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

[lucysmam]

lol@diet luna, nope definately not. everything full fat in my house n luckily we're all fairly skinny . . . for now!

sounds very easy to make, can't believe how much I'm learing from this! Would probably put pan back on heat to cook the egg through a bit as can't stand the thought of raw egg but other than that I could make that from what I have in at the mo so sorted for Thursday when oh comes in from footy at half 8 at night! thanks

[lucysmam]

btw bewilder, is a jog the same as a jug? lol only just seen that n it made me chuckle . . . you know the saying about little things n little minds

[lucysmam]

jules, i'm learning loads from this, oh loves it, we've had something new to eat every night this week after shopping friday rather than the same old stuff that we knew we could get cheaply week in-week out!

i will turn it right down and watch it 'like a hawk', just the thought of raw egg turns me off. oh knows how to make me run when i'm using eggs, always threatens to drink a raw one with a lil bit of milk

[Bewilderbeast]

jog = jug (it has been a long day)

[lucysmam]

lol, sorry it just made me chuckle!

[serin]

Hi have just finished reading your thread from start to finish Lucysmam and have learned loads!

Have nothing much to say of use other than we add peas and onions to potato curry and can't be bothered with all the different spices so we just use a bit of a jar of Pataks curry paste (which is different to their curry sauce,).

Lancashire hot pot is really cheap if you use a cheap cut of lamb but probably more suited to the winter.

We are eating a fair amount of veggie kebabs at the moment, just mushrooms, peppers, onions and courgettes on skewers with a bit of halloumi cheese. Don't have to buy the veg specially as we usually have in for things like omelettes and pasta sauces.

Another favourite of ours is banana toasties, just banana sandwiches cooked in the sandwich toaster, but very filling and containing nothing bad.

And egg fried rice, with whatever veg we have lying around added and a bit of soy sauce, IME worth investing in a bottle of sesame oil to fry in.

Finally I buy Pollack fillets (unless DH has been fishing and has managed to fill the freezer for free!) and we grill or BBQ them and serve on the lemon and coriander flavour couscous.

I hope you have sorted your flood out now.

[lucysmam]

Serin, how would you make hotpot?? It may be more suited for winter but the way the weather is its getting quite cold at the mo!

What is couscous?

The flood's sorted now thanks, I have a lovely kitchen in which to cook which is partly why I'm so keen to learn (it was horrid and not very inviting). My new oven is great compared to the old one, hadn't realised just how knackered it was tbh!

[lucysmam]

have just served up dhal for my oh and it went down a treat which surprised me!

Could someone tell me what couscous is and what to do with it?

[lucysmam]

thanks jules, will have a look after i've been in the shower!

think i'd go for what i could add my own flavours to as oh is a little bit picky sometimes about what he likes/doesn't like. not much but its always in the packets of something i wanna try so easier this way

[Megglevache]

Cheese on toast

Grate cheese add some finely diced onion and a beaten egg and mustard spread on bread and grill yum.

Tinned beans in a vinagrette mixed with rice and some herbs/spices

[lucysmam]

may be worth trying some packets then before committing myself to buying a packet of plain and having to think of something to do with it!

Megg, I love cheese on toast, never done it with anything other than cheese so will make a note of that too and try it!

[lucysmam]

we're not in the best area jules, most of the books here are well past their best iykwim! having said that, i will search the internet tomorrow for student recipes/cookery sites as that's not something i'd thought of looking for. thanks for the idea.

[lucysmam]

it's not just cooking for less Jules, since my kitchen flooded and i had no freezer I found it very interesting learning to cook things for myself rather than rely on my freezer. The only things I could do were a curry with a sauce from a jar, spag bol with jar of sauce and lasagne but i made that with stock and a packet of cheese sauce. Now I can do all sorts and have lots of ingredients in my freezer rather than frozen meals to bung in the oven. I've learnt so much from this thread I've got a book thats half full of stuff to try out still.

And now I have a nice kitchen I don't mind being in there whereas before it was very dull and depressing, now I enjoy it!

What sorts of books do you have?

[lucysmam]

that sounds good, so long as you don't mind sending it! I will return it to you of course!

[lucysmam]

sparklepop at myway dot com

thanks jules, I appreciate it. Will look forward to receiving it!

[halogen]

The Sainsburys mushroom couscous is very nice. Once it's done I add lots of chopped tomatoes (uncooked and liberally sprinkled with pepper), cucumber, celery, spring onions etc and some butter and have it warm with chicken wings (dead cheap in multipacks from supermarket) done in the oven or some fried halloumi. It's a really quick cheap hassle-free meal. You can get a big pack of chicken wings for less than £2 and the couscous costs about a pound a packet and will easily feed four people with lots of veg added. The chicken wings are especially good if you coat them in oil, garlic and lemon juice first.

And this is a great thread. Thanks for all the ideas.