i need to do a weeks shopping for about £15, only food everything else sorted, what do i buy??

[lucysmam]

as i'm on a super-duper tight budget this week. stuff like beans, tinned toms and mince, tea bags etc (basic stuff really) have to be included as well, but i'd like to still be able to do something a bit interesting and exciting with the limited budget i have. also, i dont have a freezer at the mo so all needs to be either fresh, able to refrigerate for a week or cupboard type stuff.

thanks in advance for any suggestions xx

oh boy im glad someone in same boat as me im a single parent of 3 and one on the way yep with the rise of childcare costs and gas prices soon i will be eatting nettles 4 tea,yep my monthly shopping comes to £80 luckly i dont have to pay nappies yep

lol@orangeduck eating nettles for tea!!! it's hard work being on such a tight budget isn't it!!??

there's only me, oh and lo but its still hard enough on that budget so i have no idea how you'd do shopping for 4 on £80 a month. there was a thread i searched for ages ago, i just put in 'food budgeting'in the search and think it was the first one that came up, it had loads on it that i've found really helpful with having to budget so tightly atm.

everything's going up price wise (or at least it feels that way), i don't know how we're expected to eat a healthy and varied diet when sooooo many people obviously scrape by on pennies and have to rely on using bog standard basics instead of having any little luxuries whatsoever!

daft question . . . what are lentils???

from reading lots (and i mean lots) of threads on here loads of people use them in all sorts of ways but ive never gone near them although i think i will be trying something with them just to see what they're like if nothing else!

hi lucysmum yep its hard doing a shp on £80 a month that only because i buy late and cheap plus i have a good friend who as an veg plot and she as no family to give it to so lucky me

If you have a healthfood shop near you, try getting some TVP. It's dried soya mince and a 375g bag costs about £1.50 but you would be able to make 4 meals for 4 people out of that.

You just soak it in hot water to rehydrate it then drain off the water and use it like ordinary mince but with no fat or gristle. I use it a lot with some chopped onion, carrots, tomato puree, hendersons relish and vegetable stock to make the basis of a cottage pie.

I also use it for chilli and bolognaise.

The other things I look out for are reduced quorn sausages and fillets because I'd rather eat that than cheap meat. Quorn cumberland sausages were 99p for 6 in tescos not long ago and I bought loads of them. Quorn pieces as well are a bargain if you can get them reduced and they are a good substitute for chicken in lots of recipes.

a dried packet thing tht realy dont taste of any thing much but when added they to soups taste ok

Lentils come in all different shapes and sizes, most common are red lentils which don't need soaking.

I use loads of different types because I make lots of dhals (and my OH is vegetarian). They're normally in the wholefood section of the supermarket or if you have an indian shop near you then they will be much cheaper there.

sounds ok will have to try that

there's a healthfood shop in town so will be calling there as well as market tomorrow i think. this may also sound (or read, whichever makes more sense) daft but . . . does TVP need freezing.

I think I ought to be sat making notes as everyone on here's sooo much more knowledgeable than me about food!!

I wanted to try growing some veg and salad type stuff this year orangeduck but we only have concrete and can't really afford any planters at the moment so it will have to wait until i actually have a proper garden.

ive never heard of TVP but it sounds like fun to cook with or as my children say BURN IT, i hope it is eay to cook with, i have garden but its soon over grown at the moment it looks like a jungle kids love to play in it because they can get lost and play safely

Same boat as you...
Today we had Lambs liver/bacon gravy and Baked Beans and New potatoes cost? £1.50 for liver,£1.00 for spuds and 18p beans, bacon bits from supermarket at £1.18 and I have loads left.
Yesterday we had Stir Fry with Rice
Cost: Pkt red/green/peppers: £1.20 celery 65p carrots 70p mushrooms 65p white cabbage 40p onions a few more pence and sachet of plum sauce 35p and some soya sauce honey and garlic...fried some bacon bits crunchy and scattered them over the top. cheap cheap and filling... rice is cheap....(I've always got loads of that)
Tomorrow? Spaghetti 65p, spag sauce £1.00, bacon bits, few fried bits of red pepper, onions, few mushrooms... any carrots left chopped up small small to bulk it up... yummy my lot love it.
Sardines on toast are cheap
Pilchards
Baked Potatoes with beans and bacon
List is endless... Good luck

No, because it's dried it keeps for years in the cupboard.

I have that, tinned mixed beans in chilli sauce, tinned tomatoes, a jar of peppers in oil and spices in so I can always make a chilli if I need to.

Ah, if you were in Scotland, i'd say get to the butchers for a block of slice sausage, i don't know if you get it in England.
The possibilty's are endless, you can have
slice, beans and mash (my fav)
stovies
do it in a pot with gravy and onion, serve with cheapo peas and mash.

Otherwise my suggestions are smartprice pasta and sauce (about 30p) (suprisingly as tasty as normal brands) serve with some broccoli or veg of your choice.

Baked potatoes with beans and grated cheese.

Pot of homemade lentil soup.

Buy your own bread mix (very tasty, don't know about cost though)

Fried eggs on toast with beans on the side.

Sorry if these have already been suggested, haven't read the full thread.

this will make 1 of your daily meals for the week. (7 family meals worth)

get about

a small packet of cheap mince from butcher.
3 tins chopped tomatoes(cheapest u can find)
basil
salt to season
1 large teaspoon sugar
1 bit of garlic.
1/2 pint water.

bring to boil, then let simmer.simmer for couple of hours. stirring. till it thickens up and changes colour (gets a darker shade of red). also the tomatoes will turn sweet instead of bitter.

divide it up in portions for the 7 days of week. keep in airtight container. (you can freeze some portions if the date on your meat isn't to clever)

use as a sauce for cheap pasta. make as much pasta as you need to feed the family. each portion will be plenty for the family.

it's really yummy. don't add loads of extra ingredients like herbs and stuff. the only thing extra you can add has to be from the onion family. i.e onions,shallots,fennel, peppers (if you really must add something)

simple is always better!!

oh and dont forget the get some cheap bread (go after 5pm to supermarket and you'll get a loaf for 10p)to soak up the extra sauce.

What we eat:
Breakfast: Porridge (made with water and cooled down with milk, raisins, honey, dried apricots sometimes bananas) OR
toast and homemade jam made by my aunty or honey which i get for free from a beekeeper my dad knows OR
pancakes with tinned peaches or stewed apple (from mums apple tree)with sultanas and apricots
(1 egg, cup of flour, milk, tablespoon of oil makes 3-4 small pancakes)

Lunch: Sandwich. Tinned salmon or tuna, cheese, ham fresh from market, banana. Salad which is bit of lettuce ie 2 leaves off n iceberg, pepper, tinned sweetcorn or slice of onion , grated cheese. Yoghurt.
AND/OR homemade soup lentil and tomato, or veg, or veg with a bit of chicken

Dinner:slow cooker meal usually stew with lots of veg and 1 chicken breast or chicken thighs with veg, or turkey and pasta.
Fish, usually salmon (£7 for tail end of salmon cut in 3 big daddy medium mummy and small baby bear), new potatoes or jackets or if not enough make potato wedges to stretch it, with frozen broccoli, cauliflower, green beans. Often make a cheese sauce for the veg cheese, flour.
Vegetable lasagne or pasta bake or mince cottage pie with cannelini beans, or chilli with kidney beans.
Omelettes, jacket and salads
Meat curry with spinach leaves, tomatoes and chickpeas.

Same if you ask about local allotments many growers produce so much they always have spare if you explained you have a family and want to keep food costs down could they text you if they have any spare then I'm sure they would...don't be shy! I often get eggs and bits of veg/herbs off a lady I befriended. I just asked and said I was short of money and trying to eat healthily.

I appreciate this week you can't eat the salmon so would make fish cakes with tinned salmon and homemade potato wedges instead.

r2g lol@ small baby bear, that made me smile after a nightmare day yesterday.

everyone's been so helpful, i just wish i had a freezer as i could probably get 2 weeks worth out of £15 looking at these suggestions and have enough to freeze some as well!

i really am glad i asked now or i would have ended up buying lots of boring stuff thats ready made instead of trying something new.

i'm off to netto in about half hour for beans, toms, spag, tea bags, dilute juice and spuds. and maybe a few other bits depending on how much they are, then town to investigate the asian supermarket there and the healthfood shop to see what i can get and also market for something for a birthday meal for my oh although quite what will depend on whats left out of my budget.

might even try a dhal although im still a bit unsure as to what spices to actually put in it but we both like spicy food and it sounds tasty and simple.

margrethe, i really would be interested in any other ideas you have as your post yesterday sounded tasty and interesting but not too expensive and i would like to learn to cook a variety of meals

I make a big pot of tomato sauce - onions and toms, is my most basic recipe. When I have them, I will add other things like red peppers, courgette, herbs, garlic, or mushrooms but sometimes, the simpler the better. I liquidise the sauce - I have one very fussy eater.

I, then, use it with pasta with grated cheese on top and then again, I reduce it further to make frying pan pizza (a Delia recipe) - no yeast needed and really easy.

I use the sauce up with lentils to make a lentil lasagne. I use the red lentils or jarred lentils (brown) which I rinse. I figure the amount of money I will use cooking bigger lentils (or beans) makes it more logical to buy jars of my supermarket-branded ones. There again if you have a pressure cooker it would probably be cheaper to cook your own.

I have got some great ideas from this thread so off to rejig my shopping list, too.

Hi again Lucysmam. Glad you don't mind the detail...I do run on a bit!

Here's a recipe that is a favourite classic in America that I don't see much here: meatloaf.

Ingredients
1 kilo ground meat (can be mix of beef, pork and/or turkey)
1/2 coffee mug full of oats
1/2 coffee mug full of finely chopped onion
1/2 coffee mug full of ketchup
1 egg, lightly beaten (very important to "bind" the dish)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix everything up in a bowl with your hands. Once it is one big sticky mass form it into a brick shape in a baking tin and cook in the oven for about 50 minutes at 180.

Tips: I think beef tastes best so I mix half beef and half pork. But Turkey might be the most economical. I think a thin layer of ketchup spread across the top of the loaf before you pop it into the oven makes it look nicer and taste better.

It sounds like a weird, aweful dish but everyone who's eaten it likes it. I sent my husband and father-in-law to Lords to watch test cricket with meatloaf sandwiches and they both liked them! It also freezes well. You could cut it up into individual slices separated by waxed paper and just take one out and microwave it as you need it. It is also easy for little kids to eat since it is all ground meat.

My car cost nearly 500 at the start of the week and since them I have been on a HUGE economy drive.
Ive had beans and cheese n toast at least 3 times.
Pasta and a tin of ratattoie(Sp?)about 33p from sainsburys, again with cheese twice.
I brought Pitta Bread, 50p cucumber(morrisons) and 1.40s worth of chips and shared them between 3 of us, with home grown tomatoes.
I brought a large leek(80p)and made cheese leek and potatoe pie.
The dds have been having homemade pizza, with tinned mushroom/sweetcorn and cheese.
I had a bag of spugs and a freezer to work through but havent had to yet Then everything will be mash and Random with beans

wow!! thats a lot of money charlie!!!!! i'm so glad i don't drive tbh

whats a bag of spugs?

margrethe, i think its good you know so much about the food you make!! ive never even read a label properly really never mind known anything about their origins or anything like that. found it interesting reading your post yesterday!

Seems like a lot of people are on crazy-tight budgets and trying to feed growing kids well.

The last useful thing I can thing of is this link:

www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/MiscPubs/FoodPlansRecipeBook.pdf

It is a pamphlet put out by the US Dept of Agriculture. After some worthy/patronising stuff about food safety, it gets down to a thrifty, 2 week meal plan for a family of four, followed by a complete shopping list and all the recipes. It's for American palates, but there might be a few interesting ideas in there. Their aim is to feed people as nutritiously and cheaply as possible.

spugs-spuds-potaotoes

lol charlie, i know that really, made me chuckle though.

i haven't got as far as shopping yet, been taking advantage of lo being out with dad for the day and cleaning from top to bottom so will see how i get on later on. hopefully with some of these ideas i will undercut my £15 budget

margrethe, i'll have a read through that when my house is a tidy little palace rather than the mess it's in atm. should be interesting, think we're all aiming for cheap and nutritious with prices continuously rising so should be useful to see how others budget for food and still eat well

kept thinking today that spugs are those things that you end up with when you lose a spud in the cupboard and find it 6 months later

lol@ charliecat, how do you lose spuds in the cupboard???

well, shopping wasn't too bad.

i spent £15 on food, mil gave us a fiver for a crate of beer & i spent a tenner on wash powder, nappies, loo rolls and some shampoo for 2 weeks. loo rolls were £2.19 for 12 so will last longer than 2 weeks though, nappies are 3 tesco value packs at £1.48 each, wash powder also tesco value £1.41 will last about 6 weeks, shampoo's a huge 1.5 litre bottle that was £1.79 and will last forever so i don't think i did too badly. still got no spare change out of my pay though but thats because of insurance excess so all in all i'm glad i asked otherwise i would have had to use overdraft which wouldn't have been good!