corner yoghurts - we eat a tonne of these - are these bad?

tell me about new salads and new low fat dressings

we are not fish people ( unless it is covered in batter)witht he exception of tuna - not salmon.

tuna comes with mayo - any low fat mayo ok? any other ways to prepare it

we have made a decision to throw the deep fat fryer away along with the salt shaker.

if we cant get a decent filling meal we will go mad

my cupboards are empty - help me fill them with delicious filling healthy foods - not diet stuff - am not interested - interesting and healthy.

i just got paid - we shop at tesco. if it comes from a packet it is my best friend

help me

thank you

Making casseroles is really easy, healthy and filling. Soften your onions in a pan, chop up your meat, roll in flour and then brown in the pan. Chuck the lot in a casserole dish with whatever veg you have (carrots, swede, turnip, celery, potato for winter casserole, peppers, squash, courgettes etc for summer) cover with stock, season and leave to cook for a few hours until the meat and veg are tender. You can serve with mashed/jacket spuds, rice or pasta or ina bowl with a hunk of bread or with dumplings which you can buy in a packet.

I don't know why anyone would use a ready made sauce for spag bol? Brown mince and onions with garlic, add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and some beef stock if thick (mushrooms optional), chuck in bay leaves or Italian herb a la Tesco herb section.

Once you've got the spag bol sorted, you can then make a big batch and make a lasagne with whatyou don't eat and either freeze or ave the next day. Make spag bol, I make it more liquid by adding a carton of passata (sieved toms). Make a white sauce; melt butter, add some flour, gradually add milk until you have a smoth textured sauce (if you get lumps, you a hand blender). Layer meat sauce, white sauce, lasagne sheets, finish with a layer of lasagne sheets and white sauce and then cover in grated cheese, bake in the oven until cheese is browned.

If you make loads of white sauce, you can freeze it or you can add grated cheese and make a cauliflower cheese maybe?

For chilli con carne, follow recipe as per spag bol except add chill instead of herbs and bung in a tin of kidney beans and baked beans, serve with rice.

Making soup is cheap too, basically soften an onion, chuck in veg, cover in vegetable stock and simmer until the veg are sort, you can blend with a hand blender and add herbs/cream to taste. Serve with sandwiches and salad.

We also buy big pots of yoghurt as much cheaper than individual pots. Muller yoghurts are packed full of sugar as the yoghurt is sweetened and so is the fruit puree.

You can make rice pudding, semolina etc really cheaply and easily. Use flaked rice as it doesn't take so long to cook and you can do it on the hob so you don't get skin if you don't like it.

2oz flaked rice or semolina, 1oz sugar, 1 pt of milk. Put in pan, cook on a moderate heat until thickened, add cinnamon/nutmeg to taste. serve with steamed apple/pear etc or blob of jam. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

thanks everyone for your posts. in fact my lovely cooking aused a row this evening cos hubby was umming and ahhing over whether he was hungry so he didnt get any then flounced ( tosspot!!) the kids are screaming at me "NO MORE PASTA MUMMY" errrr ok. baked potato it is then.

i cooked mince tortillas tonight - well y know mince in olive oil with all the veg n herbs stuck on a flat bread thingy from sainsburys all rolled up - the kids thought was yummy - in fact my Kevin esq grubby manky to much trouble to talk about teenager started tonights meal with a " are you going to feed us" comment " only if you help" was my reply - so he gladly got out all the ingredients - chopped allt he veg n salad help put together the tortillas and then - THEN omg THEN he washed the five plates AND two pans we used. fab.

baked tatties tomoz, stew the day after, then am deffo tying that toad int he hole - what kind flour was it?

thanks again everyone for taking your time to give me your recipes, i really have made a huge change and its all down to you helping me. so for all the bad feeling on mn at the mo - there is an equal and opposite reaction - your all so good. thanks. keep your quick healthy reipes coming if its not too much trouble - am not sure how long i can get away with spag bol and anything mincey with pasta!

Plain Flour!!

how do u make roast chicken aagin please

oooh custardo

not sure if this has been posted on this thread or not but i cooked it the other day and relised how easy and yummy it is,,,,and thought of you!

chicken breasts - bash them out a bit so they are flat. mix some pesto (I know you have it,,,,,) with either grated cheese or philidelphia type chesse. lay it on the bashed chicken then roll up the chicken into a kind of swiss roll thingy. wrap in tin foil and bake in oven for around 30-40 mins

very nice

thanks popsycal that sounds so easy i wil definatley give it a try

Custy, if you're around and can be bothered, have a chat somwhere.

fab thread! custardo I am impressed by how much you have done over such a short time.Can't believe your hyusband will be able to resist all the new cooking smells coming out of the kitchen for too long.

We live on roasts and their aftermath (cold meat with bubble and squeek, shepherds pie, stews) Also spag bol and chilli.

Best tip I can give you is get the biggest saucepan you can, so you can make double or triple quantities at the same time and freeze them.

For meat free stuff has anyone mentioned home made macaroni cheese or cauliflower cheese? we freeze these as well.

you dont have my vote here sorry.
if you make two dinners at night, you may as well cook a nice meal for the whole family, you can buy cook books that start from the basics, so there is no reason not to learn

do you realy want your children eating chips and eggs for the rest of there growing lives? im sure you dont
why not bring your children into the kitchen and let them help you cook, it can be fun if you try good luck

vanessa313, what is your problem? No, Custarod doesn't want her children eating chips for ever so she's asking for advice and people are giving it to her, what on earth is wrong with that? And her kids ARE helping! (Goodness knows I don't need to stick up for custy, feel she is well 'ard enough to defend herself but still felt I couldn't let that post go uncommented upon).

Vanessa - no she doesnt want her children eating chips for the rest of their lives - which is why she posted asking for help. I think that you mis read her post

Very harsh IMO

custardo has been giving lots of progress reports vanessa123 - assume you didn't read them.

we have visitors today. my inlaws! and i cooked toad in the hole with mash. they are all tucking in as i speak. they love it - so do i - thank-you.

sykes sorry i missed you - we must make a pissed up mumsnet inernet meet starting at 1 am!

vanessa. my kids dont like chips actually and i was simplifying my post by saying we were egg n chips kinda people - everyone got what i meant. still we did eat shit most of the time - chips or no, my 2nd ds actually thinks he is the house chef becuase he helps in the kitchen chopping things putting things in the oven etc. so they do help in the kitchen anyway. i think it was a case of miscommunication between you and i vanessa, please do post any recipes that you use as it would be very helpful. i use them as you can see!

custy - as an alternative to pasta try cous-cous. And ignore the packet instructions. Just mix in some stock (made with arigold powder or chicken stock cubes). YOu need more than you could think possible - it really soaks water up. I serve it a lot with chicken - cut up a couple of breasts, marinade (pref overnight) in lemon juice, then fry in a bit of olive oil and pour the marinade over for last couple of minutes. And for a delicious sauce, chop a red onion, some mint (more of those bloody herbs) and mix it into a tub of greek yoghurt.

For your mince - this sounds wierd but if you are doing a tomatoey sauce, after frying mince and onions, cover the mince with nilk and simmer for 15 minutes or so (until the milk has all absorbed) Then add your tomatoes. It really does give a lovely soft texture to the mince.

thanks pru - i do eat cous cous and love it - but think dh thinks its too frilly and not filling - hes never tried it - so i usually wait til hes out and cook for the rest of us - will try and persuad him to try it - i have some in the cupboard right now

Custy have just though of one of my faves you may like - use chicken or turkey breasts, best I think are those sliced turkey breasts you can get. Hammer them a bit flat if they are really uneven, then dip in flour, coating them, then dip in beaten egg until coated, then dip into a bowl of paxo sage and onion stuffing mix (dry) until coated. Fry in olive or sunflower oil on a high heat each side until the paxo is browned and crisy, then cook in the oven on about 200/400/mark 6 for about 20 mins. Just delicious

oh CD that sounds yumtastic and easy will try it defo

havent had time to read all the posts but.....

(originally slimming world recipe)Chips - cut spuds into chip shapes(i dont remove skin, but you can), either boil till softening or to same in microwave(i do), then take out and put into over until the brown a little( to you liking)...these are the nicest chips ive tasted and my little one has these now instead of the waffles or oven chips i used to give her.

spag bol - dry fry mince (very little oil, buy passata(shops own tomato puree thing, i buy a bottle own morrisons own for about 40p), bung in sliced toms, mushrooms and onions and a bit of gravy powder to taste.

meatballs - add egg to mince and chopped onion, form into ball shapes and bung in oven too cook, so with chips(above or mash, tinned veggies)

pasta - shops own pasta(wholemeal is best and our shops doesnt taste/cost any different?), mix low fat may with tom sauce, add a little water to make more runny, pour over cooked pasta and add what ever you like!..i use chopped up ham/chicken, cut up toms, spring onions, celery.

chilli con carni - mince(again) fry, add choppped onion, mushrooms and baked beans, sprinky in chilli powder to taste and serve with jacket spuds(done in microwave)

hope these help, used to eat most of this when at slimming world, so its mostly goos stuff, also muller lights are a good choice, you could also make garlice sauce with very low fat fromage frais(shops own, v.cheap) and add a piece of garlic clove(or more if your not a vampire!)
lovely to dip the chips into!
meatballs

Oh good batters

btw if making it for little ones, marinade the chicken or turkey in natural yoghurt overnight as it makes it easy to chew

custy - can we have an update?

goodness, blast from the past. still no chip pan. oven chips if we do. eat lots of rice and pasta and mince and tuna

do still have ready meals. becuase i am just too busy - am not going to put myself down by saying " i can't be arsed"

so tesco family lasagne is a regular item. that kind of thing