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I have £60 for the next 3 weeks shopping please help me plan my meals for the next few weeks

20 replies

boneybones · 09/09/2009 22:02

really tight this month and only have a few pennies for shopping for me and hub and Ds.

Any ideas on how I can make this stretch and what I should buy?

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Meglet · 09/09/2009 22:05

can you get into the supermarkets / market at closing time in the next couple of days and get some ingredients to make cottage pie / lasagne / pasta bakes. If you can make in bulk now and freeze that should stretch it out.

IlanaK · 09/09/2009 22:05

baked potatoes is a nice cheap meal. My kids love it. They like baked beans on them, but you could put anything on that you like really.

Soups are always good for cheap meals too.

Pasta is cheap.

Would be easier if we knew what you liked!

boneybones · 09/09/2009 22:06

yes I thought of that but what do I give with them?

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boneybones · 09/09/2009 22:07

ds will eat pasta, rice, all vegs, fish, salmon etc..

We love spicy foods, chilli, curry etc..

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Meglet · 09/09/2009 22:09

this old thread has some good ideas .

boneybones · 09/09/2009 22:09

Thanks

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AnybodyHomeMcFly · 09/09/2009 22:15

£20 per week - is that for evening meals or for everything?

Chicken casserole made with thighs and drumsticks is a cheap and filling meal, esp if you put barley or stewmix in with it.

Liver and bacon is also very cheap.
Lentil soup.
Meals made with mince and padded out with pulses.

randomtask · 09/09/2009 22:22

I'd consider going veggie for most if not all meals.

Up the amount of potato, pasta, rice you use and use a lot less meat then bulk out with whichever veg is in season (I never know what's in season but cheap seems to mean the same thing!)

If it includes packed lunches, don't buy the evil cheesestring/frube combo. DSS loves these and it bumps up the food bill. He does however prefer hummous with carrot sticks and they are rather filling....

As someone said, chicken thighs are superbly cheap and go well in not only casseroles but also curries (in my family's opinion they taste better too). Frozen cod blocks (Tesco do them in their Value range) go well with most sauces and are very cheap (work out at 50p a portion).

Cook in bulk, if you have veg about to go off, make it into a sauce of some type (or add it to a sauce) and then freeze it.

Oh and homemade pizza is fun to make, tastes better and you can have salad with it. My Mum used to feed us pizza and salad regularly-she worked out it cost £2.50 for the whole meal for 5 of us. Obviously that was 10-15 years ago but it's still stupidly cheap.

Hope you manage it!

alwayslookingforanswers · 09/09/2009 22:25

oh I can't find it - I lots of help 4yrs ago when I had £15 to do a weeks worth of shopping for 4.

Lots of ideas on there.

Do a search for "baked bean lasagne" in the search - there's a recipe on there from years back

alwayslookingforanswers · 09/09/2009 22:25

oooo actually just found the thread here

NoahFence · 09/09/2009 22:26

egg and chips

minervaitalica · 10/09/2009 10:09

Have you actually had a look at what is in your cupboard already? If you could take advantage of that it will save you a lot of money..

Some more

  • rice salad with leftover veggies, tuna, leftover ham, leftover cheese
  • Egg on toast
  • Semolina gnocchi with tomato sauce (you can market them as "gnocchi alla romana")
LyraSilvertongue · 10/09/2009 10:13

Pasta, pasta and more pasta.
Baked potatoes with beans/cheese.
Egg dishes usually work out pretty cheap.
Lots of veg from the market, if you have one, or Lidl/similar cheap shop.
Go to the supermarket late and get reduced meat.
Mince tends to go pretty far. One packet of mince with two cans of chopped tomatoes and a onion will give you at least two spaghetti meals.
Lots of buy one, get one frees. Shop around for the best deals.

LyraSilvertongue · 10/09/2009 10:16

You could make a chilli with pulses instead of meat.

Rubyrubyruby · 10/09/2009 10:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

stressedHEmum · 10/09/2009 10:53

First of all, look and see what you have already got in the cupboards, fridge and freezer. Plan as many meals as you can using what you already have.

Buy rice, pasta, and potatoes, a big bag of lentils, bag of chick peas, bag split peas, bag of kidney beans, tinned tuna and pilchards, tinned tomatoes, frozen mixed veg, corn and peas, milk, flour, eggs, baked beans, cheese, marg, porridge, apples, bananas, onions, stock cubes.

You could make things like;
lentil stew
lentil curry
lentil chilli
sheperdess pie with frozen veg
tomato cheese rice
tomato pasta
tuna pasta made with cheese sauce and veg
tuna and peas in white sauce over rice or on toast
pilchard loaf ( a small unsliced loaf, cut into 4 or 5 lengthways, spread with mashed pilchards in tomato sauce, topped with 1pint white sauce and baked for about 1/2hour)
lentil and tomato soup with bread
eggy rice with onions and mixed veg
Chick pea curry and rice
spicy chick peas with onion, tomatoes and lemon juice (if you have a lemon or some lemon juice)
buttered pasta with vegetables and cheese
savoury rice with veg
corn fritters
bean burgers in rolls
spicy kidney beans with toast or rice
potato and onion bake using HM white sauce and any veg you have hanging around and a couple of rashers of bacon chopped into tiny pieces if you have any.
mash with cheese and beans
spicy split pea soup

Have porridge, hm pancakes or muffins for breakfast. When you cook rice, cook twice as much as you need, keep the rest in the fridge and use it to make hot rice cereal for breakfast, rice muffins, rice salad or eggy rice. When you make mash, make extra, mix it to make a dough with flour and fry in patties to make potato cakes that you can serve with beans for breakfast or lunch. Save all leftovers, even if there is only enough to feed your littley for lunch. If you feel the need to eat meat try making mince mixed half and half with lentils. If you are concerned about omega three, replace a tin of tuna with a small tin of pink salmon.

Hope these help at all

AnybodyHomeMcFly · 10/09/2009 14:09

Liking the sound of pilchard loaf, will be giving that a try.

CharlotteVV · 11/09/2009 11:26

Hi there,

I think there are lots of brilliant ideas above, and you could also check out these 2 websites as they are quite good for preparing meals on a budget, I would definitely recommend making up large batches and freezing for later, so you could buy reduced veggies etc at the supermarket at the end of the day as Meglet suggested to pad out the recipes then freeze for another meal another day and I agree making a crumble or something from blackberries that are freely growing everywhere right now is a great way of making a meal more filling by serving a cheap and cheerful pud!

Have you got a slow cooker? Great for making up batches of tasty casseroles/soups with cheaper cuts of meat.....which you can then serve with rice or potatoes - again very cheap and very filling.

www.beyondbakedbeans.com/
www.britishpotatoes.co.uk/recipes/

Good luck!

boneybones · 11/09/2009 21:40

Thanks so much for your suggestions - some absolutely fabulous ideas/recipes.

Im off tomorrow armed with my shopping list...thanks again

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Mimi1977 · 14/09/2009 11:23

If you look on the Good Food website there is an amazing recipe for tomato risotto which is just divine. We often include it if money is a bit tight cos just need and onion, risotto rice and cherry toms. We miss out the mozerella but is yum!

Also done in microwave and it is really speedy. Or they also have a tom and bacon risotto which you put in the oven and that's also gorgeous.

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