MNHQ needs your culinary ingenuity (and thrift)

[GeraldineMumsnet]

Please can you share your best ideas/recipes for feeding your family on a budget and generally eating on the cheap?

Eg: Do you cook in bulk and freeze? Do you concentrate on food that's in season? Do you have particular recipes that go a long way, or can easily be converted into another meal from leftovers? Do you work out your food budget for the week or see what's on offer when you get to the shops?

Please share your best bits of advice (and if there are any MN recipes you rate for their cheap and cheerful nature, please tell us which ones).

thank you
MNHQ

We already had a fairly simple and frugal diet. Rarely buy anything that isn't fresh vegs and fruit, pules, rice, pasta, fish and chicken etc.
These are the changes we have made in recent months:

We no longer do a big shop every fortnight to avoid the VISA bill shock

No longer get veg box

Instead of buying cooked pulses we soak and cook them ourselves

We use the pressure cooker more to save time and gas

Only buy plain yoghurt, no longer buy nice, more expensive plain greek yoghurt which we used to alternate with

I eat less

sorry, not very helpful...

I menu plan.

Have done an online order for Waitrose food and it came in at under £85. That is food for a fmaily of five, cat food, and is to make 5-7 different meals.

Have been to Sainsbury's this morning and spent about £10 on bits.

Buy one chicken (on the wrapper says feeds 3/4) and make

Day 1 Roast Chicken + bread stuffing etc
Day 2 Stock from bones for later
chicken pie with leftover meat, potato salad with leftover spuds.
Day 3 Risotto or soup with stock, freeze any leftover stock for another day.

This feeds family of 4.

Keep an eye on portion sizes. We realised that we were throwing away food because of putting too much onto the plate - pasta & potatoes the worst for this.

I now measure pasta and serve potatoes in a bowl so that the leftovers can be used again.

Blimey that's good for Waitrose - what are you eating?

Eat seasonally! I try never to buy things out of season because they're so much more expensive. And I get all my fruit & veg from the market (three mangoes for £1, a kilo of cherry tomatoes for £1, etc). I have to confess that it is not as convenient as Tesco but for me the extra effort is worth it as I save so much.

We also cook a lot of curry to save money at home - once you have all the spices they are very cheap to make as you can use whatever veg are cheapest at the time and then freeze big batches.

I bulk cook, i brought some cheap, large oven dishes so everytime i cook something half of it goes into the freezer.

I grow a selection of our favorite veg and salad bits and try to eat what is in season which i do with a basic cheap veg box from Riverford.

My meat comes from our local Butcher who i have struck up a friendly, customer/trader relationship with and he always steers me in the direction of cheaper cuts and if he has anything special in he will let me have first pick!

I only eat meat every other day to save money and i use cheap cuts like shin or chuck steak for stews and casseroles. I also taught myself how to completley de bone a chicken to get the most meat out of it and use all the other bits for stock.

I bulk meals up with chick peas and lentils and grated veg so it goes further.

I always keep several meals worth of a basic mince mixture (mince/tomatoes/onions/garlic/celery) in the freezer that can then be turned into lasagne/spagbol/pie.

Erm i buy reduced to clear things if they can go strieght into the freezer.

two packs of toe nail suasages from tesco at 48p

two cans tomatos

garlic

tomato paste
pepper

add veg of choice - or dont

its a larvely twist on a traditional sausage casserole - and costs about

£2.50 for a family of 6

if you want bones of arse - i have literally £1.50 to my name- skint

try this

its simple

its genius

and small kids blardy love it

one big bowl - like a pyrex dish

2 cans tomatos heated up

another seperate dish piled high with toast cut into triangles

all family have to dip and tuck in

sure there is tomato all over the table, all over your top, their t-shirts

but its a good fun meal at practically no cost

err Toe Nail Sausages?

Use half the amount of mince it says in the recipe, use more tomatoes and add a grated carrot to help thicken.

Works on all mince/tomato based recipes.

Meal plan and make at least two days vegetarian.

i bulk cook and freeze in freezer bags
lentils,pulses to bulk out meals
menu plan so that any left overs can be a casserole
make your own baby food and childrens meals -cheaper.tastier
puree any mash, veg left add to a soup
stick to a budget
dont go shopping hungry
subtstitute canned tomato for meat
buy loose veg rather than packaged
avoid pricy poncy veg boxes, chose you own
try own brands
dont buy salad bags tooo pricy.buy loose lettuce,toms,cuc,red onion, olives

make your own pasta sauce - whizz some canned tomatoes,garlic and herbs, veg if you want.cheap tasty and freezable

omlette good fall back

make my own sarnies for work

i shop on line- set budget dont go over it
look out for BOGOF
look for free delivery codes

Custy the tomato thing is extra good with a few drops of worcestershire sauce.

TBH I am not very good at economising on food but what I do is:

Bulk out with lentils/pulses and freeze the extra portions
Buy meat on offer
Only buy what I know I'll use
If I see freezable items on offer I'll buy them and freeze
Do a couple of vegetarian meals a week
Kids eat the same as us (unless we are having something expensive like steak in which case they get fish fingers )

I don't really menu plan but I'll look at what we have in and think 3 or 4 days ahead.

It's easier in winter for me because I make loads of big stews or casseroles, don't really fancy eating them when it's warmer.

add honey to plain items like porridge, rather than buy a specially flavoured more expensive oat mixture. add lemon/lime juice and spices to meat to add flavour rather than buy special sauces/marinade.

hang out in supermarket 1/2 hour before it shuts, or at certain times to get heavily reduced bakery items/some ahem ready meals you can shove in the freezer.

We make our own bread (which I think has gone up loads in price)and add herbs nuts seeds etc for variety,also we bought a yogurt maker and make plain yogurt costs about 75p for the uht milk and you can add berries/honey etc to your liking.

Use cheap cuts of meat and use the slow cooker then bulk freeze curries etc

Grow salad stuff and other veggies/swap stuff you have a glut off with neighbours/friends

Jar of Dolmio = £1.72 (or jar of Uncle Bens Chilli sacue)

2 tins economy chopped tomatoes 72p. Save yourself a pound per meal...and 2 tins of tomatoes go further than a jar of Dolmio.

All you need to do is stock up on mixed herbs, garlic (or garlic puree), cumin and cornflour (which last for an age after the initial investment) and you can make your - healthier too - bolgnese/chilli sauce.

In terms of adapting meals - bolgnese --> Lasagne is the obvious.

Smaller amounts of leftover of any sauce based dish (bolognese, chilli, sausage casserole....) are good as a jacket potato topping too.

grow your own veg.. potatoes, carrots, salad and tomatoes, peas, strawberries and herbs all are very easily grown in big tubs or bags. If you have a garden have a veg plot for more spuds, parsnips, butternut squash and beans.

also get a couple of chickens.. they eat scraps up and produce eggs. they make great pets which the dc's can cuddle, you can train them.. and they are cheap to keep

so based on that knowledge and way of living I feed five of us (2 adults, 1 male teen a 10 and a five) on (having just worked it out £200 per month or £1.30 a day for each of us!!!! ( and that includes cleaning stuff!)

Make your own pasta, bread , cakes and biscuits. stock up your spice and herbs.
bulk buy and bulk cook then freeze and get a slow cooker.

Oh shop at the end of the day at the market for fruit and veggies.. and get to know your local butcher

My best budget tip is Costco. Not so good for veg, but certainly for meat, fish and other things that you can freeze or store it's absolutely brilliant.

Have an on toast night once a week.. so beans on toast, spaghetti on toast, egg and soldiers, scrambles egg on toast etc

We don't buy ready meals/jar sauces - just meat/fish/veg and then cook from scratch, but I work nights not days so I have time to do this.

Luxury items tend to get bought in bulk when they're on offer.

Things like mince get bulked out with beans/pulses, tinned tomatoes. We've never changed the amount of mince we use in a recipe, but as the DCs have got older I've added more of the other stuff (sneaky but healthier I think!) so the volume's greater without a massive price hike.

I plan meals for two weeks in advance and have them delivered. This ensures that I spend enough to get my delivery free on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Lots of pasta meals. My children love pasta with bitter and parmesan. OK parmesan aint cheap but it lasts for at least three meals for 5.
Baked potatoes.
Own brands.
Basics and Value stuff.
Try and plan for everything-snacks, after school snacks, nibbles for eating with wine, weekend breakfasts etc.

No meals out.
No take aways.

Well maybe......

Most mince dishes I now add red lentils to bulk it up.

Shop at Lidl twice a week for cheap things like beans and tomatoes and lots of veg.

Do a really simple cheap meal of melting butter, adding passata, cooked pasta and cheese on top. No faffing with onions and garlic. Kids love it.

Eat beans on toast or egg on toast for dinner once a week.

Butternut squash soup. Half for soup. Half for risotto.

Dont buy cakes and biscuits. Bake it myself and is so much nicer.

Married a chef. It helps a lot.

pasta and bitter you say?